Feeding Our Young

107 - Lisamarie Pietragallo Pt 1: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Honored Guests with host Eric Miller Season 1 Episode 107

Join nurse practitioner, entrepreneur, and Pittsburgh, Ohio native Honored Guest Lisamarie Pietragallo Moreschii as she waxes eloquent about her nursing career and education path, the need for hobbies, how nurses “get” one another, coming full circle in life and in nursing, God winks, overcoming cancer, collaboration in healthcare, and more!

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Hello and welcome to this episode of the Feeding Our Young podcast. So today is going to be a fascinating day. For the first time in many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many months, I have a three-session recording day. The good news is this honored guest doesn't have to put up with third recording session Eric. She gets fresh in the morning, Eric, which isn't saying much because I got two and three-quarter hours of sleep last night and decided to solve that by running a half marathon, number 184. Yeah, for those who really care and or are keeping count. And so I did that at three o'clock this morning, took an hour and a half afterwards, have my mug of tea, and we're just gonna see what comes out of this. Fortunately, my counterpart is super professional, super fun, and we're gonna learn a lot of things about her and her passion. So I am not even going to try and butcher her last name. And in that effort, because she's Italian. I'm gonna let her introduce herself instead of me. So if you don't mind, who are you and where are you from? Well, I'm going to mess you up even more because my professional name is Lisamarie Pietragallo but my legal name is Lisamarie Pietragallo Moreschii. So, you know, two Italian names there that you can't pronounce. I was really hoping you were gonna give the full name, because I saw it on the thing, and I'm like, well, you know, she's gonna give the short version to the long version. We got the long version, everybody. So I have one day, one name by day, you know, one name the rest of the time. And I am from Northeast Ohio. Originally from Pittsburgh. So I'm a Pittsburgh girl, black and gold through and through. So. Well, this has been a great interview, Lisamarie. There were certain things I did not know about you prior to starting. I hope you have a great nursing career. Have a good day. No, just kidding. Glad you guys had Russell Wilson, and I'm just gonna leave that at that. Take him back, take him back! that's okay. You might replace him with Aaron Rodgers. At the time of this recording, the Seahawks, my beloved Seahawks, have just signed Sam Darnold a couple days ago. They're doing this mass exodus of our whole offensive front. Congratulations, everybody. You're in a sports podcast all of a sudden. No, I just, and there were prior to that Sam Darnold signing, I've read multiple articles of rumors that we were gonna talk to Aaron Rodgers. I'm like, what, what, did I step into an alternate universe? Well, all I'll say is Super Bowl 40. That's the only ill will I have towards your particular passion. And we're gonna leave it at that, because there was some very bad things done that day. in the name of furthering the bus's retirement. And that's okay. It's fine. he was incredible. if we need to continue this sports podcast, I need to bring my husband in here because I just like the Steelers. I can't, I don't remember Super Bowl 40. I, I can't, I don't. It's all. all of us in Washington State certainly remember it. Alright, so... That's alright, Ben Roethlisberger, blah blah blah. Whatever. Okay, before this derails further, let's continue with our traditional opening questions, Lisamarie. Lisamarie, yeah, there's this little hobby. We're talking football, but we'll get into this little hobby called nursing. With that, I've already established that you're very professional. So, Eric Goh, I think you hold at least a degree, if not multiple, would you mind enlightening us? What degrees do you hold? When did you get them? And maybe where did you get them from? Well, I am old school. I graduated in 1990 from St. Francis Medical Center School of Nursing in Pittsburgh. Doesn't even exist anymore. And I am one of those people who, you know, life happens and health issues, get married, you have kids, raise the kids. So I took a little hiatus. I did a whole lot of things in nursing. was, when I was an RN, I was Um, a liver transplant ICU nurse at the university of Pittsburgh and did so many fun things back in the day. And we did a first baboon to human liver transplant. And I worked with Thomas Starzl and the whole Mecca of liver transplantation. And, um, then I did home health and a bunch of things. And this is one of the reasons I love nursing because there are so many different so many different things to do in nursing. And you know, you can change paths and hop around and do something that suits you during that time of life. So I did a lot of home care visits when my kids were young. And honestly, I did home care visits because I wanted to keep my IV skills up. Because I, when I was in college, because I did go to college before nursing school, I went to University of Pittsburgh. And I was a phlebotomist and I taught phlebotomy that many years ago. So, you know, it's just kind of the natural progression. then after when my kids, my youngest was in high school, I went back to finish my bachelor's and I finished that at Chamberlain. And then I went right into grad school at Maryville University. and got my family nurse practitioner. And now I am a mini thesis away from a PhD in holistic nutrition. A minute? now a mini thesis? Yes. I go to a school called Rockwell School of Functional Medicine. they actually, it's pretty cool because with all the, you know, my, I don't even want to count, do the math people, 1990, 2025, right? All those years of traditional medicine training and education and all the years of working in traditional medicine. Last year, I started my own functional medicine practice and got certified in functional medicine. So I strictly do functional and integrative medicine now in my practice. And I felt I really needed a nutrition degree because I'm doing a lot of lifestyle and eating plans and things like that. So I wanted not a traditional nutrition degree. Rockwell caters to traditional medicine providers who want the functional medicine aspect of things. So in my opinion, it's, I don't want say the complete opposite, but it brings a really well-rounded aspect to the traditional education, just really focusing on the holistic aspect of it. And because they cater to professionals, they're attitude is you've already, you have the advanced degrees, you've already done the research, you've written the papers, if you would like to do a full thesis, you're welcome to, but it's, you know, so it's a mini thesis that we need to do. Which is kind of cool because I think I would not have been up for the, you know, an entire thesis. Yeah, yeah, wow. That's, congratulations. Yes, that's, you know, being a WGU Western Governors University, you know, native myself, getting my master's degree from them. That's what I really appreciated about them is very much like, you know, it's competency based. What do you know? Let that forward you. And then the things you don't know, let's teach you. And then you end up with a degree. And it's just fantastic. You're not learning. things for the sake of checking a box. You're learning things that are practical and necessary for your degree. Exactly. Now, that's absolutely incredible, Lisamarie. Thank you for sharing kind of a very brief snippet of your educational journey. For those that are like, you know, if you're long time listeners of the podcast, I don't know what long time qualifies for here. We're not even a year old yet. So that's long time. If you're listening to every episode, there you go. You've listened the whole time. But you know, we're no stranger to functional medicine here. I've had an honored guest to talk about that. And so for those that that is not your cup of tea, like the cup of tea I'm drinking, please don't tune out. because we're not gonna, this is not an hour about functional medicine, but we are gonna talk about Lisamarie's passion for that later down the road. But you don't wanna miss what we got coming up. So we'll start with the traditional stuff as we always do. Lisamarie, you chose three words to describe nursing school. What were they? They were life-changing challenge, I believe. life-changing challenge. Love it. And we'll talk more about that at the end. And in the interim, what are three of your favorite songs in life right now? We will go with genres because I am very, very eclectic. So I love my 80s rock. You know, gotta love the classics, Journey, even going even back further. Before my time, I will say, know, classics, classic rock. But lately I've really been into Five Finger Death Punch and... Finger Death Punch I think Jekyll and Hyde might be one of my favorites. That's kind of like a, you know, blow off some steam. Not a fan of their real big, their hardcore stuff, but you know. So it's funny that you brought that up because Five Finger Death Punch I'm not huge into heavy rock myself or heavy rap or even country doesn't make the list for me. Sorry to all you country lovers out there. But my best friends love country. So it's okay, I still get exposure. Yeah, it's all right, it's acceptable. We won't spend the next 20 minutes dissing that. But no, the five finger death punch, when I was at kind of one of the lowest points in my life, ironically, There were two things that got me through it musically, from a musical standpoint. One of which was the Legally Blonde soundtrack, no joke. And the other one was Five Finger Death Punch. And I would listen to those things often. I had to do a lot of driving for my job at the time after I moved over to get my associate's degree. And Five Finger Death Punch was one of those bands that, for whatever reason, just spoke to me in that time of life. It was very strange. So I'm so glad you brought that up. That's so awesome. Okay. So now the fun question that you were not allowed to prepare for, so sorry Lisamarie, but this is our unofficial Feeding Our Young personality quiz. And at the end of it, we will determine exactly the type of person you are based on the answers you give. You have been prepared that this is coming your way, correct? Wonderful. All right, so you may give us short answers or as you can give, you can give rationale if you want, it's up to you, but otherwise rapid fire, here we go. Are you ready? I am, bring it on. Alright, would you rather instantly learn a new language or an instrument? a new language. Are you team pie or team cake? Team cake. Would you rather have the ability to fly or breathe underwater? Fly. Okay, is Wham's song titled Last Christmas actually a Christmas song? Yeah. It says it. It says it. that was a pretty confident, yeah, we'll take that. And the last question. You've just been gifted a time machine, congratulations. Are you gonna go back in time or are gonna see the future? God, I'm going back in time. All right, there it is. The results are in and you are amazing. Congratulations, yay. All right, so now that we've got the non-nursing things out of the way, let's circle back around and let's talk about your life. Is that okay? Is that good? We'll just go right in there. Let's open with just kind of a little bit of a summary of the person. I imagine that you've got a hobby or two of your own there. I've already mentioned my penchant for running. But what kind of hobbies, what gets you going when you're not doing all the millions of things that you seem to have your hands in? Well, let me just say that I think hobbies are necessary for everyone. They are so good for cognition, for mental health, you name it. So I have been a huge advocate of hobbies for a very long time. And I was, you know, one of those kids that I would go to sewing class when I was little and craft class and I knit and crocheted when I probably old enough to hold a needle. Been doing it for so long. don't even remember. and I think because I failed to mention, I did research when I worked at the university of Pittsburgh. And, I think that made me everything, right? First of all, nurses, we are a unique breed of people. And I think, you know, we go down rabbit holes. We don't want to leave any stone unturned. And I think that just pours into every aspect of life. And so now I've been a nurse for we know a very long time. I was a nurse before we had universal precautions. So. Woo, there it is everybody. That might even be the title of your episode. This is great. I was a nurse before universal precautions. Yeah. that being said, you know, I think it really just, I'm a researcher at heart. So, which is probably why I'm where I am now professionally, but going into the hobby realm of things during COVID when everybody needed a mental outlet, right? I spent three years, well, it started off, dying yarn because I really got into my, you know, knitting and crocheting and crafting then. So I started dying my own yarn and that turned into, I don't know how, but it turned into making candles. And yeah, my research kind of led me down the rabbit hole of creating a clean burning candle line. So I experimented with different waxes and researched what they put off into the environment and should you be breathing it because we all want to live a healthy life, but I love a good candle. So I played around with. clean burning scents and researched all of that. So you know, nursing really defines who you are. And I think it's really funny when you look at the, and I don't even know, it's kind of like which came first, the chicken or the egg, right? Do we go into a certain kind of nursing because that's our personality or does the certain type of nursing we go into create, us like does it, which probably a little bit of both. I gonna say, I feel like it's like a positive feedback loop, right? Like one feeds the other, which feeds the first, and round and round we go. Exactly. So, know, med surg nurses, God bless you, different personality. ICU nurses, trauma nurses, we all have our own little, but I think we all, and I say this in a very loving way. And, you know, we all have our own little bit of neuroses, right? At the core as a nurse, I think we all share that kindred spirit and I love nurses. I could... You could be a total stranger and I can hear you're a nurse and we're striking up a conversation. And you're not the first person to mention that either. You and I talked about it briefly before we started recording. And it is. You just kind of flock to each other. you're just like, are you in healthcare? yes. You're not a nurse, are you? I definitely am. my gosh. And then you're just off to the races. yeah. And the stories we have to people not in the medical field, it's it's kind of like, you're making that up. Nope, nope, we're not making that up. I remember, and I don't even know if I can repeat it, but I was in nursing school and have what patients said to me that I'm just like, it still sticks with me. It's just funny. Yeah. Yeah. The things that, you know, there's just all this incredibly useful knowledge alongside this amazing useless knowledge that just sits in there and you're like, I remember this distinctly, or it takes you back to, you know, that patient interaction or whatever the case may be. Exactly. And again, the good, the bad, you know, which is why it was kind of difficult to pick those three words. But those three words, I think were broad enough that it kind of encompasses everything. Because, I think we're like the only profession that, you know, we get abused, you know, you name it by by staff, by colleagues, by patients. And we, but we're with people at they're the worst time of life. We're usually the ones giving them horrific information or cleaning up the mess after they've gotten the horrific information. And I, my gosh, I'm sorry. I get goosebumps because I had some amazing relationships with patients over the years. And I have a stack of letters from patient families and you can't get that. anywhere else. we give our all for our career and our career really defines us. There aren't many careers that it is who you are. You know, even the years that I wasn't necessarily working full time in the clinical setting, I was always a nurse. You know, you always, you know, go, go down the street, know, Lisa's a nurse. You know what I mean? You always have that. and no one can take that away from you. So it's kind of cool going back to the tie that we all have. Yeah, and I think part of what you're landing on there, at least as far as you know, defining you and that sort of thing is partially because it requires all of you as, you know what mean? Nurses who are listening are just amending the crud out of everything you're saying right now. And nursing students are like, my gosh, you know, they've either seen it a little bit already or they're like, this is what I have to look forward to. And yes, 100 % is what you get to look forward to. The good, the bad, the ugly, all of it together, but... What do you hear time and time again? Go back and listen to other episodes. Listen to what Lisamarie is saying. This is the best career on the planet. It requires all of you. That's why nursing school requires all of you. And it requires the best version of you that day, even if it's not the best version of yourself. And so you give it your all. And like you said, like same thing. You talk about that. I got down in my storage. I got my nice little box and I've got pictures. I've got, you from my times in peds onc you know, that some of my patients did. one patient gave me an acrostic, he spelled E-R-I-C, and then like descriptive words for, you know what I mean, like who I was. It just, and those are the things that, you know what mean, you you carry with you to the end of time. I have three angel Christmas ornaments, the exact same ones from patients. And one of them, and again, talk about things coming full circle. I know I mentioned to you, I at 23 was diagnosed with metastatic thyroid cancer. it was, at 23 and shocking, my very first year as a nurse, pregnant with my first child. So it was, It was a rough time, but fast forward to my late 40s as a new nurse practitioner in practice, I have a 21 year old come into my office, doing an exam, diagnosed her with the exact same medicine. It was metastatic. was the exact same thyroid cancer. that was something like, again, so everything in life, everything you go through in your life, like makes you a better nurse. And I know that that experience totally changed how I was a nurse, my entire thing, because being in that, I remember like it was yesterday, getting the diagnosis and you turn into a patient in a second. So everything I knew, went out the window. You know what I mean? It was just, and it was like, okay, well, what does this mean? What am I supposed to do? So having been in that situation, and again, I remember standing in the exam room with this girl and her mom wasn't there. And I'm thinking, my gosh, it's the first time I meet this girl. I feel this nodule. I'm sending her for blood work, you know, and I'm sending her for a biopsy. And I knew exactly what she felt like. And I just wanted to like squeeze her and hold her and be like, it'll be okay. You know, even if it's bad, it'll be okay. And, you know, again, a defining moment, you know, at my first year as a nurse practitioner, having that experience is really, really mind blowing. I've said it before and don't you again I'm not preaching one version of life in any way shape or form that's not the purpose of this podcast that's not my purpose either but I've said it before in the podcast and I'll say it again there's an old saying something that goes along the lines of you know that God speaks on the daily like whispers on the daily but shouts in the coincidences and there's just that symbiotic like you know I mean you're coming full circle where You just said it, the first year of being a nurse practitioner calls you back to your first year as being a nurse and getting that same diagnosis. It's just incredible to me. Exactly, exactly. There's a book called God Winks. I don't know if you've ever heard it. And it's pretty much talking about this. you know, there are people that will be very instrumental in your path of life and you don't know it at the time and you may only cross paths one time. Another very, why I am a nurse practitioner. And you're going to learn a lot about me. I'm sorry. So, you know, The reason I had a large hiatus in my nursing career is because my husband at the time did not want me go back to school, didn't want me to work. It was one of those relationships. wasn't a really healthy relationship. So I highly recommend to anyone out there, if you're in that situation, recognize it and get out of it and don't stay in it, even for the kid's sake. Anyway, so went back to school and We were in marriage counseling before the divorce. And I went to see the wife who happened to be a nurse practitioner of the psychologist who my ex-husband was seeing. And the nurse practitioner looked at me in the first hour and said, your marriage is over. The energy he's stealing from you is blah, blah, blah, know, whatever they say. And she said, What are you going to do with the rest of your life? Because he takes up a lot of time and energy and you're going to need to fill that space. And I said, I'm going to go back to school, but you know, I want to teach. she said, okay. She said, well, don't, she said, you're going to spend the same amount of time and money to get your master's in education, to teach nursing as you will to be a nurse practitioner. She said, and they pay you for the prescription pad. So. ha ha ha! She said, you can teach as a nurse practitioner, but you can't practice medicine as an educator. I met with her one time. That was the only time I ever met with her. And that she was what gave me the confidence because in the marriage I was in, it was, I did not have a whole lot of confidence at that time in my life. And she made me, thought it would, I thought it would be easier to get a master's in MSN in education. And Um, because of her saying that I was like, okay, well, let me give me, give her a try and started applying to NP programs. And, she was a hundred percent right because as a nurse practitioner, I was, um, an adjunct, uh, staff at Youngstown state university for awhile. So it's kind of crazy. And again, like I said, I don't even remember her name. And I think we're at not. for that whole situation, I would have never even thought I could have gotten accepted into an NP program, nor made it through an NP program. So. alone all the things that we'll talk about that you are doing with your NP, right? Like just one meeting, one, you know what mean? One moment, one sentence, one discussion can change your life. I love it. And it's fascinating because I mean, I don't know that I, don't know if I've shared this before on the podcast per se, but I'm really, if you boil it down to its pure essence, I'm a nurse because of my wife. And that is because I up wanting to become a doctor, took a little dovetail into children's ministry. I've talked about that before. And then when we were at our lowest point, I was coming out of full-time ministry going, okay, full-time ministry is definitely not for me. That is not my thing. And so she's like, well, and it's like, we have our first son at the time, very young. And it's like, okay, well, what are we gonna do? And she's like, you're go back and then go back and become a doctor. no, like I've spent enough time on this little venture that now, especially with having you and our son, and you know, it just was, and she just legitimately was like, what about becoming a nurse? That was it. You know, I mean, obviously it wasn't like, my gosh, you're right. Like I looked into it and all the things that I'm like, that's more in line with what I want to do anyway. But it was just that sentence. The thought had never, you know, the math wasn't in the brain. Those two thoughts never crossed. worked in medical records since I was 14. And so, you in healthcare and knowing what people did and what roles kind of, you know what mean, what they were for, but never envisioning myself in that role. And so, again, same thing. She doesn't say that, who knows? I don't know, maybe I'm working in a movie theater. I'm not sure. Yeah. I'm the opposite because I literally have a picture of me. We have it on one of those electric picture frames of me in third grade dressed up as a nurse. I used to give my baby dolls chicken pox literally with a needle and color. they were legitimately, they looked like pock marks. And since I was a kid. it's funny when people say, you know, Did you really know? What did you want to? Did you know what you want it to be? Well, clearly I did. And, you know, toyed with toyed with medical school because of course, you know, that was, you know, especially in the nineties, it's like, oh, you don't want to be a nurse. was, it was kind of exactly, exactly. And again, I, if I had a nickel for every single time someone said to me, um, well, when will you be a doctor? Like so many people don't understand that as a nurse practitioner, and I would say to them, if I do become a doctor, it's not going to be an MD, I'll be, and know, try. So I quit trying to explain it. And it's so true, you know what I mean? There's almost, and unfortunately, I don't think it's as prevalent today as it was then, but there's still that underlying, you know what I mean? Like, why settle for this lower bar when you could, you know what I mean, aim higher? And we can't, you're hearing it from Lisamarie right here. You know, cannot, come away from listening to a single episode of this podcast or talk to a single nurse and get the feeling that we've settled. Because again, we are in the best profession and we need our providers. don't get MDs, DOs, many, many years of medical school. Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, they learn things and they're not just looking things up on Google for you. They're not just a voice. They're not the Alexa of Google. They're not telling you things that they're reading. They have done research and done things. So we need them. But, you know. For some of us, that's not us, but it also doesn't mean like, well, I did that because, you know, I just didn't want to do all that schooling. And you know what I mean? Yeah, it's... And I explained it to people because again, you know, when you hear most patients who see a nurse practitioner are very happy with their nurse, with the care that is delivered. And again, I don't want to even say it's apples to apples. are a different species. We're trained differently. And I say our delivery is different because as far as like family practice, things like that. I think we look at the whole person as a nurse. at least, you know, at least when, you know, when I was in my first nursing school for my RN, you know, we, we look at the whole thing and we always looked at something instead of a medication. So our, our delivery as nurse practitioners is different because we are looking at things differently than physicians are trained to look at things. Yes, and that's why we need each other. That's why we need each other. You need different eyes, different trained eyes, different trained principles so that we can all come together. And we're all trying to speak the same language but different languages, right? If you've ever had a conversation with a provider and that sort of thing, they're looking at it from this particular angle. So if you find yourself a nursing student or you know what I mean, as you become nurses and that sort of thing. when you are finally interacting with providers, not allowed to do so with students, and that's a disservice, but that's whole different story, you know what I mean? You're gonna be frustrated at times. Why are you not seeing it the way I'm seeing it? Because they're not trained to see it the way you're supposed to see it, nor are you trained to see it the way they see it. And so that is the whole interprofessional, like the collaborative model of medicine that we find ourselves in that is one of the plus sides to modern healthcare. and that's exactly what I was going to say. If you're lucky to have, and I do feel that the most, I mean, the best way to work, to deliver care to a patient is through a collaborative effort. Because the physician I worked with when I started off was, well, he was a friend and he was my physician, but we had such a great collaborative relationship. And he would even say to me, you know, because again, and probably from my personal beliefs, what I like to do as a patient and how, and as an old school nurse, I would look at things totally differently. And he would say to me, hey, I don't understand. know, cause he would joke around and he would ask me, are you still taking eye of Newt? I'm like, you know what, if there's a reason for me to take eye of Newt, I will take it, you know? And we would just like tease each other about that. who any anybody who was worried about vitamin deficiency, hormone imbalance, he was sending to me because he would say, you know, depression, anxiety. I was I was the go to in the office and it was only the two of us. But that's who and he would be like, I don't know what to do. You do what you do. And he was fantastic because there were so many things that I wasn't comfortable doing or didn't want to do. And it was like, here you go. So everybody kind of has to stay in their lane and know what they do. And I think that's why, that's why, you know, roles get a bad rap, you know, like physicians look at nurse practitioners because, you know, I think maybe we, people aren't staying in their lane. And, and we need to do the, the biggest strength is knowing what you don't know. And it's not, It's not a sin to say, hey, you know what? I don't know that I'm going to find out and let's I'll get back to you and we'll do the best thing that we that for you instead of, know, the hierarchy of, you know, your decision trees, which that those drive me crazy when those were brought into medicine. Took away the art of medicine. And you get into the, know, thank you for your opinion, but we're gonna go with what I was originally thinking or, you know, whatever the case may be. I don't know. Like the buck stops with me, ergo, this is the treatment we're doing. Yeah. the biggest mistake. That is a fatal mistake. in some cases, probably literally. Yeah. Yeah, 100%. Those who have listened, again, long time listeners for less than a year, those who have listened know that I, that's another thing we don't really talk about on this podcast, or politics and things of that nature. I am by nature, and it took me, I don't know, four decades to figure it out at least, but I'm okay with the fact that I'm not political by nature. And we've had this discussion with my kids, because some are a little more politically bent. than I am. And I'm like, that's fantastic. Go research that. Look at that. I can't help you with that. We can look at stuff together and I'm happy to have conversations with you. But it's not my nature is encouragement, uplifting. It's always almost always been my bent. Yeah, we all have our bad days, all the things, blah, blah, blah. I'm not saying I'm always Mr. Sunshine. The point is I always lean towards the optimistic. And for me, in any realm of politics, it doesn't matter who's in office, it doesn't matter what, you know, parties in in power in the United States. Everybody has their pluses and minuses, but all of it to me is not optimistic, nor is it fun to talk about. So that is not a conversation I bring up, but I'm gonna come as close to that topic as I can at this, or that I probably ever will at this moment, because what you said just brought up to me, like, you're talking about collaborative medicine, different perspectives, that's why you surround yourself with different perspectives, and you don't, nursing student, fellow nurses. This is why you don't want to, yes, it's a lot better to hang out with people who are more like you. By golly, that's great in your hobbies and in your personal life and all the things. But when it comes to medicine, when it comes to caring for others, when it comes to those important matters of life, education, those things that really kind of have proven over historically that have up girded societies. You don't surround yourself with like-minded people. You know, the old yes men and all the things. We might be seeing that right now in office. And again, that's as close as I'm, that's neither here nor there. My, will tell you right now, everyone's like, boy, okay, well then now we need to know. Did you vote for our current president? Did you vote for the last president? You know who, I will tell you exactly who I voted for every single presidential cycle for as long as I've been able to vote. And yes, go out and vote every time you can vote. Use your voice, whether or not you believe it's counted. That's a whole different tangent. you tell you who I voted for every single time. I have always said I will vote for the right man or woman for the job, period. I don't care whether they're red, blue, purple, green, know, polka dot, striped, whatever. And that may upset some of you who are very one side or the other. I don't even know that I could consider myself a moderate. That's yet another label, you know what mean? But the whole crux of this, that whole, let's see, I just took three minutes to explain it. 30 second concept. But the whole point of it was don't surround yourself with like-minded people. When you're going through nursing school, you're going to find those educators that challenge you. And we've talked about this before. You're going to find those nurses that you're following on site that are going to challenge you. And by challenge you, I don't mean like, hey, let's put you, know, kind of that what appears to be a good way. You know what mean? Let's push you past that comfort zone of yours and let's get you trying new things. I'm talking about the ones that you just can't stand. You know and and we've had honored guests that have said there was this one person Who was like my nemesis on the job or when I was in nursing school? And yet I learned the most from them. Don't surround yourself with like-minded people I second that, because so many things are in my head based on what you just said. But I agree 100%. In my opinion, we're caring for everyone. It doesn't matter. I could be a health care provider in a prison. I don't care what you did. I'm not there to judge. I'm there to take care of you. you, the number of people I've come, I've encountered in my years. Again, good, bad, ugly, whatever. You know, I didn't mean that literally, but it doesn't matter to me. I'm taking care of you as if you're a family member. That's my job. I'm not there to judge. We have too much judgment going on right now, which is why everyone points fingers. And you you've got it. Anyway, yes, you said it perfectly. And I will also say to your point that my most dreaded nursing instructor became my absolute favorite. This man, I mean, and again, right in the dark ages when I went to nursing school, we, you know, made beds and hospital corners because back in the 90s, know, late 80s, because I graduated. Exactly. Exactly. We were the staff, you know, in these hospital schools, we had one semester in the classroom and after that, clinical hours started. And your last year, we were 40 hours on the floor. So the nursing staff was so happy. when the new students were there because we did everything. You know, we passed meds in our, you the last year, the last semester, but we did all the grunt work that the nursing staff didn't have time for, didn't want to do. So it was a totally different education at that point, but the nursing instructor that just grilled you and drilled in. documentation and again, this is pen and paper. When I was working in the ICU, you know, as a, in the liver transplant center, we had fellows who would, every July would come in, come in with a bit of an attitude because they finished their residency. They were already full fledged and they knew what they were doing. Well, you do until you're dealing with someone who was having a liver transplant because they're totally different. patient, right? So, you know, we always had a little bit of an attitude. They always had a little bit of an attitude and they finally understood that the nurses are the ones who knew what they were doing, but they were blown away by this documentation that I would have done with my patients. And it just became, you know, was something that you hated. But then this nursing instructor who was horrific in the day made me you know, pay attention to all the details. So you go to love them and they make you better people because those comfort zones and those people who you hear everything you want to hear from, you don't grow from that. You know, don't grow from that at all. So, and one little thing I have to say about research when you were, you don't want to look for what you want to find, if that makes sense. You wanna like, so when I'm researching anything new, a treatment plan, anything like that, I will pull everything I can because I wanna hear the opposite of what I think. And I wanna know why these studies are showing the opposite. And then I wanna take my knowledge, my experience and what my patient looks like and put all of these research. studies together and you know research kind of has to be taken with a grain of salt because most of them will show a bias based on what the researcher wants to prove. So that's why you know you can find research to support anything you want, any viewpoint you want to. That's why you need to look at all of it to make the best treatment plan for anyone. And even for yourself, if you're researching your own health care, look at all of the perspectives and then come up with your own decision. And precisely because what you're trying to do is weed out the human element of the research because we're humans. And so therefore, you know what mean? We, whether we are cognizant of it or not, we're bent towards one thing or the other. And therefore, it's that confirmation bias, right? Like I think that's the term there. You have an idea and therefore you, what's the deal? I'm gonna go out, I wanna buy a new car. I wanna buy a Hyundai. I wanna buy a red Hyundai. Okay, great. guess what you're gonna start seeing all over the place. Red cars, Hyundai's, and specifically red Hyundai's. So you have to read that out by comparing all those things. cannot stress enough, thank you Lisamarie for bringing that up. You just, ah, okay, so I'm looking at the clock and I know she's got a lot more to say. So right on the spot, Lisamarie, we okay with part two of the Lisamarie experience? Let's do it. All right, everybody. So take your little breather, maybe you're gonna listen to the second part on your way back to work tomorrow or your way home tonight, I don't know. Or you're just gonna binge the whole thing. But join us, we're gonna take a super long one minute break and then we'll be right back.

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