Gritman Orthopedic Surgeons | Sunshine Huffman, ONP-C

Sunshine Huffman Serves Patients as the Only Orthopedic Nurse Practitioner in the Region

Sunshine Huffman holds a distinction in orthopedic care that makes her uniquely qualified to care for patients in the region.

Huffman is an Orthopedic Certified Nurse Practitioner working with Gritman Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Marvin Kym to help patients live their lives with less pain and more mobility. Her unique credential allows Huffman to bring a more advanced form of care to the region as the only person to hold the certificate in Idaho and one of only a few in the Northwest.

But for Huffman, who also serves as a Certified Perioperative Nurse and a Registered Nurse First Assist, it’s all part of the team-based care she and Dr. Kym have provided in the region for two decades.

“I think I fell into the category of health care professionals who always just wanted to be a health care provider,” she said.

Huffman started working as an operating room nurse in 1998 and quickly gravitated toward orthopedics in those early days, enough so that she eventually received a graduate degree from Gonzaga University and the Orthopedic Nurse Practitioner certificate to further advance the types of care she can provide.

“Her surgical skills are second to none as the assist,” Dr. Kym said. “She knows where I’m going with it and knows how to assist in the mechanics and how to get the most exposure.”

Huffman works exclusively with Dr. Kym on orthopedic procedures. Patients that come to Gritman Orthopedic Surgeons can expect a team approach to care, she said, with the most advanced technology available, whether they’re performing a total joint replacement, treating a sports injury or helping someone suffering from a chronic movement issue.

I’d love patients to know that the second they walk in the door at Gritman Medical Center they’re going to receive top-notch care from every interaction they have. That might be the check-in process, the pre-op process, all the way through the operating room, nurses on the floor, as well as our therapists, dietary services and environmental services.” — Sunshine Huffman, ONP-C

“And that’s the beauty of what Dr. Kym and I bring as a team that’s been together for so long,” she said. “We can always know what the other is saying. We’re always on the same treatment page.”

Sunshine huffman serves patients as an orthopedic certified nurse practitioner, joining dr. Marvin kym in the gritman orthopedic surgeons practice.

For Huffman and Kym, the team approach also means providing educated discussion of individual situations that provide patients with the information that helps them make the right decision-whether that’s surgery or whether that’s first meeting with Gritman Therapy Solutions, diagnostic imaging or the Interventional Pain Clinic, all part of Gritman’s Orthopedic Care Program.

“We’re not walking in your shoes, but it’s our job to walk alongside you and give you options,” she said.

While they are new to the Gritman Orthopedic Surgeons practice, Huffman and Dr. Marvin Kym are no strangers to Gritman—she has been credentialed here since 2018 and he has been our medical staff since 1994. They joined Gritman Orthopedic Surgeons this spring after practicing most recently in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley.

“Over the course of the years, being in the operating room here, working, I was stricken by the kindness of the people working here,” she said. “As I learn more about the leadership team here at Gritman, I feel strongly that they are passionate and capable of leading this hospital to serve this community well, and I am excited to be a part of that.”

Gritman Orthopedic Surgeons operates from the Gritman Medical Park, 2301 W. A St., Moscow. Learn more at gritman.org/orthopedic.

Learn more about orthopedic care options that might be available to you by visiting the Gritman Online Clinic.

Meet Sunshine Huffman, ONP-C, with Gritman Orthopedic Surgeons