Found Down

Encore - I'm re-airing this episode because it's an important conversation to be having in light of recent events.

Today I am thrilled to have Patient Safety Director Krista Haugen, MSN, RN, CTFE back on the show to discuss medical errors and mistakes in healthcare. She gives her insight as to why this is such a complex issue, what is just culture and shared accountability and how a facility and providers can approach mistakes. We share our own mistakes from our careers and we discuss why shame is so wrapped up in these events. She also talks about what is “speaking up” and how to think about it in regards to keeping your patients safe.

Medical errors and mistakes in healthcare are extremely important issues. We are moving away from a “blaming” culture and more to a systems approach like the “Swiss Cheese Model.” Often there are many contributing factors to why an error occurred. Check out this link to the causal map of the Titanic sinking. Hint: There wasn’t just one reason the titanic sank.

Check out this video on how we beat ourselves when we make a mistake: https://dontforgetthebubbles.com/fixing-what-once-was-broken-ross-fisher-at-dftb18/

Thank you so much for listening to this show!

Stay Safe and Stay Sane,

Nicole

Today I interview Google UX Program Manager and volunteer EMT David Gilman. He talks about how he decided to take on the volunteer EMT position, especially as a successful professional. He shares what the experience has been like, to learn a new skill and what it has been like to to learn to be useful to his community. He also delves into what has been challenging about his EMT role, especially jumping between the two worlds of life at Google where it's like "Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory" and then having to go respond to real life emergencies.

David, you are an inspiration to the community. Thank you for what you do!

Stay Safe & Stay Sane,

Nicole

On today's episode I review the case of RaDonda Vaught with my fellow ICU nurse and friend, Laura Zaske. I wanted to really look at this case since it sets a legal precedent, but also because it felt like this error was too easy to make. We all could be RaDonda Vaught. RaDonda is the first nurse criminally charged with negligent homicide and abuse of an impaired adult. She made a fatal mistake in 2017 by accidentally giving her patient Charlene Murphey vecuronium, a paralytic.

My resources for this episode are from:

The Nurse Erica, Nurse Liz, The Tennessean, The CMS Report, and Institute of Patient Medication Practices

If you want to support RaDonda Vaught you can:

1. Show up at her court date on 5/13/2022 in Nashville, Tennessee.
2. Write a hand written letter to the Honorable Judge Jennifer L. Smith to request clemency. Please send it to RaDonda's PO Box.

RaDonda Vaught

PO Box 128

Bethpage, TN 37022

3.Sign this petition to grant RaDonda Vaught clemency.

Please stay hypervigilant. If there are things in your work environment that are not safe speak up, write incident reports, and help change the system. I know are we are fearful of this legal precedent, but I urge you to help make your work environment the safest as possible. We need to continue use just culture and have an open, non-punitive avenue for reporting.

We support you RaDonda!

Stay Safe and Stay Sane,

Nicole

Today I had the pleasure of chatting with Keri Nasenbeny, an Associate Chief Nursing Officer at a major academic medical center about her thoughts on this pandemic. Keri has a unique perspective having led nurses through the most challenging times in their career. She looks at where we've come and some of the significant challenges we have faced, especially with this last surge. We talk about the future and share ideas about what we need to do to fix things. It's going to be a long road to heal the healthcare world, but we can do it.

Thank you so much for being on the show. And thanks for listening, Keri!!!

Stay Safe & Stay Sane,

Nicole

Today I interview Al Sarria, ICU nurse and the guy behind The ICU Murse. We chat about his career trajectory and how he got into ICU nursing. Turns out, he finished his ICU orientation in 2019 in a CVICU only to have to switch to the COVID ICU in 2020, in Arizona no less. Talk about going from a population of everyone lives to everyone dies. And Al - I'm so sorry. No one should have to see that amount of death. So, we talk about how he is doing, his mental health (hooray for lexapro and therapy!) and his plans to become a Psychiatric Nurse practitioner.

Al reveals how The ICU Murse account got started and how sharing the truth about Covid made him go viral. Al often speaks our truth on social media and for that, I am so grateful. He is also making talking about mental health a priority on his platform.

Al and Christiian Letsinger (aka Redbeard RN) have a new podcast in the works call 'You can't make this shi(f)t up!' It's not out yet, but sounds entertaining!

Thank you so much for coming on the show and for speaking your truth. Thank you for all you do for the nursing community, Al!

Stay Safe and Stay Sane,

Nicole

I had the esteemed privilege of getting interviewed by my friend and collaborator, Des Wood.  It’s time I was the in the hot seat. 

You’ll get to learn my thoughts on life, nursing, entrepreneurship, and some of my thoughts about Found Down.  

I talk about my conception of Unwound Retreats - a travel and wellness business for nurses.  We have some amazing international trips coming up in 2022 to Morocco and Mexico and oh man, you deserve to come!  Want a cultural, spiritual and education retreat? Check out Unwound Retreats and get on my email list to learn more! 

Thank YOU for listening and supporting Found Down.  

Do you have feedback on the show? Do you have guest ideas? Do you want merch?

Drop a line and let me know!

Xoxo

Stay Safe & Stay Sane!

Nicole

Today I sit down with Paul Benz, MDiv to get his insight into his role as a Spiritual Care Provider.

Paul Benz is a King County based Mental Health, Addiction, Grief and Trauma Chaplain of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). Paul is a Street Minister from Operation Nightwatch and a Spiritual Care Provider/Chaplain for a level one trauma center in Seattle.

Spiritual care providers are a crucial part of the medical team - they attend all codes, they sit with the dying, the suffering, and give patients and family members solace during really stressful times, as well provide staff support.

Pastor Paul talks about his work, how he was called to it and how he metabolizes it when things are heavy. This is a very real conversation about death and how we approach death in the 21st century in Western America. And having been in this work, he has some interesting revelations. Don't die with regrets and live your life in a way that doesn't cause harm. He references this text that is very "life giving." And he also has great insight on how to live your life - "To learn to love more truly" and "love thy neighbor" he says.

We also talk about what is going on in Ukraine right now and he sings a beautiful tribute to the Ukrainians who are being persecuted right now. He chose to sing 'This is my Song' and it comes from Finland's own experience with a Russian invasion in the 1930s.

This is a very real and raw episode. Thank you, Paul for delivering this beautiful episode with me.

Stay Safe and Stay Sane,

Nicole

P.S. GRAB YOUR KLEENEX

Today I sit down with Marie Cockerham, MN, RN, CCRN, Support Specialist & Health Program Operations Specialist and Cheri Constantino-Shor, MSN, RN, CMSRN, CRNI Director of Professional Engagement and Nursing Excellence to talk about where we are with the pandemic right now as a healthcare community.

Let me tell you, this was a validating and difficult conversation to have. We were *not* in a great place before the pandemic hit, so it is not surprising to learn about the toll it is taking on us. Per a study referenced in the interview, 75% - 77% of us are experiencing a clinical diagnosis of depression, anxiety, PTSD or insomnia. That is most of us!

The way through is not an easy fix. It's time we are transparent about how we are doing when we consider re-building. Nursing is not the same as it was in 2019.

So, we talk about what we can do as individuals and as healthcare leaders. Some of the work is personal and some of it is organizational. Both Marie and Cheri say utilizing the military's Stress First Aid Model is helpful. Staff truly need support in this time, so peer support programs are essential, as well as having authentic leadership as highlighted in the Healthy Work Environment by AACN. The emotional well-being of healthcare providers is a national top priority.

If you are struggling, please know you are not alone. Here are some resources. Please get help if you are having a tough time.

Suicide Hotline

1-800-273-8255

Crisis Line

Emotional PPE - an organization that offers free counseling to healthcare workers

Use your Employee Assistance Program for counseling services

Better Help

Thank you!

Stay Safe & Stay Sane,

Nicole

On today's episode, I catch up with flight and ground paramedic Spencer Oliver. He is also the amazing co-host of the incredible EMS 20/20 podcast where he and his co-host, Chris Pfingsten review weekly calls sent in by their listeners. Spencer has been a a flight paramedic for six years and a paramedic for about 12 years.

On this episode, we get into how Spencer is actually doing and what is coming up for him lately. . Spencer gets into his very interesting background as a kid who grew up overseas in Bangkok, Thailand and what played out after a swift and unexpected move to the states. He also shares his career trajectory and how he got into EMS. It's a super interesting story - one that involves a stint in standup.

This is such a great episode. We get into some nuances of our jobs and swap a few stories.

It was such an honor to have you on the show, Spencer!

Stay Safe and Stay Sane,

Nicole

I have re-aired this episode due to the increase nurses taking action to create a better future in nursing! These bills are still needing to be passed!

Today I sit down with the co-founders of the Last Pizza Party Movement, Nurse Erica and Nurse Nander. This nurse advocacy movement and non profit was born out of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The Last Pizza Party is dedicated to ensuring safer workplaces for healthcare providers, safer care for patients through legislation, and educating providers on current regulations and protective strategies.” In this episode, we discuss the impact of unsafe staffing on patients and nurses, the power of unionizing and what is really going on with the “nursing shortage.”

The vision of the Last Pizza Party Movement is big, but not unachievable. But it starts with all four million nurses taking the time to care about what is happening to nurses collectively across the USA. Nurses deserve safe staffing for patient safety and our patients deserve it, too.

Be prepared to get riled up. There are three pieces of legislation that need your attention!

1. The Safe Staffing Act that would mandate nurse to patient ratios nation wide – https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/1567/text?r=2&s=1
2. The Pro Act – Protecting the right to Unionize – https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/842
3. The Workplace Violence Prevention Act for Healthcare Workers https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1309/text

If you want to get involved, please go the Last Pizza Party Movement website here. Follow them on instagram @thelastpizzapartymovement or on tiktok @thelastpizzapartymovement. You can join their FB group, as well.

You can follow Nurse Erica and Nurse Nander on Tiktok to stay in the know.

Thank you so much for being on the show! It was a good one!

Stay Safe and Stay Sane,

Nicole