SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Nightingale Project Podcast. Today we welcome Kelly Footten, a dedicated nurse practitioner in pediatrics serving Washington County. With years of experience across both hospital and office settings, Kelly brings a well-rounded and insightful perspective on patient care, making her an incredible voice for today's conversation. Okay, hi. So nice to meet you. So you're a nurse, you work in pediatrics, and I would love to know what first inspired you to pursue nursing, and for over 20 years, what has kept you passionate about it?

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Uh yeah, so yeah, I started in 2005. I graduated as a nurse. Um I've always kind of liked um my babies and smaller, smaller kiddos. So um I actually first my twin aunts were nurses. So I grew up, you know, hearing about it, them working. Um when I was in middle school, I actually got to shadow. Actually, she worked in the ICU, so I did go shadow. Um, and I feel like I was always like a little caretaker, like somebody got hurt. I'm like, oh, let me patch you up, you know, it was kind of always my vote. And that's really the only thing I ever wanted to do was to be a nurse. Um, so I graduated nursing school actually when I was 20. So I knew what I went to. I went right to school. Um, and then graduated with my associates. So um, but yeah, and it's definitely changed over the years, you know, from from 20, you know, 21 to years ago. Um, but the love of like educating for me, like I love taking care of people, I love to educate people. Um, and that's a big part of nursing, right? Like it's not always just like an you know an assessment and giving them meds and things like that. Like people are kind of clueless sometimes and um kind of ignorant to like what what it is that they have. So the more we educate and things like that, um, it just helps them for sure. Um and babies and kids, you know, they're really vulnerable. So for me, I love um, you know, just educating and helping parents kind of get through, you know, whatever it is that they may be going through. Um, and you know, we're just kind of fixers, like we want to fix everything. And sometimes it's frustrating for us as nurses, though. Sometimes we can't fix it, but um, it's kind of what keeps us going. We uh kind of kind of the drive of like care and you know education for me.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

No, of course. And I I'd imagine that working in like the NICU and pediatrics has gotta be rewarding but also pretty difficult.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

It is, yeah. Labor deliver can be rough, right? Like sometimes that's some you know, amazing times, and then also some very trying times, you know, for those times that we lose a baby or you know, maybe they pass away, you know, in utero, like that's really hard, you know. I've cried with patients, you know, over that, you know, of course, you know, you have that empathy and just kind of be that listening ear because sometimes there's not always something to say, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Yeah, so you've worked in labor and delivery in the NICU, surgery, care management, and now pediatrics. How have those different six different experiences shaped you as a nurse practitioner?

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Um, I think multiple specialties, you know, it gives you a vast experience, right? It gives you a good foundation. Um and when you see patients, you know, my NICU babies, you know, for me now as a nurse practitioner in pediatrics, I see newborns up to 20 years old. So it's a kind of a big age group. However, you know, my newborns, like I know what a normal newborn should look like because I worked labor and delivery. I know what a sick newborn looks like because I worked NICU, right? And we see the worst of the worst there. Um so it helps definitely, you know, in the surgery center, you like orthopedics and you know, different things. Um, it definitely gives you a really good base um and foundation for knowledge, right, that you can bring from all areas. Um, because we definitely see all the things, you know, in pediatrics. So definitely helps to give a good foundation um for assessment skills and you know, medication, because you're giving all sorts of meds, you know, across all of all of those different specialties. So and then it just kind of helps to give a you know good in-depth um I guess in like care, right? And um decision making helps kind of with that, like in the skills that we learn and all of those specialties.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

You mentioned earlier about you know it's it's hard to sometimes with the patients' families and like helping them understand and helping them grieve and all of those things. And often you care for families during the most emotional moments of their lives. What have those experiences taught you about compassion in healthcare?

SPEAKER_01 5:00

I've always been a pretty compassionate person, right? And labor and delivery, like I said, that can be like some of the most amazing times and just being there and helping women through it, right? They appreciate that compassion and just being there to hold a leg or tell them to breathe or whatever it might be, or you know, when it's really, you know, trying time, maybe we have a baby stuck or something like that, and that's a really stressful time. Um, but keeping that composure, being compassionate, just you know, kind of educating and um helping those mamas through it, like they just they just very much appreciate that compassionate care and they remember those things. Um, you know, I've seen like thousands of births, and it's so just an amazing thing. So I think it helps when you're really, you know, into it, like you, like it's just kind of your thing and you can just be compassionate. Um, you know, in our Nikki families, it's a little, it's a little more tough for them, right? That's not what they're expecting. It's not that birth experience that they wanted. So they're separated from their babies, you know. So for us being compassionate and just listening, um, and again, educating for them, because you know, some of these babies are premies and sometimes they have feeding issues. So they're like, gosh, I don't know how to like, what am I gonna do? I don't even know how to feed my baby, you know. So it's taking the time and and care and you know, sitting down next to them and be like, this is what we need to do, right? We show them we're like we're there like every step of the way, um, having empathy, right? We gotta put ourselves in their shoes. Because sometimes, yeah, like parents that are like, oh my gosh, they're like, you know, maybe they're like super slow in a diaper, or maybe they're like, you know, nitpicking every little thing we do, and you're like, okay, we gotta step back, even though we're like that baby's fine. You know, we gotta step back and put ourselves in their shoes, right? Because um, every experience is different for everyone. So you know, and it like compassion helps improve their um patient experience and their family experience. Um, we want them to trust us with their ghetto, you know, they're leaving their baby with us, so it definitely definitely important to provide that compassion for for their experience and then better outcomes too.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Yeah, so you've mentioned that you did obviously you've done a lot. Um, but what do you think people outside of healthcare misunderstand most about nurses and what they do every day?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

How do you say that? So when I first started actually working in the NICU, my husband used to pick and be like, Oh, you're just like a glorified babysitter. I'm like, excuse me, you know, and it he was joking, of course. Um, you know, but yeah, are we just do we just like yeah, clean people up? Do we just, you know, get them their meals? Do we just give them a bath? No, like nursing is so much more. It's yeah, all of those things too, but we do have some assistants that help us out for that too. But um, you know, you go through grueling nursing school, it's so tough, but it's so worth it. Um, because there's so much that you can do. Um, but you know, it's yeah, doing that in-depth assessment, it's being that um voice for, you know, in between patients and doctors, you know, we're not glorified babysitters in the NICU, you know, we're placing IVs, we're putting, you know, ventilators in kiddos, we're putting lines in, you know, it's it's really, you know, intense sometimes. And so it's it's complex and it's you know, scientific too, right? We have a lot of um things riding on our shoulders sometimes. Of course. We don't want to miss something, you know. So it's yeah, it's not all, you know, just you know, feeding people and giving them a bath, it's a lot more than that for sure.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Yeah, absolutely.

unknown 8:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

And so you mentioned the grueling nursing school and you know, the difficulty of the education. So, as someone who continue your education while balancing family and career, what advice would you give to young women interested in nursing?

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Yeah, that was um that was a struggle. When I first went to nursing school, I didn't have kids. So, you know, it was a little easier for me. I could study all I needed to. I wasn't divided from my time, except for my husband. You know, I was married at that point. But um, you know, it's it's it's definitely rewarding for sure, but it is a scrolling process. Um, but you need to rely on your support systems. We need, you know, I relied heavily when I went back to NP school on my husband. Um, my kiddos stepped up and did all their own laundry and dishes, and you know, they're like, okay, we do weekly cook dinner, you know, all of that. Um, so if you're in it for the right reasons, you know, you'll find a way to do it, right? Um, time management is big. Um, you have to have your study time, you have to have your family time, um, and you have to have a little time to take care of yourself, even though, you know, it's typically on the back burner for when you're going through school because there's only so many hours in the day. Um, I listen to some audio lectures, you know, I'm vacuuming, listening to my audio book, you know, lecture for the day or driving to work or whatever. Um, so it's just kind of, yeah, time management is a big one for sure.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

So um, you mentioned, you know, having like a support system, having things in place to help you. So I started the Nightingale project to help nurses and to support upcoming nurses. Um, and I also I want to be a nurse myself. So, in your opinion, what are some of the most meaningful ways communities can better support their nurses?

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Um, we definitely need advocates for us. Um, and that comes, you know, community-wise too, like advocating for better like staffing ratios and you know, support and recognition, you know. You know, do we need like a pat on the back every day? No, but you know, we everyone wants to hear when they're doing something good. Um, you know, and the daisy reward pro you know, the award programs and things like that where families can recognize that's an amazing program because you know, the nurses who go that extra mile and you know, for for patients get recognized for that, which is great. Um, but it's you know, it needs to come from down below, you know, down from up above, you know, with the um senior leadership levels too. Because sometimes that's where the hands are tied, right? Um, so you know, offering child care, like child care is hard. Like nobody hardly any daycares are open at six o'clock when you need to drop a child off when you're a nurse, right? Or open till seven o'clock if you're a single mama. Um so you know, celebrating the nurses, kind of really giving support, you know. During COVID time, I know like it was really nice. We had some local community um businesses giving us a meal or you know, whatever, because it was really hard. We were skipping, you know, lunches. It was really busy, they were super sick people. Absolutely band together to to offer meals and kind of kind of do that. Um mental health is another one, you know. Sometimes we do get burnt out, right? It's a it's nursing is you know one of the most rewarding careers, you know, but it can be can be hard too when you're having hard patients or you have not so great staffing ratios. So that's a the biggest one probably would be yeah, like staffing ratios, mental health support, you know, and needing or we're struggling because we're helping people through the worst of the worst, like cancer patients or you know, things like that, that you kind of see the worst of the worst every single day. So it's a little trying on your mental health.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

So and it's funny that you mentioned mental health. So my next question was burnout and emotional exhaustion are major challenges in healthcare right now. What have you seen personally? And how do you think we can better protect nurses' well-being?

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Yeah, so I mean, being there for each other too. Like when I worked in the NICU, like I had amazing teammates. So we, you know, worked together. We had an admission, we all jumped in because you know, if everybody's helping, that that process goes a lot smoother and a lot faster. Um, or you're jumping in, okay. Well, I have this, you do that admission, I'll feed your, you know, your two babies. I got their meds, you know, you're all covered. Um, you know, supporting each other, you know, and and being there. And we also did a lot, we did some things outside of work as well. So, you know, we had that camaraderie to not only at work, but outside of work, you know, whether we went bowling or we, you know, I can't. We we did a lot of other things too. Escaping my mind, but we used to always kind of meet after work too, whether it was for dinner or you know, whatever. Um, upper management is a big, big thing for this too. You know, I've had bosses who sat at their desks all day and never lifted a finger, whether we were drowning and you know, had unstaffed ratios. And I had another boss who jumped in at every chance she could. Like if we were calling her, we're, you know, she was okay, I'm on my way, right? She came in from home, she worked midnight shift, you know, if we were short-staffed, you know, that makes a big difference in supporting your staff. Yeah, and taking care of yourself is a big one, right? You gotta sometimes leave the work at work and have some people to talk to about it, even if you're not giving patient information, you know, sometimes you just have to kind of unload on friends or you know, family. And yeah, uh I've always been fortunate. My husband is um more than always willing to to lend an ear. So, you know, and hearing when the job is well done, right? You know, getting those, you know, praises in the cards and hey, you had a patient mention you today. I just wanted to let you know you did a great job because that makes us feel good. And it's like, okay, you know, even though this was a really hard day, like this is why I do what I do because they really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

And you mentioned that collaboration, that spending time with each other. And you know, how do you how important do you think teamwork is between nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, and other healthcare staff in creating this strong patient care?

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Oh, it's imperative. Like, if you don't have teamwork, your your process rally isn't running very smoothly. Like, and and me as a nurse practitioner, like I can't function without my nurses. Oh, yeah. I mean, maybe I can function, but not well. Um, you know, they're bringing those patients back, they're getting those first eyes on them for me, like, you know, and they're kind of you know, if I have a patient that's more critical than the other, you know, hey, I think you need to go see, you know, so and so because they have an exasperation of asthma and they're not breathing well, and you know, so it's you know, providing um collaboration on what patients need what so that we can better serve them and take care of them and they have a better outcome. Um, you know, we want to catch issues shoon, or we want to decrease errors, you know, with all of us being on board and and vigilant and relying on each other, it helps for sure to uh kind of make the process smoother and more efficient.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Yeah, and I'm sure it like builds trust between you guys as well.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Correct. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

So now you work in pediatrics. Um, what is one lesson that a child or a family has taught you that really stayed with you?

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Ugh, this is hard. I feel like I've gotten a lot of lessons over the years. Um I feel like, you know, sometimes, you know, we don't have all the answers, right? You know, as as doctors, as nurse practitioners, as providers, you know, we may not know, you know, my belly hurts. Okay, well, let's see. That could be X, Y, Z, you know. Absolutely. And I think with compassionate care and you know, really sitting down to listen, you know, you're doing a thorough assessment and you're giving those kind of differentials, like they don't expect us to know everything. But if we're willing to listen and we're saying, you know, you know what, we're gonna figure this out together, like they're very thankful for that and very appreciative. So kind of takes a little pressure off sometimes when we're like, you know what, I don't really know what's going on, but we're gonna figure this out.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Absolutely. And coming from the patient side, I feel like whenever the nurses or the doctors or any of the healthcare team is, you know, just saying, you got this, and like we're all we're all rooting for you, it's always very, very helpful.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

For sure. Yeah, I'm sorry you're feeling sick, but you know what? We're gonna get to it and you're gonna be okay. We just figure it out together.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

So obviously, we've talked a lot about compassion, about you know, being there for your patients. What does being a nurse mean to you beyond the medical side of the profession?

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Uh I mean, definitely like you know, that caring aspect for sure. And you know, you have to be a compassionate person overall, you know, whether outside or inside, I feel like, of of healthcare and being a nurse. Um I don't know, like, you know, you have to advocate, you have to, you know, just be able to talk to people and have, you know, good people skills. Um to to be a nurse, I feel like, you know, and be in it for the right reasons. Um yeah, I mean active listening, like just kind of having those those things.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

I've heard a lot of people describe nursing as like five different jobs in one job.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Yeah, you're kind of like a secretary, you're like ordering things, you're assessing everyone, you're you know, giving meds, yeah. It's a whole uh process.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

So if you could change one thing about this healthcare system to better support nurses, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Uh definitely the support for um safer staffing ratios, right? Because I mean, really, that's been a problem like my whole nursing career. We can, you know, really never have enough enough nurses, typically. I mean, maybe you have a few good days that it's like, okay, it's a good day, right? You have time to sit there and spend a lot of time with your patients, but other times you're like in and out and you're like, I really want to have a conversation and I really want to, you know, spend more time educating them, but you do you know what you have to, and um, but sometimes you don't have as much time as you you wish you could, you know, still doing that safe sort of care, but maybe not having quite that time. But, you know, because you know, if we do if we can't spend that time, we have constant, you know, increase um patient modules, you know, one, you're getting burnout, two, you know, maybe not providing the most safe care. Um, you know, you're not getting a break. Maybe you're not quite as attentive because you're like wishing you could be, you know, there more and you're not. So then you're hard on yourself because you're not giving the best care that you know you can give.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

And I'm sure that's very frustrating for you all.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Very frustrating. And sometimes, you know, you can say things to you know, administration and things, and it's like, well, your numbers don't call for XYZ. It's like, really? You know, we're dying over here.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Absolutely. Well, this has been so fun talking. I'm at my final question for young listeners who may want to enter healthcare someday, like myself. What would you want them to know about the impact a nurse can have?

SPEAKER_01 20:27

I I feel like honestly, like even as a provider, like I feel like nursing, though, was you know, being a nurse is the most impact, like um, most impactful position because you're the one spending the most direct care with the patient. Like you are in and out of the room all day. Like the provider, I'm in there, you know, just depends, sick visit, 10 minutes, maybe 20 for a well check, you know, but my nurses are checking them in, they're getting that big history, you know, and I'm supplementing all of that. Um, especially in the hospital, you know, you're definitely the one that's, you know, speaking for those patients, you're advocating for those patients. Um, so I feel like they can they help patients feel the most, you know, safe, satisfied. You're giving that, you know, emotional support for them, you're educating them so that they know um and understand what's going on with them. And then, you know, helping to decrease that anxiety because of your education and um, you know, the time and rapport that you've made with them helps them too, like make informed decisions, you know. And sometimes I've had to be, you know, that person where a patient's like, you know, I don't want to go for a C-section, I want to wait for a little longer. And, you know, that provider's just pushing and pushing, like, well, you know, I think you need to go for a section. You know, like, you we can, you know, we we'll advocate for you. So that's what we do. Or if we're concerned, you're like, listen, I'm concerned, like you be that advocate for your patient, and they very much appreciate it. Um, you know, I had a 16-year-old patient who um, this was a long time ago, probably, I don't know, 15 years ago. Um, and about five years ago, she said, Did you used to work in labor? I met her at a softball game. Her daughter played softball with mine. She said, Did you used to work labor and delivery? And I said, Yeah, I worked labor and delivery for like, you know, it was a long time, like 18 years probably on and off. And she's like, I think you took care of me. Um, and she showed me a picture and she said, I always I never forgot you because I was 16 years old. Everybody treated me different. I was a teen, you know, team mom, but you talked to me down to earth like I was a real person, and that you know, you helped you helped me along the way. You were there when you know Riley was born, and I just never forgot you, and I thank you for that. And I was like, Oh. So it just makes you, you know, it's those good times, and you know, they never forget that compassionate care. Absolutely, that impact that you've made on their life.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Well, this has been so much fun talking to you. You've had incredible stories, such great insights. Um, thank you so much for coming on to the Nightingale Project Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 23:09

Yeah, good to meet you, and best of luck to you in your nursing journey. It is you, it's a hard journey, but it's an amazing, rewarding journey for sure.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Absolutely. That's what I've heard.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Thank you so much, Kelly, for joining us and sharing your experiences and insight into the nursing profession. And thank you all for listening to the Nightingale Project Podcast, where we spotlight the voices and stories behind nursing. Be sure to follow along for more conversations that turn gratitude into action and advocacy into impact.