EP 169: The Misconceptions of Nursing With Theresa Brown

EP 169: The Misconceptions of Nursing With Theresa Brown

by | Jun 24, 2022 | Podcast

The Misconceptions of Nursing With Theresa Brown

Misconceptions of nursing – what are they? How can we help highlight these issues? Nursing is a profession that isn’t for everyone. But some excel greatly in this career.

And while nursing is a remarkable career that provides essential services, there are still misconceptions about it. What are the misconceptions about nursing? How can we uplift nurses?

In this episode, we would like to introduce you to Theresa Brown. Theresa Brown is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Shift.

She earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago and taught English before flipping her career into nursing. She now holds lectures on issues related to nursing, healthcare, and the end of life. 

Her new book titled Healing is out now, where she tells a powerful story about navigating healthcare after a breast cancer diagnosis. 

QUESTIONS FOR GUESTS:

The questions below are some we’d like to tackle. We go off-topic all the time so we don’t expect to hit them all. If you have any ideas please let us know. Looking forward to our conversation!

  1. What made you shift focus from academia to pursue a career in nursing? What made you choose oncology, palliative, and hospice? 
  2. During your first year as an oncology nurse, you experienced a sudden death of a patient. How did that make you feel, and how did you process those emotions?
  3. Your book Critical Care is an account of your first year as a nurse. What was your biggest take away, and how were you able to deal with the emotions and workload of a new nurse?
  4. How different was the reality of nursing compared to your expectations going in? 
    1. What do you think are the most common misconceptions about nursing?
    2. What are the struggles you’ve noticed nurses face?
  5. Going from nurse to patient, how was it navigating through a healthcare system that you’ve worked in?
    1. What were your first thoughts when you were diagnosed with cancer?
    2. How were you treated? Were physicians and other medical staff transparent and timely? Did you feel that you were getting the appropriate “help’?
    3. Do you feel that you were left in the dark or weren’t given the full picture of your situation?
  6. Being both a patient and a nurse, what would you like to change in healthcare or in nursing? Did healthcare fail you?

ENDING QUESTIONS:

Before we end the show we have one last question we like to ask all our guests. If you had the opportunity to have a Cup of coffee with anybody, dead or alive, who would it be & why? 

You can check out Theresa’s book Healing: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient at https://www.theresabrownrn.com/. Or stay in touch with her through Twitter @TheresaBrown for more information.

To understand more about the misconceptions about nursing, check out the full episode here 👇

TIME STAMPS:

00:00 Intro
01:42 What made you shift focus from academia to pursue a career in nursing?
04:55 What made you choose oncology, palliative care, and hospice?
07:34 The biggest takeaway as an oncology nurse
11:26 The struggles of nursing school
14:25 Tips for dealing with emotions after a patient’s death
23:05 Being a cancer patient
28:12 What patients really need from nurses
32:31 Realizations to improve healthcare
36:59 What would you like to change in healthcare or in nursing?
46:34 How does it feel to be out of leadership status?
50:25 Who do you want to have one last cup of coffee with?

 

 

EP. 168 Empowering Nurses with Alice Benjamin

EP. 168 Empowering Nurses with Alice Benjamin

by | Jun 17, 2022 | Podcast

Empowering Nurses with Alice Benjamin

Nurses are the backbone of healthcare, and we take pride in that. However, there are times when nurses don’t feel like they are as important in our community.

A bad work environment can also add up to the stress that many nurses feel. In some cases, many nurses do not feel like their efforts are given enough recognition, so they don’t perform well, or worse, they don’t provide quality patient care any longer. 

While many nurses take their profession seriously, some are not sure anymore. What can we do to help our fellow nurses? Is there a way to inspire and encourage them to do better?

What needs to improve in a nurse’s work environment to help them feel empowered?

In this episode, we would like to introduce you to Alice Benjamin, better known as Nurse Alice, America’s favorite nurse. She is a cardiac clinical nurse specialist and family nurse practitioner with over 23 years of healthcare experience.

Alice is Nurse.org’s Chief Nursing Officer and Correspondent and hosts the popular ‘Ask Nurse Alice’ podcast. 

QUESTIONS FOR GUESTS:

The questions below are some we’d like to tackle. We go off-topic all the time, so we don’t expect to hit them all. If you have any ideas, please let us know. Looking forward to our conversation!

  • Being in over 20 years in healthcare, what are some changes you would like to see in healthcare? 
  • How do you think the pandemic has affected nurses? 
  • How should new nurses empower themselves going into this profession in 2022? 
  • What do you think about the RaDonda Vaught case?
  • She was sentenced on Friday to three years of probation in a Nashville criminal court. After the probationary period, she could ultimately have her conviction dismissed.
  • Found guilty in March of two charges, criminally negligent homicide and abuse of an impaired adult, after a medication error contributed to the death of 75-year-old Charlene Murphey in December 2017.
  • What are some of the biggest challenges you have taken on recently? 
  • What is something nursing has thought you that you can apply in life? 

ENDING QUESTIONS

Before we end the show we have one last question we like to ask all our guests. If you had the opportunity to have a Cup of coffee with anybody one last time, who would it be & why? 

Socials:

Learn how to become an empowered nurse by watching our full episode. Click here for more 👇

TIME STAMPS:

00:00 Intro
01:35 About Alice
02:30 What are some changes you would like to see in healthcare?
06:26 How can we improve the healthcare system?
09:46 Reasons for some patients’ noncompliance
15:24 One-size-fits-all patient treatment does not always work.
17:57 How should new nurses empower themselves?
20:26 How to be a better nurse
24:13 What are the challenges of being a nurse
29:52 Thoughts about the RaDonda Vaught case?
43:31 The last one cup of coffee with?

EP 167: Should You Start in a CVICU as a New Grad?

EP 167: Should You Start in a CVICU as a New Grad?

by | Jun 12, 2022 | Podcast

Should You Start in a CVICU as a New Grad?

Start in a CVICU as a new grad? Why not! One of the exciting areas to start working as a nurse is in the Cardiac ICU. The cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit or CVICU is a hospital ward that caters to and cares for patients with ischemic heart disease and other severe heart conditions. 

Patients who suffered a heart attack and need close monitoring are also placed in this unit. The same goes for patients recovering from heart surgery and with other severe conditions like cardiomyopathy, arrhythmia, heart infection, or unstable angina. 

Most patients in the CVICU often have various complications such as respiratory failure and renal failure. Therefore, medical staff who work at CVICU are required to have the ability to practice systemic intensive care.

In this episode, we introduce you to one of our followers, James Hatano. James is a New grad nurse in the Cardiac ICU at a Trauma 1 hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.

He is also a certified CrossFit coach and a baseball coach. Today we will talk about his new grad experience as a Cardiac ICU nurse. So if you are interested to start in a CVICU as a new grad, this episode is for you. 

QUESTIONS FOR GUESTS:

The questions below are some we’d like to tackle. We go off-topic all the time so we don’t expect to hit them all. If you have any ideas please let us know. Looking forward to our conversation!

  1. Your BSN is your second degree, you also have a degree in exercise physiology. What made you decide on exercise physiology and then what made you transition into nursing?
    • Are there some aspects of exercise physiology that have helped you in nursing school, being a nurse, and/or with life in general? 
    • How did you survive nursing school? What do you think was the key? Time management, good schedule, etc…?
  2. Was the Cardiac ICU something you wanted to get into right off the bat? 
    • Why did you choose the Cardiac ICU? Do you fit the typical cardiac ICU stereotype? (craziest lives but neatest lines, control, OCD)
  3. Biggest difference between nursing school and the ICU?
    • What’s something you wished you knew going into school?
    • What did you struggle with most in school? What do you struggle with most now?
    • Tips for nurses trying to join the ICU.
  4. Nursing is stressful, we can agree that it is never going to change. No matter if there are appropriate ratios and great morale, working with patients that are very sick you’re always going to have that stress on your shoulders.
    • What do you do to help balance that stress, do you have any issue with not leaving it at work and bringing it home with you?
  5. You’re big into fitness you’re even one of the top 50 fittest nurses in the world, how has that helped you through life?
    • How has fitness played a role in your life and how has it helped you with nursing?
    • How has your exercise changed over time?
  6. The drive podcast by Peter Attia, what got you into it and why do you enjoy it, what do they talk about?
  7. Chop wood, carry water book, would you recommend that book, why and/or to whom?

ENDING QUESTIONS:

Before we end the show we have one last question we like to ask all our guests. If you had the opportunity to have a Cup of coffee with anybody one last time, who would it be & why? 

You can find James on Instagram @jameshatano to know more about CVICU nursing.

You can also watch the full episode here 👇

TIME STAMPS:

00:00 Intro
00:45 Episode Introduction
01:33 About the guest
03:29 James Hatano and nursing
06:46 How does nursing school impact life
09:57 Transitioning out of nursing school
12:17 Life lessons you learned from being a CVICU nurse
13:51 Struggles as a new grad
20:03 Balancing Work and Life
22:15 Managing time
25:03 Managing relationship
30:32 How is it working with a female dominant profession
33:44 What would you like to improve in the healthcare system
37:00 A thing that you always have
39:47 The person outside nursing
43:52 Personal interests
46:34 Who would you want to have the one last cup of coffee?

Ep. 166: Being a Travel Nurse Practitioner With Ebony Thyme

Ep. 166: Being a Travel Nurse Practitioner With Ebony Thyme

by | Jun 4, 2022 | Podcast

Being a Travel Nurse Practitioner With Ebony Thyme

Besides travel nurses, we also have traveling nurse practitioners. What is a traveling nurse practitioner anyway?

By definition, they are healthcare professionals who work at a facility away from their home base. They act as immediate and often temporary staffing for healthcare facilities. 

Traveling nurse practitioners often work in senior care centers, hospitals, clinics, stand-alone emergency rooms, urgent care locations, and other healthcare facilities where there is a need for registered nurse practitioners.

These facilities could need assistance from an NP because of patient overflow or a full-time employee on an extended leave or has retired.

A traveling nurse practitioner is also like a travel nurse. The only difference is that a traveling nurse practitioner’s contract can last one day to one year. Meanwhile, travel nurses go on contract for as long as 13 weeks. 

Our Guest

In this episode, we welcome our guest Ebony Thyme, a full-time Travel NP and a full-time wanderlust. A free-spirited individual with eight years of nursing experience.

She also worked as a Travel NP in four states and has traveled to more than 30+ countries. Ebony’s background includes Family Medicine and before her NP journey, she was also an ICU Nurse.

QUESTIONS FOR GUESTS

The questions below are some we’d like to tackle. We go off-topic all the time so we don’t expect to hit them all. If you have any ideas please let us know. Looking forward to our conversation!

  • Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
      1. How did you get into nursing?
      2. What made you be ICU?
      3. What made you transition into being a travel nurse practitioner?
  • What made you enter into a traveling career?
      1. What have you learned? 
      2. What was the hardest thing for you to get used to?
      3. Advice to anyone that wants to be a travel RN or NP?
      4. What is the market for travel nurse practitioners? 
        1. What are some of the expectations and responsibilities? 
      5. What was your favorite state to travel to for work?
  • You’ve been to 30 countries, why do you travel so much?
      1. What have you learned from exploring so many cultures? 
      2. How has it expanded your mind and perspective?
      3. How important is it for you to travel and why should people do more traveling?
  • As an NP, how were you able to make your career give you financial freedom and the ability to control where your time goes?
  • What are you currently working on?
    1. NPing around the US?
    2. Travel boot camp? What is it?
    3. Locum Tenen Guide? 
    4. Thyme Talks podcast?

Before we end the show we have one last question we like to ask all our guests. If you had the opportunity to have a cup of coffee with anybody one last time, who would it be & why? 

You can catch Ebony on her Instagram accounts at @ebbthenp and @frontpage_eb. For her master class, podcast, and other sites, check out the links below:

If you are interested in becoming a traveling NP, watch the full episode here to learn more 👇

TIME STAMPS:

00:00 Intro
02:02 Plugs
02:56 About the Guest
05:27 The difference between Travel Nurse and a Travel NP
09:01 What is transitioning from Nurse to NP look like?
13:15 Advantage of a Nurse Practitioner
15:11 3 tips for nursing students
19:02 The importance of self-care
22:22 Solo traveling experience
24:31 Fears and Expectations
26:11 Difference between living on the east coast and the west coast
29:08 The humbling life in other countries
34:32 Places you should visit
35:35 What kept Ebony busy
39:51 Things I wish I knew earlier in my career
42:10 The worst contract
45:15 Toxic workplace
49:54 Who would you want to have a cup of coffee one last time?