Found Down

Today I sit back down with Aries Gum, Flight Nurse and Assistant Nurse Manager at Airlift NW. We catch up on his last year and any lessons learned along the way. Of course, Covid-19 has impacted his area of the medical field, as he is often transporting positive patients to a higher level of care. He describes what that is like including dealing with their acuity in flight. Aries shares a few stor...

Today I sit down with the co-founders of the Last Pizza Party Movement , Nurse Erica and Nurse Nander. This nurse advocacy movement and non profit was born out of the Covid-19 pandemic. "The Last Pizza Party is dedicated to ensuring safer workplaces for healthcare providers, safer care for patients through legislation, and educating providers on current regulations and protective strategies." In t...

On today's show, I interview Eileen Thompson, a retired nurse with 43 years of experience! We discuss her incredible nursing career with candor and humor. She was a STAT nurse for last part of her nursing career, where she was regularly responding to in-house emergencies, helping nurses and physicians deliver the safest care possible and advocating for patients. She shares what she loved and what...

Today I interview the very talented Diana Page, ACNP - BC about burnout in nursing. She is an outpatient nurse practitioner, the founder of Catalyst For Selfcare as well as a mom and spouse. She also is a self proclaimed "burnout survivor." Diana is a burnout coach who coaches nurses on how to battle burnout and recognize it within themselves. She has a mentorship program as well as tons of resour...

Today I interview ICU nurse, social media influencer, dad, student and now travel nurse Christiaan Letsinger, RN aka Red Beard RN. We get into how his vision for raising his baby Juniper changed overnight with the stay at home order last March 2020. He also opens up about what getting Covid-19 was like, especially someone who is a diabetic and how terrifying that experience was, especially being a...

Hey there, After a year of putting this weekly podcast out there, I'm taking a break for the month. Thank you for supporting this one woman operation. I truly appreciate it. If you have ideas for guests or for topics, please email me at founddownpodcast@gmail.com and I'll check it out. Until then - I'll see you on July 5th! Stay Safe and Stay Sane, Nicole

On today's episode I discuss "Death and Dying in the ICU" with Des Wood, Critical Care Nurse Practitioner, DNP, ARNP, AGPCNP-BC, CCRN. Des is a Nurse Practitioner working in the ICU with over 13 years of experience in Critical Care. She also is a yoga instructor and owns her own business called  https://myseattlebeauty.com/  where she provides a holistic approach to the traditi...

The Ethical Considerations of ECMO Today I have Lisa Pylat Soltis, MN, RN, CCRN-CMC-CSC, CHFN, PCCN Senior ECMO Clinical Specialist back on the show to talk about the ethical considerations of using Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). This episode is an emotionally heavy one, although important. We discuss who ECMO is best for, what is destination therapy and the definition of a bridge to...

Today I interview Nik Hagen an actor, performer and creator about his role as a contact tracer in a global pandemic. Like many people, he had to pivot towards something else and for Nik personally, he had step away from a year of solid theater work in 2020. We discuss what has been surprising and interesting about contact tracing in a global pandemic, the ins and outs of the work itself and any le...

Today I interview Lisa Soltis, MN, RN, CCRN-CSC-CMC, CHFN, PCCN Senior ECMO Specialist about Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) and Covid-19. Lisa has over 26 years working in Critical Care, is an experienced Clinical Nurse Specialist and ECMO Specialist and has contributed greatly to the nursing community. She also was indoctrinated as a Fellow! That is a rare title for a nurse to hold a...

Today I revisit one of my favorite episodes with Susan Collins, MN, RN, CCRN a former Fire Fighter and seasoned Trauma ICU nurse. Susan is currently a Magnet Program Coordinator at a level one trauma center. She shares the top activities to avoid in the summer if you want to stay out of the Trauma ICU as well as some stories that have stayed with her. Thank you, Susan for being so fun to talk to!...

Today I interview Dr. Wallace aka Epidemiologist Kat about where we are in the Covid-19 pandemic on a national and global scale, how we are doing with vaccinations in the US and what it would take to get to herd immunity. She also chats about her work on social media on platforms like TikTok and Instragram dispelling mistruths about the vaccines and cov-19. Dr. Wallace holds a Ph. D. in Epidemiolo...

Today I chat with ICU travel nurse, Shannon Miller all about her life as a nurse, becoming an ICU nurse and then a travel ICU nurse. She shares a lot about what she loves about travel nursing and what is hard and what working through this pandemic has been like. Staying connected to other travel nurses is essential to travel nurse survival and one way she does that is through @travelnursetakeover...

Today I talk with Brian Cyr, a seasoned fire fighter and paramedic with over 25 years of experience from Sonoma, California. We talk about his career, what he loves about it and what has been challenging. Brian shares what working through "fire season" really means and how that work has changed over the years. I can't even begin to imagine how challenging that work is. Brian discusses how the the...

Today I am thrilled to have Patient Safety Director Krista Haugen, MSN, RN, CTFE back on the show to discuss medical errors and mistakes in healthcare. She gives her insight as to why this is such a complex issue, what is just culture and shared accountability and how a facility and providers can approach mistakes. We share our own mistakes from our careers and we discuss why shame is so wrapped u...

Today I interview my friend Chantelle Dykstra, an acute care nurse about humor in nursing, including pranks and otherwise. Turns out, Chantelle comes from a line of jokesters and her absolute favorite day of the year is April Fools. On this episode, Chantelle shares stories from the bedside and her personal life. We discuss why humor is so important in nursing and she says, "If we don't laugh, we...

If you are a new nurse, you will definitely want to listen to this! This episode is for you! Today I interview Corey Palmer to find out about their experience being a new ER nurse in the pandemic as well as thoughts on how nursing school prepared them for the reality of nursing. They reflect on how their orientation was changed to adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic and thoughts on what they would have...

Today, I interview Shana Cantoni, Psychiatric Nurse Practioner about her experience working in the correctional system, taking care of the mentally ill. She talks about her role and the services she provides. She shares the day to day of her work and what it means to show up for this vulnerable patient population. I definitely learned so much and I promise you, you will too. Shana also has her own...

Today I sit down with Raeann LeBlanc , Seedworks Endowed Clinical Associate Professor in Nursing at University of Massachussetts about social justice in nursing, the social determinants of health and the important implications to our nursing practice. Raeann is also a part of Nurstory.org , a digital story telling workshop. Naturally, we discuss storytelling in nursing, its impact and what happens...

Today I talk with Des Wood, Critical Care NP about how to deal with uncertainty in the ICU. We swap stories and share methods about how to stay grounded and how to survive in the land of "you never know what is going to happen". In nursing, everything is always changing and there is so much uncertainty. We discuss how to not hang your hat on the outcome, how to set boundaries, how to ask for help...

On today's riveting episode, I interview Patient Safety Director Krista Haugen, MSN, RN, CTFE about her experience surviving a helicopter crash as a former flight nurse and how this experience put her on a trajectory for patient safety. Krista has a background in ER, ICU and flight nursing. She shares her story of being in this crash on the heels of losing a crew; two nurses and a pilot only one m...

On this episode of Found Down, I interview Leah Buck, Nurse and Organ Donation Coordinator about all things organ donation. There are currently over a 100,000 people waiting for life saving organs in the United States because this opportunity does not come as often as one would think. Today we get into why that is and the different paths for organ donation. If you were ever curious about the compl...

Today I interview ER nurse Hanna Anderson about what ER nursing is really like at one of the biggest ERs in the state. She shares what she loves about it, what is hard and what has been particularly challenging in the pandemic. We laugh, almost cry and I definitely got goosebumps. Thanks so much for doing this episode, Hanna. I appreciate your insight and what you are doing in the Emergency Room....

Today I interview Assistant Nursing Professor Angela Kueny about her interest and experience working the Amish community as well as her thoughts on what nursing students are struggling with as they get ready to enter into the workforce. This is a very interesting episode. Angela has many insights into what our new nurses are experiencing and the implications for onboarding new staff who haven't ha...

On this episode of Found Down, I interview ICU nurse Pauline Poblete about her experience getting Covid-19 in the beginning of the pandemic, what it felt like to be so sick, being admitted to her own ICU and what it was like being on a ventilator. Pauline shares her terrifying story and her road to recovery. She also gives us, nurses and healthcare workers her wisdom on how we can do better for ou...