Once a Nurse, Always a Nurse

My guests have come to the same place, Braver Angels, from VERY different directions. Dr. William (Bill) Doherty from Academia at the U of MN where he currently directs The Citizen Professional Center and cofounded the Braver Angels following the 2016 National Election, in an effort to allow members of both vitriolic parties (Democrat and Republican) come together in a safe environment to learn how to listen to one another. David S. Ball found the organization over 1 year later after 26 years as an Air Force flight nurse and dealing with the conflicts which naturally arise in those areas. Over the past 3 years, He has been the Massachusetts Coordinator of Braver Angels. Today they will bring together what they have learned in these past years and how it applies to the stressed relationships in healthcare.

My guest, Darlene Nelson, RN, founder of Expert Nurse Consultants, joined me on this show on April 13th along with Dr. Juan Nieto, ED physician. The description I gave then, STILL fits. “In the COVID-19 Pandemic in the USA, there are two fights going on. One against a virulent & dangerous new coronavirus & the other on behalf of the safety & protection of ‘essential’ workers across the country. ”The disease is doing an exceptional job at its mission: to infect & kill as many hosts as possible. The people, hospital administrations and political leaders are, to a large extent, failing miserably at their mission: To protect each & every healthcare worker and all essential employees.” We currently have passed 300,000 deaths (as of 12/15/20) and 17 million with the illness. We are nearing 3000 deaths of nurses (which is certainly an undercount.) Today huge numbers of Americans continue to ignore the admonitions to “Wear a Mask, Distance from Others and Wash your Hands.” How will this end?

Beth Battaglino, RN, CEO of HealthyWomen.org, well known for the incredible work she has been doing for over 25 years in clinical nursing and with HealthyWomen, will join me to talk about ALL things Current: Covid-19, her personal experience dealing with it as a maternal-fetal nurse, health inequities in our country and how they primarily negatively affect women. I expect to talk about the worries we each have regarding PTSD, Moral Trauma and the specter of suicide in healthcare now. We will definitely touch on the mission behind HealthyWomen, why it is the nation’s leading independent health resource for women and its most recent initiatives. Beth is the epitome of the “Nurse of the Future” ready and willing to act in the present to help women AND Nurses find their healthiest place inside their bodies, minds, lives and careers. Join us Monday, June 1, 2020 at 1 PM EDT/12 N CDT/ 10 AM PDT on VoiceAmerica.com

What has become abundantly apparent in 2020 is just how little the lay public know about hospitals & how they function, nurses & what they do and why there are no hospital beds anywhere in the country right now. What is amazing also is hearing healthcare professionals making comments not supported by science at all, like COVID 19 cannot be spread by people without symptoms. My guest Mary Turner, RN, President of the MN Nurses Association, was asked to speak to President Biden-elect with 3 other healthcare workers about COVID and what it has done to them and their peers. She has been on several news stations and now will talk with me about what the public does NOT understand about healthcare and what nurses do exactly. Join us on Monday, December 7, 2020 at 1 PM ET/12 N CT/10 AM PT

2020 International Year of the Nurse & Midwife was proposed to showcase the work that nurses do every day. It has proven to be a year of showing not only nurses’ knowledge, compassion and determination, but quite unexpectedly, has displayed ALL around the world the courage, depth of mission and passion for patients that nurses hold. This show is one of celebration with nurse leaders Janie Garner, Executive Director of the Show me Your Stethoscope organization and Cara Lunsford, CEO of HOLLIBLU.com community nurses’ app. We want to talk “nursing” in a future sense. How do we reset the Year of the Nurse in 2021 to create a new level of empowerment and transformation. Nurses are emerging from the Shadows and into the Light of collaboration toward Healthcare Reform, Health Equity, & Health Care (NOT our current Disease-Care). It is time that nurses are not only AT the decision-making table but LEADING the discussion. Join us Monday, 11/30/20 at 1 PM ET/12 N CT/10 AM PT

Our Healthcare system is broken. In fact, we do not have healthcare in this country—we have disease care. We wait until you get sick and then try to fix you, easily the most inefficient and expensive form of “healthcare” in the world. Yet, we CAN truly transform healthcare. Each of us will interact with our healthcare system, whether for our families or ourselves. Let’s conscientiously create a system, based on science, research and experience, that we can each be proud of and that we would feel confident and comforted to take our loved ones to. Let’s transform our broken disease-care system into a model of true caring and compassion focused on health, wellness and disease prevention. The people who truly understand and practice this kind of care consistently, are trained and educated nurses. We come TO nursing with the desire and often mission to deliver this type of care. (Adapted from Transforming Healthcare: Healing You, Me and Our Broken Disease-care System, by Kim Evans)

My guests for this Episode, Rosanne Raso & Linda Valentino, two of many CNO’s of NYC’s Hospitals, who met the first major onslaught of COVID-19 on the East Coast. We’ve heard a LOT about the incredible efforts of frontline nurses, doctors & essential personnel, but VERY little about the HEROS behind the scenes. On March 29, 2020 Linda received a call from the President & COO of Mount Sinai Hospital telling her to report to Mount Sinai Brooklyn to serve as the hospital’s Incident Commander. Having previously served as the CNO of that site, she knew the hospital and its staff. At that time, 25% of the staff, including the hospital’s President & CNO were out sick with COVID illness. The hospital was the first Ground ZERO in NYC, and she was to lead the hospital out of near collapse, due to the high volume of patients and sick staff. Rosanne Raso tells another gripping story of her role as VP & CNO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center during this time

Marijuana for medical use has faced more than 80 years of ridicule, unscientific, unregulated, mishandling of the drug and decades of misinformation, myths and unethical management. Boomers have advocated for the legalization of the drug since the 50’s and 60’s, but it has only been since California, Colorado and a handful of other states did legalized medical marijuana, that it is being taken seriously to help with a wide variety of chronic and intractable health issues. My guests, Patty Gilk, RN and founder of Jes Naturals CBD Wellness and Jeri Schultz, MSN, RN and founder of Tulip Tree & Dose Medical Cannabis Nurse Consulting, are joining us today to share their professional knowledge of CBD, dispel myths and reinforce the efficacy of CBD in medical use. They will address Cannabis - Hemp vs Marijuana -Terpenes, Flavonoids, Entourage Effect and SO much more!

There may be no more critical issue in Nursing today than Nurse Turnover. That ONE subject covers all others: COVID-19, Work/life Balance, Burnout, Bullying, Boomer retirement, Career advancement, Inadequate onboarding of nurses, Nursing Leadership, Nursing Education, Innovation, Hospital Culture, Staffing, Retention Strategy, Leadership development, Supporting new leaders during transition, Leading the Millenial Nurse and Generation “Z” and SO MUCH MORE!!! My guest, Kristin Baird, a nationally regarded thought leader in healthcare culture, engagement and the patient experience, will join me to talk “Nurse Turnover”, based on her recent research for her White Paper of the same name. I firmly believe that without nurses, there IS no healthcare! Without significant increase in Nurse input to ALL major healthcare decisions, nurses will no longer stand for being placed last on the healthcare ledger page! Join me to Welcome Kristin Baird.

Shannon Whittington RN MSN PCC C-LGBT, was on Once a Nurse September 23, 2019 discussing Nursing Care for Transgender patients. I so enjoyed that conversation and received a lot of response to it, that I decided to bring her back on another topic. On November 4th, she joins me in her capacity as a Servant Based Leader Expert. I can’t wait! Join us on VoiceAmerica.com, Health & Wellness at 12 Noon CT for our dialogue on a new look at the subject with topics such as: Share your biscuit; Play nice; Nap time; Do not steal; Five fingers on our hip, one finger on our lip.