Still A Nurse

Episode 29 I am constantly amazed by what nurses are able to accomplish when they find something they are passionate about. Whether that be working in one specific of nursing for decades, switching to new areas of nursing to broaden their knowledge and abilities, returning to school for further education, or starting a new business within nursing. I have learned that nursing has great variety to b...

Nursing is a labor of love. Love for the patients we care for, love for the profession and skills, love for the ability to truly help people when they are in desperate need. But what do you do when your own health declines and prevents you from being the best nurse you can be?  What if bedside nursing is no longer an option? When the very career you are so passionate about seems to be closed to yo...

One of my favorite parts of hosting the Still a Nurse podcast is the exposure it offers to differing points of view. I love discovering alternative career paths and new ideas regarding this field. Today's guest has years of experience with both traditional and herbal medicine and a perspective that may challenge your opinions and assumptions. I'm very interested to hear listeners' t...

How often have you come home from your 12+ hour shift drained and tearful over the difficulties you faced that day? Have you often thought about how that shift would have been better if their had only been enough nurses to go around? Has a solution to your particular problem ever come to mind? But, did you actually DO anything about it? My guest this week is an extraordinary woman who did just tha...

 Curious about what rural nursing is all a bout? Well, it is true what they say about small towns, everyone knows your name. It is especially true when you are the sole medical provider in your small rural community. My guest this week, Nancy, DNP is familiar with the charm that all her small town life has to offer. She has also discovered that being an nurse practitioner and primary care provider...

Let's face it, nursing is hard. We give a lot of ourselves for our patients and it often can feel thankless, exhausting, frustrating. . . just plain hard. But, as our guest today explains, that's okay. Remember your teacher asking you to write down your dream job for when you grew up? If we all made those childhood visions come true, there'd be a lot more pro athletes and princesses...

My good friend Nurse Carly joins me on the podcast this week and shares her experiences working both as a nurse and mother of young children. It is common for parents to feel guilt working when they have a young family to care for at home as well. Carly shares how she was able to overcome these feelings of guilt and find joy in both of her important jobs. She also shares what it was like working i...

My first guest for season 3 of Still a Nurse podcast is my lovely friend and neighbor Mary.  I am so glad that she was willing to be on the show and share with us her journey through nursing over the past 43 years.  This episode really shows just how varied your nursing career can be! Tune in to hear about Mary's experiences as a nurse on a pediatric ICU and watching early open heart surgerie...

We have heard from several nursing students this season that have chosen to enroll in various tech programs over university nursing programs. This week our guest Kaelia gives very compelling reasons why this may be the best option for you! Show Notes: Kaelia is attending her first semester of the Draper, UT Ameritech College nursing program. This degree program is 5 semesters to finish your pre-re...

This weeks guest, Josh, did not originally plan to become a nurse. In fact, his primary goal on entering college at BYU-Idaho was to go through business school and open a book store. Upon taking a pre-business course however, he discovered that the class, environment, and students were "not [his] tribe".  Enrolling in science classes instead he discovered where his passion lay. Not sure...

We have learned a lot this season about different paths to getting that coveted RN. This weeks guest, Lexy's story is no exception. She shows how it really does pay off putting in the time to research your schooling options well before you apply. Sometimes the best path for you is not a straight shot through a university program. Like Lexy it may wind through one university, to a technical co...

This week has a different format as I decided to do a solo show to share my own nursing story in more detail. So, if you have been curious as to who exactly your host is, tune in to learn all about how I found my way into nursing! Show Notes: Learn what my dream job is. Hint: it was not nursing! Sometimes fiction can have a powerful impact on us. Was it fact or fiction that drew me towards a caree...

Every nurse has a journey that is unique to them. This weeks guest is no exception. Surrounded by examples of medical careers, Megan knew early on she wanted to be a nurse. And with experience working with children in a daycare setting, pediatric nursing seemed like a natural fit. As is often the case however, her original plan was altered by her experiences as a new RN working at Primary Children...

We all have dreams or goals we want to achieve in this life. Occasionally we feel the need to put those goals aside as our time and attention is needed elsewhere. Afterward it is all too easy to assume it is too late to achieve those dreams. My guest this week, Monica, is here to share her story of how it is NOT too late to fulfill our dreams! Describing herself as "the least traditional stud...

My guest this week shows how sometimes, our goals and take a hefty dose of persistence to be reached. Meet Monique, currently a masters student at Vanderbilt University earning her Pediatric Nurse Practitioner license with an emphasis on primary care provider. Monique knew early on that she wanted to become a nurse as she had a passion for science and working with and helping people. So, starting...

Our guest this week is here to prove that you can indeed do nursing school with young children.  Sariah is currently finishing her last two semesters of her BSN program and get this folks, she just had TWINS in December of 2020! These beauties bring her up to 4 children  ages 7 and under. And she is not only surviving her program, but thriving as well! How does she do it? Take a listen to this wee...

Welcome to season two of Still a Nurse podcast! I am so excited to bring this first episode to you all! My guest is Deanna Cooper Gillingham, who is a successful nurse entrepreneur, fellow podcaster, and overall amazing woman. I am so honored that she took the time to chat with me about her path into nursing and where it has led her. Learn alongside me as she shares what nursing case management is...

Show Notes This week on the show we have Karla, an operating room nurse who was set on the RN trail by her Dad. Often others are able to see certain attributes in us that lend themselves to one career path or another that we are not able to see in ourselves. This was the case for Karla. Nursing was nowhere to be found on her life goal list but with some kind encouragement, she found that nursing r...

This weeks guest is a delightful nursing student named Sarah.  Sarah is currently in her third semester of nursing school at Utah Valley University in Utah, USA.  She gives us the scoop on what motivated her to work toward nursing, what the process is like getting into this particular program, her favorite things about the UVU program, and her experiences with nursing thus far. She also has some i...

Sometimes events in life seem to guide us in an unexpected direction. This was certainly true for my guest today, Janessa RN. She explains how she, like others we have heard from, never set out to become a nurse. Her first choice was elementary education. But events kept nudging her to check out nursing in the months leading up to her college adventure, and rather than ignore those she decided to...

Show Notes: Join me in learning from nurse Jill all about her life in the OR as the circulating nurse and charge nurse for her operating room and how she has become the "eye specialist" nurse in Utah. 0:00 intro to guest Jill and how she got into nursing. 1:30 School Jill attended for nursing program. 2:30 How she ended up in the OR where she has been for 30+ years. 3:00 Description of w...

So you want a career that is meaningful and fulfilling but still want to have that family you have dreamt of. Nursing is the career for you! Tune in to this weeks episode and meet Laurie, a super nurse AND a superb mother of 6.  Laurie was not sure about nursing at first but new she wanted a job that would allow for flexibility and the opportunity to become a mother someday.  After looking into te...

Nursing truly does open up a world of possibilities. Whether you are based in a large city or a small town of 500 people or less, there are nursing opportunities available to you if you know where to look. My guest this week, Heidi, shares with us her experiences of working at a large hospital vs. working in a small town hospital with only 18 beds total.   So, whether you are a city kid dreaming o...

My guest today is Don, and he realized early on that he was destined for the medical world. With a curiosity for the Human body and a knack for quickly learning the sciences, medicine seemed a natural fit. But which area to study?  Med school to become an MD? Nursing, or something else? Fortunately for him, he happened to have two fantastic nurses right there in his neighborhood all growing up. No...

Picking a major, which hopefully will lead to a career, is often a stressful and daunting task in our young adult years. Fortunately for my guest today, she had friends and mentors along the way to guide her to nursing even though it meant switching majors. Observing the joy and fulfillment her friend got from her job as a nurse, and seeing the wealth of opportunities for continuous learning turne...