73 - Izzie Wilkes Pt 2: We are Storytellers

Continue with nurse educator and Twisp, Washington native Honored Guest Izzie Wilkes as she describes teen moms being her favorite patients, the transformative power of nursing school, her first year in nursing, practical education for her students, applying for your dream job, med surg nursing, appropriate timing of questions, nursing stories, and more!

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Transcript

0:02

And we're back. I gave Izzie the appropriate amount of time, a good five minutes to figure out what else she wanted to say. I'm just kidding. We only do two -parters if we know there's enough to fill a two -parter and Izzie's got more than plenty. So for those that missed the first episode, double back, catch the first episode of Izzie Wilkes so that you know the meaning behind what I'm about to say. What excites me the most about this episode of the Feeding Our Young podcast is that I am sitting with our very first honored guest who was never born. just, I absolutely love it. I can now say I have hosted an episode with someone who's never been born and let people figure that one out on their own. All right, Izzie, welcome back. How are you? Great person who's never been born, but here you are alive and well and so grateful. And to reassure anyone who might be a little afraid, no worries, she's not dead. She's not a ghost. We are not, I have not figured out a new niche of podcasting. So we're calling out the spirits of, no, okay, I'm going too far. I'm going too far. Reel it back in. Ladies and gentlemen, Izzie Wilkes. Izzie Wilkes, how are you this fine? I'm great, thank you. I get to live the dream. people are like, in fact, so. We at Gonzaga, had a full day like BSN orientation thing yesterday and it's so amazing. And it was my second one. And I've had more than one person on occasion say, know, I someone there. Eric, man, how was your summer? Like, what was it like not having your second job that you had to worry about teaching students? I'm like, I said. I said, well, was so apparently lonely without it that I created this entirely vastly more busy third job. But it's a passion project. I can't help it. And it's just been amazing. So literally, today, I see your name pop up. I got Jen's name on. I've got tonight's guest. Man. idea. I just think that we should do an episode where Jen and I interview you. Yeah, yeah. That, how fantastic would that be? I'm like, you've got things you need to say. You've got things to say. Okay, I mean, I'm game. If you're game, we're gonna, that's it. Jen has no idea what she's getting roped into. And we can bring in as many people on this as we want. So yeah, that'll be fun. This'll be fun. Okay. that. That's a level of vulnerability I gotta prepare myself for. I like being in the question asking chair. Alright, okay, so done. I love it. Okay. boy. Alright, well I'm definitely not distracted now. Let's stay on focus. Gosh, it's a shame that this episode had to be cut so short. It's been great working with you. I'm sure your other episode will air someday. you and Jen's both. Okay. alright. Let's hit the easy stuff. The easy stuff. Why did you why did you want to become a nurse? gosh. Why did I want to become a nurse? Great question. As I buy time, I was always fascinated as a kid with childbirth. Like when, you know, moms in our community would come home with their baby, I always want to know how, you know, how are they born? How did this happen? And part of that was because my mom had such an interesting delivery story with me, like we talked about last episode, she did a home birth. Right? We won't go into that. Again, not approved by any obstetrical governing body anywhere. Just going to preface with that. It was not approved. and we've already established that you weren't born. my goodness How did this happen and no Izzie is not the first person to be pooped out of a mom using kids vernacular You know, you pooped a baby. Yeah. No, that's not quite how that yeah You know, things like that. So I, you know, was always fascinated with that. And then I also, my grandma, my mother's mother was 13 when she had my mom, which when you hear that story as a little kid, you think that's pretty young to have a baby. So I was really fascinated with that. And I think part of the reason what interested me and one of the many motivating factors to be a labor delivery nurse was hearing my grandmother's story of when she went in to have my mom, how it was. You know, it was, you know, the 1960s and Stockton, California, and my grandma was a young Filipino girl and she was terribly mistreated in the hospital by the nurses as she's having my mom. And I just remember thinking like, gosh, I never want anybody to feel that way when they go to have a baby. I, you know, that hurts my heart to hear the story. And so that actually motivates me. And some of my favorite patients that I get to work with are teen moms. and I just go in and I give them extra love, extra time. Maybe I pamper them a little too much, I don't know. But I I want those girls to know that they are loved and valued and things are hard for a time, but they can get better. And I remember at one point telling my grandma after I became a nurse that they are, teen moms are my favorite patients. And coming out of that conversation with her, I realized, I need to tell. these teen moms that they were my favorite patients and maybe a little bit as to why. So I started incorporating that into my practice lately. Had a teen mom the other day and she was in a more ideal situation. She had a supportive partner with her and I sat down with them. We were working on latching baby to breast and improving breastfeeding for her before I discharged her home. And it got kind of quiet in the room and I'm like, okay, this must be my opportunity. I told her as I care, I just want to you know that. know, teen moms are my favorite patients. And she asked me why. I said, well, my grandma was one and life was hard for a time, but things do get better. And I said, in all honesty, teen moms can do anything. I was like, I've met teen moms where I go into do vitals and their breastfeeding baby at the same time doing their math homework and eating dinner at the same time and doing five tasks at once effortlessly. And I'm like, you, I just, I'm I want them to know, I'm like, if you want to continue going to school, there's resources for that. If you want to go to college, there's resources for that. You have this beautiful baby in your arms and that is wonderful. And there's going to be challenges with that. But I want you to know that you can do this and you are incredible. And I think since I've been doing that, I'm like, okay, now I'm, you know, I knew my mission as a nurse and now I'm also, you know, telling my patient population what my mission is and maybe that'll uplift somebody. I don't know. We'll see. Yeah, maybe I'll get Izzie as a middle name out of the deal. I don't know. We'll see. it! Go back to the first episode. We're getting middle names all over the place. You say that and I don't know if this will make the cut. If what I say doesn't further the conversation, I cut it. I cut more whatever I say than I've ever done for any honored guest. just this, mean literally two days ago, I finished caring for this loving, mean, and I love all the families I get. And there's all different types. I have a motto that I tell my students. and that is that it takes all types of people to make the world go round. And the second part of that is, it's proven to me every single day I live and breathe. And so I just love everybody. And what I tell my moms, and I'm very careful about this, I tell, you know, if it's the right situation, if it's the right whatever, and they won't take it the wrong way, in whatever case it be, because I, flat out, number one, my wife is the most beautiful woman on the... Mm -hmm. that comes close to her. And I know that there are others that have this other perspective of like, she is, she, I like, I mean, the hashtag married up thing, that doesn't even, like, it's so far above and beyond, anyway. No, I mean legitimately, you know what I mean? Like I was like, we always, we joke that if we ever made a book about our marriage, it'd be called The Nerd and the Princess. To which some people are like, I don't think your wife was that nerdy. But. Like, thank you. But the whole point of that, I'm digressing. The point is she is. She's absolutely beautiful inside and out in all the things. And there's some marriages where it's like, no, they acknowledge that there's other pretty women or other handsome men and that sort of thing. And she's got her own celebrity crushes. She's got her own list. I get that. But for me, that doesn't work for me. For me, it's like it's my wife and then everybody else. And that's. No apologies to anyone I've ever known because they know me and they know that I love you as a human being. love how you know and everybody I find beauty in everybody. I don't care who you are. I don't care what the game and sometimes I just tell people sometimes we have to look a little deeper or a little harder to find that beauty. But everybody's got beauty about him. And so but I do I tell some of my moms like you're saying can you pamper them enough. I don't think you can. You know there was a family and the grandma's like well you know. I take a picture of us all together, but you're in the bed and that's it. And the mom says something to the effect of, well, yeah, let's wait until I get home and I can look a little more pretty. I don't remember what the word she used, that sort of thing. Because any woman who's been there in childbirth, they just feel it. You're bloated, you're bleeding, you're sweating, you're peeing a lot, all the things. And all I said was, well, I mean... To be fair, I'm like, you know what mean? There is, I feel like, in a woman's life, there is no moment more beautiful than having another human being, you know what mean? To deliver, and apologies to those who can't or who have tried and who struggled and all the things. That doesn't mean you can't attain that level of beauty, but there's nothing more beautiful in a woman's life than having children, because that is like... You can be, don't care if your hair is all over the place, all the things. You have just done a miracle, you've taken part in a miracle that even we guys, there's no, we can't, we can't come close. We can't come close. So anyway, that was a really long story that really is gonna get edited or cut out all the, I can't. I can relate. When I have mom, know, baby comes out is doing skin to skin with mom and we know we're waiting for placenta or waiting for her repair to be done. I ask if I can borrow a phone to take some photos and some families don't even hesitate. yeah, please take some photos. And I get some other moms are like, no, I just don't look right. Yada yada. I'm like, you know, honey, this is going in your baby's baby book. Maybe this is I think I made a joke once. I'm like, we don't know what we're going to look back in five years. We might look back and think we look pretty darn good in this moment sweetie. Let's just do some photos. We can take some more later. I was like this is for your baby. Just do this for your baby. So yeah. go for it. Put it on a t -shirt. Put it on a t -shirt. So, All right. So with that and knowing why you became a nurse, kind of your story that we've built upon this entire time. What is it that you personally, and you can answer this from the perspective of nursing student Izzie and nursing instructor Izzie, but what do you love most about nursing and nursing school? Okay, nursing school was hard. I did. I loved the transformation of nursing school because I think I started out as one person and by the time I ended, I was a different person, which was good. There was a lot of self growth that happened. There was confidence that happened within nursing school professionally, personally, wonderful things like that. I think gaining the confidence to have a voice, which I think I didn't have one for so long in nursing school. And actually Mike Etterger, the man who got me into health sciences and now I get to work with him at Whitworth. I've teased him before because when he first met me, I was so quiet. I didn't talk much. And now he just laughs at me every time we meet. I'm chatty, I make people laugh. Sometimes I'm referred to as the funny nurse by patients and I'm like, which one are you talking about? I don't know. I'm like, I do the same five jokes during labor. Fortunately, it's the first time the patients are hearing it. No wait, hold on, okay, no, I'm pausing you here. Give us a couple of those jokes. gosh, like when a mom's pushing and you know, and the baby like things are the labia are we're on a medical podcast. I can say that the labia are parting. You start to see a little bit of baby's head. We're not crowning yet. Yeah, not crowning yet. Just seeing the head and you can you know, you can't see the hair color and you see these parents are so excited. What color hair does the baby had? And without a doubt, every time I go, it's red and Sometimes you get this ecstatic look in their faces, but more often than not it's and I'm like Come on guys no, so that that's one of my go -to's And you know Joe when I love admitting patients I love doing you know admitting the evening induction or the morning c-section because I get to talk to them I get to run through all the education with them and you know get to tell them what it's gonna be like and you know gosh, what jokes do I I don't know what it is, but I swear almost every time I do an IV start, patients are like, you've been doing this for a while, right? And I'm like, honey, you're about to have a baby come out of your vagina and you're worried about the IV start? Like, we got things we gotta talk about, girl. All right. Yes. And I'm like, you're gonna conquer this and then we're gonna push out a 10 pound baby. It'll be great. You're gonna like, we're gonna conquer a lot of fears in this hospital stay, But we all have those go -tos though, so I'm assuming you're giving permission to students to use this in their OB careers, whatever that looks like. Forever long they're in the OB world. yeah, same here. Literally, it were a percentage, would be like 95 % of the families I've cared for in four and a half years. Every time I go to get a temperature on a baby. And anyone can use this. But anytime I go get a temperature on a baby, I always, because I mean, and it doesn't matter whether you're a anyone who's seen my picture, I do not, I am not muscular. I'm not like that typical prototypical male that's very strong and hurting people. But kids, babies, it doesn't matter. I go for that armpit and I turn to the parents and I'm always like, I try to convince them that there's worse places to put it, but they just won't believe me. I say it every time and sometimes I get to laugh, some people are like, whatever. Yeah, you go for it. Here we are, this is the special episode where we're just exchanging our gags. And then others I've got to be very careful with about this next one, but there are the ones that I'll do the discharge or whatever they're gonna be leaving. And I'm like, now no pressure or anything, but we'll see you guys in a couple years, right? And so that's the other, you guys are so lovely, we're gonna see you in a couple years, that's amazing. Okay, enough rabbit trail. along those same lines, I do the whole, I'll see you in nine months, right? And like the dads are like, yeah. And the moms are like, are you kidding me? You shush. And anyway, okay. direction. I'm like, we'll see you in a couple years. I don't want to see you in 10 months. And I literally will say let that grow. Let that grass grow. I don't know. I probably should drop that part of it because I don't know if that can be construed as very being inappropriate. But, Heck yeah. because I swear, you know, at birth sometimes parents opt for the delivery medications for babies. One or two of them are shots. And I swear without a doubt I will get a baby screeching and crying more getting their temperature checked in their armpits versus their injection they just got. Like without a doubt. And I had one point the other day I had a dad. You know, did baby's injections, went just fine, hardly a peep out of the kiddo, and then went to take the temperature after the fact, and the baby just wailed, screaming, and then dad was like, come on, nurse, you were gentle with the shots, and I was like, this will be a hallmark the whole stay, I promise you. I was like, I don't know why, but getting your temperature checked hurts more than the shots, clearly, so anyways. Yeah. Mabes. Yeah, clearly, yeah. it's like, my goodness. Okay, so we digressed and that was fun. Back, certainly get back around to what did you love most about nursing and nursing school? Okay, so the transformation in nursing school that you know that was necessary and needed and then I I will say I think within my There was just transformations at each state in the nursing career. I got into a nurse residency. Thank goodness on an LDRP unit and From STAR, I think within my first year of nursing that was huge for me. I You you learn how to talk to a doctor you learn how to give them a report And I think that those skills, if you don't have them outside of your nursing career, translate really well, know, standing up for yourself, standing up for your patient. gosh, and the first year of nursing is hard, you guys. I mean, it wasn't easy for me. For those people it's easy for, God bless you, I'm so happy for you. It was not over here. I, know, just that first year, and then, you now that I'm 10 years in, you know, I used to, gosh, okay, new nurses, do not do what I'm doing. This is what you get when you've been a nurse for 13, however many years. And we always say, you're either gonna learn, everyone will learn from me. And I say, I always learn from my parents. You will always learn from your parents. You will learn either what, you'll learn what to do by either modeling what to do or seeing modeled what not to do. Yeah. So I remember like, you know, your first year nurse and you're calling the doctor being very professional, giving them an SBAR, et cetera. And now it's to the point where I know my doctor so well that I'm like, hey, this is going on. I need this. You can order it or me. OK, great. Bye. Like, it's just a whole different thing when, you know, your doctors know you and trust you and your clinical decision making skills and you know your field so well, you know, your order set so well. It's just it's fun when. I guess we get to a point of comfortability in our careers. Like for me going to work used to be my first year of nursing. was anxiety provoking and I knew I just had to persevere and get through it because this is what I wanted to do. This is what I felt like I was meant to do. And now I get in the car to go to work and I'm just jamming out having a great time, having fun. And work is like stress relieving now when I work in one of the most highly litigated fields of medicine. So it's fun when you... you know, again, using that anxiety as a tool, push through it now. It's like, couldn't imagine my work or career any different. Yeah, that's outstanding. I have a hunch you have more to say about that first year of nursing. And we'll get there. But just the advice you have as far as like when you're new versus like it does, it feels good building a rapport with others. And you don't always get that. You don't always get that in your career, whether it's because you've changed or the rotation is always, know, we deal at Sacred Heart, we deal with a lot of residents, a lot of fellows. Mm And so you get a new batch, you get used to them, you like them and they go away and you get a new batch and you help train them up. And I don't mean that in any disrespect, but you're and then you know, you kind of get to know each other and then they go away and you do it all over again. So it just depends on where you're at. But it is an amazing feeling. So let's let's just dive right in. Why wait? Can we talk about what the first year of being a new nurse is like? man, do you remember your first year of nursing? my gosh, I can't even like, you know, going straight out of nursing school into peds oncology. Terrifying. But I was terrified anyway. And I've mentioned this in a previous episode. in Spokane on peds-onc or were on the west side for peds-onc? dang. And that was that's a whole different story. My wife and I originally moved over here from the Seattle area to get educated and get back. And I jokingly called it my four year, two year degree. And in that time was when our son's accident happened and our whole life changed and all the things. And in that amount of time, like God has a sense of humor. I don't know what the case is, but we we stayed. This was this was home. And so, yeah, to end up there and then to but know that first year, man, like and I. in my, that's what I say, in a previous episode I did mention that when I interviewed, I told them I was dual interviewing for this role and another role, and I just said, here's the deal, I really want to go into Peds Oncology, I'm passionate about it, blah blah blah, I'm gonna be terrified no matter what, I'm gonna be scared, I'm gonna have to learn a lot, it doesn't matter where you put me, I'd rather go through that doing the thing I love the most, but I'll happily go wherever you put me. And so, man, gosh, that whole like, I tell people like it takes, I don't care what you're practicing in. don't care if you're, you you hear peds onc that sounds intimidating, whatever. I don't care what, you can pick whatever the perceived lowest, easiest nursing job is. In that first year, there's a lot of adjustment. You're learning the job all over again, as we've learned from other students, as we've learned from instructors. And it takes a while to, I said, I knew that I was starting to not get used to it, but at least get better about it. when I wasn't going to work with a pit in my stomach every single shift. That's the notification. Yeah. What was the other unit you were interviewing for? Well, it was Peds, but it was a, it was like, they called it like an RRC or something like that, where you actually, they had this very unique, and it didn't last very long, and I could see why. But yeah, this was sacred in 2000 and, back when there were slates and horse and buggies and all the things. But no, it feels like forever ago. But it was, they had this position where you could rotate amongst the group three units as your job. So you would be scheduled for like, I think a pay period for like six weeks and you'd be in, you know, three south or wherever. And then the next six weeks you could end up, you know, maybe in the PICU or maybe in the, you know, in peds-onc or whatever, in these different group three areas. And it was kind of geared for those that knew they wanted kids or, you know, knew they wanted to work in the tower with adults, but not exactly know where. It sounds like it was probably built more for adult world. I can't see how it worked very well in peds world. Mm -hmm. it did exist for a little bit. was a thing. One of my peers got one of those positions out of nursing school. And so, and she ended up having an amazing career in all the things. But it just, yeah, that's what that was about.-hmm. very cool. Yeah, but that, that, and like you said, like that pit in the stomach, like that feeling of being in the car and like, I would go to work early so that I could just take those five, 10 minutes in the car, right? Talk about that, talk about that. gosh. Okay. So first year nursing, I got hired into a nurse residency, which I will beat this horse to death. I highly recommend being in a nurse residency and not all residencies are created equal. I did one where you worked two days, two to three days on the floor and the fourth day, our whole cohort of eight brand new nursing grads and labor delivery met together and we debriefed on what we saw. policies, education, and then one of the huge things, was Elison Evelyn Hickson, shout out to you lovely lady. She did a lot of self -care lectures with us, how to maintain mental health through your first year of nursing. If you like to drink alcohol, she said, please consider removing all alcohol from your home for your first year of nursing. Yeah, I wasn't a big drinker, but I was like, you know that's a good practice, I can do that, and I'm glad I did that. And she also said, if your thing is snacking, maybe remove certain kinds of snacks from your house for the time being. And she was very clear. Your first year of nursing is going to be hard within your, it's going to challenge your personal life, your professional life, your mental health. But here are some tools to help you with it. And like she, she set us all up for success. And I think almost all of us are still working in the obstetrics field as a result. But yeah, that first year of nursing. I think I did a, it was either a 16 week or a 20 week nurse residency. So I had a well -trained nurse holding my hand for those three to first three to four months. So I I essentially had a wonderful babysitter. I had someone there to make sure I didn't screw up. but even though I knew I had that safety net with me for quite a while, I'd still show up to work half hour, hourly, sit in my car, praying to calm me down, drinking coffee. So a stimulant, probably a little counterintuitive. Sitting there just trying to calm down because that pit in your stomach and I think at the time I thought like there must be something wrong with me if coming here is so hard. But then I'd get there. I'd get report and an hour and a half into my shift I'd be thriving man. I would be you know that anxiety would just melt off and I'm like I finally you know when I could do an IV start on my own that confidence level will take a step up when I could admit a patient on my own. you know, step up like that and anxiety started to melt away the more I could do more on my own. So that was great. And then, you know, after four months, you are now you're officially a baby nurse. You know, it's holding your hand anymore. You're taking assignments on your own and that pit in your stomach still was there. And I think finally, after my one year anniversary showed up to work and I only had to spend like two minutes in my car grabbing my bag and I didn't have to sit there for the. you know, five, 10, 15 minutes, whatever it was, pumping myself up or having to like pray or just calm myself down before I walked into work. And it's funny, some people I've talked to, they're like, gosh, I would have switched careers after that. And I'm like, no, I knew this is what I wanted to do. I just had to work through this. Cause you know, in my field, I might have a uncomplicated laboring patient and 30 seconds later, it might have to race her down to the OR to have a crash C -section. So my field's a little bit different in that regard. I might be casually doing a cervical exam and then I feel a prolapsed cord and then we have to run to the ORS. So my field can shift a little bit and unfortunately where we're at, if I have an emergency, I can't press code blue and everybody come. If I have an internal in -unit emergency, we're there to support ourselves. Yeah. we can't get a float nurse from ER to come up and help us because we're a whole different, we're so specialized, it's kind of hard for other units to catch on to what we do unless they've done some training with us. yeah, so after I, in hindsight, I think I'm kind of crazy. After two years of being at my original job position, you know, I was looking forward to work. The pit in the stomach was gone and I was really comfortable. And then this little... wonderful voice in my head was like, we need to change it up. You can't be comfortable. And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. What's next? I'm like, what is going on? And went off into travel nursing was uncomfortable with that. But back to the first year of nursing, I remember, do you remember getting your first nurse paycheck? that was a big day for me. How about you? well, it was, it's very validating. It's very like, you know what I mean? This is what I've worked hard for. And it's not even that it's, you know, huge or it's not the size of it. It's now you're like, I have spent so much time and the joke is right, like, hey, students, you all know you're paying to do the things you're doing. And then eventually that flips around where you're getting to be the one that gets paid to do what you're doing. And that right there in the moment, that for me was like, babe, I came home, was like, here it is. Like this is, I'm getting paid to do it now. I'm getting paid to do it. Yeah. No, and it's phenomenal. And for like positions, I don't remember what it was like on Peds, Oc, were they 12 hour shifts? I remember at the time I was, you know, working in the Seattle area, a lot of my friends outside of the medical field were working for Amazon or Microsoft. So that was usually a five day a week position, right? So, you know, and working a typical hospital schedule, I was working three 12s a week. So you have four days off. typically to kind of like, all right, what am I going Am I going go hike? Am I going to go shop? Am I going to do self care? What is this? And I remember at one point wanting to save up to go on a trip and asking one of my friends who was working for a tech company, hey, do you want to go on this trip with me? And they're like, yeah, but I'm going to have to get another job to save up for that. And I just remember thinking, how crummy is that? You work a Monday through Friday job and now you're have to get a weekend job. And in our field, I'm like, I'll just pick up an extra shift this week. And so we, and granted, we work hard for, we work hard as nurses, but we also, have the luxury of overtime or extra shifts and things of that nature. One of the things I do with my nursing students is we do a paycheck exercise. have them, yeah, we looked up, we take, I use a lot of union hospitals as an example, because their pay rates are very transparent. So I have them. look at the pay scale, you know, I'm a new grad, this is what I want to get, this is my hours a week, how do I add in, calculate my shift differential, because I'm probably going to work night shift, weekend, etc. And we calculate, yes, yes. And the reactions are all across the board. It's fascinating. So like when I started nursing, I think my base pay in Seattle was 26 an hour. I think nowadays as a new grad, it's, I think it's close to 50 in Seattle now or late. know. And I'm trying to think of what our contract is too. I want to say it's like low 30s, 40s, maybe even up to 40s now. Yeah, that sounds about right, actually. Yeah. I had to, you know, do that and I had them look at a typical schedule and do their math and add their differentials in. And I have one student on one side of the room going, man, this is great. This is how much I make, you know, for my summer job in total. And then I have another student on the other side of the room going, this is it? And I'm like, my word. And then on top of that, I... Because something nobody taught me and I wish I would have known this my first year nursing is I make them make a budget and I make them look at how much they should put in retirement because nobody talked about that. Yeah, health insurance. How much is that going to cost as a single person versus a family? you know, and then I, you know, I do my little I am on a soap box a bit about financial stuff and I encourage them. like, hey, pick a percentage and each month take that percentage and put it in savings. And I was like, Pretty standard is take the top 10 % of your paycheck and throw it in savings like it doesn't exist. Get your retirement automatically going, do your subtraction and just know that this is what you're gonna pocket each month after bills. And then we're gonna do an exercise where they have to pick which city they wanna live in, create their budget and figure out an apartment to live in and we're gonna math out all that and see what they're left with each month. Ugh. And just trying to fiscally, emotionally, all the ways prepare them for the field in life when they get to become a nurse and they get to wear that name badge and wear those scrubs. And one of the big things I wish I did is when I got a nursing job is I wish I would have treated myself. I wish I would have gone out and gotten the best tennis shoes to feel powerful and the best compression socks. And so I tell my nursing students, you're getting hired in an era where you will potentially get a signing bonus. I was like, that wasn't a thing for many of us in years past. I mean, gosh, what during the pandemic, I think there are some hospitals do the $50 ,000 sign on bonuses. Yeah. like, 20 ,000, 30 ,000, 50 ,000, know, half up front, or you know what I mean? And then a half after X number of years, or divin' up over like three different, yeah. Like, my gosh! Huge and so I'm telling them I'm like if you do that I'm like, please, you know put some of it in savings be responsible Maybe pay off a chunk of student loans be fiscally responsible But then celebrate yourself and then I was like get that pair of fig scrubs You've been eyeing and you think it's so darn cute get those tennis shoes that are gonna make you feel prepared and powerful Get that stethoscope that makes you smile like every layer of your being prepare yourself and feel strong on the floor You know, just, you know, do things to help make yourself feel readied from the inside out from that pity your stomach. Know that you're anxious, but you look like a nurse when you hit the floor. You feel like a nurse when you hit the floor and over time you're going to be such a badass. sorry. Something I've been trying to encourage folks to do is tell me about your experience too. I met so many nurses over the last few years that, you know, they wanted to work on mother -baby. That was their nursing school desire to be a mother -baby nurse. But somebody gave them bad advice at one point and said, nope, you need to go work on the MedSurg Tower before a mother -baby unit will ever consider you. Yeah. Yeah. This is one that irks me and I'm like, apply for your dream job. You don't know. you know, they're getting information out there in the community that, nope, you have to have adult med surg experience before they'll consider you. And I'm like, no, just, just apply, just apply. I'm like, for some people it's helpful to get, you know, a year of med surg under their belt or they think that students think that they need to do med surg cause it'll get them great overall skills before they go into their specialty, specialty that they really so desire. But I've been finding that when students leave nursing school with that, they get comfortable on the unit they're on and they don't want to reapply to a new unit. And that one kind of hurts my heart a little bit. I just want to tell them like, it's easy to get comfortable, but there's also some, lot of self growth in trying new things or, you know, applying for your dream job. But I'm like, there's also, I've met some nurses who actually my best friend Candice, her whole upbringing in nursing was, designed to work in some form of pediatrics. volunteered with the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery for years. She her practicum in pediatrics, but after nursing school, she found that she could not get a peds job whatsoever. And so the only job that she was offered was adult med surg and she took it. And about a year in, I remember calling her and asking her, I'm like, okay, after a year of working with adults. What are you thinking? And she goes, my gosh, I never want to work with kids again. Are you kidding me? She was adults are so much easier than kids. And she went from wanting to work. I forget what area impedes to now working adult ICU and loves it. Yeah. So I'm like, you know, sometimes just don't be afraid to try something new, but also, you know, persevere with what you really want, you know, push forward to. Yeah, you ask about that. it's one of those hot button topics, I feel like. I feel like everybody's got a different perspective. I've had an honored guest or two that were very adamant, like, no, you need to start in med surg, period. And again, let me preface this, and I've done it before, but this is not like minor leagues, major leagues, to use a baseball analogy. This is not like, well, you need to get, you gotta take your licks in med surg and then you can go to one of the amazing areas of nursing. That's not it. Med surg is its own beast and there's a reason why some people can't do it and why some people thrive in it and love it. And I can promise you, if you are an adult or, no, not even an adult, if you are a human being and you're gonna get sick, you're gonna have surgery, you're going to need good Med Sure nurses. And so this is not a poo -poo on that in any way shape or form. And I think unfortunately that gets lost in translation because some people use this as a you need to go through the minors before you get to the majors. And that's, I'll call BS on that every day all day long. That being said, there are some practicum students that I've personally had over the years. And I always categorize them in one of three areas. And the lowest of course being I don't know how you made it this far. and there is some serious remediation that needs to happen. Fortunately, I've never had anyone like that. There was one that was close, and I don't know if she terrified me with my peds onc population, but she, and a lovely human being, all of things, I am not gonna throw anybody under the bus, but that's the lowest tier. And if you've made it through nursing school and you're in, everybody here who's about to do practicum that hears this, they're gonna be like, am I in that category? my gosh, no. about it. Yeah, no, no, no. mean, for the most part, and again, nobody's trying to weed anybody out, but those that, and there are some that nursing isn't for them or whatever the case may be, they've been found out by now. That's not what I'm saying. That would be the lowest tier. The next tier then becomes not because MedSurg is the minor league, but because you are demonstrating by the end of your nursing school experience that you still aren't quite grasping certain concepts or you need a little extra time to work on. time management and that sort of thing without being burdened with all the extra stuff that comes with some specialties. So with that, that's the middle tier. That's that, you kind of need to get a little med surg under your belt if you're wanting to go to a specialty before you do that. And that's okay to live there as well. There's nothing wrong with that. Not looking down on anyone who fits that tier. And then there are others who are like, I really want to go into a specialty. And you're like, you know what? I feel like it's going to be stressful 100 % but you're ready for it. And you know what mean? You can do it and be ready for all the self -care things you're talking about. All the things that you know what I mean? Grasp all those and get those going. And in all those tears, you need all those things. I feel like I'm rambling about this one. you you do. that's, know, I'm there are others that say, no, everyone should have nursing school background, period. nursing school. Everyone does need to have nursing school baths. If you don't have nursing, well, that's the whole Florida thing from a few years ago, but we're gonna leave that one, by the way. I don't even know how that is. Yeah, that's a whole nother soapbox. no, the whole idea of needing that MedSearch background, and I get that perspective, but I'm firmly in the camp. Kind of what you're saying is if it's a specialty you want, it's a specialty you're passionate about, and you're willing to put in the pits in the stomach. Yes. the pain that goes with it, do it. And don't look back and, know, yeah, I could preach about that all day long, but yeah. to uplift our med surg buddies in our career. I saw a reel the other day that made a whole lot of sense to me and I was like, my gosh, I feel like we need to package this and frame this. was talking about med surg nurses, jack of all trades, master of everything. And I'm like, that sums it up pretty well. Cause they like think of it, they have to be so good at every little thing. And I'm like, that sums it up pretty dang well. Okay. Yeah. in the face of the whole jack of all trades master of none. And that's what I, you know what I mean? Like, no, med surg nurses are the jack of all trades and that's not even talk about their time management skills right now. Like, I never being a med surg nurse myself, I've never been. And I honestly like, know, that can at times put you at a disadvantage early on in your career. And, you know, depending on who you are and all the things again, like there's the argument that you need to go. But. Med -surg nurses like the caseload they have, the patient load, the sheer amount of mind-boggling things that have to get done in a single shift. It's just my hat's off to every single med -surg nurse that's out there. And I mean, but I feel like we've, and this has been touched on too, we all, you there are perceptions about every field, and misconceptions. all along the way up and down the line no matter what field you're looking at, what specialty. And there's a hierarchy, right? Like, but I'm not like them. They do this. And it's like, that's a bunch of BS. Knock it off. You're a nurse. You chose your specialty. You went into a specialty. We all have our niche. And we all need to have our niche so that any of us that need that particular niche can get the best care we can get from the people who are passionate about that area. Yep. I think did you have a student on who was she going into medsurg or just really loved medsurg? Yes like, where do you want to go? And she's like, I know that people say, but she's like, I love MedSurg. And I'm like, yes. was like, I, when she said I was like, I feel like so many students need to hear this. Cause I think, think of how many, you go to the hospital for this or that, oftentimes, unless you're incredibly critical, you're going to end up on a med surg floor and you want a fantastic, bad ass nurse. And I was just so pumped when I heard her say that I was like, that is beautifully out of the ordinary and so appreciated. Well, and there's no coincidence why she was episode number, well, technically one. I wanted to number my episode zero, and the host doesn't allow for zeros in episode numbers. So that's another reason why I'm episode number one. I consider her my true first episode. And that's Morgan. We're throwing out Morgan out there. Good job, Morgan Johnson. Still making waves. But what I love is that I think this is just... thought came to me with the way you were talking about that. Like if you think of any field of nursing, you can think of what they get poo -pooed on. Well, they're just med -surg. They are basic, they're, you know, or whatever the case may be. In postpartum, well you guys just hold babies, feed babies, and maybe help someone breastfeed. I don't know, it's not intense. What's ED? ED, you're callous, you're cold, you get people out, and you punt people to the ICU. You know what mean? Like I... It's all the things, like there's negatives of perception. You can negatively perceive any area. So don't let any of that noise bother you nursing student who's listening. You go for what your heart tells you to go for if you have that compulsion. And just know if you don't get hired on your dream unit and you have to take a left turn to someplace else, like there's going to be a blessing in there in some fashion. Either that's a transition time before you go to your desired unit or you may find that it was a unit you would have never considered but my gosh were you designed for it and you're thriving on it and just be open to that stuff. Be open to those opportunities. Like you... sorry. Go ahead. no, just, I mean, you might find that, my gosh, I love urology. I never would have thought I'd love urology of all places, or endo, you know? Yeah. absolutely. so now we are nearing the end of your second episode. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about? Let's do the catch all, anything else you wanted to make sure that nursing student heard? or anything like that as far as especially in regards to the first year or otherwise. Can I speak to advice for a new nurse coming to the field or like a practicum student or nursing student? New nurse or practicum student, are you okay with Izzie giving you advice? Yeah, I think I see a lot of heads nodding out there. Let's go! cool. I've got a famous story that I tell all my students. I was working labor and delivery and it was, you know, change of shift and my patient desperately wanted an epidural. So we set out for the procedure and we're in process of it. And while I'm doing that, it turns out that I've got a nursing student with me that day. Great. Totally awesome. And they come into the room. and they were really respectful of the sterile field and just kind of stood on the outskirts of it. What stuck out to me was this nursing student showed up with a grungy sweatshirt on over their scrubs, which, okay, not my favorite thing in whole wide world. Also looking quite disheveled, like maybe they were out a little late the night before. So the professional appearance wasn't super great. No, not on the list of what we'd consider acceptable at all. Right. I think eventually, yeah, it was not ideal. And and the nurse anesthetist doing the epidural placement, Mr. Brian Lee, he's fantastic. He's very wonderful. Let's patient. Let students put on masks and get side by side with him and let them watch the epidural placement, you know, and help inspire those nursing students to maybe go on to be nurse anesthetist, which hallelujah, we need those in the world. And so he's allowing the student to watch very closely, safely, and in the midst of this, the student asks a question of, you know, will this paralyze? This can paralyze her, right? And I was like, ooh, and I am a big advocate for there are no dumb questions, but there are more ideal times to ask them. And so for our nursing students who are coming on the floor and for our new nurses, like, please know, ask the questions, but sometimes the timing of them might be more appropriate than not. So as things went on, the epidural was placed, the patient laid down, she was stable, so I exited the room with the nursing student and I just said, you know, your appearance is not professional, so I want you to remedy that. I said, and secondly, you had a great question. You know, the person, so there are some side effects epidurals that are, know, there's worth these, there, these questions are worth having. These conversations are worth having. But as that patient is sitting up wanting an epidural, she's in pain, she's in the throes of labor. It sucks. Asking that question was not, that was not the best time or place for it at the nurse's station. Yes. Let's have that conversation. It was, know, if a patient's sitting up for an IV start and you're asking like, is that going to hurt her? Yeah, it's going to be uncomfortable. But yeah, it's just hard. I want students to ask their questions, but I want them to know that there is a good time and place to ask all of them. yeah. huge. you know, so I appreciate you calling that out. because that is a definite key thing. So write that down everybody in your lessons I've learned on feeding our young. Notebook, there's another product idea right there. Or is there anything I can get the brand out, right? No, I'm just kidding. This is the thing, I hate, ugh, I hate the business side of things. my goodness, this brainchild started earlier this year. It's a long story, one that is not maybe worth the time. I'll try, I'll do the short version. I'll do the short version. no, you know what? This is a good question for our Q &A episode. So those that, if you didn't hear, what I'm really excited about is we're gonna, Izzie has voluntold Jen to then, I, like my brain going a mile a minute thinking about these things while I'm listening to you while I'm thinking about what I'm gonna ask you. I think what we need to do is we're going to open it up to students. I mean, I do that at the end of every episode anyway. If you have a Q &A, throw it to this email address. And I have not received a single email yet. But that's because we're in our infancy at the time of this recording, where we'll have a dozen episodes on Wednesday. But other than that, released, I should say. And so, but what I can do is I'll just, we'll reach out, I'm going to reach out to my former nursing students and just say, a question or two that you can think of that you would want asked on the podcast. And then you and Jen. brainstorm and then I'll be the one in the hot seat. my gosh, but it fascinating how much is so universal, like hospital to hospital, like the attitudes of nursing, the attitudes of the units that like in nursing school, people's experiences, like, I mean, I don't want people to feel like, you know, you're not unique, but like, just to let you know, like people are going through that too. You know, you aren't alone in it. I mean, I swear if we go into like a housewarming party, like you can pick out the nurses in the room, we all just migrate towards each other. We're our own strange breed. You can sniff each other out. My husband is so jealous of it. goes, we go, like we went to a barbecue the other day where we knew one couple. And he's like, you know, and by the end of it, you've got five women around you all telling them your birth story. goes, people just migrate to nurses. I'm like, it's, it's a thing. We can't help it. I guess we're beautifully charming. I don't know what it is, but that I, something I love to tell, cause I could sit here and just tell you stories all day. Like we could talk about patients on the floor, all that. I, And something I love to do with Jen Evans, again, to throw her name out there, get her a little bit bigger of an ego is, you know, I go out to coffee with Jen. Yeah, clearly. And Kim and Kim Mitchell goes to brunch with me. Jen only goes to coffee with me. No big deal. Anyways. Right. But like one of the wonderful things about nursing is I think a lot of us are storytellers by nature, like. you know, how often are you at the nurse's station when like the unit's kind of calm and you start talking about this patient or that patient or like you have the stable postpartum patient who all of a sudden had a prolapse uterus and in a fun way we kind of one up each other but our stories are so fun and enlightening and we learn from it. Like after on our unit if we do a debriefing even if we're not a part of it I want to know what the nurses learned from their debriefing with their patient situation and. I know you've put three nurses in a room together. How many nursing stories are we gonna tell and we're gonna like one up each other left and right and it's gonna be so joyful and fun. Like nursing is this beautiful occupation and we need to celebrate each other. When you graduate and you pass your NCLEX and you get your first job, my gosh, you did it. And then you get to enter this beautifully unique field of like, you know, and unfortunately. Historically, we did eat our young and we're getting better at it. I think we're getting better at it and something probably something I really want to drill in is You know even to this day there are some units that are very sink or swim or they do eat They're young those are the units are still in practice. I left one a few years ago what I want to drill into people is that if You're unhappy on a unit you look at it and do some self -reflecting Are you unhappy with the medicine end of it or are you unhappy with the culture of the unit? If so, feel free to switch you don't get stuck. Don't have don't leave the field just because The nurses are telling you figure it out on your own or look up that policy on your own I don't know. I just feed our young let you know I got to retire someday and I want to know I'm leaving the field with Wonderful, right? I want to leave the field knowing there's good nurses behind me to keep these hospitals going so Why'd you start the podcast? It's simple. We're done. We need you guys to just help us. This is all self -serving. We don't give a rat's rear anymore. just, I'm just kidding. All right, so thank you. I just, and the common refrain too is interesting. Hearing Jen, Jen's episode and I hearing yours. I'm like, it's a beautiful, like, there's a very nice synergy. and be like, what did you say? Okay, so to wrap things up, what were your three words you used to describe nursing school and why did you pick them? my gosh, chaos, compassion and community. Nursing school is chaos. It is, it is hard, but get through it. Put your head down, nose in the book, grindstone, just do it. There's a pot of gold at the end in so many ways. Compassion, we get to be alongside people. Again, not to plug Providence, but I'm gonna plug Providence. We get to be with people in their beautiful moments and their hard moments and we can ease their way. in ways that people in other professions don't get to. And kind of like what I was saying before, like nurses, we can sniff each other out. The community of nurses from either, even as a nursing student, I still can name all the girls in my first clinical group. Like there is a sense of community when you have survived nursing school that you're not gonna find anywhere else. There's a sense of community with the first unit I ever worked on and just a sense of community in nursing as a whole that. You you don't get in every occupation. And like I said, we can sniff each other out. What I met you and within like two minutes, we're having like an hour long conversation, me, you and your wife. And I'm like, I think I went to your guys's church over in Federal Way or Kent or whatever it was. Like you just, yeah, I'm like, my gosh, this is such a small world. And I don't even know how I ended up at that church in the first place, but just like we sniff each other out. We are this beautiful community. We are these storytellers. We are these. compassionate beings and we will have, you know, chaos through nursing school. We're gonna have a chaotic shift, but it's the, you know, we still show up. So yeah, we still show up for each other. We show up for our community. We show up for our patients. yeah, we just need, yes. Yeah. No, no, that was it. Yep. I was just gonna say push through, persevere nursing student who's listening, because then you're part of this, you're already in a way part of this amazing community. It's a little bit different once you finally become a nurse, and it's not like it's this, you know what I mean, this exclusive club, you have to have your license to get in and that sort of thing, but there is a little bit something different once you finally, like Izzie said, get that first paycheck. You pass the NCLEX, you get that paycheck, you're like, man, I am in. Now the real fun begins, the real learning begins, but you have a sisterhood, a brotherhood of people who hopefully have your back and best interests at heart. All right, if somebody, nursing student, in particular Izzie, gets one thing from this episode, your episode's plural. It gets better. It gets better and don't let failure paralyze you. Don't let that anxiety paralyze you. Use it. Just use it. Yep. as fuel and one piece of advice for fellow instructors teachers professors professors etc gosh, don't forget what it was like to be in that seat. And if you were that student where nursing school was a breeze, good on you. But remember what it was like for your friend sitting in the seat next to you in nursing school who struggled and that student who struggled, who now is thriving, working on the floor or who now themselves is a clinical instructor. Like just, you know, don't and like we need to do with our patients, you know, meet people where they're at. We don't always get to see people on the best days of their life. Sometimes we're seeing them in the hospital on the worst days of their life. And just be aware of where people are at. in your classroom on that day or in your clinical. Yeah. nursing student, message me we'll go out to coffee. We'll vent about nursing school. It gets better, I promise. Boom! Truth bombs being dropped today by someone who wasn't even born. How does it get better than that? I'm living my best life, that's all there is to it. Izzie, thank you so, so much for... Yeah, I just have had an amazing time. Like I said, I wish I could do this all day with everybody, because there's just so much to share, like you said. I love that, we're storytellers, we are. And good luck getting us to stop. to come to my class together. gosh, that'd be amazing. It would either be amazing or, yeah, well, mean, the three of us have a great time. I wonder how many students would drop out or withdraw when we're done just from the sheer craziness. No, I'm just kidding. It would be an absolute blast. I would love it. All right. Well, thank you, Izzie. And yeah, I look forward to your, to helping with that class on spirituality. Absolutely. That is an honor. You don't have to beg me. You know that. So, all right. Take care. Have a lovely afternoon, friend. Thank you, sir.