Don't Eat Your Young: A Nursing Podcast

Kerry Johnson has worn many hats in her time as a nurse: bedside nurse, FNP, and Functional Medicine NP. What better person than her to teach the new nurses coming into the profession. Listen today to hear how Kerry got into education and how her passion for health turned her to functional medicine.

ABOUT KERRY

Kerry Johnson had been working as a nurse for several years when she decided to get her family nurse practitioner certification. Once she received that degree and was seeing patient’s in the clinic, she noticed how she wasn’t preventing disease, but just treating it. Patients were getting sicker and the healthcare system in which she was working just didn’t seem right to her. So she decided it was time to help patients in a different way and became certified in functional medicine. With that new knowledge and passion, she also decided it was time to teach others how to prevent disease, for their health and the health of their patients.

Kerry is now seeing patients her way by getting to the root of the problem and finding a way to help them get better, without just band-aiding the issues. I know firsthand how Kerry can help with many ailments and can’t speak highly enough of her compassion and knowledge for helping others. She is a great educator, for her patients and her students.

LINKS

Kerry’s website www.drkimwellness.org

Follow Kerry’s journey on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Alex Whitefield knows what it’s like to be an exhausted bedside nurse. It isn’t ok for nurses to do the work that they do without a break away from their patients. So he decided to change that. Listen this week to hear what Alex is working on to help manage the complexities of scheduling our breaks.

Alex Whitefield was an ER nurse before becoming a nurse leader. During the time he was working at the bedside, he realized how important it was that nurses needed their breaks so that they could come back and care for their patients. Once he became a manager, he saw how complex it can be to schedule an entire unit of nurses to get their breaks without missing anyone. So he developed Breakalgo, as in break algorithm, so that if it wasn’t a good time for a nurse to take a break, they wouldn’t get lost in the chaos.

Alex Whitefield cares for the nurses he manages and it is clear when we discuss the importance of nurses caring for themselves. He has taken it upon himself to create a workplace that leads to caring for each other as well. It is nurse leaders like Alex that will change the landscape of the nursing profession.

LINKS

Find the Breakalago tool here www.breakalgo.com

Follow Alex’s journey on LinkedIn

Ryan George, an experienced ICU nurse, offers a candid account of his decision to leave his job due to workplace bullying, ultimately leading him to exit the nursing profession altogether. As a gay man in a predominantly female field, Ryan sheds light on the reality of toxic workplace dynamics, particularly the "mean girls" phenomenon. Despite his proficiency as a nurse and dedication to teaching, Ryan found himself targeted and uncomfortable in his work environment. He emphasizes the importance of kindness, support, and camaraderie among nurses, advocating for a healthier workplace culture. Ryan's experience underscores the toll of toxic environments on both healthcare professionals and patient care, urging for a more compassionate and supportive approach within the nursing community.

Welcome back to Don't Eat Your Young, the podcast that delves into the inspiring stories and impactful work of individuals shaping the landscape of healthcare. In this episode, we shine a spotlight on Susan B. Davis, widely known as the Rescue RN, who has become a leading figure in cardiac arrest awareness, CPR training, and AED preparedness within communities.

Susan B. Davis has dedicated her career to transforming public understanding and response to cardiac emergencies. In the hospital setting, Susan identified a critical gap in the preparedness of healthcare professionals to manage in-hospital cardiac arrests effectively. This insight led her to establish CodePRep, an innovative mock code training program designed to enhance the competency and readiness of hospital staff. Susan's impact extends into her role as the Resuscitation Education Manager for a prominent healthcare system in Southwest Florida. In this capacity, she oversees the development and implementation of all things related to resuscitation for healthcare professionals. Her leadership ensures that the system's staff are current with the latest cardiac care protocols and proficient in their application, ultimately enhancing patient survival rates and setting new standards in resuscitation education. Susan’s visionary approach and unwavering dedication have established her as a distinguished figure in resuscitation preparedness and response.

LINKS

• Find the CodePRep Workshop here www.rescuern.com.
• Book Rescue RN for speaking events here www.rescuern.com.
• Follow Susan's journey on LinkedIn and YouTube.

Maggie Ortiz, a seasoned nurse with over 23 years of experience, brings a wealth of expertise to the nursing community. Having worked in diverse roles, including bedside nursing, administration, and as a Texas Board of Nursing investigator, Maggie is well-versed in protecting nurses from litigation. As the Founder of Advocates for Nurses, she educates fellow nurses on navigating challenges, shares valuable tips on self-protection, and offers her connection for nurses dealing with licensing issues.

Maggie returns this season to share insights into how nurses can protect themselves and provides her personal contact number to those facing potential issues regarding their license. She also teaches courses to empower nurses in safeguarding themselves while caring for patients.

Mel Cortez has been a nurse for 15 years, and an entrepreneur for many of those years. She noticed a gap in nursing and took action. In this episode, she shares her experience facing a violent patient in a community hospital, leading her to initiate a "ground-up" approach to empower nurses. Collaborating with military friends, Mel developed Cortex Gold, a comprehensive training program for healthcare professionals to prevent and handle violence. Discover how Mel is making workplaces safer and explore Cortex Gold for essential knowledge in preventing harm.

Mel Cortez is making the workplace a safer place. If you are threatened by violence or want the knowledge to prevent harm to yourself, your coworkers or your patients, Cortex Gold is something to check out.

Jill Brandl was an RN who worked to become a Holistic Psych Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Despite her education in mental health, Jill needed help with her own burnout from her years in healthcare, as well as dealing with trauma outside of her job. After what she describes as “total burnout”, Jill decided it was time to put herself first and begin the journey to a more healthy life. She stepped away from her job to focus on helping herself so she could continue to help others.

Jill says that the mental health of nurses is her passion now. She says that step one to healing is admitting that things have to change and not allowing shame to get in the way of asking for help. Nurses have been taught to think that burnout just goes with the territory and we should just suck it up and move through the exhaustion and difficulty of caring for others. Jill tells us that we must set boundaries, know our worth as people, and not get wrapped up in how we may be perceived if we put ourselves first.

Jill now offers help to nurses who are going through burnout or mental health issues. She utilizes evidence-based modalities to help others begin to heal themselves. Jill helps others by using mind-body healing and neuroscience-based flow-state coaching. She also focuses on the root cause of mental health, so that clients can make lasting changes.

With the explosion of cannabis use in the U.S., Alicia Schaal saw a gap in knowledge for healthcare professionals. Without much evidence-based information to find, she decided to educate herself so she could share that knowledge with others, namely the nurses and physicians that were unsure how cannabis impacts the our patients and the care that we deliver.

Alicia is currently taking pharmacology and other related courses to arm herself with the most up to date research. She is also a certified Cannabis Nurse in Minnesota. She recently  formed Midwest Cannabis Professionals, a consulting and education business. On her website, her goal is to “help improve your quality of life with medical cannabis”. Anyone can reach out to her for information so that they can make educated decisions for their own care. She also works with healthcare professionals so that they may feel more comfortable making decisions about their patient’s care regarding cannabis use. 

Alicia is very knowledgeable when it comes to cannabis and if she doesn’t know the answer to a question, you can bet that she will find the answer to best help her customers. This is a much needed service in a time when there is such little information. Alicia is certainly moving us in the right direction.

Links:

Alicia's website midwestcannabisprofessionals.com.

Follow Alice's journey on LinkedIn.

Being a nurse was the easy part compared to being a patient. Natalie D'Itri was an educator and was involved in oncology research as an RN. What she didn't anticipate was being a patient and learning how to navigate the healthcare system in a totally different capacity. In this week's episode, Beth talks with Natalie about her journey with breast cancer, from both perspectives – patient and nurse.

Last season, we heard from Natalie as the podcast host of CareerWise Nurse. This season, she returns to discuss her life after a breast cancer diagnosis. From this experience, Natalie has started a podcast called Breast Cancer Life, where you can hear her personal story about what she endured from diagnosis through her treatment.

Natalie approaches this episode with humility, education, and newfound compassion for the patients going through the same experiences she has endured. Check out her podcast to learn more about her story. 

Links:

• Listen to the Breast Cancer Life podcast here.
• Follow Natalie's journey on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

Welcome back to Season Four of "Don't Eat Your Young"! I'm your host, Beth Quass, and I am beyond excited to be back recording for this season. A huge thank you to all you amazing listeners who keep coming back to hear the incredible stories from nurses just like you.

I'm incredibly grateful for the nurses who join me on the show, sharing their expertise, vulnerabilities, and experiences in this challenging profession. We all know how tough it is in healthcare right now, especially for nurses. That's why this season, I've brought on guests who I hope will inspire us all – whether it's to find renewed passion in our work, persevere through the challenges, or make the courageous decision to leave if that's what's best for our well-being. Because at the end of the day, we all want to be healthy and able to care for others, including ourselves.

If you're interested in being a guest on the show, please reach out to me at beth@donteatyouryoung.com.

Links:

• Follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Neonatal nurse practitioner Rachel Murray joins your host Beth Quaas to talk about her shift from nursing to also start working as a professional development trainer. She studied at Dale Carnegie Training, which gave her a unique perspective on how to train others. The program fanned her passion to educate people. She and Beth discuss her training methods she’s learned and how these training methods could (and should!) be used in training nurses as well as administrators. 

ABOUT RACHAEL

Rachael has been a Registered Nurse since 2004 and, subsequently, a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner since 2011. As a clinician, she was frequently responsible for mentoring and training new staff and quickly realized she loved it! This lead her to pursue a second career in professional development training in 2014 through Dale Carnegie Training, in which she worked with individuals and teams from a variety of industries and eventually became certified as a Master Trainer responsible for developing and certifying prospective trainers. In 2020, she decided to combine her two passions of nursing and training when she started Elevate Nurses LLC, a business dedicated to providing quality training to Registered Nurses. Rachael has served as Chair of her organization’s Professional Practice Council, President of the San Diego Chapter of the Association of California Nurse Leaders (ACNL), co-chair of the state-level ACNL Communications and Voice committee, as well as lead of several sub-committees for the San Diego Chapter. Rachael was born and raised in Wisconsin but has been escaping the cold in SoCal for almost a decade. 

LINKS

• Email Rachael
• Rachael on LinkedIn
• Elevate Nurses on Facebook and LinkedIn

• (00:00) - Welcome to Don't Eat Your Young • Rachael Murray

Beth talks with Allison Twede about her journey through nursing – from toxic workplace environments to admin positions to finally finding her calling to help other nurses heal. It’s a powerful conversation as they explore her path to healing herself while also following her calling to heal others.

Allison Twede is a registered nurse, teacher, podcast host and creative entrepreneur. Allison has been on a spiritual journey for years and is passionate about helping others on their journey as well. As a nurse, Allison discovered how many people struggle with self-love and resilience. Allison's hope is to share what she has learned through education, employment and her personal practice to bring others along on this journey of love and self discovery.

LINKS

Allison on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

Allison’s podcast From Weeds to Wildflowers on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon

Learn more about supporting the Don’t Eat Your Young Podcast with a membership — visit Don’t Eat Your Young’s membership page!

• (00:00) - Welcome to Don't Eat Your Young • Allison Twede

Nursing at Sea

Her adventures started when she took a job as nurse on a Carnival Cruise at the turn of the century. The travel was a selling point, but Denise Gruzensky loved nursing in this unique environment. She worked as a nurse practitioner but could also work as a nurse when needed. Gruzensky’s taken advantage of the world of online consulting and sees a lot of good in this shift. When she found out her dog had diabetes, she used that as a teaching opportunity to write a children’s book that lets kids with diabetes know that they’re not alone. Beth has a wonderful conversation in this episode with Denise about all of this. 

Learn more about supporting the Don’t Eat Your Young Podcast with a membership — visit Don’t Eat Your Young’s membership page!

About Denise

I am a certified family Nurse Practitioner with my master’s degree in Nursing from the University of San Diego.  I’ve worked in Emergency Medicine, Carnival Cruise Lines, Indian Health Services, Family Practice, Internal Medicine, and a concurrent career for the last six years as a Legal Nurse Consultant. I love continuing education, career development and I’m passionate about patient education and preventative care. My practice philosophy: “I believe in treating the whole patient. They are best equipped to partner in their care and wellness when they understand why we make recommendations and are empowered to participate in their healthcare decisions.”

In 2021, when our family moved, I remained with my practice and transitioned to a primarily virtual practice.

I assisted with Adventist Health’s AHEAD (Adventist Health Early All-Around Detection) program, piloting remote cancer risk evaluation screenings. I am a graduate of the 2022 IC.

I am a wife, a mother to four littles and a fur kid (dog). We love being outdoors hiking, biking swimming, camping and more.                                                                                                                 

I grew up loving all animals. As an adult, I developed a passion for rescues. In addition to writing, I volunteer for local animal shelters, work as a Family Nurse Practitioner, and I’m a mom to four humans-and a dog. We are a forever family through adoption which all started when I rescued Harley.

In “Not Like the Others” you are introduced to Harley, my rescued Yorkshire terrier. He will learn the meaning of a forever family and unconditional love.

How do you talk to your child about their newly diagnosed illness? How do you tell your child their pet has an illness like diabetes? What can you do to explain loving unconditionally? The answer is “Harley’s Story”.

I believe pets teach us important life lessons. “Not Like the Others” is the first book in my series “Life Lessons from Fur Friends”.

Links

• Denise on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube
• Email Denise

• (00:00) - Welcome to Don't Eat Your Young • Denise Gruzensky

With the launch of NursePreneurs, Catie Harris created a mentorship program that empowers nurses to monetize their knowledge, develop business skills, and help healthcare delivery evolve. Join us today as Catie talks about her program and her journey to start it.

Catie talks about her exploratory approach she takes with clients, and the varieties of areas nurses have ideas for great business ventures. Her approach is to help them nurture those ideas and share them with the world as new businesses. She also talks about the importance of networking and how she helps. And of course there’s the challenge of asking for money, but she has ways to help there as well. Plus, she has some tips on what to look for when finding your own coach.

Learn more about supporting the Don’t Eat Your Young Podcast with a membership — visit Don’t Eat Your Young’s membership page!

Links

• NursePreneurs website, the podcast, and the blog
• NursePreneurs on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest

• (00:00) - Welcome to Don't Eat Your Young • Catie Harris
• (00:53) - Catie Harris
• (01:29) - Catie's Background
• (03:24) - Her Business Now
• (05:08) - Her Approach
• (06:48) - Obstacles
• (09:07) - Her Podcast
• (12:41) - Networking
• (14:12) - Who She Follows
• (14:54) - Ideas
• (18:02) - Asking for Money
• (21:38) - Getting Out There
• (24:11) - Looking to the Future
• (25:25) - When Looking for a Coach
• (27:54) - Tips
• (28:55) - Wrapping Up

Meet Rachel

After a discriminatory incident at work showed Rachel how the system thought of her and her fellow nurses, registered nurse Rachel Dick decided she needed to be in a place where she didn’t have to answer to anyone but herself. That led her on a journey to become a certified holistic nurse coach, working with nurses to unlock their own potential. Rachel coaches nurses and runs workshops, helping them to unlock their own creativity and find their own voices. She also works to help them process trauma through writing. 

In this conversation, Rachel and Beth talk about her journey, her coaching, the political discrimination that led her to make the change in her life, and more. Tune in!

About Rachel

Rachel is a registered nurse and certified holistic nurse coach. Her passion lies in helping individuals unlock their creative potential. Along with Tilda Shalof, nurse and bestselling author, she has founded The Nurse’s Way, an interactive workshop geared to helping nurses find their voice and master the art of storytelling.

Links

• Rachel Dick Coaching
• Email Rachel
• Rachel on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram
• Learn more about supporting the Don’t Eat Your Young Podcast with a membership — visit Don’t Eat Your Young’s membership page!

• (00:00) - Welcome to Don't Eat Your Young • Rachel Dick

Meet Sonya
I was born and raised in Walterboro, South Carolina. I was told that at the age of three, I told my family that I wanted to be a nurse.  After high school, I attended college for two years at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, where I thought I wanted to major in Industrial Psychology.  Somehow, nursing was not on my compass at the time and I took a different path.

I left Spelman and came home to hold various jobs. I became a career administrative assistant for various industries, such as financial (working for CFO, Controller, Credit Manager) and legal (assistant for corporate bankruptcy, immigration, school education, and environmental lawyers).  When presented with the opportunity to attend law school, I decided then that, although I liked what I did, it was not what I truly wanted to pursue for a career.

I decided to go back to school at Trident Technical College in 2003.  I finished with my ADN in 2006.  I had begun as a Student Tech on 8D during my last year at Trident but I had always been interested in the OR so I decided to take a job in the Main Operating Room as a new grad.  I started in 2006 and since then, I have become the Unit Magnet Champion, RNIII, Selecting Talent Peer Interviewer, member of the OR Shared Governance Council, CNOR, and Unit Certification Champion.  I became a mid-shift staff nurse where I was exposed to multiple services:  Urology, GYN, DaVinci, ENT/Plastics/Oral, Ortho, Neuro and Pediatrics.  This gave me a wealth of knowledge and I became a resource and mentor to many. 

I decided to go back to school in 2014 to receive my BSN, which  I received from University of Texas – Arlington in December 2016.  I also received my MSN program in Nurse Education there in 2018.   I am one of the Nursing Professional Development Specialists for the ORs at a large academic medical center, where I am the lead for orientation/onboarding for 50 ORs. 

Links

• Sonya on Instagram
• Learn more about supporting the Don’t Eat Your Young Podcast with a membership — visit Don’t Eat Your Young’s membership page!

• (00:00) - Welcome to Don't Eat Your Young • Sonya Spruill
• (34:02) - Wrapping Up

Meet Liz
Liz Burkholder from Charlotte, North Carolina, joins Beth today. Liz Burkholder is an integrative, double-board certified Family Nurse Practitioner and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, hypnotherapist, trauma specialist, and mind-body practitioner. She and Beth talk about holistic well-being and how to take care of yourself through deconstructive transformation.

About Liz

Liz began her own healing journey at age 17 after a divine intervention changed the trajectory of her life. After her experience with trauma as a child, she found herself as a lost, self-loathing, depressed, and anxious high school dropout with no sense of self-worth.

Liz has spent her life healing herself and becoming a healer for others. Her biggest passion is teaching others how to heal themselves. She uses hypnotherapy, meditation, breathwork, and yoga as some of her primary interventions. She developed Transpersonal and Trauma Healing Hypnotherapy (TTHH) to help people actually process, release, and heal traumatic events that have negatively affected their body, mind, and life. Her motto is “Anything can be healed.” 

Liz is currently pursuing a PhD in Mind Body Medicine with a specialization in Integrative Mental Health from Saybrook University.

Links

• Reach out to Liz at Burkholder Wellness
• Learn more about supporting the Don’t Eat Your Young Podcast with a membership — visit Don’t Eat Your Young’s membership page!

• (00:00) - Welcome to Don't Eat Your Young • Liz Burkholder

Antra Boyd met Karen DiMarco when Karen was teaching nurses how to work and advocate for our patients by thinking outside the box. Through that chance meeting, they formed a company called RNegade. They are changing the way that nurses and others learn and make it fun and informative. RNegade offers continuing education credit by listening to podcasts with guests from various backgrounds and experiences, but all knowledgeable in the content they are speaking on. No more boring grind to get CE credit, but learning on the go that is fast and simple. 

Antra and Karen are also expanding to offer more content to nurses. They are looking for content creators to bring even more information. If you feel you have something to share, check out their link and learn more about it. We all benefit when we share our knowledge

Learn more about supporting the Don’t Eat Your Young Podcast with a membership — visit Don’t Eat Your Young’s membership page!

Links

• RNegade
• Email Antra
• Email Karen
• Antra on LinkedIn
• RNegade Pro on Facebook
• The RNegade Podcast

• (00:00) - Welcome to Don't Eat Your Young •Antra Boyd & Karen DiMarco

From Caring for Patients to Caring for Caregivers

Tammy Ward has been in healthcare for 23 years. She moved from bedside nursing to becoming a CRNA. Throughout that process, she has realized that she has more to give. Her love for taking care of patients has moved out of the hospital setting to one of caring for the caregivers. She works with clients on a more personal basis, teaching them to put themselves first. Tammy wants others to succeed just as she has and helps others find what works for them to live their healthiest lives, both physically and mentally.

About Tammy

I am here to inspire and empower clients to prioritize themselves, let go of limiting beliefs and build their best life! I am a nurse anesthetist and have been working in health care for 23 years. My coaching journey stemmed from the love of caring for others. With the burnout in health care, I experienced the importance and necessity of daily self-care practices. Being coached myself helped me prioritize my personal needs and desires for my life. As I dove deeper into self care, it inspired me to become a certified health & life coach and create my own business, Elite Health & Life Coaching. Coaching has given me the opportunity to help people who are looking for change and transformation in their own lives. If you don't know where to start, look no further! Through coaching I help women and men prioritize themselves, reduce stress, increase energy and shed excess weight. I will help guide you to an empowered position of self love, positive body image and maintain sustainable weight loss goals. 

Links

• Elite Health & Life Coaching
• Find Tammy on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram

Learn more about supporting the Don’t Eat Your Young Podcast with a membership — visit Don’t Eat Your Young’s membership page!

• (00:00) - Welcome to Don't Eat Your Young • Tammy Ward

Chris came into nursing as a second career. For seven years, he has worked with cardiac patients in a large hospital where he takes care of some of the sickest patients. In order to do his job well, Chris needs time with each patient, resources to assist him in that care, and a safe environment to do so. But as we've seen, staff to patient ratios are not aligned, and resources are diminishing. Violence in healthcare settings is at an all time high.

Early on in his nursing career, Chris got involved. He quickly realized the impact he could make by advocating for nurses so started working with the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA). Through that work, he helps lead the historic strike that involves 22,000 nurses in Minnesota. Determined to fight for safe staffing levels, safer work environments, and benefits that will keep nurses at the bedside, Chris is part of a movement that will shape our profession.

Links

• Minnesota Nurses Association
• Facebook: Chris for MNA VP
• Email Chris

• (00:00) - Welcome to Don't Eat Your Young •Chris Rubesch and the Historic MN Nurses Strike