12/23/2025 Episode #52. Nurse Tristan talks about How (and WHY!) to Keep Your RN License Active. She tells a story of a nurse mentor who had to repeat nursing school from the beginning because she'd let her license lapse, assuming her husband's career would always take care of them. When life turned upside down, she learned a hard lesson (and pounded it into Tristan)!

Nurse Tristan's slide deck on Maintaining Your RN License.

12/5/2025 Episode #51, "NURSE to MOM to PODCASTER to NURSE."

After a long break, it's time to reintroduce Still a Nurse and Tristan, RN with help from Tristan's hubby, Clay. We talk about why Tristan chose nursing, her path through school, a first job she doesn't recommend to new nurses, things to consider in picking the kind of work you'll enjoy, her 9 year break to be a stay-at-home mom, why she started this podcast, and the process of returning to the nursing field earlier than expected (with 6 young kids still at home!) after that long break.

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After more than a two year break, Nurse Tristan is back with a bang! Or at least a friendly smile. :) Through our company, "Crooked Pine Media," we're jumpstarting the Still a Nurse (SaN) podcast, adding video, and are hard at work on our dreams of the resource this platform can become for friends anywhere on their nursing career journey.This video is a quick "hi" to let you know that despite the show having "coded," resuscitation was successful! And... now might be a good time to introduce Tristan's medically ignorant, but plucky sidekick, Husband Clay! (Please hold your applause; you'll only encourage him). If anything on the show is medically wrong, just so so wrong, or embarrassingly punny, you can be certain he's behind it.Welcome back (or for the first time) to Still a Nurse!

Episode 49

Hey Listeners! Sorry to have disappeared for a bit there. Some exciting life decisions and changes have popped up and Still a Nurse has had to take a back seat for a while till things normalize again. This is the caboose episode for season 4! I assure you that Still a Nurse will be back, but it may take some time. So please be patient with me! 

You all probably know by now that I have a special place in my heart for Hospice. As such, I am very excited to share some absolutely wonderful nursing stories from the hospice world today! Meet Nurse Hadley, she is a super fun and stellar hospice nurse out in the state of Louisiana and she has so much to teach YOU about hospice care. In her opinion (and mine), hospice nursing is how ALL nursing should be. If you are wanting more interaction time with your patient and their caregivers, then do yourself a favor and listen to this episode! And if you want to know more about Nurse Hadley and learn what hospice is really like, follow her on social media where she gives fun and interesting insights into what her job is like! See the notes below for mor info!

Show Notes:

•  https://www.tiktok.com/@nursehadley?source=h5_m To follow Nurse Hadley on Tiktok click the link above.
• https://www.instagram.com/nurse.hadley/?hl=en To follow her on Instagram click this link
• https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/709707/the-in-between-by-hadley-vlahos-rn/ To learn more about Hadley's book The In-Between, Click this link
• To be a guest on the show and share YOUR nursing story, reach out to me at [email protected]

Episode 48

Welcome SaN listeners to the year 2023! 
Our guest this week is here to encourage any out there who long to be a nurse, but are not sure if they have missed that train. Mindy is a wonderful woman who knew from a young age that nursing would one day be her thing. Life sometimes has a way of sending our plans off course however, and her time for nursing was pushed back. Working first as a dental assistant, then enjoying time as a stay at home mother, she did not begin Nursing school until her kids were all in school and she was 45. Achieving your goals can sometimes take longer than anticipated, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Mindy's experiences as a dental assistant, and mom all helped her become a more excellent nurse. Her advice to others? Try! Don't give up on your nursing dreams even if they are late in coming! It is better to try nursing than to live with regret for letting the opportunity slip by. Take a listen and be inspired!

Episode 47

• My guest this week is an incredible woman who started in obstetrics and discovered a passion for nurse leadership and desire to learn more. After earning her MBA she found she had a unique skill set to fix a problem she found while working as a nurse director. The financial reports continuously showed the need for fewer nurses in her units, when her experience working in those areas, and the nurses she was over, told her the exact opposite. Tune in to hear how Heidi is using her natural grit to disrupt hospital reporting to show the actual nurse staffing needs in the obstetrical realm. Join along as Heidi shares with us her fascinating journey into and through the nursing world, and how she is using her experiences to create solutions to a big problem.

Show Notes:

• Website - Parity Healthcare Analytics - Company website
• LinkedIn - Parity Healthcare Analytics - Company LinkedIn Page
• Heidi E. Morin, RN, MSN, MBA, FABC | LinkedIn - Heidi's LinkedIn Page
• PARITY DEMO - Link to request Parity Product Demo for Perinatal Nurse Leaders
• Challenging the Status Quo to Innovate the Future of Nurse Productivity and Benchmarking - Heidi E. Morin - AWHONN Convention Podium Presentation Publication in JOGNN (2020)
• Development of a Staffing Activity Tool That Works - Heidi E. Morin - AWHONN Convention Poster Publication in JOGNN (2017)

Episode 46

Are you searching for an adventure but not sure how to make that work with your nursing career? Travel nursing could be the answer for you!

While my guest this week is not a nurse, she is currently the president of RN network, a travel nurse staffing agency that staffs all across the US. With 24 years of experience in this field, Lynne Grosse shares what RN network can offer you and your nursing career. From more flexibility, the opportunity to travel and explore, great benefits, competitive pay, and a fantastic network of support from the company, it seems RN network has it all!

Show Notes:

• https://rnnetwork.com/about-rnnetwork/ To learn more about RN network and connect with one of their recruiters, click here.
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/rn-network/ To hear some nurse stories and follow RN network on LinkedIn, click here.
• https://chghealthcare.com/ RN network is under a parent company called CHG Healthcare. Click the link above to learn more about them.

Episode 45

*I apologize for my bad sound in this episode. I had technical difficulties and had to use the mic that would work at the moment. Unfortunately it was the laptop mic. My guest however has fabulous sound, so I know you will enjoy listening to him.*

If you are a creative thinker, have an entrepreneurial spirit, and like solving problems you see in nursing, then this episode is DEFINITELY for you! My guest this week, Zach, worked at the bedside for 6+ years before taking his nursing knowledge to uncharted waters. He shares why he chose nursing over advertising in college, how he taught himself marketing skills, those skills and his nursing experience to help start successful businesses all aimed at helping nurses. So how does nursing translate into the marketing world? Tune in to find out for yourself!

Show Notes:

1. https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-smith-bsn-rn-a781bb30/ To connect with Zach Smith on LinkedIn, click the link above.
2. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6983912076272427008/ Click here to check out this cool commercial Zach wrote and assistant directed for nursing shoes.
3. https://nursegrid.com/ Click here to check out the nurse Grid calendar app Zach helped launch.

Episode 44

We all have areas of nursing that we hope to work in someday. Some of us achieve those dreams and never want to leave. Others work tirelessly, get the job of their dream only to find out that unit is more like a nightmare and leave discouraged. Today's guest falls into another group. Those who fully expect to end up in one area of nursing only to find their true passion somewhere unexpected. Keeley was determined to become a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) until she did her preceptorship in the NICU and fell in love with the work and the patients there. 
Our nursing dreams do not always turn out the way we plan them, sometimes they turn out better, as is the case for Keeley. Her love of the NICU is clear to hear in her voice as she shares the joyful, and the difficult experiences that come from working in the NICU, and how she has learned to balance her emotions with the situations work throws her way.  Tune in to have your questions about life as a NICU nurse answered!

Episode 43

I am not really sure how this season of Still a Nurse ended up with so many L&D nurses, but I am certainly not complaining.  I love hearing all your Labor and Delivery experiences and seeing where they take you in the wonderful world of nursing! 

Each nurse has shared a unique perspective and insights from their experiences in this realm of nursing that are valuable to our listeners. This weeks episode is certainly no different. Tara, my guest this week on SaN, had a longer and more challenging path into nursing than some, but she eventually found her home base caring for laboring women.  Nursing as a career is a physically and emotionally demanding one, and occasionally brings danger. Just take a listen to Tara's amusing and bizarre stories to see what I mean.   Her stories are something else! 

Show Notes:

• https://nursing.post.edu/programs/doctor-of-nursing-practice/ To learn more about the undergraduate and online graduate programs Post has to offer, click here.