While March 19 was Certified Nurses Day, being certified is relevant throughout the year. In 2020, the American Board of Nursing Specialties (ABNS) conducted a national survey that found 75% of adults thought it was important for all nurses to have a specialty board certification in a relevant field. But why is it important to nurses? In this episode Nurse Alice speaks with Elizabeth Scruth, the chair-elect of the AACN Certification Corporation to discuss the benefits of nursing certification an...
May 24, 2022•32 min•Season 2Ep. 74
In this episode Nurse Alice speaks with Ryan Ribeira, assistant professor at Stanford and CEO of SimX, an immersive VR medical training company. He explains, - What's wrong with the way we train now. - What prompted him to start SimX - How virtual reality, augmented reality and XR are safe solutions to training and preparing future medical professionals Every year nearly 80,000 nursing student applicants get turned away - not because they don't qualify but due to the shortage of nurse educators ...
May 10, 2022•31 min•Season 2Ep. 73
It's a chronic disease of unknown cause characterized by the enlargement of lymph nodes in many parts of the body and the widespread appearance of granulomas. If you're a nurse you're familiar with it but likely not enough to really explain it to your patient. And that's why we're talking about it now, April is Sarcoidosis awareness month. In this episode Nurse Alice speaks with Amy Cobb, a long-time FNP, and wellness advocate working in primary care who is also a patient of chronic medical cond...
May 03, 2022•36 min•Season 2Ep. 72
There is a nursing shortage that we all know about. But did you ever think to realize that in addition to direct patient care, we also have an even more significant shortage of nursing in the world of academia and research? Did you know there's a distinct difference between being a Research Nurse and Nurse Researcher, also known as a Nurse Scientist? In this episode Nurse Alice speaks with Dr. Kelly Wierenga of Indiana University and Dr. Timiya Nolan of Ohio State University, both assistant coll...
Apr 26, 2022•33 min•Season 2Ep. 71
Many of us have been inspired to work in healthcare. You wanted to make a difference. You had so many ideas, so much ambition, so much passion then over the years of unanticipated trauma and drama, healthcare took its toll. You got burned out. You've been spending more time with equipment and documentation than you have with the patient. You don't feel appreciated. You sometimes don't even like being a nurse anymore. You sometimes wonder if you made a mistake in your career choices. In this epis...
Apr 20, 2022•36 min•Season 2Ep. 70
So many times healthcare workers are focused on life-saving interventions for their patients. But what happens when the goals of care shift to providing comfort care only? What does that really mean? Do you clearly understand the difference between palliative care and hospice care? Do you know what a POLST is? This is a topic we don't talk enough about until we're in those situations. In this episode Nurse Alice speaks with Beth Cavenaugh , RN, BSN, CHPN who knows all too well what nurses are up...
Apr 19, 2022•35 min•Season 2Ep. 69
Have you ever had a poop and looked at it after you wiped? If not, you should! Our colorectal health is not something we should ignore. Why is it so taboo to know what healthy poop should look like? Why does it sometimes float and sometimes sink? What does it mean when it changes colors or consistency? How many times should we be going? Discover the power of pooping. In this episode Nurse Alice speaks with Nurse Susan Wong, a nurse of over 40 years specializing in colorectal health. She is the h...
Apr 06, 2022•49 min•Season 2Ep. 68
After working tirelessly at the bedside caring for patients and working in high-stress conditions, many nurses have families they must return to and continue to care for. How can I as a nurse protect myself, my time, and energy so I can enjoy my life outside my shift? How does one successfully juggle the stressors and demands of work and still have the energy to take care of our family at home? In this episode Nurse Alice speaks with Diana Page, an outpatient neurology nurse practitioner, burnou...
Apr 04, 2022•34 min•Season 2Ep. 67
Nursing is a great career choice due to the high demand for nurses, career stability and growth opportunities, well as a high average salary and work-life flexibility. It's also a profession that has historically been predominately female. And while that's changing - has it changed fast enough considering only 12% of nurses are male? What is it like being a male nurse? And why does it seem like many gravitate to certain specialties? In this episode Nurse Alice speaks with Jake Vizcarra and Felin...
Mar 31, 2022•33 min•Season 2Ep. 66
I know toothaches can sometimes feel like emergencies but are they? The mouth is a major entryway for bacteria and infection and is clearly essential for a patent airway. So how do we as nurses know which dental issues are emergencies that need to be handled right away and which ones can wait for the outpatient dental office? In this episode Nurse Alice speaks with Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon, Dr. Porchia James who talks about acute oral and dental patient issues that require immediate atte...
Mar 28, 2022•32 min•Season 2Ep. 65
A day in the life of a nurse can involve long hours of standing, walking, lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling heavy items from point A to point B, which can cause stress on our legs and feet. To avoid work-related health and feet problems, it's important that nurses take proper care of their feet. And while we're thinking about our own feet, let's not forget those of our patients. They may not come in for primary foot issues but the legs and feet can tell you a lot about your patient's healt...
Mar 24, 2022•32 min•Season 2Ep. 64
Have you ever wanted the ability to choose when and where you work and build your own flexible schedule? Maybe you have to work around a busy school or spouse schedule? Perhaps the babysitter isn't always available? Or maybe you work a full-time job and want to add a few shifts elsewhere? Or maybe you want to work when you feel like it and don't want to be bothered by a recruiter or administrative person asking for your availability weeks in advance and/or pressuring you to work on days that you...
Mar 22, 2022•30 min•Season 2Ep. 63
Medical marijuana has been a hot topic for several years. First legalized in California in 1996, now more than two-thirds of U.S. states and the District of Columbia have legalized it for medical treatments and more are considering bills to do the same. Then in 2012 Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize it for recreational use, and in a similar fashion, while only 18 states currently approve it recreationally, other states are expected to do the same. But sadly healthca...
Mar 14, 2022•31 min•Season 2Ep. 62
If the past two years have taught the world anything, it's that nurses are not okay. Nurses are burned out, many leaving the profession and for several reasons including having to work short-staffed in stressful, demanding, and hazardous conditions while being underpaid, undervalued, and overworked often at the risk of their own physical and mental health being. So of course the nursing shortage (which in fact existed well before COVID) has now been exacerbated and accelerated. So now what??? In...
Mar 10, 2022•42 min•Season 2Ep. 61
More than 100,000 U.S. women undergo some form of mastectomy each year. It is typically performed to treat breast cancer, but, in some cases, it is performed to prevent the risk of breast cancer. But what about life after the mastectomy? For some women after breast cancer and mastectomy, it can leave them feeling a void and having a desire to restore their natural-looking breasts. While this is sometimes possible with breast reconstructive surgery there are options and interim products that can ...
Mar 08, 2022•31 min•Season 2Ep. 60
The job-hunting process can be a tedious and daunting process especially when hundreds of other nurses are applying for the same position. After submitting your job application, it's usually a hurry up and wait game as hospitals and health care employers sift through hundreds of resumes. So how can you make your resume stand out and get recognized? And once you get the phone call from the recruiter to move forward with an interview - how can you best prepare yourself to ace the interview? Then o...
Mar 03, 2022•38 min•Season 2Ep. 59
Did you secure the bag during the pandemic? Maybe you took a pandemic travel nursing assignment? Added a couple of extra shifts for OT/DT? Or maybe you cashed in on some bonus pay? Either way, you probably made a little (or a lot of) extra money. So what are you going to do with it? While paying off debt and treating yourself are some of the first few things that come to mind. Have you ever considered investing in real estate? In this episode Nurse Alice talks to mortgage loan officer Ivan Simen...
Mar 01, 2022•33 min•Season 2Ep. 58
As healthcare providers and caregivers, we are often encouraging others to take care of their mental health and wellness, but do we do enough of that for ourselves? Why do we not follow our own instructions? And why do some of us feel bad when we want to leave unhealthy situations? In this episode Nurse Alice talks to psychotherapist, Dr. Michele Finnernan, about common mental issues she's been seeing this past year with healthcare professionals including compassion fatigue and burnout. She also...
Feb 24, 2022•40 min•Season 2Ep. 57
No one goes to work planning to have a bad day but sometimes things happen - a traffic accident makes you late to work; you have a disagreement with a co-worker or you get busy and forget to complete a task. If this is an unusual occurrence and it didn't cause any harm to a patient then grace is typically provided however if this turns out to be more of a pattern for you then you definitely want to listen in. In this episode Nurse Alice talks to nursing leader Vernell Davis about three common is...
Feb 22, 2022•52 min•Season 2Ep. 56
In this episode Nurse Alice speaks with Molly Rindt, RN and talent advocate at Incredible Health, a tech company that has changed the way nurses get hired by having hospitals apply to nurses. With the help of technology, Incredible health has flipped the hiring script to match nurses with what they're looking for with what the hospital is looking for and then hospitals apply to the nurse. In addition to that Incredible Health helps set up phone interviews, help with resume reviews, interview pre...
Feb 17, 2022•21 min•Season 2Ep. 55
While the fear of dying from Covid has been curbed by vaccines, masks, new treatments, and the most recent and prevalent strain, Omicron appearing to have more mild symptoms than previous strains, it doesn't exclude the fact that 10-20%% of those who survive any covid infection from developing Long Haul Covid. In this episode Nurse Alice speaks with Ashok Gupta, a Chronic Illness, Long Covid, and Neuroplasticity Expert in treating chronic illness through neuroplasticity principles . He has been ...
Feb 15, 2022•32 min•Season 2Ep. 54
When you're hungry, at work, they already know your food order. When you're talking, s/he can almost always finish your sentences. S/he can read your body language and facial expressions and know exactly what you're thinking without you having to say a word. And when something goes down at work, s/he is down for you like four flat tires. If you're spending 40 hours or more each week at work with someone like this then this is likely your work wife/husband. These are the people who get you throug...
Feb 03, 2022•41 min•Season 2Ep. 53
It's one thing to be a nurse and knows the patient's experience but it's a whole different experience being the nurse who takes care of the patient who happens to be a nurse. In this episode Nurse, Alice shares some of her own personal encounters as a patient wherein one situation she had to pull the "I am a nurse card" for the nurse to address her concerns to another instance when staff shortchanged her patient education assuming that because she's a nurse she was fully aware of everything happ...
Jan 31, 2022•47 min•Season 2Ep. 52
Nurse.org, the largest website and community of nurses online, announced the winners of its annual Nurse ICON Awards which recognize the best products, entertainment, careers, influencers, and issues that were most important to nurses in 2021. The Nurse.org community nominated and voted for the winners. See the full list of finalists on Nurse.org
Jan 25, 2022•21 min•Season 2Ep. 51
With one in eight women who will experience breast cancer in their lifetime, it's extremely important that we keep screening and early identification and treatment on the top of mind. As a woman, not only do I need to know for myself but also for my patients. And so what happens when the nurse who cares for patients with breast cancer, gets breast cancer herself? Can we keep the same energy and positivity we give our patients? Hint - it's hard but this episode's guest, Natasha Rossi, a pediatric...
Jan 13, 2022•32 min•Season 2Ep. 41
Have you ever received a report from someone who so confidently acts like they know it all, but leaves out fundamental and critical elements in the report? Nurse Alice shares a recent experience of when she was picking up a patient from an ER to transport to an ICU at a different hospital and encountered a handoff report from a nurse whose "know-it all" attitude was rooted in her closed-off personality and failure to recognize how sick the patient really was. Tune in to hear her 8 tips for how t...
Jan 12, 2022•29 min•Season 2Ep. 47
In the world of healthcare, many times it's presumed that a patient's code status is full code especially in the absence of any medical documentation or family that says otherwise. Is that okay? Or should you seek this definitive information asap, especially when the patient has a high probability of deteriorating? In this episode Nurse Alice shares a recent clinical experience when she discovered a DNR order from an assisted living center for a trauma patient she just received after being told ...
Jan 11, 2022•23 min•Season 2Ep. 50
In this episode Nurse Alice breaks down the new and confusing shortened CDC Covid isolation and quarantine guidelines, its potential impact on the health and safety of nurses, and how it's giving the air of more concern for big business and staffing vs safety, and is fueling the real nursing shortage. What nurse wants to go back to work Covid positive while still not feeling well to have to take care of patients who don't feel well? Learn more at Nurse.org
Jan 10, 2022•27 min•Season 2Ep. 49
More and more often we're hearing, "I'm fully vaccinated but tested positive for Covid." Nurse Alice talks about why the Omicron strain is so contagious, why this is happening, and hot off the press, the FDA first-ever Emergency Use Authorized Covid Pill that can significantly reduce moderate to severe illness progression that results in hospitalizations and death. But here's the catch - just like Covid vaccines, they're new and carry an emergency use authorization, and are not preventative. So ...
Jan 06, 2022•20 min•Season 2Ep. 48
As a nurse how involved are you with your state nursing association? How involved are you with your state board of registered nursing? Do you know the difference between the two organizations, their roles, and how they work together to advance the nursing profession? And what is your role in working with both of them to make sure your nursing voice is heard? If more nurses aren't present at decision tables, do you know who's making decisions on our behalf? Dr. Marketa Houskova is the Executive D...
Jan 03, 2022•45 min•Season 2Ep. 45
