Danielle Marie Besand, FNP

A good day at work is seeing God use the gifts he gave me. And that's going to be through praying through a patient who is suffering or going through a hard time, that's going to be through holding the hand of a patient who's at a point of brokenness. When I can look back at a day and smile at the interactions I had and the relationships that I invested in through my practice, that's a good day.

I'm from a small town in Illinois. After I went to nursing school at Illinois State University, I moved to St. Louis and worked at Barnes in stem cell and bone marrow transplant. I became a nurse practitioner and am now at Mercy Wentzville. I became a nurse practitioner because I like following patients throughout their lives. Primary care isn't limited to any one disease, condition or age group. You get to follow children, young adults and older adults throughout their lives. The most important skill for a primary care provider is collaboration, involving patients in the decision-making process so they're part of their own health care plan. I spend time looking over results and making sure they feel heard. They need to know to have annual and preventive visits and not wait until there's a problem. We can prevent lots of problems by seeing you regularly. My favorite is working with young adults, doing preventive care before they reach the elderly stage.

My clinical interests include preventive care. If we can prevent diseases or slow its progression, that's a lot better for the patient than letting things progress and trying to fix it later on. Preventive care also lets me meet patients earlier on so you can make sure they're aware of positive changes they could make in their lives to optimize their health. There's a lot of important characteristics you need to be a good primary care doctor. Being a good listener is one of them, figuring out early on what the patient's main concern is and what's the goal you're helping them achieve. Typically, it's just to be healthier, but there are lots of facets to that. The other skill is getting into that goal. That's where the medical knowledge comes. A good day of work for me is when, at the end of the day I feel like I made a positive impact for a lot of patients and there's nothing I'm second guessing.