Nursing Lyfe 101

Embracing Change: A Nurse's Career Adventure

• Christopher • Season 1 • Episode 2

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Have you ever wondered how a career in nursing can shape your life in unexpected ways? Join us, Christopher and Colby, as we invite you into our world of nursing, where student loans and career uncertainties are just the beginning of an incredible journey. Hear Colby's reflections on the challenges of nursing school and the reality of managing student debt while discovering passion in patient care. Meanwhile, Christopher shares his whirlwind ascent to an assistant nurse manager position, while still yearning for the direct connection of bedside nursing. We take you through our personal and professional stories, offering insights into the ever-evolving landscape of nursing careers.

Experience the emotional rollercoaster as we recount a family medical emergency—a suspected stroke—and the deep emotional and professional challenges that come with caring for stroke patients. This episode also sheds light on the complexities of transitioning between nursing specialties, such as cardiac care and the cath lab, and the personal sacrifices involved with being on-call. The reality of balancing demanding career paths with personal fulfillment is laid bare, illustrating the often unseen struggles nurses face behind the scrubs.

Explore the myriad of opportunities within the nursing profession, from precepting students to managing COVID-19 units and even contemplating a shift to legal nurse consulting. We emphasize the importance of flexible career paths, urging new graduates to find their personal niche. Discover our thoughts on the critical role of effective handoff communication and the profound impact of recognizing nursing as a STEM field. As we reflect on our long-term career aspirations, we invite you to visualize your own five-year plan and share your journey with us.

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Christopher:

Welcome to Nursing Lyfe 101, the most important nursing class you never got to take in nursing school. We will be traversing different objectives, like interviewing what to do in nursing school, boundaries, burnout and so much more, if this interests you. I hope you are taking good notes because class is now in session. Hello and welcome to Nursing Lyfe 101. We're so excited to have you here with us as we dive into the world of nursing, sharing our experiences, insights and a little bit of fun along the way. I'm Christopher and I couldn't be happier to introduce my co-host.

Colby:

I'm Colby Together, we'll be bringing you real stories, practical tips and discussions about all things nursing, whether you're a fellow nurse or just curious about life behind scrubs.

Colby:

We're thrilled to have you join us.

Christopher:

So this is our second podcast and at the time of recording we have been able to see a little bit of people start to watch our first episode.

Colby:

Very exciting.

Christopher:

It is. It is very exciting and, you know, we just kind of want to continue to let you know who you are listening to, and the way that we're doing that is by answering a little bit more of the questions that, hopefully, will allow you to deep dive on who Colby and Christopher are.

Colby:

Yeah, all right, let's go.

Christopher:

Cool. So I guess our first one is Colby. You've been in nursing since 2014. That is 10 years and you mentioned that last time. Did you anticipate being in nursing this long?

Colby:

I think I didn't not anticipate it. I guess I definitely was like, okay, this is my career choice, went to college for four years, I'm going to be a nurse, and I don't think I've ever really thought past that. I think there've been periods in the last 10 years where I've been like, actually no, let me back up. When I graduated nursing school, I was like I don't want to do this. I was like I don't want to be a nurse and then the reality of student loans came and I was like, oh yeah, just kidding, I'm gonna have to start paying those so I need to like actually immediately go into work, um, and then I found my, my niche and, you know, figured it out.

Colby:

but I definitely, from that point on, I haven't like thought like, oh, I'm just gonna do this for two years and then get out, and then like ended up getting stuck for 10 years. No, nursing, nursing's it, it's it for me.

Christopher:

So are you saying that your student loans kept you in here?

Colby:

Yeah, yeah, definitely from the start, if I'm being so honest.

Christopher:

Really.

Colby:

And so real.

Christopher:

That's the only thing that kept you here.

Colby:

I think we can agree that nursing school

Christopher:

oh no, yeah

Colby:

inflicts a level of trauma on on you where, at the end of it, like a lot of people are like, yay, I got through and I'm I'm finally ready to start. But I think there's also a very real reality where some people are like that was that just rocked my world so hard for however many years you're in school and I don't know if I want to do this. I don't know. I'm going to sit back for a minute and think about this. I mean, it took all of two seconds for me to be like oh yeah, student loans.

Christopher:

Yeah, well, I mean you talk about me and me having my books and you're like I'm looking at them right now.

Colby:

His nursing school books.

Christopher:

Yes.

Colby:

To just make sure everyone knows what we're talking about.

Christopher:

Yeah, I'm like looking at Clinically Oriented Anatomy, Physical Examination and History Taking Like they are nursing books. And I just moved recently and so you were like you just need to throw these away. These are inflicting trauma and I was like, well, I mean, I still

Colby:

The trauma is why you have hold on.

Colby:

Held on to them.

Colby:

Gotta let it go.

Christopher:

You know Elsa can sing that song, but I am not, and you know it's winter time, so you know

Colby:

Yeah. Let it go. No, but really though. And you're not the only one that has nursing books our friend. I had to convince her to throw some away recently, like I do think that you really do carry the, the trauma of nursing school, with you for the rest of your life I want to say it's because I want to continue to learn and grow and make sure I know what I'm doing.

Christopher:

I had to look up what tracheas was and make sure that was in the right spot.

Colby:

Did you look it up in that book?

Christopher:

No, I didn't.

Colby:

Okay, because Google is at the tips of our fingers and we don't need nursing school textbooks anymore.

Christopher:

I mean, you're right.

Colby:

Okay, well, we've established that I'm in this for the long haul.

Christopher:

Yeah, you are.

Colby:

How about you?

Christopher:

You are. Yeah, you know, I did not anticipate I was going to be where I am in nursing. I did think I was going to be in nursing and I still joke and say that I'm going to go back to bedside, bedside. But a lot of people are like why would you go back after being a manager? And I'm like I enjoy listening to hearts and lungs and doing all that stuff.

Colby:

Yeah, you enjoy that aspect of the job.

Christopher:

Right.

Christopher:

So I don't know, we'll see. I do, I did anticipate me being here. I mean, it's only been five years, so it's half the time that you've been there. But I don't know, we'll see.

Colby:

Yeah, I think.

Colby:

I think that's a good point to raise. Like in five years you were, you weren't picturing yourself five years after graduating being an assistant nurse manager job.

Christopher:

Not, not, no.

Colby:

yeah, that is pretty wild, but you're a natural born leader like you.

Colby:

I feel like people gravitate to putting you in those roles because you have those skills, like naturally.

Christopher:

Okay.

Colby:

Yeah, I mean it makes sense to me. When you were considering it mean, I feel like you weren't really considering it, but then you had this whole outline for what a good assistant nurse manager would be and I was like Christopher, why don't you apply?

Christopher:

Well then, yeah, you challenged me, and then one of the nurses on the floor also challenged me and I was like, okay, maybe.

Colby:

And he did it, and he got it.

Colby:

Yeah, and he's been killing it.

Christopher:

so I guess, well, thank you, I'm just gonna leave it at that. I'm not even gonna, I'm just gonna just gonna stop there. So you we made a little snippet about it in the last week's podcast. You were able to kind of delve into different areas in nursing when you were traveling and you had said that there were two that you were like I'm not going back, I'm not doing it.

Colby:

My two specialties that I was like don't make me.

Christopher:

Right.

Colby:

Okay, so my first one, forever and always. And it's kind of funny that I said like, oh, I actually really enjoyed the ED, because both of these things you're going to see in the ED frequently, especially in like a level one trauma center Neuro slash stroke specifically Okay, and it's like in the ED setting fun, exciting, oh, there's a stroke, let's get into action.

Christopher:

Right.

Colby:

It's like the immediate, like long, long, immediate, like long-term care that you're giving either in icu or an acute care setting. It just one it's heartbreaking to see somebody like with these new deficits. But two, it's also like to be so real, incredibly frustrating sometimes to like care for these patients and the other specialty and they kind of go hand in hand.

Colby:

The reason why I don't really enjoy taking care of these patients or the patients in this specialty is like trauma, but not like broken bones and that kind of stuff. That's not what bothers me. It's like the traumatic brain injury. Again, it could be incredibly devastating, like emotionally, to take care of these patients and I can see why the people who do work in these specialties, they probably find it incredibly rewarding. But the amount of like I don't even know the amount of like of anguish that I've gone through when I'm taking care of these people. I just it's just not for me Like the communicating with them. With TBIs, I mean, you get short-term memory loss. Same thing with strokes, I mean like those injuries to the brain. Oh man, it just is. It's devastating. I don't even I can't think of another word, but it just it's devastating. I don't even I can't think of another word, but it just it's so it's so hard to take care of those patients sometimes.

Christopher:

No, I, I I get it on a different level. I don't know. Did I ever tell you I guess it'll be a little personal, but did I ever tell you about the time when my, when I, when I had just finished nursing school, I went back home and was kind of like making sure my mom was okay, and did I tell you about the incident? So, just finished nursing school, finished in July, because it was the ADN program and it was off schedule. So like we didn't have the normal you finish around mother's day or in the winter and I had gone and was doing stuff and my mom had it was battling breast cancer at the time, and so it was, you know, we went and did some vacations and we came back and I was doing some home health stuff at the time in back in my hometown and my mom was having some issues in terms of like just having bowel movement and so she had gotten like a tea that was supposed to help with.

Christopher:

I don't even remember what the tea was, but and but she was concerned, she didn't want to like lay in bed yeah she was like I'm just gonna sleep on the couch and you know I can get up and go if I if I need to. And so she went to bed and I went to bed and so I went to sleep and woke up the next morning and I go up to the living room. I was like, hey, mom, you know how'd you sleep? Like did you go to the bathroom? My mom said nothing and I'm like mom.

Christopher:

You know I was Mom, are you okay? And like I'm, I don't know my left from my right hand at the moment Because I'm like this is my mom Nursing school out the window. I'm freaking out. My mom's not saying anything.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

And I mean you could tell she was like trying to say something but it was just like gurgle or just not enough. And I was like, oh my god. And so I I took the covers off of her and she had peed and I was like yeah, oh my god, and so I mean it was.

Christopher:

It was insane and so, long story short, we ended up I called 911, got my dad also helped and my brother. They also helped, but we called 911, we sent, got to the ER and then my mom started to actually talk. And please, when I say this, I'm not making fun of anyone when I'm saying this, but it I mean it sounded so slow and exaggerated and it was not my mom's voice, yeah, and it was just so weird hearing that and I was like, oh my God, what is going on? And ultimately, you know, we weren't able to figure out if she had a stroke or not, because it I didn't. You know, the last time of normalcy was eight o'clock that night right, like it was just so far

Colby:

You didn't see her until the next morning

Christopher:

yeah and so, yeah, we just, but you know it just took a while, but she finally was.

Christopher:

She got to the point where she was able to talk again, normal, but after that it wasn't really the same. It was. It was a very interesting. So, like I, I would not want that

Colby:

yeah

Christopher:

because that was just too close to home

Colby:

Yeah, no, I definitely could see that.

Colby:

Yeah, for me it's. I've never had a personal experience with it. It's just I don't know, I just can't do it. On the one side, it's devastating to see the family, it's devastating to see your patient trying to communicate, learn how to use their body in different ways to make it work for them, depending if they have any usage of any limbs. And then there's also, like the. There's also that aspect where taking care of these patients is also just incredibly challenging in the sense of, um, like, when you have this, these brain tissue issues, um like, perfectly like doing the education and and the patients can have, like memory loss or just like a complete like on, like inability to understand, like the direction or education that's being given to them and a lot of times are they could be confused and you know, high fall risks.

Colby:

Now, yeah um getting out of the bed, and it's.

Colby:

It's very common in that specialty yeah and it just uh, on top of everything else like it where it you get worn down and like what I do at least I get worn down and burnt out so quickly with that specialty so I just it's just not for me, if any. When I was traveling, I think for some weird reason, I've seen a pattern where stroke floors are commonly in smaller hospitals, are commonly kind of like mixed with telemetry patients. So as a nurse with a cardiac background, my, my, um, oh, what's the word my recruiter when I was traveling would always try and put me on like, give me like contracts on stroke floors and I was like, absolutely not, like don't even float me the idea.

Christopher:

Hard stop

Colby:

It's a hard stop, it's a hard. No, for me it's a hard pass. Like strictly, if we're going to do like a contract, it's like I'll be in the float pool and I'll go there once in a while.

Christopher:

Right.

Colby:

But I'm not going to take like a contract specifically on that floor.

Christopher:

Well, that's fair.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

And so is there a specialty? I mean, obviously, cardiac was your niche and you said you would like ER. Is there one that you're like I would also other than ER?

Colby:

um, I think like subspecialties of cardiology uh, cath lab.

Christopher:

Oh okay, I was like what?

Colby:

yeah, like within cardiology but like maybe a different area, more of like a. I guess cath lab is like outpatient okay, yeah, and it's not inpatient, so I'm pretty sure they're considered outpatient, but I considered taking a job in the cath lab. I think the only turn off for me was what.

Colby:

What made me ultimately to decide not to go that route was the on-call requirement.

Christopher:

and yeah, because you had, when you came back and was coming back as core staff, you had yeah, interviewed and everything right.

Colby:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ultimately, I just felt, um, it was just a lot of on-call time and I'm not, I don't have like dug in roots, despite being somewhere for almost 10 years. I like when I'm not at work, I'm traveling and so that's like.

Christopher:

Oh my God, the amount she travels.

Colby:

I do a lot of things. I'm very busy outside of work, so to have on call time would require me to stay close to the hospital more often than I do now, and I was like, well, I'm just not ready for that, okay. So, even though you've only been in nursing for five years, I feel like it's a funny question to ask you like what's kept you in? But what are some things that have like kept you interested, I guess, and like kept you interested in the job?

Christopher:

so you know. What really honestly has kept me interested is the fact that it's so different. Like year one I was was learning, so I was trying to figure out with NRP and all that stuff and like trying to figure out what to do in terms of how to be a nurse. Year two, I was off on my own. I got to like dabble with some nursing students in terms of precepting them. Year three, I had switched from Cardiology, well so year one, started at vascular merged into COVID because I, I was like to save people on the cardiology unit from going to float to the card the.

Christopher:

COVID floor? I would, I would go. So I had my own like amount of scrubs that I could use and you know I was able to badge in and get my own scrubs, which was really cool because I then learned some like COVID nursing which wasn't it wasn't much different, but you know it was COVID nursing and then went to acute cards with the LVADs and prostacyclin and then went to man. It sounds like I don't know what. I know what I'm doing. I went to transplant.

Christopher:

Yeah, year three I went into transplant and then

Colby:

You've done a lot in a small amount of time.

Christopher:

It's insane.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

Because year three and a half, four I started in, started the drip bar.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

And then year five I'm in management now

Colby:

yeah

Christopher:

in both places, which is weird. So I think that's pretty much what's kind of kept me and, like, kept me interested is the fact that it's just so different, like every you

Colby:

yeah, you keep the ball rolling yeah you've done all you've I mean you've like touched on quite a few different aspects of nursing.

Colby:

That will definitely keep, I think you're. If you have ADHD, it's a great job for you.

Colby:

No, I'm not saying that you do but I'm not saying that you do.

Colby:

but if you do, out in the world, other people listening, it might be a great choice. If you can no, that's not true. But if you get bored easily or if you, I don't know I mean, yeah, there's just so many options.

Christopher:

There are. There are just a lot of options.

Colby:

Also it's good to know, it's good to say, like if you're a new grad and you start off in your first job and you're like I don't like this, you don't have to stay, try something different.

Christopher:

Right, there's just so much and you can so much. Inpatient, then there's so much outpatient, then there's so much in between. Yeah, I mean, like I know both of us have done, New Year bingo cards.

Colby:

Yes.

Christopher:

And I mean one of them which I have not started. So, everybody, I have not added this to my plate, but I was wanting to do legal nurse consulting because that's something you can also do too.

Christopher:

Yeah, there's just so much.

Colby:

There's an endless, endless supply of nursing jobs possibilities, so that's the word that came to my head

Christopher:

oh gosh um and I guess

Colby:

okay go ahead.

Christopher:

I guess I answered the whole like which one I don't want to do.

Colby:

Yeah,

Christopher:

yeah yeah, yeah, I honestly I don't know, I don't think there is one.

Colby:

Well, no one wants to go back to COVID nursing, so

Christopher:

Do you know what?

Colby:

Did you like it?

Christopher:

Well, here's my oh. For the people that are not nurses when they hear this I enjoyed COVID nursing because I did not have to see any patient family members. Fair enough, I didn't have to deal with that.

Colby:

Yeah, that's true.

Christopher:

There is a fine line between a patient's family member being very helpful and just being in my way, and most people don't know what that fine line is yeah and some nurses don't even know what that fine line is.

Colby:

I was.

Colby:

I was gonna say, and I last year, unfortunately my, my gran pass, which you know but we were at the bedside with her and I was like do I say something? Do I stay quiet? And this is like I mean my the. The hospital that she was at was also where my aunt worked in the. She works in the ED now and we were in an ICU and so like we were trying to be helpful but also like like two nurses, two RNs in the room were like this is what we want, but also trying not to like step on toes or like be annoying, like we would just like both look at each other. And then she'd be like what do you think? And I'd be like whatever you think, and then we'd just look at the doctor and be like come on, come up with the same idea as us, that we're thinking in our head.

Christopher:

We're trying to telepathically send it to you because we don't want to say what we want.

Colby:

Yeah, but we had a plan in our head

Christopher:

yeah, I mean, I, honestly I, yes, I.

Christopher:

I hated the fact that people died and everything, but I did appreciate that part COVID nursing

Colby:

yeah, yeah.

Christopher:

so I do not want to go back to it. If it meant people dying like that, so yeah, covid nursing. No, I also am not the biggest fan of anything that deals with saliva.

Colby:

Oh yeah, oh trach, oh.

Christopher:

But see, I love me suctioning a trach.

Colby:

You can do a suctioning a trach, so.

Christopher:

I can do a suction because it comes out of a different place.

Colby:

So it's saliva and straight out of the mouth, yeah so where are you seeing that a lot? Where's that concentrated at?

Christopher:

I guess babies.

Colby:

Oh okay, so you're like don't want to?

Colby:

no, thank you.

Christopher:

Please don't no, I don't need you to drool on me. Um, but I which is weird, because I do love babies I think they're very cute, I think they're fun.

Colby:

It's like the toddler to small child section that you're not a fan of

Christopher:

Don't spit on me.

Christopher:

Oh, I guess psych would also be that, because if you spit on me, who knows, I might have to catch a charge.

Colby:

Hand swing first, mind comes in later. Just kidding um. But no, I agree with that. I don't think I' m uh.

Colby:

I don't think I'm cut out for psych nursing.

Colby:

I don't think I have the therapeutic enough touch

Christopher:

no,

Colby:

verbally

Christopher:

yeah

Colby:

make it through psych. But man, the ones that do. I mean, I've met some really good psych nurses and I've been like jaw on the floor, like wow, you just finesse that so well, like how did? Because you know whether you take, whether you work on a psych floor or not, you're still going to take care of patients with psych conditions,

Christopher:

yeah 100

Colby:

and we get them in cardiology, you get them in transplant.

Colby:

People with psych diagnoses have those issues and we have something in our facility that's called a BERT call or a behavioral emergency response team, and so when you have and this isn't just for psych patients, this could be anybody acting up being crazy um, where we feel like things are escalating to the point where, like we could, get hurt yeah, like where staff could get hurt or the patient can hurt themselves and like security comes um, the psych resident team will come and give their recommendations as far as meds and all that good stuff.

Colby:

And like I've seen people talk, I've seen staff talk patients down like so magically and you're like wow, like where were you 15 minutes ago when this was like getting a little nuts Like you? That was magic, legitimately, that was magic. You're a star. Thank you so much.

Christopher:

Good Job.

Colby:

Good Job.

Christopher:

Well, and you know also, it's just because you also work with workplace violence, right? Yeah, so like it's important for us as nurses to know that we do not have to take the abuse of people. Like it is okay to be, like I am. I understand you're frustrated, I understand you know something's not going the right way, but I am a human, just you know.

Christopher:

you don't say this, but I I'm a human just as much as you are and I deserve just as much respect as you're wanting and I do not need to be treated that way yeah and I think that's something that's very hard for new nurses, because it's like you, you just you're like, I just want to help out, I just want to make sure they're okay

Colby:

yeah

Christopher:

like, but your mental health is important and you do not need to be ragged out like that.

Colby:

yeah, and there's also I mean.

Colby:

There's a huge culture shift across the US, I think, right now, involving workplace violence with, like, patient-related care, and this is getting a little tangential. But we as a whole nursing in this country are subjected to a lot of violence, um from patients and we have, like a measure standards, um that a lot of hospitals provide data for, um, we are we're trying to move towards a culture change where we're you're not accepting that, like in the past, it's always been like Oh, it's just part of the job. I got a urinal thrown at me. Oh, it's just part of a job. This person hit, hit me or dug their nails into my arm, like when I was just trying to give them a medication, or, you know, talk to them, talk to them with therapeutic, in a therapeutic manner. It's not part of our job. It's basically what I'm getting at.

Colby:

Is that what Christopher is saying, Like we do not need to accept that behavior and, in fact, when people do those sorts of things, like, we have the right to press charges on them and and and we should in some cases, or in a lot of those cases. But I think we um as a facility are getting really better about documenting these cases Um and then also with people like myself who are in these like champion roles. Um are part of the subcommittee for hospital wide um to educate our nurses, our floor nurses, bring back the um to bring back the um information and education to to our staff, to empower them.

Christopher:

Yeah,

Colby:

yeah,

Christopher:

100%. And yeah, I don't want to continue on the tangent, but it is important and I think that that tangent was important and something that.

Colby:

yeah, we could do a whole episode on workplace violence truthfully.

Christopher:

Well, I'll let you lead that one, because

Colby:

season three

Christopher:

season three. Wait, you skipped season two,

Colby:

season two excuse me, I need that much time to get my thoughts

Christopher:

okay, that's what it is. Okay, got it. So, um, okay, got it. So one specialty that I'm like actually excited about also is the whole legal nurse consulting thing.

Colby:

Yeah that is a cool one.

Christopher:

I'm like it's so different. So new, you are like chart. And I do this a little bit in terms of like when I review BE SAFEs and when a patient complains and I get the patient complaint. You know I always diving into a chart and trying to figure out, at least in terms of charting and why it's important to chart specific things and the right way, what the charts are saying, because If you didn't chart it, you didn't do it Yep.

Colby:

That's a tale as old as time classic it is.

Christopher:

It is. And so you know, if you're taking anything away from this, make sure you don't get beat up for any.

Colby:

Protect yourself.

Christopher:

Protect yourself and make sure you're charting. You know like that's that's important. So legal nurse consulting kind of allows you to kind of dive into that perspective in terms of, like looking at a chart and seeing how that's going, and then sometimes you'll actually sit out sitting in court and like testify

Colby:

yeah, and give like a professional opinion on something.

Colby:

I think it's cool because it also gives like your bird's eye view, um, and also you're someone who's educated and a specialist in the field, so you're a nurse and you. You are doing that type of charting in your own job, so you're specialists in this field and you're giving your professional opinion on something that you're removed. You're like a you know, an outside eye. It's an interesting take yeah definitely cool.

Colby:

It also pays very well. In case anyone's wondering, it's not like a full time, like I'm sure there's people out there that do full time, um, but I think there's a lot of cases that like are like PRN or like an as needed thing, like a law office will utilize you, which is pretty cool.

Christopher:

Yes, it's neat, our segment break this time, which is a different one than the last time, is scrub hacks

Colby:

Scrub hacks.

Christopher:

So now it's time for scrub hacks. In this segment, we'll share quick tips, tricks and little shortcuts that make life in scrubs a bit easier. From time-saving tools to ways to stay organized during the craziest shifts, these are the hacks that help keep us going. Let's dive in and find a few ways to make your day run a little smoother.

Colby:

All right, christopher. What's your scrub hack today?

Christopher:

Well, so you know, I know, the first thing when I was in nursing was like how in the world do I give a report?

Colby:

That's a big one when you're starting out.

Christopher:

It's interesting because I've now worked on the same unit that Colby's worked on and now I'm working on a different unit. The way that majority of people on the unit that Colby works for gives report differently than those on mine and

Colby:

they're two different specialties,

Christopher:

right

Colby:

Do you think that's what plays a part in the difference?

Christopher:

I think, so I think also, and you can, I feel free to disagree, I think.

Colby:

Oh boy, here we go. I'm very passionate about reports, so wait for me to share.

Christopher:

I also think. Did I ever give you report?

Colby:

oh my God, if you did, it's been far too long for me.

Christopher:

OK, that's fair. I think it's management styles. You know, like my manager Definitely has a she. She came from ICU, ok, and so I think that Perspective she has kind of makes us have more of a detailed, like full-body report where I don't know in terms of your unit and like the management style, because y'all be giving report real quick.

Colby:

Oh yeah, I give report very quickly. Yes, I give report quick and dirty. I'm going to tell you what you need to know, right, but go ahead, you continue, and then I'll. And then I'll give my side of things on this one. Ok, my own scrub hack.

Christopher:

So so my when I was given a report, I literally was like I, yes, I, I can probably regurgitate a good bit of information in terms of what happened on the shift, an assessment of a patient, but I like to have it on paper, and so I actually created a handoff paper in terms of a report sheet that included when my meds were due. I could circle the hours that they were due. It has been adapted briefly, but which organ the patient received their brief medical history, HEENT all the way down, you know, and also a place where any lines or drains, um, and I had it, where I could put three patients on one page, um, and if you want to see it, you can join our Patreon. Yeah, NL101 office hours.

Colby:

Yep, so there's that, but you'll be able to download it on there if you become a member of our Patreon.

Christopher:

It's true

Colby:

Mm-hmm

Christopher:

But it really helped me to be. If I needed to be succinct I could be, and there was a little you flipped it over. It was like the updates portion where if I needed to update anyone, I could just update someone. Yeah, um, but yeah, I, I'm more of a. I need to know, like do they have glasses? Are they missing teeth? How's their lung sound? Because I think

Colby:

that's I mean

Colby:

No, those are important things.

Colby:

I put those in mine.

Christopher:

I don't think we ever give a report to each other because I'm like I don't remember any time

Colby:

I mean, if I have it written down, I'll tell you my I, I am I.

Colby:

I would love to see our report sheets on Patreon side by side. Okay, like these are the two styles. I definitely think when you're getting started and I think and again, we've established, I've been a nurse for 10 years, I'm still using a report sheet when I'm, if I do have an opportunity to take patients on the floor, then I have a report sheet. I am not one of those people who, like, just have it all up in the brain. That scares me. When someone comes up to me and they're not holding a piece of paper and they just start talking about a patient, I'm like everything you're saying is a lie, because you don't have anything in front of you to tell you. This Lies, all of it. I don't trust any of you. I do have a report sheet, mine is more. I don't want to know about your surgery, about the patient surgery that they had 25 years ago.

Christopher:

Okay, that's fair.

Colby:

I don't care about it.

Christopher:

That's fair, okay.

Colby:

I also feel like a lot of stuff that is given in report which makes it lengthy is stuff that I'm going to have to do on my own assessment anyways. So we're required to ask the patient glasses, dentures, hearing aids, where are they, do you have them? That we have to document that every shift anyways, so you can share that with me when you're getting report. I might write it down, I might pass it on to the next person, but if you don't share it with me, I'm not going to be like, do they have glasses? Do they have dentures? Are the dentures in their mouth or in the cup next to them? Like I have to do all that anyways when I'm going into the room Because you could tell me they have dentures in their mouth and I go in there and there's no dentures in their mouth.

Colby:

So, like what you say, I'm like that's cool, I'll take your information. I don't I'm not listing off every allergy. I say allergies yes or or no on my paper. I don't list off every piece of the past medical history, just pertinent to what they're there for. So a lot of cardiology, I don't care necessarily that, um, I'm trying to think of something. Oh, I'm only thinking of pertinent information. Right now I'm like this is what I wrote down on my papers today hypertension, coronary artery disease.

Colby:

Like I'm like, I'll write down that stuff like yeah they had some like gyn surgery like two years ago, even if it like, even if it was two weeks ago, if it wasn't, if it has no reason why they're what they're doing right now, like why they're in the hospital has nothing to do with it, and it it's like basically like their gyn won't see them for them for like another year, like I don't care about it, that does not matter to me, I do. I basically do brief past medical history, only what pertains to what we're dealing with,

Christopher:

right,

Colby:

what they came in with, what the plan is, what we've done so far, and then like systems would like you know, neuro, all that good stuff, and then lines, and that's it I'm. But I'm gonna, I'm gonna give it to you quick

Christopher:

do you, do you have like a template?

Colby:

yeah, I don't, I, I write it physically on the piece of paper, like

Christopher:

I remember you saying

Colby:

I, I will.

Colby:

I get a blank piece of paper, I fold it in half. I can put four patients, two on each side, and I write down like I'll literally write down the patient's name at the top and then like who their team are attending is Full code status allergies. That's top left corner, on the right-hand side. I'm doing past medical history, okay, so I'm not gonna we'll. We'll put it on patreon so you can see it, but I, I'm, I'm gonna give it to you quick.

Colby:

My scrub hack, though, is twofold. So one is you need a report sheet, two different color pens. Okay, when you're taking report, have your one color and throughout the day, or sometime before you give your next, before you give handoff to the next nurse, use the other color to write in updates or things that have changed. So that way, if you're giving updates to like the nurses coming back and you don't need to go through that full report, you can just say, hey, these are the things that changed today. That way you're not staring at your paper trying to figure out what's going on or giving another full report because the nurse that had them last night, they know all that stuff. So, like, let's keep it moving that.

Christopher:

That is the important part. And yeah, I didn't think about the. I used to have that multi-color pin. I just

Colby:

yeah, those are like four top the clickers. Yeah, highlighters,

Christopher:

I had more than four

Colby:

highlighters.

Colby:

I mean I can I highlight stuff I'll have, like if I have the same patient three shifts in a row. I mean I've got all kinds of colors on my paper but I know like red was today, green was yesterday, blue was the day before, that, like I. I think color coordinating your updates it helps a lot to kind of get the information, especially if you're passing the same patient back and forth to the same nurse. But also like it just gives you, it just keeps it more organized. I mean I wish I had a report sheet that I can show you. It's so bad right now.

Christopher:

It's like here it is,

Colby:

yeah, my art project.

Colby:

Yeah, but truly like we, it's like common to say like, oh my brain, let me get my brain, that's like what we call our report sheets. It truly is, because you can't keep all of that information in your brain on four patients or more, or, you know, even like two critical, critically ill patients. You can't keep all that information in your brain. Let's just. It's not possible. You've got to write it down. So you psychopaths that are out there but don't write anything down, I'm scared for you.

Christopher:

So you know, I have asked somebody and their reason is most pathophysiology is the same if you know the patient population.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

And so if you know the patient population and I, I mean very much to your point you've been here for 10 years I'm sure if somebody's coming from the cath lab you can regurgitate anything that you need to know from what's going to come from, like

Colby:

it's pretty predictable,

Christopher:

yeah rough estimate, and so that was their caveat, and the reason or a reason why they don't actually write anything down is because they're like the pathophysiology just doesn't change

Colby:

I don't know, though.

Colby:

I mean there are a lot of similar things, but I still think that's wild. I also, I did think, find it interesting that you said you think it might have something to do with manager style

Christopher:

I do

Colby:

I maybe for y'all.

Christopher:

Maybe,

Colby:

I don't think it's necessarily for us, though. Because, we've had a wide range. We've gone through some managers in my 10 years.

Christopher:

But I'm sorry, I'm going to interrupt just for one second. Yeah, that is correct, but before the merge, y'all had.

Christopher:

Y'all had one for a while no?

Colby:

Yeah, yeah, she was, yeah, the manager that we had before our two units merged together and we shared a manager. Yes, there was.

Colby:

She had been there for more than five years, I think.

Christopher:

So I I think it was that manager that created the culture in my opinion. I'm like yes,

Colby:

I can, I could semi agree with this, but I'm gonna argue to the point where the turnover, also on my floor, has changed so much like maybe because the people who are precepting are teaching.

Christopher:

I was going to say, yeah, but you still have a core.

Colby:

Yeah, that's true. The people who have precepted, have, are precepting, have been. Yeah, I see what you're saying. Maybe that's it. Maybe that is it.

Christopher:

I'm not saying it's good or bad, I'm just just saying, that's what I think.

Colby:

That's okay, that could be it. You might have cracked the nut on that one.

Christopher:

No, I don't think I did. I think I just pissed people off.

Colby:

No, no, no, I don't think so at all.

Christopher:

Oh God, but it is just different ways of like the same information is being said Really and truly. It just there might be less being said in terms of your report than my report.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

And my manager does say, you know like, she doesn't care about the tooth extraction they had in 2001 if they're here for respiratory failure or like you know, like it doesn't it doesn't make any sense and that's what she teaches also in in clinicals when she she's like I don't want to hear about that yeah it's cool that they had it.

Colby:

Oh yeah someone starts listing off like 50 allergies, I said oh no, no, no, no, no. I just yes or no is fine with me and I'll take a look at my own time.

Christopher:

Yeah, the only reason why I say this do you actually pay attention to some those?

Colby:

To allergies?

Christopher:

Yeah, yeah, how well do you?

Colby:

Oh, if the list is really long. I actually will look because, I'm like, okay, what's going on? Here, Like are these real allergies or are these like I can't take that. It gives me a headache and you're like okay, that's not an allergy.

Christopher:

My left toe itch. Yeah, I got it.

Colby:

Or or um. I can't take Lasix, which is a diuretic, because it made me pee a lot. You're like, no, that's the point of it, it's not an allergy. Oh goodness, someone needs a little education on that medication but like A little educational on that medication. Yeah, like it's stuff like that. Usually if the list is really long, there's some fake ones out there. So I'm like what's going on?

Christopher:

It's like, it's okay, you don't have to have Lasix, We'll just give you Bumex.

Colby:

Yeah, Bumex is so much better, you'll pee even more.

Christopher:

Good luck.

Colby:

Metolazone.

Christopher:

Yeah, yeah.

Colby:

Diuril.

Christopher:

The only reason I say that is because, uh, within the last couple of months, someone had a heparin allergy and there was something that they were giving. I can't remember at the present moment.

Colby:

But it had heparin in it.

Christopher:

It had heparin in it and it was like a legit allergy like they had HIT yeah, um which, if you don't know what HIT is um, is heparin induced thrombocytopenia right, yes, you nailed it oh man, but essentially it's just.

Colby:

No, essentially it's like your body's having allergic reaction to heparin.

Colby:

It's an abnormal or adverse reaction to heparin.

Colby:

Um

Christopher:

I can't remember what it was

Colby:

I think, okay, not that.

Colby:

What I'm about to say is not that these mistakes don't happen in different style hospitals, but we also work in a teaching hospital, and so when new pharmacy pharmacists are doing their residency, we have new doctors doing their residency.

Colby:

I feel like it, we definitely have like an even bigger responsibility to kind of double check those things. During certain times of the year, meaning, like, when these individuals are first starting their career and their first, you know, learning how to be a pharmacist or learning how to be a doctor um, that's a there's a much bigger margin for mistakes to be made, and in that case, meds and that kind of stuff. So it really the swiss cheese model that is commonly used. Um, we're definitely like we could be like hey, like this, we're raising our hand at this red flag here. We're definitely one of the people that can stop, prevent something from happening.

Christopher:

Yeah, and nurses have such an important role in terms of just that. It's like we are the last hole that a problem will go through.

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

If we are not diligent enough to make sure we shift our hole just out of the way to block this, you know catastrophe from happening, then you know we missed it. And going back to what we were saying last week, these are people's life and that's your grandmother, your grandfather, your mother, your father that could also be having that issue if that nurse is also not diligent.

Colby:

Yep.

Christopher:

So, just stay diligent out there.

Colby:

That's why it's important to have a report sheet. Get your brain organized.

Christopher:

Also true. So yeah, I think that wraps up our scrub hacks.

Colby:

Yeah, that's it.

Christopher:

So you know, I think we have to go back to we reminisce about what we've gone through so far. So you've been here for 10 years. Can you tell me what you're going to do like next year, or three years, or five years from now?

Christopher:

Yeah, do you want to go first, or I mean I can go first.

Colby:

Okay, you go first.

Christopher:

Okay, okay, here we go.

Colby:

Give me more time.

Christopher:

Yeah, that's fair.

Christopher:

Uh, so year one I, which is next year, I mean, honestly, I I really want to do legal nurse consulting. I really want to. I'm gonna add something more to my plate.

Colby:

I was gonna say what are you gonna take off your plate to make room for that?

Christopher:

I don't do that, okay. I actually somebody asked me earlier. They were like how do you have all of this on your plate? And I was like, well, really and truly, this is what it happens. It's. It's like if, like, I'm lifting weights right, I can lift a five pound weight pretty easily. If I get to 10 pounds, it's going to be a lot harder not really all I'm good um than the five pound weight. Yeah, but if I keep using that 10 pound weight, sooner or later it's going to get lighter.

Christopher:

So I add a 15 pound weight.

Colby:

you've made this analogy up to to work and something that you wanted to make this work and you're like it's like lifting weights.

Christopher:

It is like lifting weights you're building muscles. I'm just building my working muscle.

Colby:

Okay, this is not a healthy work-life balance for all of our new grad listeners.

Christopher:

Well, we'll talk about that.

Colby:

We'll talk about work-life balance in the future.

Christopher:

But honestly Legal Nurse Consulting. This podcast is

Colby:

Yeah.

Christopher:

It's something that I hope to continue at least three years. I would hope five years. That that would be great, yeah, but you know, five years from now, I hope to be in a different place than I am now so either you follow me or we're gonna have to figure out a remote way to do this.

Colby:

Oh, we could definitely figure it out if needed, but I feel like we just we're locked in me and christopher, we are just gonna follow each other everywhere.

Christopher:

Also three years, I will probably be transitioning away from the ANM position and probably going back towards bedside. I don't know manifesting this myself, hoping that it'll actually happen, that I'll be able to like be somewhat of a financial partner in the drip bar, at least the one here in town.

Christopher:

And then, yeah, so I have these huge goals.

Colby:

You have way. Okay, I should have gone first, because I'm going to be like meh.

Christopher:

I have these huge goals.

Colby:

That's awesome.

Christopher:

Well, I just want to say I'm going to call back from last week again. It's okay for you to be a little on the.

Colby:

Yeah, after our wins and woes last week.

Christopher:

I want to say your woe was not a mistake on your part, it was just a woe.

Colby:

I misinterpreted the assignment.

Christopher:

I was like dang it. I look like a terrible nurse and Colby's over here advocating for patients to get their cardiac MRIs on time. That's not fair. I already said mine I can't take it back.

Colby:

I misinterpreted the assignment. I'll come up with a better one next time.

Christopher:

That's okay, but but yeah, I think that huge mess of one, three, five years, five years. I won't be here

Colby:

yeah

Christopher:

um, and I'll probably be back at bedside.

Colby:

Okay,

Christopher:

probably, I don't know.

Colby:

Yeah,

Christopher:

things can happen

Colby:

things can change and they so often do. My 1, 3, 5 plan, okay. So I'm like laughing in my brain right now because I feel like I I used to be really good like with career oriented goals and I changed my mind so many times that I've kind of. That's probably partially why the reason I'm still doing what I'm doing for as long as I have been, because I just keep changing my mind. So I think my one year goal, um, I don't have. I know, in one year, if I'm like picturing my one year, I'll probably still be in what I'm doing, but in the next, which includes this podcast.

Colby:

This is like a new fun endeavor, which is great. Um, I think in three years I want to start looking. I want to start looking for my nurse retirement job or I want to be in it

Christopher:

oh dang,

Colby:

yeah,

Christopher:

I was not ready for that one.

Colby:

Yeah and I have I have some um ideas

Christopher:

okay

Colby:

cardiac rehab

Christopher:

I was like are you gonna explain?

Colby:

Yeah?

Colby:

yeah, cardiac rehab, if you ask me, is my future retirement job it's just finding the right, the right position, uh, the right job offer, where that will be, it's wherever Christopher will be. No, I'm kidding, I don't know, I could be also be anywhere. Um, I always I'm. I always say I'm not married to the area that we live in, and I have lived here for 10 years. I left and came back, so I might be reluctantly married to the area that we live in. But I am also completely open to moving. I love traveling as we already discussed earlier.

Colby:

I'm ready to get away from the bedside on some level.

Christopher:

You know I have a question. Why haven't you thought about management and the reason why I literally said today I call Colby for questions where I'm like I should know this as a manager. But let me call you and ask you who do I call for dentistry and who I need to transport them to?

Colby:

You don't need to know that. For your job, you don't need to know that.

Colby:

It's helpful sure.

Colby:

It would have made your day a smidge easier but that's why. They couldn't pay me enough.

Christopher:

Okay.

Colby:

Yeah, I'm gonna start with that. That's the main reason. They couldn't pay me enough. But truly to be seen by your staff as a good manager and to be a good manager, in my opinion, is that's like no separation of church and state, like the job is your life, and I say this to you all the time like you have no work-life balance, I and we've already established, when I'm not at the hospital, I'm not I mean, which is not completely true I do have meetings and stuff that I participate outside of yeah, out, you know, outside of my like, core job, but it's, it's a.

Colby:

I have a work-life balance, I have boundaries with it and I, I I just couldn't be the manager I would want, or even the assistant manager that I would want, because I cannot commit that much time to I think I would lose my mind. I'm not built for it. We talked a little bit last episode about my anxiety and like my need to achieve and like be a, you know, triple gold star player and I just like I know that in order for me to feel like I'm, I'm all of those things in that role would be too like I would lose myself into the, into the job.

Colby:

So that's why I have not pursued that

Christopher:

okay,

Colby:

yeah,

Christopher:

what about like a clinical nurse leader or like a nurse educating?

Colby:

Yeah

Christopher:

nurse education coordinator.

Colby:

To go back to school and I touched on this like for a second and then the first in our first podcast. But because I graduated 10 years ago, a lot of my bachelor's credits are expired. So in order to go on and get like further, get another degree, like in CNL or anything like that, I would have to redo like some basic credits and I'm just like I just paid off my bachelor's. I'm not going to redo my bachelor's degree so I can get a master's degree.

Christopher:

And actually this is a good point. Why don't you utilize the organization's money instead?

Colby:

Also. It just like it seems like torture. I think I'm still also also the trauma of nursing school. I'm like I don't want to go back.

Christopher:

Well, I mean, you know that's different,

Colby:

but this is also my I say I like have have changed my mind so many times and like leading up to it, like I changed my mind so many times so I couldn't commit like to applying and like following through on like a program. Because I was like when I first graduated I was like, okay, I stumbled into cardiology, like this isn't really what I wanted.

Colby:

I think I want to be a peds nurse. And then I was like I've always been passionate about, and then I was like no, I couldn't do it. Like very quickly realized like peds wasn't for me, so okay. So I've always been passionate about women's health. So I thought like MP midwifery I was like all over the place and so that was like, oh well, now I've been in cardiology for three years, like maybe I need to consider just like staying with that. And then three years turned into four and then so on and so on. But I'm also recently I say in the last year I've become interested in like legislation around nursing and that sort of stuff.

Christopher:

What's that organization that?

Colby:

Nursing in STEM.

Christopher:

Yeah.

Colby:

Yeah, yeah. So in an old facility that I worked at back where where I grew up, there were nurses that were working on the nursing and STEM coalition and trying to get STEM nursing recognized as a STEM like occupation in the US so that more grants and scholarships to people to go to school, we can get international nurses on longer visas, like that kind of stuff, we can get international nurses on longer visas, like that kind of stuff. And I just was like so enthralled in it when they were like trying to get people to sign the petition to be presented at Congress.

Christopher:

Let me tell you, she sent me an email.

Colby:

Oh, I sent yeah.

Christopher:

I mean it was an extensive email.

Colby:

I sent the email to the CNO of our facility to the nursing school director.

Christopher:

The dean?

Colby:

The dean, yeah, sorry excuse me, the dean.

Colby:

I sent it to the dean. Everybody, I talked about it at our huddles. I sent it to our nursing director. I just went wild. I was so passionate about it.

Christopher:

Did you get anything back?

Colby:

No

Christopher:

oh, that's so sad,

Colby:

I know.

Colby:

I kind of dropped the ball on, like following up on where they're at with that, but I should, I was really. I was really.

Christopher:

You were.

Colby:

I was totally passionate about it for like a whole month and then I kind of forgot. And this is what happens to me. I like, I get sidetracked. But honestly I would love to get more involved in that.

Christopher:

Yeah.

Colby:

So in the next three years, maybe exploring like getting more involved with legislation around nursing?

Christopher:

Okay, hey, I mean more power to you

Colby:

or five years, let's go with five years. That's my five-year goal,

Christopher:

dang it.

Christopher:

That was like three years. We could definitely get that.

Colby:

I would love to go okay, the ideal life. I would love to go okay, the ideal life, because I feel like, even though when I say, like my nurse, retirement job and cardiac rehab, like I won't be stimulated enough

Christopher:

no, you won't

Colby:

so I would love to also just like be a prn princess and work like one shift here there on the floor,

Christopher:

not the prn princess

Colby:

work one shift on the floor cardiac rehab, part-time, loosey-goosey hours and then, like I don't know, do something like legislation, do something, it's like a passion project yeah that I could also get paid for.

Colby:

Possibly we'll see, I don't know that. I just need to start like really flexing my ivs, my iv skills and start working at the drip bar.

Christopher:

Just come to the drip bar, I'm sure we could hire you. It's just a teaching process. You'll be fine. A couple of people you'll miss, and that's okay,

Colby:

can't hit them all.

Christopher:

Oh, wow. So yeah, I think I think overall, overall, like having a good at least when we start. Well, when I started at the, the health organization that we, we work for they, they sit you down, at least in my first year, and they were like this is like the five-year plan First year, you know, get yourself normalized Because we're a magnet hospital, we have to have a certain percentage of bachelor degree or higher nurses. So you know, in that five-year plan was also get your, get your bachelor's degree, you know, by by five year five because we signed a contract to do so and I think it. But I think that is the reason why, like I ask people, I'm like, yeah, I know what I'm doing five years, what are you doing?

Christopher:

you know like I I think it's good to have those goals, and it's good to have those goals even while you're in nursing school

Colby:

yeah

Christopher:

and if you want to share those goals and want to be like, hey, just cheer me on.

Christopher:

You know, check in. Like we're definitely gonna do that, like we see each and every one of you as our little brothers and sisters. Um, and you know, like encouraging you through these trauma classes and these traumatic experiences of passing out when you're going to go to clinicals, forgetting to do something like PCA skills, that you won't be doing that while you're in nursing school. But you know, like these things are traumatic enough and we're trying to just be that support system to help you get through and continue to push through and show you in a real perspective that someone that's been here for 10 years and someone who's been here for five years had two different startups and are still in two different.

Christopher:

Uh lanes, yeah and we're still at it,

Colby:

yeah and if you're a listener with you know, experience and you're not a new grad, you're. a you're kindred spirit with me who's having a little bit of trouble of commitment of goals? Let me know, maybe we could do each other, find a path together

Christopher:

oh, that would be great

Christopher:

Oh boy, well, I think that's it.

Colby:

That wraps it up for the day, yeah.

Christopher:

So class dismissed. That wraps up for today's session of Nursing Lyfe 101. We hope you found some useful takeaways to bring back to the floor. Remember, nursing is a lifelong learning journey and we're here with you. If you want to connect, find us on.

Colby:

Find us on twitter @ nurse lyfe that's life with a y l y f e 101. Or on facebook at nurse life nursing lyfe 101. Excuse me, and don't forget to subscribe and share with fellow nurses until next time. Take care of yourselves and keep making a difference out there. Peace peace.

People on this episode

Contributor

Christopher Henderson

Co-host
Contributor

Colby Daniel

Co-host