67 - Nikki Hyche: You Can Do Anything as an Associate

Join tenured nurse and Selah and Spokane, Washington native Honored Guest Nikki Hyche as she talks about being the host’s “mom,” her time in Texas, wanting to save manatees, struggling during nursing school, how she graduated with no debt, what means more to her than getting her BSN, her position on unicorns vs. narwhals, how her nursing career has helped in her personal life, “putting up a wall” in nursing, not having to be a people person to be a nurse, and more!

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Transcript

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my gosh everybody, welcome to this amazingly special episode of Feeding Our Young. I have the honor of having the most supremely talented person in studio today, my mom. Yeah, you've heard it here first. My mom is in studio. And I know everybody's going, what, your mom is a nurse? You know she is. And she taught me everything I knew, at least about postpartum anyway. So without any further ado, I would like to introduce one amazing Nikki Heitch. Nikki, how the heck are you, friend? I'm doing great, how are you? I'm doing great. So I don't normally ask anybody. You can give a range if you want, but let's just open up with how old are you? I'm 40. Some younger than you. no, because you're my mom. So therefore, I am younger than 40 everybody. So that's now you know how old I am. All right, so she's my preceptor mama. She was one of two preceptors. Sherry, the powerful, the force of nature that is Sherry, as was my other mom. had two moms on that unit. And so was like, Nikki, I gotta introduce you as my mom. This is gonna be so much fun. So, and I did just today, as I told you, talking to Lindsay, the other honored guest that I sat with today, I told her, was like, no, when I had orientees and Nikki would be on or Sherry be on, they're like, hey, I want you to meet your grandma. And on more than one occasion, I got punched for that. workplace violence is a thing. Moving along. Hehehehehe Nikki Nikki so let's just start with the usual stuff. Introduce yourself. Tell everybody who you are, when did you graduate, and where did you graduate from? My name is Nikki. I went to Austin Community College in Austin, Texas. I graduated in December of 2009, so almost 15 years ago. I have my associates and I'm very proud of it. as you should be. And we have that discussion often on this podcast, not that anybody's heard it, well maybe by the time they hear this they will, but as of right now they haven't heard it a lot. But I'm a big proponent of the two year degree, the associate's degree, and it is our position, official position here, that it does not make you a better bedside nurse to have a bachelor's degree. It doesn't. It may provide other opportunities, et cetera, cetera, but as Nikki's gonna prove, you don't need that BSN to make that happen. But we're gonna unpack that here in a minute. In the meantime, what's home? Where's home for you, Nikki? Either before, after, during events, there's as much of that as you want. Currently it's Spokane, Washington. I've been here for 10 years. Nice. Nice. What's your hometown? So grew up in Selah, Washington, which is just outside of Yakima. I grew up there, graduated high school, and then me and my husband, we moved to Austin, Texas after we graduated high school to get out of Yakima, because that's what everybody does. They move out of Yakima. So that's what we did. His mom lived down there, and that's how I ended up down in Austin for six and a half years. man, and then you got smart and came back. I mean... Well, he worked at Dell computers at the time. He got laid off and then we decided to move back. Nice, nice. Do you miss Texas at all? I gotta know. I miss a lot of things about Texas. We were just down there a couple months ago. I miss the food. I miss a lot of the stuff down there. Obviously I miss family down there, but I do not miss the heat whatsoever. It's too hot down there. Mm -hmm. all you Southerners. just know another common theme on this podcast. So, Nikki, what are the three words you chose to describe nursing school? hard, resilient, and rewarding. and we'll discuss those later. And our new opening question, which I'm just really excited about because I get to hear new music and other people will get to kind of get an idea of who you are just hearing the answer. No pressure there. But what are your three favorite or top three song choices in your life at this time? Well, Incubus Drive is always my favorite song, no matter what. All the time. It never changes. No, it doesn't happen. That's my number one song. And then I think it was Imagine Dragons Polaroid. I just love the little chorus on that one. And then The Lumineers. Ophelia? Is what I picked? I think? Okay, I love several of their songs, so I can't remember which one I picked. And it's hard. And I love this question. I love these questions that just make you go, really? I got to limit it to like three? Not even just, yeah. That's what I mean. Not even three artists. That's what I going say. It's like, three songs? Okay. All right. My movie, like my top five movie choice, that's a lot more solidified than my top five music choice, because that just depends. It depends. Well, with that, let's unpack some fun things about you, shall we? What would you like to share about what your family looks like now? And, yeah, whether that be your nuclear family, your extended family, tell us about your family. well, I live in a house with my two kids. I have an 18 year old who is getting ready to go to Western in a month. Super scary. I'm very, very nervous for her because all the time she asked me questions and I'm like, how do you not know this? So I'm very worried about her going to college. I recently had to buy a new car because, she overheated the engine on her car because she didn't realize the H. for hot meant hot she thought it meant high for elevation so yep so just recently purchased a new car because of her and then I have my youngest she's eight and a half she's getting ready to go into third grade which is absolutely insane to me and I can't believe how fast they've grown up and then I have a boyfriend now so I know I talked about a husband who has passed away almost three years ago from brain cancer but now I have a boyfriend who's absolutely amazing. And then I've got some family here in Spokane who I see, and then I've got family in Yakima. My father -in -law is there. My mother -in -law is down in Texas and all of her family is down there. So they're kind of spread out a little bit. My dad's back in Nebraska somewhere. Nebraska. Goodness gracious. So any of those family members, anybody in your family a healthcare worker? I have an aunt who is a healthcare worker. Actually, I think I have two aunts. Yeah, two of them are nurses. We're nurses. Alright, and so any, was there any inspiration that came from family then or why did you decide to become a nurse? So ninth grade in high school, I was gonna be a marine biologist like everybody else. And I was gonna save the manatees. That was always the thing. That's what I was gonna do. And then I thought really hard about life and how that was gonna benefit me. And I was like, you know what? I'm scared to be a mother and raising kids. I think I'm gonna become a nurse. And that's how that happened. Done. Wow. Boom. All right. So in an alternate universe somewhere out there, there is a Nikki Marine biologist saving the manatees. my gosh, I love it. So with that then, let's just kind of step into nursing school. I know it wasn't that long ago for you, but. Feels like it. Mom, if you can dust off the cobwebs, this is gonna be fun. I'm gonna say mom more than once during this thing. Mom! Actually, it's not even fair. Her two other kids are going to Dairy Queen right now and they didn't bring me. Mom, that's not fair. It's not fair. What did I do? So nursing school. Talk to us about your nursing school adventure, because I mean, the two -year degree is different than what many people experience going to like to a four -year university, even though there's multiple ways that that works. like but what did the what did that look like for you? I still don't think it's the same as far as how it's laid out. You know, those first couple of years are still prerequisites. I was pregnant, taking my prerequisites. had a baby. Ellie was a year and a half when I started nursing school. I know. And, you know, getting into the program was hard, like with everywhere else, you know, there was a waiting list and you had to have good grades to get in and, I got into nursing school and started the whole entire thing and you know, first semester was fantastic because that's your, it's two years, so it's four semesters is how they do it. First semester is all your anatomy, physiology stuff, right? Like let's go back over all the basics and the fundamentals of nursing. Second semester, it's... Okay, let's not only do all of that, but now we're going to act on all of that stuff and how is it important being a nurse and you know, how do you, how do you act upon all this stuff? Somebody's bleeding out. What do you do? And I struggled. I struggled that second semester. I almost failed because it was such a hard, I loved the, you know, I can memorize the things I can do the things, but now you want me to think about how to do the things and it's It was a shift. You had to shift your mind and I really had to work to pass that second semester and I passed it with an 80, but I passed it and everything then just built upon that and I graduated and it was fantastic. Just like that. One hiccup, one hiccup, and then push through. There it is everybody. It's that simple and that's the end of the episode. Thank you, have a great day. This is how you become a nurse. I love it. when I graduated nursing school, no debt, because I paid for it myself. And that was my biggest thing. I don't want to go back to nursing school because I don't want to accrue debt. then, know, years go by, family happens, life happens. And then it's like, well, when am I going to fit this in? And then it's like, why do I fit this in? And that's kind of where I've, I haven't figured out why to go back yet. I know work will pay for it. I understand all of that. And at some point I told myself when my youngest went back to school, I'll go back to school. Well, I haven't done it yet because I haven't found a reason to go back yet. I haven't had that push or that drive or that reason to go back and get my bachelor's because you can do anything as an associate. It's again, the fundamentals are all the same. Yeah, and that's another reason why I was excited to get you on the episode too, because I was like, man, you know what I mean, to get more two year representation on here, because my foot is not back in the door. in my old home stomping village of Spokane Community College, at least not yet, of the time of this recording. So I'm really hoping to hear from more associate prepared nurses, associate prepared or associate nursing students as far as that goes. Because it does, it changes the dynamic of everything. And like you said, like over the course of these years, because now, mean, good Lord, you're 40, I don't even know how you're alive. But I have you, over those years since you've gotten your degree, have you felt burdened to get it? You've obviously given it much thought, but have you ever felt like a pressing, like, if I don't do this, something's going to happen? And if so, like, how did you overcome those thoughts? No, actually, like, I think when I started at Sacred Heart, they had talked about it. Hey, do you plan on going back to school? Well, I mean, if I have to, I will, but I never signed a contract. I never felt pressure. Hey, you have to go back. And I still, even in my new job, I still don't feel that pressure that I have to go back to school. So I'm, I'm going to stick with my associates as long as I can. Cause I'd much rather, realized a years ago, I would much rather become certified in a certain degree. Like I got my MedSurg certification. I got my maternal newborn nursing certification. At some point I'll get my case management certification. That to me means more than going back to get my BSN. There you go. And so what you're saying is that even though you quote unquote only have a two year degree, you still don't stop learning. Nope, I don't. I just refuse to write papers for silly things that don't interest me. I'd much rather study for things to prove that I know what I know. There you go, there you go. So for any two years out there that are listening to Nikki, she is now your hero. We will have Nikki posters available for purchase you can put on your wall. You'll like, Nikki is my spirit animal. I don't have her poster on my wall. My wife would find that weird. Plus she's my mom, so I don't know, very strange. Anyway. Or should I say I don't have it on my wall anymore? geez. Anyway, okay, before we digress further into this, my gosh, we're also doing this near the end of the day. Nikki's worked all day. I've had quite a few interviews over the last couple days, nice, amazing study sessions, and I'm hopped up on some nice coffee ice cream. we're not even sure what, yeah, Nikki knows what that means. So yeah, you're not sure what we're gonna get out of this episode. I'm gonna be asking questions like, unicorns, yes or no? Were they actual animals? Hmm, narwhals yes, unicorns no. There it is, you have Nikki's ...pat answer on Unicorns vs. Narwhals. Okay, so bringing it back around, bringing it back around. So going back to that nursing school situation, other than that second semester possibly failing, you no big thing, were there any other challenges that you feel like you faced either that were unique to that two -year degree program or in your education specifically? And if so, what did you do to kind of navigate those waters? I don't really know. I can't really think of anything specifically. we started, we actually worked out of the old children's hospital down in downtown Austin. They had just built the brand new Dell Children's Hospital. So we actually worked out of, an old hospital. And so like when we did clinicals and stuff, they were in actual ICU rooms. So, which was kind of neat because like you still had the equipment on the wall versus like. I remember doing like nursing 101 and you know, you pretend that you have things or what have you. And I think the biggest challenge was nursing school in general was I have to reuse my bag of stuff. Like you get a bag of supplies and you have to reuse it for two years. I don't know if they do that now. I mean, and I didn't have that experience eons ago when I went, but that's fascinating. So you got a bag of supplies and they said, save this for your two year education. Yeah, so you got like a, I think like a Foley catheter kit, you got like an NG tube. huh, yeah, you got like all the small little things and you had to meticulously, after using them, put them back, know, sterile glove wise, like you'd have to put them back and reuse them again for two years. That's what we did, yep. I think that was my biggest challenge. for the benefit of casual listener, these are not things that are being used on patients, but they are being used to, because that is a, it's an issue, like how do these universities and schools and colleges provide these opportunities? Because again, these labs, it's not like they're made of money. So you can't just go through, open up a Foley kit, do a Foley on a mannequin, and then throw all that stuff away. No, you get to repackage it, and you get to it back together and save it for the next go. So. Yep. Yep. That's what we did. Just didn't want anybody out there going, my gosh. we did not like clinicals with people, but when we practiced in the clinical setting, we used that. But when we went into the hospital, we did use brand new stuff on patients. Yeah, awesome. Well, a lot of laughter in talking about challenges in nursing school. So let's just take the next step, because you've already kind of opened the door a little bit to that. And obviously, you share as much or as little as you wish. But what challenges have you faced in life? And how did you navigate those? I'm actually going to go, I'm going to change the question. I'm going to change the question to how has my nursing career helped me in life? Let's go. Let's go. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, this is why Nikki's my mom. I am putting my feet up. In fact, I this is it. I am setting my stuff down and I am going to Dairy Queen. Nikki, it's all you. So with that question, how did nursing help me in life? So graduated in Austin, I moved to Yakima. And when I moved, I had a job as an L &D nurse in Austin and I left that. And so when I moved to Yakima, the hospitals were on a hiring freeze, so I couldn't get a job in a hospital. So I got a job doing pediatric home health nursing. taking care of these kids at home. They got trikes, they got G tubes, they got feeding tubes, they got a vent, they've got a BiPAP. You know, I had a couple of different kids that I took care of and I took care of them at home and as a brand new nurse, the biggest thing is, my God, who's going to help me? I don't have a code team. I don't have staff around me. You call 911 and it's very scary as a brand new nurse. But you learn to overcome that and you learn to still be able to do your job and become somebody who's strong on their own. So I did that for a couple of years, tried to get a job at a hospital and it was on a cardiac floor and I'm not gonna lie, I don't like cardiac. I didn't last very long. I know it's not my thing. Some other people enjoy it. And then with the... job being the cardiac nurse plus my husband's job, the hours just weren't quite working with childcare and everything like that. So I had to give that up. And then I got a job in a nursing, a skilled nursing facility, a SNF. And I didn't know what I was getting myself into there either. Taking care of 20 to 25 patients at times. These people are fresh out of rehab. Some of them are living there long -term. Some of them are going through hospice. You didn't know what you were getting. You were getting a whole gamut of things. And, you know, I did that for three years and I learned a lot. I didn't think I'd learn a lot, but I did. You know, I gave somebody an IV, a subcutaneous IV, using a Huber needle, of all things.-huh. Yep. You know, I got to meet the sweet little old lady who escaped Nazi camps. Her parents ended up perishing there, but she escaped and I got to hear her fun stories and Sharp as a Tack lives here in Spokane somewhere. She might still be alive, I don't know, but that was 10 years ago. I got to meet some really fun people and hear some really fun stories and, you know, working in the hospital sometimes you don't get that setting. And these people live there, so you get to know them really well. And then using those critical care things that you have learned when somebody is turning sick, okay, what do I do for them? So I learned a lot, a lot more than I thought I would. And then I finally got a job at the hospital and it opened up my eyes again to, man, I miss this and the things that I've learned in life and you build up on it. It's not just, you can only be a hospital nurse. There's so many other things you can be out there and still be fulfilled and learn things. Now wouldn't go back to working at a SNF, but it's hard work. Like I said, you have 20 something patients sometimes and all you're doing is passing meds. So it's really hard work. But on to your question that I avoided. How has my nursing, I restructured, that's right. So how it's helped me in life, feel like... You know, I wanted to become a nurse because I was scared to be a mom. Well, I became a mom before I became a nurse. So that went out the window, but it did help me in life. my husband was diagnosed with brain cancer and he passed away almost three years ago. And so I got to be his caretaker for many years. And so I think just having that understanding of taking care of somebody on that level, prepared me for that. and so. We got to do home hospice because of it. And yeah, it was an experience that was completely different than taking care of somebody else's loved one, I will tell you that. Yeah, yeah, it hits a lot closer to home. It's a lot more personal. You know, and that's something I mean, and you can probably attest to this, but seeing that probably in your own children, right? Like, you know, there's that old adage, you know, you don't want to be the child of a nurse because then the nurse is going to say, are you bleeding? Is your arm off? No. All right. Get back outside. You're fine. But on the flip side of that, you also have the, you know what I mean? It's like, my goodness, you can, you can sometimes knowledge. can become a hindrance at that point. is, you know, those things that we know, it's like, you know too much, right? That old adage. But in this case, it wasn't knowing too much. It was knowing the right amount. It was knowing what you needed to know to enrich the quality of your husband's life, your life, at the end of that experience. I can't imagine, I don't even, you know, we've all got our own stories, we've all got our things, but you know, I can't even imagine what that is like. So that is, I just, hats off to you, Mom. Hats off. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that and being willing to share that. And the other thing I'd like to point out too is all of this is taking place with a two-year degree. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. A lot of people think, well, you have to have the bachelor's in order to XYZ. And we do advocate that, you know, if you do have your bachelor's, it does provide for better, not better, but other opportunities that aren't available necessarily in the associate's level. But I mean, I've been under associate level management, leadership, management, that sort of thing. Obviously, if you're trying to rise up through some healthcare chain or, you know, way up the totem pole, you're going to need more than your associate's degree. If you're going to want to people as a vocation you're going to need more than an associate's degree. But as far as taking care of your patients, we all sit for that same dreaded NCLEX and we pass it and we practice nursing and then the fun begins like you said. And so any other stories like I really love how you talk about how you get to hear the life stories of some of your patients. Any other examples of that throughout the course of your career? jeez. I mean, like, there's a few that I remember. I honestly walk out of a lot of places forgetting things, only because I put up a wall with nursing. So work is work. When I worked in Austin, there was the whole, there were sex tuplets? They have a TV show. So I was at the hospital and they announced their whole thing and they lived in the hospital for a while. That was in Austin. So I worked on a postpartum floor. And so it's, I forget the name of the show. surprised by quintuplets or something. Quintuplets, sextuplets? I forget the name of the show. Listen, it was a few years ago. It was on TLC. They're in Austin. I follow them on Instagram, but I forgot the name of the show. But, and then I've heard just some awesome stories from people and learning things, and just, you know, listening to them. some sad stories for a lot of people, but You you never know who you're going to meet. Yeah. And on that note, the sad stories, you, what do you mean your definition of, you said you put up a wall in regards to nursing. Can you explain that a little bit more for the benefit of people listening? So when I started my healthcare career, my daughter was four months old and I started on a postpartum unit and I had a healthy pregnancy, healthy baby and you learn what certain things on doors mean and it's generally a baby is going to pass or has passed and being a brand new mom you go home and you hug your babies and you I've learned that when I'm in that setting of a nurse, I am a nurse. I kind of have to put my emotions or whatever is going to tie me to this or however I feel about this situation, I have to put it behind me. I have to box it up and put it away for the time being, process it later. At this moment, I'm your nurse. I'm going to take care of you in that fashion. And so that's what I mean by that is I put up a wall and I was strictly your nurse. I wasn't going to Hey, this is how I feel about this. Nope, it's not about me, it's about you. Yeah, that's awesome. And for me, because when you say that phrase, for me, what it always has been, and there are certain positions you have in nursing where the work has to come home with you. You know, I've had management that has been amazing and they're like, text me day or night if you have a problem. You know what I mean? Do this, do that. That's great. I personally love to, and it's easy when you are a people person and you love caring for people and all those things, it is very easy to allow that to spill over. And I'm not talking about crossing personal professional boundaries, things of that nature. It's just the matter of you go home, man, I wonder what's, you know, I wonder what happened to that patient. really, and you can't stop thinking about it. can't, whether it's for good, bad, whatever, it doesn't matter. And for me, and especially as you go along in your career, you're going to find that it's really not only healthy and maybe maybe I don't know it's a very biased opinion but to be able to leave work at work yeah that's easy to do when you're an accountant or whatever the case may be I maybe I'll get accountants that are like no that's not easy Eric that's wrong but the point is when you're not I know wait but when you're not dealing with people and their health and that sort of thing it makes it a little bit more challenging and even in pedsonc and postpartum I tried to do my absolute best to go you know what When I leave the doors of this hospital, when I leave the doors of this unit, wherever I'm working, that's gonna stay there. When I get home, I gotta be a dad, I gotta be a wife. or, Ha! Neo -Postpartum Nurse, there we are. wow. They call that a Freudian slip, right? Isn't that what that, I've gotta be a husband to my wife. goodness gracious. That's it, and that's the end of the episode. Thanks, Nikki, for joining. We're done. Thanks, Mom. Okay, anyway, as I was saying, that's gonna make the episode. This is what I was talking about. We joke about, like, if you go down this rabbit hole and you're like, we need to redo all that. I cut it out of the episode. I don't know, I don't have a shred of ego, I don't care, whatever, it's in there. So anyway, when I'm home, I gotta be, I gotta be the dad, I gotta be the husband, I gotta be the things, and you need to leave that. You need to have a healthy separation, because if it becomes so much of your identity, and you can't stop thinking about it, there are dangerous things that happen. So I really liked how you would just phrase that, and you're expounding of that. So with that, we'll talk about nursing students here in a moment. Before we do, I want to wrap up the whole career thing because as I understand it, you're no longer a bedside nurse. What changed there? What happened? And again, with a two -year degree? I So as I've talked about it, I lost my husband and my oldest a couple years ago, I realized I'm going to be at home by myself with an eight year old. My oldest was graduating high school very soon and I needed to start looking for a new career. I needed to start looking for a different job. I couldn't be doing 12s anymore. I childcare the whole thing. It's hard to do by yourself with a child. And so I started looking for a different job. loved my job. Don't get me wrong. I loved working postpartum. It's been my favorite career. I came back to it at some point in my life because I love working postpartum, but it just didn't work with family. And so I looked at clinic jobs. I looked at a few other places and somehow I managed to get a job on case management. Now I didn't know what it was. I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Wait, this... I feel like that's the title of your episode. I didn't know what I was getting myself into. This is very common refrain with what you're saying.-huh, yep, yep, you just go with the flow in life and that's what I have learned. And so it's hard, it's a very hard job to explain. And when I interviewed with my manager, she kind of explained it a little bit and you know, but she also kept saying, it's a lot different than bedside nursing. And the biggest thing you've got to think about is are you going to miss taking care of patients? And so I really had to dig deep and think about it. And at that time, that job, this job that I now do. It was a Monday through Friday schedule, holidays and weekends off. Work from the office, work from home. It's super flexible. I'm not adhered to a certain time of day to a certain extent. It sounded fantastic. And I had a super supportive manager and she called me, she offered me the job and we still, we had to talk for about 10 minutes. like, I don't know. I still don't know about this job." And she's like, you know what? You're going to love it. It's a great fit. I think you're going to do great. And so I took it. I took the job. I left bedside nursing and now I do again, case management and it's something completely different. I had no idea it existed. It's a special little piece of nursing you have to have bedside experience for. And so right now I am the case manager of the ortho floor. And basically what I do is I have to make sure that when doctors write the admin orders, that it fits a certain type of criteria. so basically insurance runs the world and when patients are admitted, they have to fit the criteria of inpatient observation, extended hospital stay, outpatient, whatever. they have to fit that. And if they don't fit it, I have to change it. and get the orders corrected for it. And I have to make sure that patients are in the hospital for a medical reason. So we're constantly reviewing patients with the medical staff. You know, if somebody looks like they're close to discharge, you know, we're, hey, you know, this patient's ready to go, let's get them out of here. I have a fantastic social worker who helps with all the discharge planning pieces and helps get the patients out. And she relies on me to be like, hey, this patient's ready. So it's a completely different different world. don't touch patients, I deliver them letters, but I don't touch them anymore so I get to dress cute. And I'm learning that all I gotta do is put on a dress and I look cute and it looked like I put myself together that day. Yeah, yeah, I don't show up in pajamas anymore. Well, and for those casual listeners, it's always hilarious because it doesn't matter how long y 'all have been working together. You see someone outside of work, whether it just happens to answer, you've got some event that you guys have organized or whatever, and everybody's like, That's what you look like. That's what you look like. And you don't look different. You're just wearing something different. Everybody's like, conversely, I've had people are like, I wish I could wear scrubs to my job every day. And you're just like, yeah, but it still work. And so do you think I'm lounging around in scrubs at home? Heck no. Amen. Hallelujah. Yeah. So did I cut you off at all? Was there anything else you wanted to add as far as that case management job and what that feels like to jump from bedside to now no longer touching patients? Yeah, no, you know what? I'm able to do it without my associates or with my associates. Hopefully. I've had no pressure whatsoever. It'd be like, hey, you got to go get your bachelor's to do this job. And so now I really don't feel the pressure of, hey, you need to go back to school because I can do the job with my associates. And like I said, it's a It's fantastic for family life because I can start at home, get my kid on the bus, go into work, do my job, and a lot of times I leave at noon to finish at home. So because it's all computer work. So it's, it's absolutely amazing. I Absolutely love it. So let me ask you this, being on that side of the healthcare spectrum, because we've talked about, you don't necessarily have to be a people person to be a nurse. And there's too much, there's research, there's this, there's case management. There's so many of these things where you don't necessarily even have to lay hands on patients, or you do in some limited respect. But is it, is... Is what we're saying true? Like is there if someone is going through nursing school and obviously you've still got to pass nursing school You've got to do all the things but if you're genuinely like I am NOT a people person I'm considering getting into nursing. They do say there's other areas to get into but is it really you know what I mean? Would you? Is this a testament to that fact? Yeah, I'm not leaving this job anytime soon like I said this fits my family life a lot better And I still feel like it's I'm not touching patients I still to be up to date on the things that are happening because I'm still reading notes So I still have to know what I'm talking about So you have to have that experience as a bedside nurse and I mean, yeah I may not touch the patients, but I still have to interact with the people So there's still that piece of things Yeah, so there's always some component there then of interacting with somebody. again, across the broad spectrum, that is nursing. There are all these different levels of to what degree you interact with said patient. Yeah. Awesome. So before we close and I, you know, I always ask everybody, you know, what are the three words you chose and why don't you pick them? And at this point, I'm like, you know, hopefully the listener, by the time they hear yours, isn't like feeling the same way I am at the moment. Right. Like, what are the three words you chose? And then and then there's always, you know, the one piece is like, what is the one piece of advice you have for nursing students? So I think you saw that. I think you've prepped for that part of it. Ignoring the one piece, the one lasting piece. This is a moment you've got. a room of nursing students right in front of you, virtually listening to you. What are some of the things you want to share on your heart to nursing students about being a nurse, about getting through nursing school, et cetera, et cetera? You can do it. Like if you have that drive and that's what you want to do, you can do it. It's hard. It is going to take you probably some tears and some time and some studying, but you'll get there. You just have to have the drive and the want and the will to and a lot of times it's the people around you that support you more than anything. If you don't have those people around you to help you, you're going to sink. hate to say that, but you have to have the support of those people because that's what keeps you going through a lot of the stuff. And for me, the, as an experienced nurse, having nursing students who want to be there, who want to learn that for me wants me to help you more. So many times nursing students are on a unit because they have to be there. They don't want to be there. They're filling out their paper and they're, they're just there. And you know, I want to help you and I want you to want to help yourself. So for me. You know, as a, experienced nurse with nursing students, I want, I want them to have that drive. I want them to, yeah, I'm so excited to learn this instead of, well, I just got to fill out my paper and I'm not really excited to be here. Come prepared, come ready to learn, come wanting to learn. That's the biggest thing as an experienced nurse teaching somebody is come wanting to be there and learn and not just fill out the paper to get the assignment done. That's not what nursing is. And that's, it, please nursing student. If you didn't hear that the first time, rewind again and listen to it again. Because obviously here at Feeding Our Young, we're big advocates for, you know what I mean, like being, sticking up for the little guy, that sort of thing. As far as like nurses eating their young, it happens. It's a thing. It shouldn't be a thing. That is my whole purpose in having this. But the flip side of that that can't get lost is that there do exist, just like nurses who are maybe not... toe in the line the way they should. Nursing students, same thing. And whether it's because you're just overwhelmed and it's a momentary thing or it's a character issue or whatever the case may be, there are nursing students that come in and they're like, I mean, I've heard, fortunately, I have yet to work with a student like this, fortunately. But I've heard of nursing students that have come on our unit and a nurse is like, hey, my gosh, so and so in room whatever, we need to get vitals. Can you go get those? First of all, the nurse already had to ask the nursing student to go do it. Second of all, then the student's like, no, I'm good. I did what I needed to do. And I mean, I'm like, I'm sorry, what? Like that's a thing? If those words ever come out of one of my nursing student's mouths, so help me. And I'm not turning this around again against nursing students, but please, please, like Nikki's saying, you're hearing this from a tenured nurse who wants to help you, but you've also got to. do your part and that is show up, ready to go, eager to learn even if it's a topic, whether it's OB, ED, Med Search, whatever, that you are not thrilled about and you know, you know, quote unquote, that you're not gonna practice there. You're never gonna do it. So why should I care now? This is why you should care. Because when you care in the moments you don't like, than the moments you love, man, that is just gonna be all the ex, I can't even describe for you when you're doing what you're passionate about. When you go through the rough times and the things like, like you said, Nikki, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. This wasn't easy. This wasn't fun. like, it's true and it will happen in your career. It may happen in your career and that's okay. But those are like character building. You kind of view them as like, kind of moments in time where you're out in the desert and you have to learn some tough lessons before you get back to the oasis or whatever the case may be that is your promised land of nursing. It's life too. Like it's a fantastic lesson just for life in general. We don't know what's going to happen and we just hope for the best each day and we're going to get through it. And that's how nursing is too. Like you don't necessarily know and maybe that wasn't what you wanted, but coming into it with a better attitude and wanting to learn and wanting to do it makes all the difference. I want it. Thanks mom. Thanks mom. Alright so what are the three words you chose to describe nursing school and why'd you pick them? Hard, resilient, and rewarding. So we all know nursing school is hard. It's not easy. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It is hard. But in that, you become resilient. You learn a lot of things. You learn that you can be tough. You learn that you can get through it. So you become resilient to all the things that are thrown at you. The tests, the quizzes, all of the things. And it ends up being rewarding. You become a nurse and you get a fantastic career and taking care of patients and all of the things. And for me, that's rewarding. And that is a reward that has been established on this podcast. The new wrinkle you add to that is the rewarding nature that that presented itself in your own personal life. And you never can anticipate stuff like that. So stick to it. Stick to it, everybody. OK, so, Nikki, your last one piece of advice. Somebody tuned me out early on when I started and said I was talking to my mom and they're like, well, I don't want to hear from this guy's mom. And they went all the way to the end. So Mom Nikki, what is the one thing you want people to walk away from your episode with? I think just what I've learned in life is just keep going, you know, even though you don't know what you're getting yourself into, just keep going with it, figure it out and it'll all be okay in the end. As long as you have a fantastic attitude and, the will to want to keep going. It'll all work out. and nurturing that support system you described about. Yeah, awesome. Nikki, I can't thank you enough for taking time after your work day and spending some time with us here in studio. And I can't wait to see you again, ma. I know it's been too long. It has been, it has been. So, you take me to Dairy Queen, okay? Okay. Night night, Mom. Wait, can you, I need you to tell, I need you to sing me a bedtime song. Bedtime song? No? Alright, okay. Too far, end of story. We just ended where I began and that is going down that deep, deep thing. That's it, now I'm taking your poster down for sure. Aw man.