We
got a code brown. Welcome to Bedpan Banter. With me, Nurse Mike, the Bed Nursing. Can I get a Bedpan over here? Welcome back to Bedpan Banter, the official podcast of Simple Nursing, where we discuss the human side of healthcare, nursing school, and life after the ENCLEX. I'm your host, Nurse Mike, and today we have a very special guest. I call him my stun double, because we are half Puerto Rican. We're both registered nurses. We are both sexy AF and style and grace with a beautiful face. I'm 38, he's 28, and uh we are both crazy about nursing and just crazy in general. So today we're joined with Nurse Cash. What's up?
SPEAKER_01How are you, man? Good, man. Hey, thank you so much for having me. The hospitality, the team, the studio. Like, this is amazing. I feel like a national champion right now.
SPEAKER_00You are a national champion. Look at you, man. So, pediatric nurse in New York. Uh you're a content creator, you're a mentor, and you're a family nurse practitioner student. Yes. You have a lot going on, man. Yes, I do. I love that. So we first met um on NurseCon, the cruise, what was it, four years ago? 2022, yeah. April of 2022.
April of 2022. I wasn't even a nurse yet when I met you. Dude, you were telling me that you were unsuccessful at the NCLEX how many times? Oh, three. Three times.
SPEAKER_01Not once, not twice, but three times I failed the NCLEX, Mike.
SPEAKER_00Oh man. And you were telling me that you did all the other prep courses and then you found me and we helped you.
SPEAKER_01So with that too, when I met you, I was at like my lowest of lows. I like yeah, I was uh unemployed. I failed my NCLEX right before getting on that cruise. No. Yeah, I took my third attempt was uh in March, and then I met you in April. Wow. Yes, and I was like newly out of a relationship. I had to leave my apartment. What? Uh yeah, like the whole game plan. My whole life was like, yeah. And like you, when I met you, it was the uh I feel like it was like the uh unspoken like big brother effect that I didn't even know I needed at the time.
SPEAKER_00I think that's a power of you know, I I think mentorship or maybe um being around positive people because man, when everything went wrong, look at you now, right? So you passed your NCLEX after that cruise. Yeah. Um, did you move to New York? You already in New York? I was already in New York, yeah. Okay. And then you started working immediately as a uh pediatric nurse.
SPEAKER_01Oh man, the the story goes back way further than that. I uh when I met you in April of 2022, I was not even a uh an I was a new graduate nurse that failed the NCLEX three times, have not passed the INCLEX yet, right? So at that time, I felt like you say now, like, you know, I'm the DMP student, I'm the creator, I'm a nurse in New York City. There's no testimony without a test. And when I met you in April, that was the beginning of my test because I kept on taking the ENCLEX and like going back to the drawing board, taking the ENCLEX, going back to the drawing board. So my test is what brings me here right now to even be on this podcast to talk to you about this experience. And that test, like I grew from that, and that's become like my why of what I'm here for. My why is to become that person that I needed back then when everything was going terribly wrong, and being that person that someone could see online and feel motivated, feel encouraged, and that's why now I'm like I'm on the road to becoming this national nursing coach for nursing students and new graduate nurses.
SPEAKER_00Wow. So that's your main goal. That's super inspiring. I love that. Thank you. And and for every nursing student or even nurse watching us right now, we've all been through those low points because you know, Cash, you you failed uh your ecklies. You had, you know, no job, and all these things happened out of a relationship, all these things. Same thing happened to me. Um, I I failed at a nursing school, right? Um, in my third semester. I got kicked out. The the project to get me back into nursing school was actually the videos. The videos team simple nursing.
SPEAKER_01You know, I would love to interview too, man, because those humble beginnings of expo marker with whiteboard, yeah, with a tripod, and just like talking your game and just like educating. Like that's like the humble beginnings of simple nursing that is just so powerful to get you to like where you are now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and that that's why I say the obstacle is the way. Every obstacle is the opportunity to get better. Exactly. And they always say you have two choices in life, right? You can get better or you can get bitter. Um, and it's it's okay to get bitter, you know, for a few weeks and just you know, pout. Um, especially if you've been failed the ENCLEX after each attempt. Yeah. But then you have to get back on the horse. You can't stick with the circles. Exactly. You see people, you see honestly nurses and some charges I've worked with and given this like negative cycle.
SPEAKER_01You're you're so right with that. You can't uh every it I could have failed the Unclex one more time, but it's about getting up that fourth time. Or fifth yeah, or yeah, whatever it is. Like not letting that like define you or like identify you as like this person that can't pass the Unclex. I knew I was gonna pass the Unclex. I just my route was a little more unorthodox than the rest.
SPEAKER_00No,
it's true. And I mean, so for any listener or viewer uh who's been unsuccessful at the Unclex, um, let's talk about your mindset after each attempt for the NCLEX. How did you react emotionally? Do your routines or mindset change from each attempt?
SPEAKER_01And that's something I talk a lot about with my own like community, and I feel I get a lot of questions about how do you come back after failing the NCLEX, like your first time, you know? And I feel I call it the NCLEX mindset, where what you need to do is you need to take what that like anxiety or weakness is of why like I failed the YankLEX. That's what we're all like stressed about, right? And I physically tell and I tell people to hold that anxiety up, right? And you want to get so specific and you could that you could hold it between like your thumb and your index finger, and you're holding up that anxiety, right? Because it's small and you're bigger than this anxiety, you're bigger than this fear. So that's why it's so puny. And when you hold it up like this, right, you talk about everything that you're grateful for around this anxiety. So I'm grateful for the ability to take this again. I'm grateful for the potential job. I'm grateful for my education that's got me to this point. When you start listing what you're grateful for, it makes your anxiety dimmer and dimmer. That's what I've noticed, and that's what I share to my uh community.
SPEAKER_00Where did you learn that at? Like just take your anxiety, make it small.
SPEAKER_01It's a great question. Yeah. The kicker to that is once you you gotta finish the process though. Once you hold that thing up, right? And you start saying everything that you're grateful for, yeah, it now gives you the opportunity to physically throw it. Like I literally like I tell people to throw that anxiety as if like you are like throwing something in the trash.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_01So that way, because I say that you can't be there's you could be bitter or you can be better, right? Is what you said. My my uh flip on that is you could be gratitude, you could practice gratitude and you could also be anxious. Like both are two like normal human emotions to experience. Like I get anxious, I'm sure you get anxious at times, but you can't be anxious and gratitude, have gratitude at the same time.
SPEAKER_00At the same time, yeah.
SPEAKER_01You can't be anxious on, the other one turns on, and have gratitude at the same time. So when I find myself feeling anxious about something, that's when I start like honing in on what exactly I'm anxious for. I hold it up and I start expressing what I'm grateful grateful for, and then I throw it away. And that's all something that you know I've I've been able to learn through just like life
experiences. I've attended a couple different seminars, like self-coaching, self-help seminars throughout my years.
SPEAKER_00Like what and any of which ones that you want to go?
SPEAKER_01Oh, I'm sure you've heard of this one too. I feel like we've been kind of like-minded with this. Have you heard of Tony Robbins? Heck yeah. I I went to the live seminar. Yeah, you went to you. Oh my gosh, you went, yeah. So my uh um I graduated college, uh, I went to Mulenburg College, great school, awesome curriculum. I met a lot of awesome friends there, and that really catapulted me. That school catapulted me to my next level of success. Uh, where I found myself at Tony Robbins event with my older brother, and uh he was a he's a platinum partner for Tony Robbins. So we were able to get to like the front row and have this monumental experience where we're learning it's called Unleash the Power Within event. I'm sure you've heard of that one. And uh at Unleashed the Power Within is when we uh started diving deeper into like mindset training and overcoming your fears. Um, it was awesome. Like that crowd of energy was like 15,000 people in an arena in Dallas, Texas. And like we're all chanting, we're all dancing, and high energy. I did a backflip on the freaking stage. It was amazing.
SPEAKER_00Like you did a backflip here too.
SPEAKER_01I love that. It was uh just all lead to where I'm at right now.
SPEAKER_00Dude, I love that because um that's how I felt. I I went back to a lot of those books, especially when I failed at a nursing school. Yeah. Do you think that helped every single time you failed? Or let's just say the second time you failed, did your confidence get hit harder? Did the anxiety increase?
SPEAKER_01Yes, naturally so it did. You know, I I think that I knew where my roots were, and I knew that going through all these setbacks that just like in that like movie by Rocky, like getting knocked down as hard, like it's not how hard you could get hit, but how hard you could get like it's not how hard you hit, but it's how hard you could get hit and then get back up. So after that second attempt, I found myself in a little bit of a like kind of like a depressive episode of just like you know, like, man, like what am I gonna do next? You know, and like my thought process was life happens for me, not to me. Yeah, and that's something that was my morning mantra. What like life happens for me, not to me. So I think that uh I felt what I needed to feel, and uh I started to make adjustments on is it a studying technique or is it uh my nerves going into the exam? And these were just things I needed to figure out along the way.
SPEAKER_00All right, so I really want to dig into the routines that really helped you come back from your third failure attempt, uh, especially for any listeners that have been unsuccessful at the NCLEX. Um, you often said that even after your third failure, that was your lowest point, and you questioned even if nursing was for you. So, what really changed? Because the fourth attempt, you're probably thinking, like, oh my gosh, is this gonna be just like all the other attempts? Yeah. What was the big change that really helped you?
SPEAKER_01So, for the listeners at home, if you failed your NCLEX, know that it's gonna be a mix of what you didactically do on the day-to-day basis, changing your routine, and also your NCLEX
mindset. So, to answer your question, what changed was I needed to get so specific and so organized on what my day-to-day looked like, but also have the flexibility to know that not everything on your checklist might get done, and that's gonna be okay. So, what that looked like for me, you know, you actually have a simple nursing calendar that I printed out.
SPEAKER_02No way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I used simple nursing on my fourth attempt, and it was night and day for me. I love the mnemonics, I love the cartoons, and uh like for example, like it's so easy, but like it's so it sticks in me. Like Lacinda Prill, chill pill. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Chill prill, yeah. Chill prill. Yeah, so that was like that's something that still sticks with me after all these years after being a student. Yeah, so like that calendar specific with getting specific. So what I did was So the calendar really got you on track. Yeah, you have this calendar, right? And you it's a simple nursing template calendar that you could fill in. And what you're gonna do is plot in, let's say you're gonna do cardiovascular on Monday. All right, so I'm gonna start off by listening to Nurse Mike's cardiovascular lecture, spend as much, maybe like two-hour block on that, take a like hour break, go eat lunch, come back. Okay, now I'm gonna do a 25 question cue bank on just cardiovascular, and I'm gonna read the rationales, I'm gonna take notes. So after that, I'm gonna go back and review the rationales for the questions I got wrong. And then if I still don't get it, I'm gonna go back to your lecture series on CV, cardiovascular, and I pinpoint what my weak spot, my what my weak spot is.
SPEAKER_00Dang, you're actually using it like we designed. That's exactly what we're saying.
SPEAKER_01Well, what you created has been phenomenal because that was the like and I've used different platforms before, but so to be able to compare it to what simple nursing brings to the there was like night and day.
SPEAKER_00And that's what we always tell all of our students. We do we do NCLEX webinars um every other week.
SPEAKER_01Oh, nice.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and so it's all free on YouTube as well.
SPEAKER_01Uh oh, and it's free.
SPEAKER_00Anyone can go.
SPEAKER_01You guys listening to you guys free on that nursing student lifestyle, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And we're getting so good at helping and really diagnosing why people why students are unsuccessful at the NCLEX. Wow. And you were like one of like the beta, like early on. Uh, we were just trying to formulate the best fit. And so for any of our listeners that have been unsuccessful at the NCLEX, the NClix doesn't define you, right? It does not define you. It doesn't mean that you're not supposed to be a nurse. Uh it just means that uh you just haven't got the right combination. I always say the NClix is a numbers game. And if you can get the right numbers, for example, if you can hit over 1,500 questions and get in your last two to three weeks every single day, your daily scores should be over 60%. Wow. Um and and that's what I mean. Like we're dialing in so much. We have an entire NCLEX lecture series that's very similar to the Mark K lectures, but it's a simple nursing version.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Where we gut out all of our memory tricks and all the key points. Because statistically, if you really think about it, you only really need to know about 5,000 to about 7,000 key points. And it seems like a lot, but there's so much referred memory. We've been in school for like you know, two years for the RN. And even before that, right? From the anatomy phys, all your prereqs, it's been a long time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And to that point too, I feel that you've created such a system where it's it's organized, it's straightforward. The mnemonics again, like I see I see the Lasinel chillpril like beach pill. Like it's crazy how it's like, yeah, it lowers blood pressure. Like, we got that, you know.
SPEAKER_00I love that, man. And and you're literally a testament to any nursing student who has, you know, who has been unsuccessful. So thank you so much. Of course, man. The End Clix is simply a strategy game. It's you you have so much content, like we talked about, years and years of content, but there's only so much you can know. And that's why we drill down to the only the need to know information. And when you when we were first talking about four years ago, we were dialing it all in. Yes. Now, four years later, it has been dialed in, and you're just a testament to everyone out there that has been unsuccessful. So, again, it's a strategy game. And if you guys do find yourself unsuccessful, come down to simple nursing, and we not to tune our own horn, but we have a 99% pass rate. Our biggest success story was a student who failed, I think it was uh 16 times. They passed on their 17th time. Whoa. I think it was California or another state that doesn't require uh you to do a refresher course or anything. Wow. But there was, yeah, there was a lot of usually if you're if you're not successful by your fifth try, it's it's either a learning disability or you're doing something completely wrong and you're not adapting.
SPEAKER_01So that is exactly the advice that you gave me four years ago when I when I came to you was like, Hey, I already failed the NCLEX three times, you know, like what I what am I doing? And uh it was definitely more NCLEX strategy to what you're saying that that Simple Nursing's helped me out with and also the content. Yeah, but by that point in my journey, to your point, you really helped me focus and simple nursing content, helped me focus in on the NCLEX strategy. So now four years later, with my own community, I'm just sharing my own experiences of what helped me out through your work to get to like the nitty-gritty of like, okay, did you not pass because of a content era? Or are you like freaking yourself out and you need to like, you know, like like chill out for a second, you know? Yeah. So that's kind of where this whole like national nursing coach comes in, where I feel I'm able to show strategy while also focusing, honing in on it's an NCLEX mindset. Like you can overcome this. It doesn't matter what your peers are thinking, it doesn't matter if your job is on if there's a job that is waiting for you when you graduate. Yeah. Yes, and that the all these different pressures and can chatter in. And that's where I say, like, you need to be your own biggest fan when you are studying for your NCLEX, like to block out that uh month to month and a half to just lock in with just you and yourself. Like you could have like your parent or your like your guardian that could be like your biggest supporter, your biggest advocate, but they're not gonna sit down and take that exam
for you.
SPEAKER_00All right, so let's fast forward to life after the NCLEX because once you master the strategy, the NCLEX is just a one and done exam. You don't have to take it ever again.
SPEAKER_01So I've we're done.
SPEAKER_00And but now you have to maintain your license, which reminds me I have to do my CEUs.
unknownI'm like, oh no.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so life after the NCLEX. Um being a new grad nurse can be shocking. Um what were your early days like as a new grad nurse?
SPEAKER_01It's a great question. So my other my early days as a new grad nurse were kind of daunting. You know, like we're in like a I'm in a big city and um I'm at this big, big hospital. And, you know, I felt that there's this level of impostor syndrome that a lot of new graduate nurses could experience. And my role now with the content I create is to help new graduate nurses navigate that impostor syndrome because you are meant to be there. You passed your unclex, you're right there at the same stepping stone as all your other peers that are in your new graduate cohort. And that is something that I really want to hone in on when I talk to my community.
SPEAKER_00Where where did you start? Uh was it med surge? Was it ICU?
SPEAKER_01Was it uh so I started out as a pediatric cardiology nurse in New York City. So my client, the the the patients I work with are uh pediatric age, so newborn all the way to 21 years old, 22 years old, and they all have a congenital heart defect where that either requires a surgery, or some of them might even need a transplant. So they get on the wait list for a heart transplant, and that that's definitely like what led me to want to be a nurse. So that experience of making that connection with patients and their families, helping them along their journey to get healthy back to out of the hospital. Because once you're in the hospital, as you know, like it's just such a daunting experience.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I found like a lot of fulfillment helping these patients and helping their families get their life back together.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because it's yeah. I always tell nurses that it's like you don't really understand what it is like to have your life turned upside down and being in the hospital and having like a lot of your basic not rights, but basic uh habits to kind of take away. Basic habits. Like, think about it.
SPEAKER_01You're gonna be getting woken up in the middle of the night because oh, here's my arm for a blood pressure.
SPEAKER_00For a blood pressure, and here's like 6 a.m. 6 a.m.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, now imagine doing that on like a seven-year-old who just like wants to like go to sleep.
SPEAKER_00Or just wants to play, or just wants to all.
SPEAKER_01I know, man. So quick anecdote on just like with the role of being a nurse and helping uh patients and uh their families along the way. I had a patient that just left the hospital. They were waiting for a heart transplant for 11 months and they finally got a heart in November, and they're on their merry way home now, and it's amazing being part of that journey. Imagine living in the hospital for a long time. Yeah, so how old was she? The patient was four years old. Being a part of that journey and really getting to know the patient and the family is something that led me to being a nurse.
SPEAKER_00Do you think it makes it all worth it, failing the ENCLEX and overcoming all the things?
SPEAKER_01I love that question, Mike. That's good. Because it led me to where I'm at right now to share this moment with you and like speak to like the millions of people that follow you across Simple Nursing platform. And it's really, like I said in the beginning, there's no testimony without a test. And man, did I feel like I had a test that will carry on for hopefully millions of other people to learn from my experiences?
SPEAKER_00Now, you often say to your followers, um, you know, nursing school really prepares you to be a safe nurse, not necessarily a confident nurse. What are some practical tips that new grads watching this or listening to this? Oh, of course. You can't get it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So on the day-to-day, you're a new graduate nurse, you are overwhelmed, you are feeling incompetent, but it's not about feeling incompetent. I find that it's just they're confusing incompetency with c lack of confidence. That's how I see it. And I think when I change the mindset like that, it allows new graduate nurses to feel more confident in the role, knowing that I'm a new nurse, that person next to me is a new nurse, but I'm here to learn and I'm here to grow. So, day-to-day tips, I love having. I actually, so when I first started, I was kind of unorganized with where my patient assignments were. I'm like getting confused on what tasks to do for what patient. And when I was giving a report, oh, like what room, what patient is assigned to this room. I created my own nurse handoff organizer where it basically just creates a template that I use for every shift. It's a nurse brain, yeah. So I created a nurse brain that worked for me and it's been really cool. I share with my coworkers. Uh, if you want to know more about it, you could see it on my social media. Um, I have like a link for it there.
SPEAKER_00Dude, we can probably even just drop the link uh for our listeners and just yeah, it's free.
SPEAKER_01It's a free PDF to download. Uh, it has a template nurse brain for night shift and day shift. So it's go ahead.
SPEAKER_00For the new grads or nursing students that are unfamiliar, how does this actually help you? It helps with organization, right? And it becomes like almost like your life source.
SPEAKER_01When you are getting report from the nurse that's coming off of shift, this brain has hour by hour like tasks that you need to do. And then I also break it down by having a review of systems on one side and then a change of shift on the right side. So, what that looks like is each patient is gonna have its own page. So that way, physically, this patient is just for this page, and the next page is for another patient. That's something that helped me out because when I have it in columns like that, it just started to overlap with where I was writing and it just didn't make sense for me. So, something that a new graduate nurse could take away from this brain report sheet is how to organize system by system what's happening with this patient. For example, this patient needs IV PRN, IV hydralazine if their systolic blood pressure is greater than 130. You know, like that's something that's specific that I'll put like in the cardiovascular. Section or their blood pressure overnight was a little elevated. So I'll put it like right here in like the blood pressure section. Nice. It's all seems so it's a lot, it's easier to explain once you go to my link and you could see with a PDF of what the nurse brain looks like.
SPEAKER_00You're gonna see the entire like yeah, chart and grid. Exactly. Yeah. Very cool. Um, is there anything else to build confidence that really helped you? Maybe maybe like one big one? Something to help me build confidence. Yeah, especially as a new grad. I I often hear uh new grads always talk about um you know emulating or following around a nurse that they would want to be like. Was there anyone like that for you? Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that was good. I like that advice. That was good. So when I was a new graduate nurse, somebody that helped me out was keeping this little booklet in my scrub pocket and it was like my go-to for resources. Oh no. Um, and I also had like, you know, everyone has like a favorite preceptor or like a favorite like veteran nurse that they go to.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I think finding your community amongst your unit is something that's really important. So, you know, we're all gonna work together because we're all gonna be professional and perform our best for patient safety. But what I found that helped me out was if I have that person that I connected with that could be like my go-to, you go I was on night shift or I was on day shift, but that person that you know you could ask like the most silliest of questions to. And uh hopefully that could be like everyone on your staff, but you know, maybe like naturally you just start to click more naturally than with someone than another person, yeah, and then that becomes your go-to person.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and it's it's funny. I always tell new grads that it's like uh staff nurses are like uh color palette. There's always gonna be the Grinch, and there's gonna be all the way to the mother goose that's gonna help you out.
SPEAKER_02Oh.
SPEAKER_00Because oftentimes, as you are a new grad, you're gonna face um a little bit of bullying because you're the new lowest person on the totem pool, they call you the pink cloud. When a lot of people are a lot of the nurses are burnt out, they probably don't want to be there, they're probably the best.
SPEAKER_01You just made a YouTube video about this, I think.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice. Check out his YouTube. That was a good video. Yeah, just like throwing it in there. But I mean, just like you said, you know, you gotta find the mentor or the the nurse you want to be like that you can learn from. Exactly. So, what surprises you most about pediatrics? Did you always want to be a PEEDS nurse?
SPEAKER_01Or Oh man, you know, there's a story behind that question, you know. So it went back to my times when I went to nursing school at Johns Hopkins. It was a phenomenal institution for the curriculum, and I went through that school during COVID and they set us up really well. And one of my clinical instructors at Johns Hopkins Hospital was the person that opened my eyes to the world of pediatrics. So, shout out to you, Ashley, the NP. She really helped me out. And I think the world of pediatrics is just phenomenal because you get to have the balance of thinking like a four-year-old, and then at the flip of a switch, clinically making helping the family make decisions and being professional with the parents or guardians. So it's like I'm over here like doing like baby shark or something, or like Miss Rachel, you know, with like the four-year-old over here, and then like if the mom or dad or guardian has a question, it's like quickly, like flipping the switch and like having that nursing brain on. That's amazing. That balance is something
that I found during my time at Johns Hopkins at this clinical rotation. You know, Ashley, she was phenomenal with just answering all of our questions as like anxious nursing students. She helped us with letting us do different pediatric tasks and just like being able to resonate with the kids. And that was something that really opened my eyes to ultimately led me to once I finished that rotation, I was like, I feel like I'm leaning towards pediatrics. That's amazing, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it's it's funny you say that because we usually go into nursing with something in our mind of like, oh, I want to do this because I saw it on Gray's Anatomy or I saw it on a show. And it's like, I'm built to be, you know, a med surge, ER, ICU nurse, and then all of a sudden it'll like switch during nursing school. Yes. And you're never exposed to it.
SPEAKER_01You're never exposed to it. So how are you gonna know? No, yeah, you know, and that's something like and more advice that I feel I give to new graduate nurses or nursing students is you gotta stay open-minded, you know, especially in the field of nursing, as you know, like there's so many specialties that you could go into. So, how are you gonna know from before nursing school that you wanna be like, let's say, like an ER nurse if you never had ER experience? Yeah, you know, of course you could be like secondary to that experience, but once you're really in it and like in the trenches is when you'll really know. So I feel again, like the clinical rotations I had at school really opened my eyes to, well, I like that, but I don't really like that. Or that could be one of my differentials that I'll do, but I think it was definitely pediatric because it was the balance of thinking like a kid and then putting on the nursing hat to help a patient, family. And uh I think that something else about pediatrics, actually. You asked me like what I chose PEDs in pediatrics, you have two patients pediatric patient and then the adult, the family. And you know, no one's gonna prepare the family as well as a nurse does, and that's just by the nature of what the scope of practice of a nurse is, you know. Like, you know, I thought I wanted to be a medical doctor in college, but I what I found that aligned me better was my personality and the ability to connect with nurses, yeah, with the patient. So that creating that uh connection and helping them and that rapport is something that was just so built in with nursing that when I was going through college and taking the prerequisites and then finding out, like, you know, this is like the path I want to do. I found that creating that harmony, that connection with families and the patients is what led me to being where I'm at now as a pediatric nurse.
SPEAKER_00Dude, I love that. So for our listeners that want to go into pediatrics, um, you said that it's an interesting dynamic. You have to care for the patient who is a kid and be playful with them, but also, you know, now you have two patients, you have to address the family to build that rapport. Um, what are some tactics? How do you learn that dynamic of building rapport with the family?
SPEAKER_01So I always walk into the door with a sense of empathy for whatever I'm gonna walk into. Because the beauty of nursing is you're gonna have some certainty and then you're gonna have a lot of uncertainty. So when you walk in and you see like sometimes I start my shift and there's already a like a parent crying about some stressor that's happening. So it's like seven in the morning, like change a shift, and you just go in with that like stepping foot of empathy, and that's something that I feel has helped me a lot because you know, you have as the nurse, we have the luxury, quote unquote, to do our 12 hours and then we go home. Yeah, you know, and some people take their work home, some people don't, you know. But for that family member, they are living there, you know, whether they're because the kid is gonna have surgery, the kid just had surgery, or in specifically my niche, they're waiting for a heart and they just don't know when that day is gonna come. Because once you're on the donor list, it is a big question mark of how long you're waiting. So, with that, I just I I lead with empathy and I lead with practical optimism, you know. And um advice that I give to nursing students or new graduate nurses to how do I help with the actual parent. Yeah, uh, I just I ask open-ended questions, I lead with empathy, and I make sure to smile. Yeah, because a smile goes a long way. And even if they word actions are louder than words, right? So, like if if I'm smiling, it may lead like the patient's parent to smile even a little bit, you know, to get see a little bit of light through this tunnel of darkness that they're experiencing right now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's funny because I've I've talked to a lot of pediatric nurses, and they're saying that most often the patient will be more stable you know emotionally than the parents. The parents are usually the ones, you know, frazzled and you know more erratic than the actual patient themselves. Yes. So that that's pretty tough. But yeah, building that rapport, showing a smile, that's the little things.
SPEAKER_01It's the little things, it really is.
SPEAKER_00That can you can be the biggest difference because if the parents are spinning out of control, you know.
SPEAKER_01No, and I think that when you lead with that foot of empathy, and to t to be like a testimony for that too, that to see that that works. I've been doing this for like three and a half years now, and I started to see a pattern of where the anxiety could stem from for a parent or guardian for a patient, and what you either like it's more like it's not even so much what you say, but how you say it sometimes that could be the turning point of like, wow, like this is gonna be a good day. Yeah, I was actually, it was really cool. One of the parents that I was able to take care of at the in the hospital I work at, she nominated me for a daisy award. Oh wow. And had a hospital-wide nomination, and I actually won it. No, yeah, you got the Cinnabon? I got the Cinnabon! So if the Cinnabon is something that you get when you are a Daisy Award winner, it's really cool. You have like a trophy, you get a plaque, like a diploma plaque, and uh it comes with some other perks too. But wow, that moment just really solidified like the small things that you do, like smiling and um leading with empathy. Like it may seem to the nurse like you know, this is just something that is not gonna really help them, but it really does. And you just don't see the impact because you're not in the patient or like the family's shoes as you're helping them along their way. Yeah, but in this situation, it was phenomenal. And I I was able to, you know, it was nice to get recognized in that way, and I'm grateful to say that the parent and family and the patient were able to go home safely.
SPEAKER_00So something that people don't usually know about you, uh, you can do backflips like you talked about. Uh two right now. Yeah, you're a great MC. You like literally took over uh the microphone when we were at NurseCon. That was amazing. But you also do uh what was it, Spider-Man? Yes. What was that? You dressed up as Spider-Man, was this for your patients? Was this for someone else?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, that's that brings me back to my early days. When I was at Muhlenberg, I uh so I went to college, I was just like love to be like the guy on the microphone. And I it was so cool. Muhlenberg hosted had a lot of these events that uh would lead to like a lot of student leadership opportunities, and the backflips were there, and then I would continue to do backflips like outside, and it led to me being uh acrobatic Spider-Man in 2019. So, for any of you listeners out there, if you're a Spider-Man fan, then this one's for you, okay? So growing up, I loved watching Spider-Man and I would have the costume, and I'm like, you know, my house. I'm like five years old. So my birthday gift to myself when I graduated
college was to buy an authentic, like real Spider-Man suit. Like we're talking how much you're talking here, how much of that guy? Like a little 500, like it was like it was uh authentic, like head-to-toe suit. Wow, custom made to my body. Custom polyester, like yeah, microfibers.
SPEAKER_00Yes, Egypt. From the website. From the website.
SPEAKER_01Uh the webs are separate. You know, I they told me that I can't shoot my webs in like event spaces because you know, I don't want to get in the eye. So for all those like five-year-olds like probably are listening in, like, don't worry, I shoot them like around New York City, but you won't see it indoors. You won't see it indoors.
SPEAKER_00Oh, but so now do you ever use this costume for any of your patients?
SPEAKER_01Yes. So, you know, we talked about the life of a pediatric nurse is like a big, like daunting experience, you know, and the nurses, the medical team helps them along their journey. So I found that if I could make a kid smile by being the acrobatic Spider-Man in the hospital setting for them, then I did my job, you know. So there have been numerous times where I work my 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., I clock out, I go to the bathroom, and Mike, let me tell you, the setting of being Spider-Man for the same patients that I was being a pediatric nurse with them from is just such an enlightening experience. Seeing their face light up, Mike, and just like feel like, oh my god, like and then they show me their Spider-Man action figure, it's just it's really cool. And uh actually, one of the parents they documented it and they put it on their TikTok for one of their kids, a cardiac warrior, and it was really cool. I was uh I have the Spider-Man like red and blue suit, and then the Miles Maratis black and red suit. Whoa, so it was really cool. Thank you. So I think that being able to be a nurse at the bedside, and then also being able to be Spider-Man for the same patient population is uh really a full circle moment that I just can't put more words to it. It just that's so something that you can't you can't put a price tag to seeing how that patient reacts, seeing that imagination comes to life.
SPEAKER_00So from NCLEX setbacks to pediatric nurse to graduate school and even mentorship, um, what drives you forward? What's next for you?
SPEAKER_01So, what's next for me is I see myself continuing to share my journey, helping that nursing student that's struggling in nursing school, to that new graduate nurse that failed their NCLEX, to even that new graduate nurse that is doing their onboarding process at wherever their first job is. And I could see myself, I've really visualized seeing myself being that national nursing coach for nursing students and new graduate nurses speaking at different nursing schools, speaking at nursing conferences, or being a guest lecturer at a hospital. So, what leads me right now is taking my experiences in that direction while also, like you mentioned, I'm getting my doctor to be a family nurse practitioner right now at Columbia University in Manhattan. And it's been a phenomenal experience. I'm really enjoying the clinical rotations that this school has provided me. And it's great because they actually set me up for my own clinical sites. So I don't even have to like be my own advocate to like find a clinical site.
SPEAKER_00So you're a testament to someone who has failed and gotten back up. You got hit hard, but you got back up every single time. What would you say to someone in a similar position that is maybe listening or viewing right now?
SPEAKER_01My advice to people that are listening that are feeling a similar sentiment as me is shoot for the moon, and even if you miss, you lance amongst the stars, because that has led me to get back up again and again and again with every major setback, and it led me to be where I'm at right now. So besides finding me on Simple Nursing, you could find me at MERS Cash across platforms. That's M-U-R-S-E-K-A-S-H, Cash with a K. Cash with a K on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube.
SPEAKER_00So to our listeners, whether you're studying for the NCLEX on your third, fourth, fifth attempt, um, our NCLEX prep really helped you. So I'm I'm really grateful that we're able to help students just like you. So if you guys are in the same position studying for your NCLEX uh and you really need help, we're gonna include the link in the description and we're also gonna include your fancy brain sheets. Yes. Uh that has helped new grads uh just get organized.
SPEAKER_01So if you're studying for your NCLEX, you could go on to SimpleNursing.com and sign up for a free five-day, five-day free trial with Simple Nursing.
SPEAKER_00If you want to pass your NCLEX, you're an ex, but don't take my word for it.
SPEAKER_01Take my word for it. Five-day free trial sign up on SimpleNursing.com.
SPEAKER_00All right, guys. Thanks so much. Thank you so much. Thank you, Cash. It was great to have you. I mean, great to be here. Yeah, great to have you be here and do all the things. And as always, thank you for tuning in to Bedpan Banter. Be sure to follow, like, and subscribe. Also share with your friends. And as always, remember, don't let the Bedpan spy. Woo!