This episode of Better Every Shift for Nurses focuses on the "long game" of nursing culture, featuring an in-depth conversation with Renee Thompson, the founder of the Healthy Workforce Institute. We dive into the hidden layers of workplace incivility, exploring the concept of the "near enemy"—those "squishy," covert behaviors like backstabbing and exclusion that are harder to define than overt bullying but just as damaging to a team.

Outright bad behavior is easy to see and manage. It’s the ‘not quite right’ behaviors that are actually harder to pick up and realise how damaging they are.

In Part A of our series on civility, Renee Thompson joins us to share her journey from the bedside to becoming a global advocate for healthy workforces. After a "worst-of-her-life" 14-month stint as a unit director, Renee realised that healthcare is hard enough without coworkers making it harder. We tackle the uncomfortable reality of staffing crises and the dangerous "math" managers do when they tolerate a behaviorally toxic nurse because they are afraid to lose a "clinically competent" body.

The Near Enemy vs. The Far Enemy: Why love and hate are clear, but the "squishier" behaviors of exclusion and backstabbing are harder to hold people accountable for.
Rules for Engagement: How to use the Talking Stick technique and established common ground to resolve clashing between different teams or departments,.
The Compact of Professional Behaviors: A simple, one-page tool where every team member contributes to defining how they will—and will never—treat each other.
Leading Your Own Groundswell: What to do when your own boss isn’t supportive of a better culture. Hint: You are the adult, and no one is coming to save you,,.
Therapeutic Extraction: Why playing the "long game" by removing a toxic employee actually results in a waiting list of people who want to work in your department.
Bridging the Gap with HR: Moving past the "brick wall" by using collaborative documentation and building a behavioral case based on evidence, not just feelings.
Standing Agenda Items: A practical tip for un-normalizing bad behavior by making "Healthy Workforce" the first item on every meeting agenda.

[00:00:00] Intro The "Near Enemy" concept

[00:03:00] Renee Thompson’s journey: Bedside nursing to the Healthy Workforce Institute

[00:06:00] Scenario: Managing clashing managers and "animosity between teams"

[00:08:00] The Talking Stick and rules for engagement

[00:10:00] Creating a Compact of Professional Behaviors

[00:13:00] When your leader isn't on board: Creating your own groundswell

[00:15:00] The Toxic Nurse Math: Why one toxic nurse is never better than no nurse

[00:19:00] Partnering with HR: Collaborative documentation and building a case

[00:23:00] The link between civility and patient safety

[00:25:00] Making healthy workforce a standing agenda item

To access Resources from Renee Thompson and Healthy Workforce Institute visit here: https://healthyworkforceinstitute.com/ 

Tea Room Notes:  

Connect with us to bring meaningful impact to your team check out our website.

"Is nursing turnover eroding your bottom line? Stop managing the crisis and start leading the culture. Book a Strategic Consultation at bettereveryshift.com.au/consultation to turn your clinical culture into a measurable business performance indicator."

 Stop the Reply All: Building a Compassionate Email Culture*

"A 'Reply All' loop isn't just an annoyance—it's a symptom of a culture that lacks compassion."

In this episode of Better Every Shift, we dive into the digital "human factors" that either build trust or make us want to "punch the screen". We often use email as proof that we’ve "done the work," but with 50% of emails being misinterpreted and 70% of mobile emails being deleted if they look like an essay, our habit of overproducing text is actually counter-productive.

Naomi and Tubi explore how to move away from "batting the ball across the fence" for a quick dopamine hit of closure and toward communication that actually solves problems. From mastering the **Minto Pyramid** to knowing when to ditch the keyboard for a phone call, this shift is about reclaiming your time and treating your colleagues' inboxes with empathy.


The Overproduction Trap: Why "bigger isn't better" when it comes to professional writing and why managers stop reading after the first two sentences.
The Minto Pyramid: How to structure your emails so the most important information is at the top, followed by themes, and leaving the data for the attachments.
Warmth vs. Competence: Applying Vanessa Van Edwards’ research to your inbox—balancing a friendly tone with a concise, clear structure that shows you can "get shit done".
The "Preference Conversation": Why you must ask your manager how they want to receive information and what specifically "keeps them up at night".
Stopping the "Rogue" Email Cycles: Using BCC transparently to kill "Reply All" loops before they start, and why "sneaky" CC-ing is a symptom of poor feedback culture.
Visceral Responses to Digital Tags: Why red exclamation marks and "Important" tags can actually make people work slower—not faster.
Email vs. Phone Call: The "one-back-and-forth" rule: if a resolution hasn't been reached after one reply, it’s time to pick up the phone.

By the end of this shift, you will have a practical toolkit to transform your digital presence. You’ll learn how to write emails that get a "yes" on the first try, how to protect your manager from a clogged inbox, and how to use digital tools to build a warmer, more effective team culture.

The Minto Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto.
Vanessa Van Edwards’ Ted Talk: On Warmth, Competence, and hand presence.
HBDI (Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument): Understanding your communication preferences.
The Better Every Shift Compassionate Email GEM

Think of a great email like sex education for a five-year-old. You don't start with the full anatomy; you give a small amount of clear information, wait for a question, and then answer that question directly. In the same way, don't drown a senior leader in a "grand novel" of data—give them the key point and wait to see if they need the attachments.

Connect with us to bring meaningful impact to your team check out our website.

"Is nursing turnover eroding your bottom line? Stop managing the crisis and start leading the culture. Book a Strategic Consultation at bettereveryshift.com.au/consultation to turn your clinical culture into a measurable business performance indicator."

The ROI of resilience: Why Staff Burnout is a Hospital Safety Risk

From Storm Chaser to Global Change Agent: Prioritising Nurse Wellbeing with Mark Carter

“If you can’t look after yourself first, you’re absolutely useless.”

In this powerful episode of Better Every Shift, we sit down with Mark Carter, a nurse and health entrepreneur whose journey into the profession began with a near-fatal accident and a radical career pivot. Mark shares the raw reality of high-level nursing and business leadership, detailing a period of profound burnout during COVID where he survived on just two hours of sleep a night while working across global time zones. After being warned by his mother, also a nurse, that he was headed for an "early grave" or a stroke, Mark reset his life and founded MACH Health.

Named after his family—Mark, Allison, Charlotte, and Henry—MACH Health is a digital platform designed to put wellbeing support into the hands of every nurse in the world. Mark explains how his platform uses "nudges" to remind clinicians of basic human needs—like drinking water and taking bathroom breaks—that are frequently neglected due to system-induced strain. We explore the "double standard" in nursing where we save others while neglecting ourselves, and why Mark believes that a nurse who is "firing on all cylinders" delivers better, safer care.

Key Discussion Points

• The "Chinese Fire Engines" Incident: How a split-second decision and a traumatic leg injury led Mark to discover his passion for nursing while learning to walk again.
• The Reality of Global Burnout: Mark discusses the physical and emotional toll of scaling a dementia-care business while being a "stay-at-home dad" during the day and working UK hours at night.
• The Four Pillars of Health: We break down the Workplace Health Intervention Pathway, derived from 190 peer-reviewed journals, focusing on physical, nutritional, emotional, and sleep health.
• Digital Nudges as Clinical Tools: How daily reminders for hydration, nutrition, and "venting" journals can prevent brain fog and reduce clinical errors.
• Inclusive Leadership and Culture Change: Mark shares stories from his UK pilot program where senior leaders participate in live workplace stretching alongside their staff to grant "permission" for self-care.
• The Global Mission: Mark’s five-year goal to reach every nurse globally, including those in resource-poor areas, by leveraging community and common sense.
• The Power of Saying "Yes": Why being relentless and open to opportunities can lead to a career and impact you never imagined.

Resources Mentioned

• MACH Health App: A digital platform for nurse-specific wellbeing.
• Workplace Health Intervention Pathway: A sub-modality framework based on 190 peer-reviewed journals.
• People can reach Mark at [email protected]
• LinkedIn  https://www.linkedin.com/in/markcarter15
• Company website iwww.machhealth.com.au

About Better Every Shift: Better Every Shift is the podcast for brilliant healthcare professionals ready to make a significant impact on their careers. Hosted by Naomi and Tubi, we explore the hard

Connect with us to bring meaningful impact to your team check out our website.

"Is nursing turnover eroding your bottom line? Stop managing the crisis and start leading the culture. Book a Strategic Consultation at bettereveryshift.com.au/consultation to turn your clinical culture into a measurable business performance indicator."

A childhood memory of a kidney dish and a "snake in the corner" reveals a profound truth about patient anxiety: taking one minute to build trust at the start can save thirty minutes of struggle at the end.

Show Notes 

In this episode, Tubi shares a visceral childhood memory from a naval medical center in Papua New Guinea that fundamentally shaped her approach to patient care. After being left alone in a room for 30 minutes with a kidney dish full of needles, Tubi and her sister experienced a level of anticipation and fear that led to a chaotic vaccination experience.

Key Takeaways:

• The "Snake in the Corner" Analogy: How visual triggers in a clinical space keep patients in a high-stress "anticipatory" state.
• The Trust Gap: Why patients in distress often cannot identify the "real issue" until they feel a sense of safety and trust with the clinician.
• The ROI of Connection: Why adding just one minute of curious conversation at the start of an interaction can save 20 to 30 minutes of struggle later on.
• Deciphering Reactions: Understanding how to pivot when a patient’s reaction doesn't seem to match the procedure or situation.

Chapters (Timestamps)

• 00:00 – Introduction: Moving to Port Moresby and the Naval Base clinic.
• 01:00 – The Kidney Dish: 30 minutes with the "Snake in the Corner".
• 02:30 – Peeling Her Off the Ceiling: The impact of anticipation on patient behavior.
• 10:00 – The Stress State: Why patients can't always identify the real problem.
• 15:00 – The "What Else?" Question: Digging deeper to find the source of fear.
• 19:00 – Conclusion: Saving time through early connection.

Tags

Nursing, Patient Experience, Healthcare Communication, Pediatric Care, Trauma-Informed Care, Better Every Shift, Clinical Leadership, Patient Anxiety, Quality Care.

"Is nursing turnover eroding your bottom line? Stop managing the crisis and start leading the culture. Book a Strategic Consultation at bettereveryshift.com.au/consultation to turn your clinical culture into a measurable business performance indicator."

"A timeout can look like a tick the box, or it can be a really valuable reset and circuit breaker for everybody."

Have you ever walked away from a clinical procedure where the patient was technically "fine," but the room felt like a chaotic mess? Why is it that some high-pressure moments leave us feeling like a synchronized team, while others leave us drained, confused, and questioning our own competence? In this episode of Better Every Shift, we dive into a "tale of two intubations" to uncover the invisible forces that dictate clinical success: communication clarity, emotional regulation, and the power of the routine debrief.

Welcome to Better Every Shift, the podcast for healthcare professionals who believe curiosity is a clinical superpower. I’m Naomi, a clinician who recently stepped back into the ICU trenches to see these theories in practice, and I’m joined by Tubi, an expert in reflective practice who isn't afraid to ask the hard questions about how we treat each other in the heat of the moment.

The problem we are exploring today is clinical reactivity. When we treat debriefing as a "special event" reserved only for failures, we make it a source of anxiety rather than a tool for growth. This matters to you because carrying the "biochemistry of stress" home after a shift isn't just exhausting—it’s a recipe for burnout. If you stick around, you’ll learn how to move from "fixing today’s fire" to being two steps ahead of the next crisis by mastering self-regulation and inclusive leadership.

Key Discussion Points

• Normalising the Debrief: Tubi and Naomi discuss why debriefing must happen "all the time" to become a valuable part of a healthy team culture rather than a dreaded "special event."
• Emotional Contagion & Self-Regulation: How to recognize your own anxiety in the moment and use "internalized self-talk" to maintain your capacity for clear thinking.
• Completing the Stress Cycle: Practical tips for letting your body process a stressful shift—from running your hands under water to the insights of Emily and Amelia Nagoski.
• Appreciative Inquiry: Using curiosity as a tool to improve critical thinking and clinical reasoning in your team.

What You’ll Learn in This Shift

1. How to lead from the floor: Discover how a clear leader uses inclusive language to ensure medications and plans are understood by everyone, from the consultant to the student nurse.
2. The importance of 'Familiarizing the Unfamiliar': Strategies for working effectively with a team you may not know well by relying on protocolized clarity rather than just "niceness."
3. The traits of a critical thinker: Why curiosity and openness to new ideas are not just "soft skills" but essential traits for improving patient outcomes.
4. Practical Regulation: How to name your feelings in the moment to downregulate the "messy" tension that hinders the prefrontal cortex.

Resources Mentioned

• Jenny Rudolph’s Podcast: On Appreciative Inquiry and feedback rubrics.
• Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski: A guide to completing the stress cycle and managing the physiological impacts of nursing.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review. Your curiosity and lived experience are what make this community credible. Join us next week as we continue to explore how to make every shift a little better than the last.

#BetterEveryShift #NursingPodcast #ClinicalExcellence #NurseLife

"Is nursing turnover eroding your bottom line? Stop managing the crisis and start leading the culture. Book a Strategic Consultation at bettereveryshift.com.au/consultation to turn your clinical culture into a measurable business performance indicator."

This episode of the Better Every Shift for Nurses dives deep into the high-stakes world of critical care, comparing two strikingly different intubation scenarios that occurred just one week apart. We explore how communication, clarity, and emotional regulation act as the "make or break" factors in clinical excellence.

Episode Summary

In this shift, Naomi reflects on a recent stint back on the clinical floor, where she witnessed the profound difference that inclusive leadership and role clarity can make. In the first scenario, a distressed patient in respiratory failure was met with a room full of "too many people," confusing medication orders, and a lack of clear plan A or B. The atmosphere was one of "messy" tension, where role creep led five different people to drop their tasks to perform the same secondary action.

Contrast this with the second scenario: a different consultant walked in and called a 50-second timeout. This short pause allowed the team to check drugs, confirm dosages, assign roles, and ensure everyone was inclusive and ready. Even when equipment failed, the room remained "cool, calm, and collected" because the team had a shared mental model and clear closed-loop communication.

Key Discussion Points

• The Power of the 50-Second Timeout: Learn why a brief strategic pause is not a waste of time, but a strategic strength that prevents errors before they happen.

• Role Creep and Muddying the Waters: We discuss how a lack of clear instructions causes teams to "swim out of their lanes," leading to unintended chaos in emergency situations.

• Emotional Contagion in the Room: Understand how a leader's nervousness or calm can infect the entire team, and why self-regulation is as important as clinical skill.

• Followership Responsibility: Leadership isn't just for the person at the head of the bed; discover how followers can improve the outcome by being clear about what they are responding to or confirming.

• Familiarity with the Unfamiliar: How to work effectively in a team where you don't know everyone's name or capabilities by relying on protocolized communication rather than just "nice" interactions.

What’s In It For You?

If you stick around for this episode, you will gain practical strategies to lead from the floor, regardless of your official role. You’ll learn how to identify "pockets of chaos" before they escalate and how to use tools like closed-loop communication to ensure your instructions are heard, understood, and executed safely. Whether you are a student nurse or a veteran consultant, this episode provides a roadmap for turning a high-pressure shift into a masterclass in clinical coordination

Connect with us to bring meaningful impact to your team check out our website.

"Is nursing turnover eroding your bottom line? Stop managing the crisis and start leading the culture. Book a Strategic Consultation at bettereveryshift.com.au/consultation to turn your clinical culture into a measurable business performance indicator."

What happens when we stop treating “data” like a spreadsheet… and start treating it like a story?

In this conversation with Emily and Fiona from the Health Roundtable, we explore how data can become a steady compass for safer care, healthier teams, and smarter decisions — without slipping into judgement, blame, or noise. We talk data literacy (why so many of us left uni without the “so what?”), the quiet power of benchmarking done well, and the small, practical moves that help leaders and clinicians stay anchored inside their circle of control.

There’s also a tender, confronting story about what workforce strain can look like at the bedside — and why patient outcomes and staff wellbeing are never separate for long.

In this episode, we unpack:

• Why data is only useful when it becomes action
• Building data literacy in everyday clinical life (not just in research units)
• Benchmarking as learning, not punishment
• “Be the emotional scientist, not the judge” — curiosity that leads to better solutions
• The pebble in the shoe: small irritations that signal bigger system issues
• A simple way to reset: circle of control thinking for overwhelmed teams

Your next-shift action (60 seconds)

At handover, ask:
 “What’s one pebble we can remove this week — and what tiny change will we trial for 7 days?”
Then check back in a week. Small experiments. Clear learning. Real movement.

👉 Tea Room Notes: Here
📩 Share this episode: If it helped you name a pebble, send it to a colleague who’s carrying one too.

Better Every Shift — less noise, more signal, and a little delight along the way.

Join us for our Intention setting workshop this Friday - register here

Connect with us to bring meaningful impact to your team check out our website.

"Is nursing turnover eroding your bottom line? Stop managing the crisis and start leading the culture. Book a Strategic Consultation at bettereveryshift.com.au/consultation to turn your clinical culture into a measurable business performance indicator."

In this episode of Better Every Shift for Nurses we speak with Fiona Fitzgerald and Emily Daley.  From their small gesture of connecting two people a new friendship, collaboration and podcast has grown.  

Fiona and Emily celebrate the value of connection, collaborating and conversation about doing things better.  Their work is about helping leaders and teams explore what they do, what is working and what needs to change.  

They sit outside of the daily grind and this perspective allows them to step back from the dustbin fires so many of us are trying to put out, to see the bigger picture - that many of the fires we are fighting will put themselves out, but we may be missing other activity that we should develop and grow.  

In this episode we explore part A of our two part conversation.  We hope you are just as delighted as we are.

Grab the Tea Room Notes Here

Connect with us to bring meaningful impact to your team check out our website.

"Is nursing turnover eroding your bottom line? Stop managing the crisis and start leading the culture. Book a Strategic Consultation at bettereveryshift.com.au/consultation to turn your clinical culture into a measurable business performance indicator."

This shift is a bit like that Early shift you arrive to only to find out you are actually rostered for the afternoon.  

Some technical difficulties has delayed production of the next episode.  We had a lot of fun recording, this is some of our fun.  

"Is nursing turnover eroding your bottom line? Stop managing the crisis and start leading the culture. Book a Strategic Consultation at bettereveryshift.com.au/consultation to turn your clinical culture into a measurable business performance indicator."

This episode uncovers the real cost of avoiding feedback, how “being nice” can sabotage growth, and why clear conversations—however uncomfortable—are the greatest kindness. This episode dives into the messy, human side of feedback in healthcare, exploring what happens when we sidestep tough conversations and the ripple effects on individuals and teams, and the care they provide 

Through candid stories and practical wisdom, we unpack why feedback often fails to land, how emotions shape our willingness to speak up, and the consequences of letting patterns persist. You’ll hear how clarity, curiosity, and a touch of light-heartedness can transform feedback from a dreaded task into a powerful tool for learning and trust.  

We invite you to join us and review your approach, so you can build a culture where feedback is a gift, not a threat. 

Everyone who enters health care wants to do the best they can - for their patients, their colleagues, and themselves. But wanting to do your best is only the beginning. True excellence isn’t a fixed point; it’s a process of personal and professional growth, reflection, and transformation. 

At Better Every Shift, we dive into real stories that reveal how our “best” is something that evolves as we learn, stretch, and allow ourselves to mature. Together we explore the messy, inspiring, and sometimes uncomfortable moments that shape us into more effective clinicians and leaders. 

Connect with us further at our website www.bettereveryshift.com.au and collect the Tea Room Notes Here

Connect with us to bring meaningful impact to your team check out our website.

"Is nursing turnover eroding your bottom line? Stop managing the crisis and start leading the culture. Book a Strategic Consultation at bettereveryshift.com.au/consultation to turn your clinical culture into a measurable business performance indicator."