The Conversing Nurse podcast

Send us Fan Mail My guest this week is Yasmin Sharifi, an operating room nurse with many decades of experience. She’s here to give us a glimpse into, as she says, “what really goes on behind that red line.” Yasmin didn’t initially set out to be an OR nurse. She started her career in med-surg but quickly encountered burnout due to a nursing shortage and inadequate patient-to-nurse ratios, often sha...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s guest is someone who brings compassion, intellect, and a genuine love for medicine to everything he does.  Dr. Mahmoud Ibraheem is a Pulmonary and Critical Care physician whose medical journey has taken him from Bahrain to New York, Florida, and Texas. Those experiences shaped who he is as a physician.  Beyond medicine, Dr. Ibraheem is passionate about mental health, music...

Send us Fan Mail Meet Lia Xiong-Ratley , a Family Nurse Practitioner, women’s health advocate, and rescuer of the underdogs, literally. Lia has worn many hats over the years, from pediatric ICU to cardiothoracic surgery, but after becoming a family nurse practitioner, she has found her place at Planned Parenthood. If you think the only services offered through Planned Parenthood are contraception...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s guest is someone whose work sits right at the intersection of education, innovation, and human connection. Dr. Christine “Christy” Heid is a nursing educator, simulationist, innovator, and healthcare advocate with more than two decades of experience. As a Nursing Simulation Specialist, she brings an invaluable perspective as both a nurse educator and simulation expert who...

Send us Fan Mail "Life is a journey, not a destination."  This quote perfectly describes the path of my guest this week, Kim Kish, a surgical oncology nurse practitioner. Kim's journey started as a lab research associate where she learned valuable skills and even got published. From there, she moved into cardiovascular circulatory support, where she found herself observing nurses, d...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s episode is one that really hits close to the heart — because it’s about the people who spend their lives caring for others, and what happens when no one’s caring for them. You’re about to meet Kevin Dickinson, the founder of GetVitals , and his co-founder and clinical advisor, Amber Smith. They developed a mental health app built specifically for nurses — starting with tho...

Send us Fan Mail Are you a critical care nurse or aspiring to become one? If so, you won't want to miss my guest this week, Sarah Vance. With over 15 years of critical care experience, Sarah is dedicated to educating and mentoring nurses, both new and new to critical care. Sarah has a knack for simplifying complex concepts and bringing a lighthearted approach to the often intense ICU environm...

Send us Fan Mail Today, I’m honored to welcome on the podcast, Lori Schellenberg , a registered nurse with nearly 45 years of experience. Lori’s career is a true testament to the power of embracing change. She began at the bedside and followed her curiosity into home health, occupational nursing, and workers’ compensation—discovering along the way just how transferable nursing skills really are. T...

Send us Fan Mail Wow, when you hear my interview with Monica Reyes, you will realize what I’ve known for a while, that she was born to be a pediatric nurse. Her playful nature aligns perfectly with this nursing specialty. She tells us that IV skills are extremely valuable to pediatric nurses and shares her heartbreaking experience of losing a patient. We gained insight into her personal story of t...

Send us Fan Mail Today, I’m joined by Tim Jones, the CEO of Health Nuts Media and a true innovator in the world of health education. With over 30 years of experience, Tim has transformed how patients—especially children—learn about their health. He’s an Emmy Award-winning producer who blends evidence-based research with engaging storytelling, using animation and interactive tools to make medical i...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever wanted to know what a labor and delivery nurse does? Well, in this episode, Christine Daniel, a labor and delivery nurse for over two decades tells us all about the highs and lows of this interesting nursing specialty. The lows?  Well, the pace is fast, you can stand for long periods, it's very physical and there’s dealing with loss, as well as the social issues...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s guest, Randy Morris, is a dynamic leader in the world of nursing, education, and patient advocacy. You may know him on social media as @Dr. Nurse Randy, but behind the title is a highly accomplished clinician and strategist with a bold mission. He is the CEO of Prism Care Advocates , a board-certified healthcare leader, nurse manager, professional development educator, and...

Send us Fan Mail Adam and Jenn Wood,  with their son Brady, born at just 25 weeks, lived in the NICU for 135 days. And what did Adam do in those 135 days? He paid attention. And then he became the fiercest advocate for preemies, their families, nurses, and doctors everywhere. Listen as Adam recounts NICU stories of heartache, hope, and humor, with even a budding bromance thrown in. In the five-min...

Send us Fan Mail Meet Lakeisha Falwell, an oncology nurse practitioner who is truly inspiring. Her passion and commitment to her craft shine through in her words as she shares insights about her work. She talks about the patients she serves, the collaborations she engages in, and the setting she works in. Lakeisha also emphasizes the importance of active listening skills to improve communication w...

Send us Fan Mail From launching Kaiser Permanente’s first website to building a global food & wine CEU tourism company , today’s guest has reinvented herself across medicine, tech, education, and entrepreneurship. We are diving into the story of June Forkner Dunn, a trailblazing nurse who has redefined what’s possible in leadership, innovation, and global vision. June began her career in healt...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s interview is one that I truly enjoy because it focuses on the patient's experience.   Meet Dan Drydock Shockley , a Navy veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. At the age of 51, after a routine colonoscopy, Dan was diagnosed with Attenuated Familial Adenomatous Polyposis—quite a mouthful, indeed.   I will...

Send us Fan Mail Today, I’m honored to introduce you to Brandon Young and Blayne Smith —co-authors of the impactful book “Perseverance is Greater than Endurance: Lead with Resilience. Grow through Adversity. Win Together.”  What do Brandon, a former US Army Ranger, and Blayne, a former Green Beret, know about leadership? Quite a bit. Their experiences in high-pressure environments have shaped a pr...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s guest is The Teaching NP, Sunny Khangura . Sunny wears many hats—nurse practitioner, educator, mentor, entrepreneur, and passionate advocate for the non-traditional path. She began her nursing career back in 2005 and has since carved a dynamic and inspiring journey across clinical care, leadership, education, and business. From trauma units to neurosurgery, from mentoring...

Send us Fan Mail Three years!!! 145 episodes!!! Here's what I've learned. Thank you for being here! Episodes I discussed: Preemie Dad, Author and Advocate, Adam Wood Adult Micropreemie Survivor, Christina Gagnon Tulare County Fire Chief, Charlie Norman Project Management For Nurses with Kevin Pannell Contact The Conversing Nurse podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theconversingn...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to Part Three of our Summer Series on Research 101! I'm once again joined by Chris Patty here in my recording closet. In Part One, we explored the history of research, Chris defined what research truly means, and we had some insightful discussions about nursing literature. An important takeaway from that episode was Chris's enthusiasm for AI and its potentia...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to the summer series, Research 101, this is Part Two. I'm once again joined in my closet by Chris Patty, and you may be wondering who I let in my closet, The answer would be only those closest to me and Chris is my brother, so he qualifies. Last week in Part One, we covered the history of research, what research really means, a little about nursing literature, an...

Send us Fan Mail Well, the long-awaited summer series Research 101 is finally here. I know you have heard me talking about it quite frequently. I just had to schedule some time with my guest, Chris Patty and once we sat down it flowed very nicely.  Let me just bring you up to speed on Chris. You may remember that Chris was my guest for the 4th episode of this podcast and for the 100th episode he t...

Send us Fan Mail My guest this week, Dr. Nancy Bellucci , is the academic program director for the College of Nursing at Columbia Southern University. She holds a PhD in nursing and has many credentials to her name. I always feel a bit nervous interviewing highly accomplished nurses like Nancy , but she assured me that those letters are ladders to more opportunities, which put me completely at eas...

Send us Fan Mail Meet Tara Tourloukis . Tara is a registered nurse psychotherapist with more than 20 years of experience in mental health care. It’s a truly unique and rewarding niche. As a nurse psychotherapist, she runs her own private therapy practice in Ontario, Canada—a role that blends clinical expertise with compassionate counseling. During our conversation, I couldn’t help but tell her tha...

Send us Fan Mail Wendy Dixon-Jewitt is on a mission. As the founder and CEO of Brainstorm Soft Skill Solutions , she strongly advocates for creating safer and more sustainable nursing workplaces, and her passion is unmistakable.  Early in her career, Wendy encountered a toxic nursing culture, which she described as "100% responsibility with zero authority to get the necessary tasks done.&quot...