Beyond The Bedpan

In 12 years of being a Registered Nurse, Carly noticed a predictable pattern in family social behaviour: That prepared families cope better and experience less cute distress than unprepared families. Being prepared includes expectations of care, values and principles about acceptable quality of life, and direction of care for life support, end of life wishes, and organ donation wishes. Carlys goal in starting this business its to help families be better prepared for the unexpected.

Desiree tells her story on how she became a nurse at a mens maximum security prison in Ohio. She discusses what her job entails, the good, the bad, and the ugly. She also goes into detail about what she does to stay.  

Emma Sheehan, a RN in Alberta, and I discuss the nursing crisis. Emma has just started in the Emergency Department and shares her experiences on social media. We discuss the importance of patients being independent, some of the abuse nurses face, and some of our own personal experiences as being a patient. We end our conversation talking about the evolution of nursing and where we should be heading as a profession. 

Cheryl and I talk about trying to make safe nurse:patient ratios a legal requirement through the CNO, politics in nursing and how we want to change things at a political level

Tammy is the Chief Nurse Executive and Senior VP of Clinical Services at CHEO. We discuss the nursing shortage. 

Jacqueline Moore is an Ontario RN who suffered PTSD after the first wave of the Covid 19 Pandemic. She tells her story including a suicide attempt at work and a psychiatric admission to the hospital. She gives a perspective as a nurse but also as a patient. 

Alex Munter, CEO of CHEO (Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario) and I discuss hospital strategies to retain nurses during "the great resignation." 

The Meg Foundation was founded by Dr. Jody Thomas. At Meg Foundation, they have created science- backed practice to manage needle anxiety and other practices to cope with pain in children when it comes to medical procedures. Jody and I discuss coping with painful procedures providing mental and physical tools. We discuss needle anxiety, how to talk to children and the transition when children change from a child to adult centred care.  https://www.megfoundationforpain.org

Nurse Conner and I discuss the RaDonda Vaught trial and what this means for the future of nursing. 

Dr. Flindall, an emergency room physician discusses the nurses role in the emergency department and the importance of keeping seasoned nurses in the profession.

Dr. Mike Kirlew has a passion for rural healthcare. Mike shares his experience working in Northing Ontario. We discuss systemic racism, inequality in healthcare and how inequality likely had a huge factor in not being able to isolate a major virus like Covid 19. 

Dr. Gianni D'Egidio and I talk about the issues surrounding futile care from a practical financial perspective to a moral and ethical perspective.  Some definitions from this episode:  RACE – Rapid Assessment of Critical Events. A team of a ICU physician, nurse and respiratory therapist. They are called to the floors when a patient begins to deteriorate with the goal to intervene early preventing an ICU admission. CCB – Consent and capacity board. Basically, it is a legal process to have a third party review the patient's goals of care and if the substitute decision maker has the best interests of the patient in mind. The Consent and Capacity Board is a quasi-judicial administrative tribunal which operates at arm's length from the Ministry of Health under the authority of the Health Care Consent Act. The Board convenes hearings and makes decisions under six Acts including the Health Care Consent Act, the Mental Health Act, the Substitute Decision Act, the Personal Health Information Protection Act, the Child Youth and Family Services Act and the Mandatory Blood Testing Act. SDM - Substitute decision maker. They are there to consent to a proposed treatment plan not to demand treatment when the patient is not mentally capable of doing it themselves. 

Rebecca has been a Registered Nurses in Ontario for almost 6 years, with most of her experience being in a level 3 medical/surgical ICU. She is currently progressing through a graduate degree in Public Health with a specialization in Nursing from Lakehead University. Rebecca and I talk about burn out in the nursing profession. How we get there and how can we prevent it. We discuss the environment in critical care and the toll it takes on our lives and leading to a burn out. Specifics that we feel leads to burn out is our responsibility on our shoulders in the work place, feeling valued, compassion fatigue, abuse in the work place and futile care.

Kathy and I discuss ICU and community nursing. There is some disadvantages to nurses coming back to work after retirement that deter many nursing from doing so even though they love the work and want to help. We recognize the provincial red tape with regards to pay and that hospitals have to stay within the union rules, however, there are other ways to do so such as bringing nurses back on a contract like they do with travel nurses. A contract could have conditions in it that would be attractive to older nurses. Enjoy! 

Travel nursing is a hot topic right now. From the pay caps in the United States to the growing popularity in this field due to its higher pay and flexibility. Christine discusses her experience as a travel nurse and answers some questions nurses would want answers to if considering this field in the profession. We also discuss issues of retention and compare Ontario to how healthcare is run in other provinces. Such a great guest! Thanks to Christine for sharing her story! 

Casey Morrison, Registered Nurse, and Ryan Forsyth, Life In Red podcast host interview me! This was Caseys idea, and at first I was a little hesitant, but it is only fair to know who you are listening to every week. This is a super fun episode. We rarely finish a story and get progressively more tipsy as the drinks flow. We talk about some ethical views when a patient is dying, how to disconnect from work in order to cope, toxic mommy culture, post partum depression, and much more! 

Kim McMillan is an assistant professor in the school of nursing at the university of Ottawa, she holds a PhD in Nursing and hospice and palliative care certification from the CNA. Her clinical background is Pediatric oncology. Kim wants to make research more relatable! We discus moral distress, nursing ethics and institutional ethics towards nurses, fighting the system, flexibility in scheduling to retain nurses, and pros and cons to continuity of care.  Keep in mind many of my episodes are pre recorded. Some Covid discussions and guidelines have changed since the recording. 

Kim Hoggard saw gaps in the healthcare system and decided to start her own business to fill these areas. She discusses the process of starting your own business in detail. Kims website is www.hoggardhealth.com www.bigrigdelivery.ca promocode BEYONDTHEBEDPAN

Students have gone through the ringer but have we been listening to them? 2 Elementary children speak to me about looking forward to going back and a high school student discusses her hesitancy. The Ford government has been consistently inconsistent with decisions about opening schools and that inconsistency is taking a toll and loosing the trust of our younger generations. Their voice is important and we should be listening. 

Lauren is a Registered Nurse and a Mom of 3. A few years ago she realized she was in a negative mind set and knew she needed a change. She focuses on movement, nutrition, mental health and personal development to have a positive outlook on life and thrives on sharing this with others. We talk about tools to cope during tough times, such as right now with increases cases of Covid in Ontario and school closures. We discuss time management, being present and letting go of things you cannot change.  www.bigrigdelivery.ca promocode BEYONDTHEBEDPAN

Derek was on track to qualify for the Boston Marathon. He went from running marathons to only being able to run 200m at a time. He knew something was wrong. It was eventually discovered that he had 4 blocked Coronary Arteries, needed a valve replaced and was at high risk for cardiac arrest... during the peak of the 3rd wave of the pandemic in Ontario. His surgery was continuously delayed for months. Cancellations, being told he was on a surgery list when he wasn't and just utter chaos in the hospitals leading to stress for his entire family. This is exactly why we needed to protect the healthcare system, so patients like Derek didn't have to suffer and have surgical delays. This is his story. 

Stunt Man Stu discusses his 2x cancer diagnosis and what it was like to be a patient in the pandemic during the first wave with social isolation as an inpatient. We discuss hospital food and his feelings on big Pharma. Normally I beep out agency and staff names but as this is his story as a patient, I've left them in.

Antea left nursing in a hospital in order to start her own business after seeing gaps in the healthcare system when it came to supporting parents. She discusses her story with me including how to start your own business as a nurse. https://themamacoach.com/coaches/antea-corluka/ www.bigrigdelivery.ca promocode BEYONDTHEBEDPAN

Megan knew something wasn't right for months. Along with the advice of her Physiotherapist, she continued to go to Doctors and Emergency Rooms requesting an MRI, as a result, she was frequently told to loose weight and do more Physio until one day she couldn't walk at all. When she was brought to the ED, they did an MRI and found a spinal disc so badly displaced it was damaging her spinal cord. After emergency surgery and months of rehab she was given a 1% chance of walking again. Megan shares her story along with the current difficulties she finds around the city with accessibility. Big Rig promo code BEYONDTHEBEDPAN www.bigrigdelivery.ca https://ottawa.ca/en/3-1-1 to report anything in The City of Ottawa that may limit someone with disabilities  https://www.chromedivas.com

Alicia and I catch up tonight and we talk a lot about parenting during the pandemic, long covid, the nursing shortage, burn out, and staff morale. One thing we talked about quite a bit was vaccination in kids and the looming approval by health canada. I think it's important to note that your feelings about this are valid, no mater what they are. You are allowed to beleive in science, be pro vaccination and can be choosing to vaccinate your kids but still be hesitant. Ottawa public health has been a really good resource for me, I find them personable and kind, if you aren't following them on twitter i highly recommend it and feel free to reach out to ask them any questions you may have about all things health. https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/index.aspx https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada.html https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/immunization/national-advisory-committee-on-immunization-naci.html

Marcel retires in the middle of a pandemic after an impressive 37 year nursing career. He discusses what it was like being a male in the profession 30 years ago, his advice to nursing students and we more or less just catch up for an hour. Terminology for those non-nursing folk: R.A.C.E. team- Race stands for Rapid Assessment of Critical Events. It is a team made up of an ICU nurse, a respitory therapist and an ICU doctor. When a patient starts deteriorating on the floors, they call the R.A.C.E. team for early intervention in the hopes that they can solve the problem before it gets worse, ideally preventing an ICU admission. Double Cohort: During the 3rd wave, we were putting 2 beds in each room so there was an A and a B bed. If anyone has any questions about terminology please ask so I can update this. I want you to understand what we're talking about so you can continue to understand our healthcare world. It's your world too.

Jeannette Cheng went to sleep in August 2007 and woke up 2 weeks later in the ICU after a car accident. She shares her story of her recovery and how one small act of kindness from her healthcare provider made her want to become a nurse. In a dark time for nurses, this is a reminder of how much our work matters and how important a small gesture can be to a patient and their recovery.

Beyond the Bedpan - S01E01 - Nurse With Signs. Nancy and I discuss Bill 124 and her initiative to fight back and advocate for the nursing profession.