Ask Nurse Alice

Regret is powerful. It will consume you. It's destructive and can steal your happiness. Some regrets are smaller than others. Major mistakes as a healthcare provider can cause a lot of harm.  However, it's important to remember that mistakes are normal in life, and with those mistakes, regret happens. Life goes on. Still, it's important to learn ways to cope with regret, move past it, and be happy...

What do we do when our peers are touting information that is false or outdated? As a nurse, it's important to share the most accurate information with the public. Especially on your social media platforms. The public trusts nurses. Science and medicine are constantly changing. The least bit of misinformation can go a long way and cause a lot of harm. If you're a nurse and you're sharing informatio...

It's time to normalize nurse's feelings. As nurses, we are literally overwhelmed by helping others. Not that we don't enjoy helping our patients. We do. That's the reason we became nurses. However, the return on investment I don't feel is matching up. The time that we are investing of ourselves physically, emotionally, spiritually, our time, and our sacrifices to take care of others is daunting. W...

Alice worked as a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) for many years and she really enjoyed the work that she did. A clinical nurse specialist (CNS) is a type of Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) that's completed graduate-level education and clinical training. Like nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists specialize in specific patient populations; however, unlike NPs, they focus more o...

In this episode, Nurse Tori of The Cellfie Podcast (@nurse.tori_)joins Nurse Alice to talk about her journey into nursing, why she chose to be a NICU nurse, and what she loves about her specialty. If you're considering a career as a NICU nurse or ever wondered "what do NICU nurses do?", this episode is a MUST listen! Check out Nurse.org's Career Guide "How To Become a NICU Nurse" https://nurse.org...

Floating as a new nurse can feel intimidating. You were hired for a specific job and you are comfortable. But, there are definite benefits of floating. In this episode Nurse Alice discusses how floating can actually benefit your career and skills as a nurse. 

When you work the night shift you have to adjust your life to meet the needs of your schedule. It's equally as important to learn to stand up for yourself. Here are Nurse Alice's best tips for working the night shift. Here's a peak at what I discuss in the podcast,  1. Not everything has to revolve around work. Let's normalize having a conversation with whoever does the schedule and say, I have an...

Alice admits that when the vaccine was first offered to her, she passed. She was hesitant. However, after doing a lot of research she ultimately decided to get the vaccine and so did her family. Fast forward several months, many hospitals are now making the COVID vaccines mandatory for healthcare workers. In this episode, Alice shares her thought on vaccine mandates and the future of nursing. Visi...

Anytime someone dies, other people’s lives are impacted. Most of the time, there is a direct impact on the people with whom they worked. Whether the deceased person worked in your unit or they were a more casual acquaintance,  someone they knew will struggle with the news. The relationships we develop through our work as nurses are special. Sometimes we are closer to our fellow nurses than we are...

As a nurse, you are your number one patient. Your mental health matters. You have to make yourself a priority. Now more than ever it's important to focus on your mental health. Alice opens up about her own struggles with mental health and burnout. She provides resources, guidance, and advocacy for nurses who are not feeling like their usual selves. 

Nurse Alice reveals the reasons why she quit her job as a Family Nurse Practitioner. After working her way up the nursing ladder from CNA to LPN to RN to BSN to MSN, Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS), Alice was ready to get her FNP. Was becoming a nurse practitioner worth it? Does she regret it? When she started her Nurse Practitioner journey she had so many personal and professional reasons as to w...

Giving an effective bedside shift report sets the tone for the shift. Nurses might struggle with nursing handoff - maybe they don't know exactly what to say or how to properly communicate everything that needs to be said, where to conduct shift reports, or how to best give the report. In this episode, Alice shares her best advice for giving a shift report that will set up the incoming nurse for su...

Nurse Alice opens up about a relationship that ended and the strategies she used to work through the overwhelming emotions to learn and grow from that experience. We've all experienced disappointment in life and it always hurts - here are 5 ways to deal with disappointment. 

Nurse Alice answers a listener's question regarding a registered nurse from his home town who was spreading misinformation about COVID vaccines on Facebook. The listener reported the nurse to the board of nursing and now the nurse is retaliating against this listener. Conspiracy theories and misinformation about the pandemic and vaccines are all over the internet. If you're a nurse, you've likely...

Death is a reality for nurses, but coping with it can be difficult. In this episode, Nurse Alice shares her own personal experience with the death of a loved one and how she used that experience to help other patients and their families. For more advice on coping with death, read the nurse.org article "I'm a Nurse and I Grieve - Coping With Death" https://nurse.org/articles/nurses-coping-with-deat...

No matter how old you are, what occupation you hold, or where you live in the world we can all agree that sleep is essential to functioning properly on a day-to-day basis. That being said, as a Registered Nurse (RN) getting a full amount of sleep can be hard due to the constant and rigorous schedules they must endure. This is especially true for those who work swing shifts, rotating shifts, or nig...

Discussing racism in healthcare is an uncomfortable topic.  Alice teams up with the ANA/California to address racism in nursing and healthcare and identify tools we can use to help address the issues. The ANA/CA recently launched an anti-racism task force to address racism in nursing. Alice discloses her experience growing up as a Black and Filipino nurse whose father was the victim of a hate crim...

Aishah Williams, CNM, paid off $80K in two years. Now she’s on a mission to empower nurses to do the same. Aishah wears many hats: midwife, women’s health nurse practitioner, social media influencer, financial coach, and entrepreneur, but at the heart of everything she juggles is a passion for helping others. Nurse Alice chatted with Aishah on the Ask Nurse Alice podcast to learn more about her jo...

"I will go up against anyone to protect my patient.  If I feel that something is unsafe for the patient I am not participating in it. Period." says Nurse Alice. Doing the right thing isn't always easy, it sometimes takes more work, you could ruffle a few feathers and could add time onto your shift. But, doing the right thing is always what's best for your patients. We are here to do what’s in the...

“Nurses Eat Their Young” is an unspoken secret in the nursing profession. A culture of bullying, negativity, and stress torments the new-nursing community. Jannel of @noviceisthenewnurse is on a mission to empower new nurses and help them turn challenges into healing. She recently launched her book titled, “Lavender and Peppermint Tea” - a self-help book focused on journal prompts and activities t...

Nurse Alice failed pathophysiology 3 times, but she didn't let that hold her back. Proof that even the most seasoned nurses have overcome stark challenges. From failing pathophysiology multiple times to juggling motherhood and marriage to taking the scenic route from CNA to LPN to RN to BSN to MSN to Clinical Nurse Specialist To Nurse Practitioner and Media Health Expert she overcame a lot. And, t...

Nurse Alice tells her heartbreaking experience of working a COVID shift in a hard-hit community hospital. The experience still gives her chills to this day. Later, she interviews filmmaker and TedX Speaker Alec Fischer about his film project highlighting nurse's stories from the frontlines. Titled “Covid Confessions,” the series showcases raw personal stories from people in the most hard-hit profe...

BALA Nurse Shoes were designed cooperatively with footwear professionals and tens of thousands of real nurses, combining the best of RN-favorite clogs and running shoes to create an optimal shoe just for the needs of nurses. The cooperation between real nurses and the company is important to Zach Smith, Bala’s primary marketer and Head of Community because he’s a nurse himself. He sat down to talk...

Who is Nurse Alice? In this trailer, Alice gets real about her 23+ year nursing journey from CNA to CNS, Nurse Practitioner and Media Health Expert on TV. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it! 

Stress is a main contributing factor driving nurses to leave the workforce. ANA/California member, Calah Hardin, BSN, PHN, RN, has found that RN delegation to Nursing Assistant Personnel (NAP) can greatly reduce nursing stress. This is why she has launched a pilot student to explore the underutilized resource. She is actively recruiting participants and has teamed up with the ANA/California to off...