WORKING SHORT: The Nursing Podcast

On this episode Phil and I discuss patient code status – or lack there of. As nurses working with acutely ill patients we often find ourselves advocating for goals of care conversations. Join us as we explore our personal reflections on how and why we advocate for not only a signed MOST, but for the important conversations that determine the choice.

A good workplace culture has many components. This week Phil and I chat about what we find effective in fostering positive workplaces and where we think there may be opportunities for improvement.

This week Phil and I are joined by Eleanor, an Irish trained RN. Eleanor spent several frustrating and expensive years pursuing her Canadian nursing registration. Although the system has reportedly improved this process, Eleanor's story is one that will leave no doubt on why a change was needed.

On this episode Phil and I chat about the mass exodus of nurses from the profession. We discuss the rapid burnout of new nurses and what we see as potential explanations. Redefining burnout from a mid and end career concern to a new nurse problem is worth further investigation as it leaves all of us working short.

This week Phil and I take some time to get to know each other a bit better as nurses. We dig a little deeper into the things we like, don't like, and hope to never have to do again as nurses.

This week Phil and I chat with Taran about her road to becoming a nurse practitioner. Taran shares all the helpful tips on pursuing the NP role as well as what a day in the life looks like. Join us as we get the inside scoop on becoming an NP.

In our final episode of Season 2, Phil and I have a cathartic conversation about the nurse role. Reflecting on the notion that nursing is both intimate, but also impersonal, we share stories and experiences of times where we needed to lean in and when we needed to take a step back. Join us as we allow ourselves to have an unscripted and genuine conversation about navigating the emotional and connected work that we do.

This week Phil and I catch up with our old friend Madeline who recently moved south of the border. Although we miss her terribly, we were excited to get a first hand report of the expensive and time consuming process of taking your nursing degree across the border.

From frostbite to cardiac arrests, rural nursing demands confidence and critical thinking. This week we chat with Janelle who left the lower mainland as a new grad to become a critical care trained emergency room nurse in rural BC. Tune in for interesting tales of what it is like to work with limited staff, resources, and allied health.

Andrea is an emergency room nurse in Ontario where the pressures of nursing have reached a breaking point. In addition to the stress of working the front lines of the covid- 19 pandemic, Ontario nurses are also being told they will only receive a maximum of 1% wage increase under Premier Doug Ford's wage-suppression legislation. Bill 124 is driving nurses out of the profession where retention and recruitment are already struggling.

The MAiD program aims to prevent unnecessary suffering for individuals facing end of life. As BC looks to expand MAiD to include mental health diagnoses it is important for nurses to understand their role and limitations when working with patients considering or planning to access the MAiD program. In this episode we chat with Dr. Lauren Kimball about her first hand experience in the provision of MAiD.

As the dust settles on our first few years as nurses, Phil and I sit down to reminisce about our experiences as new grads and what we wish we had known when we started out. If you are a student, a new grad, or are just feeling the pressure to get it all done in a day, then this episode is for you!

This season I am joined by Phil, a Neuro ICU RN. We will be talking about everything from being a new grad to end-of-life care. Tune in every other Tuesday to share in our conversations about what makes us love nursing and what we can do to support each other in this profession.

Safe staffing ratios is a topic that has come up in nearly every conversation so far on Working Short and today we will be continuing that conversation. From working short, to not having enough nurses in the province, to waitlists to get into nursing school, and more, there is a clear shortage amongst all of these and it affects more than just nurses, it affects everyone in BC. Tune in this week as we talk with BCNU President and RN Aman Grewal, about the nursing staffing shortage and crisis here in British Columbia. Aman Grewal has been a nurse for 35 years and has seen the demand for more nurses and the staffing crisis throughout the years. But how do we get through the crisis we're in now and move forward?

Nursing can be a fitting career choice for many, but what happens and what options are there for when you want a change in your career? This week, we are talking with Carly Morrison, a registered nurse who started her nursing career as an oncology nurse, but has since become a travel nurse and traveled to many remote areas of Canada to be a nurse. A career in nursing can bring a lot of opportunities, and you don't have to stay with just one if you want to change roles.

As a nurse, Medication errors are something you hope never happens, but what happens when they do happen? Join us this week as we chat with Trish Danyluk, a practicing registered nurse and psychiatric nursing instructor in BC. We'll be talking about the recent conviction of RaDonda Vaught, a nurse in Tennessee, who committed a fatal medication error, and what happens when medication errors are made. What does this case mean for nurses and medication errors regardless of the severity of the error and what does the impact this case have on nurses post-conviction and in Canada.

Keeping desire and intimacy in a relationship alive and keeping that spark can be difficult to keep up with, especially when you are working shift work and odd hours, like nurses. Join us this week, as we chat with Psychotherapist and Sex Therapist, Dr. Teesha Morgan explain how to stay satisfied with your partner, how to find time, space and energy to prioritize intimate relationships, even after the honeymoon stage has ended and learn about sexual brakes and accelerators in you and your partners relationships.

Nurses take on a lot, and are expected to take on even more in their lives and in the lives of their patients. But how can they take care of their patients without taking care of themselves first. Join us as we talk to counselor Glenn Wood, on the importance of taking care of yourself and the difficulties behind accepting and dismantling your own defences through psychotherapy.

What is Trauma Informed Care? Changing the narrative from “what's wrong” to “what happened to you” and using that to better support patients as a nurse. In this episode we talk with Colleen Hinkkala, a RN and nursing instructor at BCIT, to learn how to recognize trauma to avoid retraumatizing the patient, as a nurse and how to better acknowledge what happened to the patient, and how it affects how they behave today and their decisions.

Our first episode will be released in one week (May 10, 2022). To learn more about the Host, Anthem Postnikoff, view upcoming interview guests and their bios, and even see photos of a really handsome good boy named Barkley, visit workingshort.ca.

Our first episode will be released on May 10, 2022. To learn more about the Host, Anthem Postnikoff, view upcoming interview guests and their bios, and even see photos of a really handsome good boy named Barkley, visit workingshort.ca.