Profile
Marina Smallwood, a Board-Certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, has over 15 years of experience caring for women and addressing their healthcare needs. She received her Master in Science in Nursing from the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Profession.
“I’ve always been passionate about providing good quality healthcare to women across the age spectrum in gynecological care and prenatal care,” Smallwood says. “I think that by being a woman, I understand what my patient is going through, and I think healthcare can be a very intimidating place, so it’s important that I make it a safe, welcoming and comfortable environment for my patients.”
She says that the education component is what she loves most about working with her patients.
“It’s important for me to spend the time with my patients to make sure they understand their health complexities, whether it’s medication, a procedure or what’s coming next in their pregnancy,” Smallwood says. “To provide quality care you need to know as much about your patient as you can to help them make informed decisions.”
She explains that, from the start, she works to establish a trust, as well as two-way communication and a rapport with patients, that includes laughter.
“Yes, I think it’s important to laugh in your encounter with your patients, to bring out the humanity in all of us,” Smallwood says. “I want them to know I’m a person who certainly has similar experiences.”
In fact, she says, “The life experiences of being a wife, mother of two boys, daughter and sister all help me inform how to approach care with my patients and how to certainly appreciate and have a better understanding for what they’re going through.”
When Smallwood is not at work, she loves spending time with her family, cooking, baking, being outside in nature and reading. She says as the mother of two boys who play hockey, she also spends a lot of her weekends in hockey rinks.
“I really love my job,” she says. “I love what I do, and I think that when you love what you do it doesn’t feel like a job. I’m really lucky to do what I do.”