RNegade

John El-Mokadem was highly driven in all aspects of his life – fitness, career, relationships,  etc., and believed his success in all these areas would be directly proportional to the amount of time he thought about, and worked-on, his goals. After a viral infection evolved into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (A.K.A ‘Myalgic Encephalomyelitis’,) John approached his illness with the same vigilant formula he had for success in life. After 7 years of struggling to regain his health, his vitality, his marriage, John followed the breadcrumbs laid by mentors that led him in a different direction - inward; and it was this change in direction that not only led to the recovery of all that he had lost, but also put him in the unlikely position to help countless others recover their own health. In this podcast interview, listeners will discover that the vigilance with which we approach illness, and life in general, is the very thing that can cause us to be sick. In this course you will hear John El-Mokadem talk about his experience and the research that he and partner Karen DiMarco conducted to prove the methodology for their own recoveries and others (published in the APA Journal: Spirituality in Clinical Practice). It offers nurses a whole new way to think about ‘The Foundation of Health;’ how what goes on in our heads has a profound effect on our biology, our immune system, and our body’s innate ability to achieve homeostasis and heal.

RNs get a CE for this course on RNegade.pro.    

Jennifer Bierhup is a “Wounder Woman”.  Early in her nursing career, Jennifer had a passion for helping clients with complicated wounds. Today, her mission is to save limbs through a comprehensive strategy she created to get the best outcomes. In this podcast, Jennifer talks about the many different aspects of wounds, wound care, and healing. It is a literal “wound care fest”, chalk full of information that will help all nurses, not just wound care nurses. Jennifer will talk about everything from assessment of wounds, to types of wounds, to treatments for wounds, plus, you do not want to miss the part about maggots. It’s fascinating!

When you give Michael Neill the floor for 90 minutes, you never quite know what you’re going to get, but you know you’ll leave the conversation seeing the world differently. In this interview, our guest shares how his life transformed after hearing the words of Theosopher, Sydney Banks: “Every human is sitting in the middle of mental health, they just don’t know it.” Anyone who suffers from, lives with, or works with individuals with a mental illness,  might read those words and conclude that the source was just an out-of-touch old man with a tendency to minimize the mental suffering of millions. With his consummate use of metaphor, humor, and story-telling of personal and professional anectodes, Michael Neill illustrates the truth of those words, and will induce curiosity into the way any nurse looks at the conventional approach to mental health; and even how we think of stress, culture, & organization in our places of work.

RNs get a CE for this course on RNegade.pro.    

Karen DiMarco is described by friends and colleagues as: “a squirreling truth-bomber who blows up the boxes that most are still trying to think outside-of”. In this podcast-course you’ll understand why, as she “squirrels-through” a breadth of topics that all point to the depth of the profound impact that our psychology - especially the ‘premise’ through which we see the world - has on our health, happiness, and human potential.

Karen’s personal story, case studies from her published research, and metaphors illustrate how our beliefs influence our thoughts and behaviors, how our thoughts and behaviors influence our biology, and how ‘plugging the bucket’ by changing how we see the world can have a dramatic effect on homeostasis and healing.

RNs get a CE for this course on RNegade.pro.   

We loved how our podcast guest, Tricia Mattimoe, called-out lymphedema as the “orphan disease.”

We learned from her how this condition, which devastates the quality of life for so many, so often goes undiagnosed and untreated due to lack of information provided to patients, and lack of knowledge to adequately diagnose and treat from health care practitioners. In this riveting interview, Tricia Mattimoe, reveals the epic reason behind her passion for this condition; provides comprehensive instruction about its pathophysiology and treatment; and how the synergy of her passion, expertise, and advocacy has led to her unique entrepreneurial endeavor whose mission: “Your patient’s outcomes are our #1 priority” is improving the quality of life of those who suffer from lymphedema.

Some of this recording feels more like being in a movie than being on a course. Fiona Jacob takes us on an EPIC ride as she shares how finding peace in the face of death while being held hostage in Iraq as a young nurse; finding peace in the midst of being stabbed while protecting her best friend from an assailant; finding peace while managing a group of frightened nurses who had a 46% of dying if they were infected by the virus of the patients they were caring for; showed her not only where peace comes from, but that it’s source is also the birthplace of individual and organizational transformation.

RNs get a CE for this course on RNegade.pro.    

This educational program serves to enhance the knowledge of the Registered Nurse at a level above that required for licensure in a problem/solution framework. In this case, ‘the problem is that medical error is so frequent that it is the 3rd leading cause of preventable death in this country; and two fo the major contributing factors that are highlighted in the program are misdiagnosis and health illiteracy. On e of the critical solutions to the problem of medical error is the emerging specialty nursing role of the independent RN patient Advocate. The iRNPA role is demonstrated to be a solution to medical error but the instructor, Karen Mercereau, who is also the founder of the RN Patient Advocacy Program in partnership with The University of Arizona. She very powerfully illustrates, through the use of statistics, and overview of the RN Patient Advocacy Process, and presentation of case studies, how nurses who become independent RN Patient Advocates can be a powerful force for change, not only in preventing medical error, but improving patient safety, patient outcomes, and the United States healthcare system on the whole.

RNs get a CE for this course on RNegade.pro.  

In September of 2018 Antra Boyd [a veteran nurse and experienced professional RN Patient Advocate] RN, BSN, MSN was told she had a 8cm mass on her left ovary. In a matter of minutes she went from advocating for patients with complex medical diagnoses to being a patient herself.

Things got FREAL very quick (if you are not yet schooled in the RNegade glossary of terms, FREAL = f@cking + real). When the gynecologist/oncologist told her that her best option was to have a total robotic hysterectomy and that the surgery was scheduled to be in 3 weeks, Antra hopped on the ‘urgency train.’ She was a hot, blithering mess. When faced with a cancer diagnosis, that big ol’ C-word sends people into complete fear mode, and not even this whiley veteran nurse was spared. Luckily, Antra had the where-with-all to gather her support team and ‘phone a friend.’ Karen DiMarco reminded her that the urgency train was a ride she DEFO did not want to be on for peace and clarity of mind, and that the three weeks until the proposed surgery was plenty of time to research the particulars regarding the recommended ‘STEP 1’ course of action (surgery). ‘STEP 2,’the possibility of chemotherapy and/or radiation, need-not yet bugger her brain until after STEP 1 was completed. During those 3 weeks, Antra was like the ‘dog with a bone’ she is for her own clients, and tracked down all the information she could find to make an informed decision. Along the way she made curiosity her superpower, and learned how to be engaged in her care simply by asking questions (lots of questions). THIS IS ESSENTIAL: in spite of the fact that we are conditioned to NOT doctors - but if we don’t engage and don’t question, we cannot be fully informed of ALL of our options. We can’t know what we don’t know unless we look… and ask.

Cancer treatment in the US is big business so there is no incentive for allopathic doctors to suggest possible treatments outside of the conventional care toolbox: cut it out (surgery), poison it (chemotherapy, burn it (radiation.) Finally, even when Antra was armed with all the information she needed to make an informed decision, her decision about what to do came from the place of her own inner knowing. The medical team is there to guide you, but not decide for you, and this clarity enabled Antra to take control of her own course of action, and ultimately make the right decisions for her own health and healing.

RNs get a CE for this course on RNegade.pro.