Hi there. My name is dr.
Presenta, and I'm the host of the doctor nurse podcast.
I'm an advanced nurse practitioner and I want to be
your guide into the world of nursing professions.
This podcast is a platform for nurses to share their Journeys
as they made their way in the diverse field of nursing as
either entrepreneurs, Academia private, practice or even the
corporate world. I think we should celebrate just
how diverse the field of nursing is through mentoring one.
Another, with the stories of our career.
Our Journeys, nothing is too mundane because each journey is
unique. This podcast will showcase
career options to encourage nurses to view their degrees
with a business mindset. After all we work in the
healthcare business and ultimately I hope I might
inspire you to make a change. If you're looking for something
different, I am motivated to see you live, your best, nursing
life and that looks different for everyone.
Thanks for joining me on today's podcast.
And let's get started with today's guests.
On today's episode, I am chatting with dr.
Ellen lulara. And Lacy Lynch, both are crnas
and the host of the podcast scrub caps and sippy cups.
Their podcast is a podcast for moms who are balancing
motherhood, careers, finances relationships, and social life.
Check them out. On Apple podcast, we chat on
episode 46 about all things nursing, and it was a blast,
enjoy the chat for today. Hi, thank you for coming onto
the doctor nurse podcast, Lacy, and Ellen.
I'm so happy to have you on today.
Oh, thanks for having us. We're super excited to be on
your. Thank you so much for having us.
Yes, so let's Dive Right In. If you guys are both of you
guys, could just describe what you do for a living, your
current job titles and roles if you guys specialize in a certain
area, just really dive into what you do.
Okay, Ellen, take away. All right, so I'm Ellen I like
you said I'm a nurse anesthetist.
My experience has been In almost every single specialty.
Except I'm not a fan of Pediatrics, mainly, because my
little heart can't take it. I have been specialized before,
and Trauma. I've done Hearts, I've done
everything, surgical all populations.
And right now, my biggest role, I'm on maternity leave.
So I'm a mommy right now person foremost, I just had my third
and actually in the past year I have branched out into medical
Esthetics. So I am injector know.
No to which I absolutely loved. It totally allows me to use my
clinical skills, my critical thinking really like function at
the highest level, and just a little less risk and liability
and death and Lacey. So I am obviously nurse
anesthetist the practice that I'm in now, is in a health
system at a smaller site outside of the big Trauma Center.
So we have the ideal practice. So we do a variety of Ages from
like Under 12 101 and we don't do hearts.
Thankfully I really don't like hearts but we do some big it
like exciting crannies and some trauma although we do ship a lot
of it which is also great but when we just have like a really
wide range of cases and so we do a lot of what people call bread
and butter stuff, we do a lot of ortho in GYN in surgery and
general surgery. But I just really like the
diversity of the cases that I'm able to do.
I could do neurosurgery one day and I can do Peds ENT.
The next day. And I can do dental one day and
I can do C-sections one day and and I just really love like that
diversity of being in a smaller practice where I can kind of
pick and choose instead of feeling like I need to
specialize straight up front where it's like, I'm a
neurosurgery CRNA or I'm a cardiacs here.
I am just a nurse anesthetist and I get to do a whole lot of
different things and I love that.
Yeah, that's really cool. So the role of the CRNA for
those that are listening Are like, whoa.
She's finally got to see her nayeon.
Like, how did they like figure this out?
What do they do? What exactly did like, describe
how your structure works for your job?
So you guys put people to sleep. We all know that.
But how does your structure work with your supervising intent?
I think really, it depends on where you work and what state
you are consump, eople, don't have supervising, attending some
states. We are completely opt-out
states, which mean that we function completely
independently, all states are supervising.
Some states are direct, it really depends, and then it
really also depends on the practice.
You're in. And what your role is, what your
scope of practice is in your state.
If you are recognized as an advanced practice nurse or
you're not license you function under, there's really a lot of
differences, I'm in New Jersey and we are recognized as
advanced practice nurses. Here, we function under that
license, not the RN license. So we're able to see our own
patients, do our own H and PS, everything the nurse
practitioner can do in our roles.
It really depends on if you are in the hospital during normal
hours versus on-call hours. Like if a trauma comes in, we
can do completely. Independently same for any
emergency and then during normal functional hours, technically,
we need physician signature on charts for Medicaid billing.
But in terms of features where I work, we did everything
ourselves, we do it all Central lines, arterial lines all
regional, anesthesia all general, anesthesia local
anesthesia everything, so it really just depends on your
practice, your state and your relationship that you have with
your co-workers and kind of your skill level.
I would say, how about you Lacey.
Let's see. Oba.
There is such a wide variety of ways.
You can practice as a CRNA. You can work as a completely
independent CRNA in more rural areas, but there's like solo
nurse anesthetists where like you are the only person who
knows how to give anesthesia in a 30-mile radius or you can work
in a CRNA practice where it's like only nurse anesthetists.
There's no anesthesiologist and it's just you and your CRNA.
Colleagues and then there's like a practice like mine, which is
like kind of a the next level up from that which is like we have
supervising anesthesiologist, they tend to be very hands-off.
So you see them at the beginning for induction you do your case,
you might text them back and forth, saying I've got a problem
or whatever and then you may or may not see them at the end.
So you are very autonomous, you are the one in there, giving
anesthesia and it's great. And then you can go all the way
up to a like big Academic Center.
Are you working with srna is an anesthesiologist residents and
anesthesiologists? And you kind of have like a much
bigger. There's all the sudden for
people instead of two people in your anesthesia team so you can
go from one person in your anesthesia team to four people
in your anesthesia team. And so that's there's a wide
diversity in anesthesia. My practice is I really love it
because we work in a collaborative environment with
our anesthesiologist Partners. We work together to give
anesthesia care to our patients. I'm the one in the room who's
giving the anesthesia. We talk about our plan, we do
have a respectful environment. And so we talked back and forth
about what we're going to do for our plan.
We initiate our plan and everything is hunky-dory and so
I hope that answers your question.
No, it does it answers it perfectly and that's the similar
relief that I have with the surgeons, right?
So like I'm not a surgeon but I do procedures where I actually
burned bladder tumors out of ladders.
And so sometimes I get into a situation where I'm like this is
above my pay grade but so you have those moments We're at
attending a walk in the room and you're just all right.
We got a couple of the plan. Things are not what they seemed
and so it's actually kind of that same relationship.
I really like that in my job as well as you were describing and
I was connecting to that. So so how did you both get to
choose CRNA as your career, like what was your specific Journey
from nursing school to your time working as our ends to then
going, it's time to go back and be a CRNA or get my doctorate or
whatever that process was and that Journey was for each one of
you and so I knew And I wanted to be a CRNA from the time that
I was a sophomore in high school because I was volunteering at a
hospital. Because originally, I wanted to
go to medical school because I didn't know the power of
Nursing, and I happen to be on the labor and delivery floor.
And they were like, hey, do you want to go Shadow this nurse
anesthetist? And I was nervous.
What? And so, I immediately fell in
love. I had no idea.
Like I said of the power of nursing, I had no idea that
nurses do anything other than bedside nursing.
I had no idea of all the skills that That you can have outside
of that side nursing and I was completely intrigued.
I am a research junkie and even at that age I just like went and
just looked it up and just couldn't get enough.
So I knew going into college, that's what I wanted.
And I went to the University of Pittsburgh got my Nursing degree
and I for me there was there was no stopping.
I was from the frame of mind. We're like, why would I spend
time on a med-surg floor? If I knew that I didn't belong
on the mud turtle or just to get to the, I wanted to be, I was
like screw this. I'm going to apply to a nurse
residency that Carriages and trains nurses in the ICU right
off the bat. So I did that, I started at
Georgetown Hospital, I paid my dues and my next stop was in a
seizure school so I just followed the little algorithmic
pathway of becoming a CRNA and did the.
And after that my World opened up it was like you could be a
CRNA and do a million different things.
And then you can also be a CRNA and go get your doctorate which
I did because I wanted to teach, I wanted to have the opportunity
in the future to sit on the Boards or do research or make
decisions or go in any path, I wanted a nursing and I didn't
want to ever be stopped by. Someone telling me that I didn't
have a credential. So I just went and got all the
credentials I could, and then I injecting faces with botox, so
that's where I'm at. That's what's so great about
nursing as you can make it what you want it to be.
And it's just it's so you can just tailor, make it, you can
literally like, I feel like doctors have to like order off
the menu and with nurses like you can go out Lockhart like
what do you want? It's just so clutch.
And what about Lacey. I kind of alluded to this in our
previous conversation, on our podcast that we just recorded.
But I remember a very distinctly remember, being a kindergarten
at taking a tour of our hospital and they were giving out hats.
So we were. So it was like, we were lined up
and my last name started with s, so I was like towards the end
and all the boys wanted the doctor had and all the girls
wanted the nurse hat. And by the time they got back
towards be, they were like, you girls can be doctors too.
And I was like do I want the nurse hat?
Like I was like no, no give me the nurse had and I was like, I
want To be a nurse and then like obviously I went through phases
of like watching the Olympics and deciding on be Christian
micucci instead. But we all heard that came back
to like when I was in eighth grade.
I picked the nursing college. I wanted to go and I said, I'm
gonna go to this University, I'm going to become a nurse and to
be a nurse. And that's what I did.
And I went to that nursery school and I graduate in four
years and it was great. And then I got to the floor and
I was like, okay, I have arrived like I Here.
This is what I said, my whole life to get here too, and I was
like, oh, is this what I said? My whole life to get hurt
because I really wanted to be a Cardiology nurse practitioner.
I loved cardiac in nursing school and I was like, I Want To
Be A cardiology nurse practitioner.
That's what I'm going to be. And then I got there and I
worked on a cardiac floor. And I was like, oh, this is like
they did. I think it was just a group of
the group of Cardiology nurse practitioners that I worked with
but I was like, these people are mean they're mean, and I don't
want to be that. And so then, Then I was like,
well maybe I picked wrong, maybe I should be a doctor instead.
Maybe I should have picked the doctor hat back in kindergarten
on that tour. And so I actually started taking
my pre-med classes. I took the MCAT.
Oh, wow! And I like did it and I went to
like meet with the curriculum person.
Wow, this is cool. And I met with the first person
at the nurse at the medical school, that was in the town
that I was working in and he looked at me.
And by then I had gotten my way, I'd found a way to the ICU.
You looked at me and he was like, you're an ICU nurse and I
was like, yes. And he's like, why don't you
become a nurse anesthetist? And I was like, excuse me, I'm
here to talk about medical school.
He's like, no, no, no. My wife is a nurse anesthetist.
I'm watching where things are headed and you really, really
need to look at this because this is going to be like the way
the future of Health Care is going wow.
Amount of time. It's going to take you to get to
the same place. It's like you need to really
look at this. And that's when I was like,
okay? And and I think like, when Ellen
said something about like the power of nursing earlier, I
actually wrote down when she said that that I didn't believe
in the power of nursing when I was pursuing medicine because I
was like, well, I need to be a doctor in order to do the things
that I want to do and that really wasn't true.
I just didn't believe in the power of Nursing and what we
really could do. And so, then long story short, I
have a And who's a nurse anesthetist and she is like
mentored me. She was my neighbor growing up
and she is always been like a few years ahead of me.
So she's always kind of been like, the carrot that's like you
could do this. Yeah.
And so so her name is Karen and she's amazing but she talked to
me about it and I was like so I was ready to apply to medical
school and the guy was what don't do that.
I really enjoy the patient Community like the patient
interaction in the ICU and like the interaction with families
and it was a surprise for people to see me going to Anesthesia
Asia rather than be an NP because I really thrived in that
interaction. But I think that it's one of the
areas that I thrive in any anesthesia and we see people in
like their most vulnerable and in, in their worst sometimes and
they're scared and they're going through a very traumatic event.
Whether it be they lost a baby, another, having a DNC to a
trauma, two, just like they have cancer and they're having their
cancer cut out of their body and to be able to like formulate
those like connections with patients, the two or three
minutes that we have with them is Thing that I really enjoy in
my career. And so I'm really happy that I
kind of took a I didn't really take a circuitous route.
Like I was a nurse then I became a nurse nessus.
But like my emotional journey to get to this point was a bit
circuitous and I'm really grateful for that.
I like how you describe that and who was the guy that told you to
consider nursing? He was so he was like the PHD
curriculum person of the school in the town that I was working
as a nurse in. Yeah, we need we need to have a
drink in honor of that man right now because we're isn't, We like
called, I don't know. I've actually thought about like
looking up that person and see like I'm sure he's retired and
he's going to be like I met with like hundreds of thousands of
like literally doctors like why would I remember this?
But but it was like it a profound conversation because if
somebody who likes stopped and was like, wait a minute, like
you are an ICU nurse with years of experience, why don't you
become a nurse anesthetist? She's like, I see where medicine
is going. I see where payers are going and
where These are going to be coming from and, and you really
need to stop it and think about what you're trying to accomplish
with it. And, and when that's when I
really, I think I started to believe in the power of nursing
where I didn't before. Yeah.
That's really a profound. So I love both of those
Journeys. Those are just so neat and so
individual and really special to hear.
Thank you for sharing them. Could you guys give an example
of one of your biggest successes in your career that you felt
like was a real big win? Like this was a real high.
In my career Lacey, you go first.
I don't know. I'm trying to think of it and I
don't know that I can give you a like career-high example.
But I had a situation today where a patient asked for a
specific type of anesthesia. And the surgeon said no I'm
going to need a Mac and the so that it's like where we do
sedation it's not fully asleep. You don't put a breathing tube
in and then the surgeon said, no I need a general has to be a
general because we're going to position this patient and then
the anesthesia else went to the And I told him we're gonna have
to a general and the patient had questions but then the
anesthesia was came back and talked to me was like, well the
patient I didn't love that but but I think I answered the
patient questions. If I set up for a general and I
go to get this patient and by the time I got there the patient
thought of like a million other questions and because of this
patients conditions and his specific needs.
So like that he had all these concerns.
But why were you doing a general?
And so I said okay here's what we're going to do I'm not going
to give you your sedation work because normally I would Give a
little verse said before heading back to the, or take the edge of
things. I called the happy, I don't care
anymore medicine. I was like, I'm not gonna give
you this medicine, we're gonna go back, I called the surgeon,
and I called the PA, and I said, this patient has some questions.
Let's talk in the or I get back to the or, and I'm like this,
these are these patients concerns.
And this is why he's okay with this.
Can we try this instead? And the patient was able to take
you late, it to the surgeon and the surgeon.
Listen and like, okay, yep, we can position this way instead,
so then we can do Mac instead and just like to read Advocate
for that patient and stop and Zack know, we're like let's not
rush through and just Slam in the tube and do all the things.
But like this patient had very specific concerns that were
completely legit. And so we were able to really
tailor the patient's care to what that patient needed.
And so like that is just a win. Like I love those moments so it
may not be it's not like a career highlight.
Like a graduate anesthesia school.
That was a beautiful moment. Yeah.
But like to have these moments throughout my career, just give
me like Hope on the bad days. As when you're like, oh my God,
this sucks. What you're describing is.
Why nurses need to be in the rooms making decisions.
It's why nursing believing in the power of nursing that's it.
Right there. Advocating for your patient
because in those moments, isn't that what you want is for the
people around you to be listening to you?
You're not just a body, they're going to put to sleep with your
person. And so I just feel like nurses,
do a really good job at making people people and making them
feel like people and letting them know, we see you feel to be
seen It's just everything but we're gonna send one of the
Hallmark of nursing or something.
Is that a nurse can look at a patient whose sound asleep and
know if they're comfortable or not.
We're just like everyone else. Like just looks at the patient
but you can look at a patient and you can say like they're
going to be uncomfortable, are they?
You can notice those tiny little things that other people just
don't even see. You get that in your time in the
trenches. I'm going back to our earlier
conversation and, you know, on your podcast, I think you
learned that you learn. To read people.
And to understand I learned that on my time as a med-surg nurse
it's just you start to understand and see people in a
way that you didn't outside of yourself, the empathy begins to
grow in the trenches. I think he's I don't know, least
from at least for me, I can only speak for myself.
That it really did grow a lot and just hearing you describe.
That is so cool. I would agree.
That's a high. Definitely a high.
What about you? So yeah, I've given it some
thought, while weeks he was talking that was a killer should
have gone first. I will tell you this.
That I'm not going to say a high of my career, because I'm not
done yet, and I'm not even know. Like I feel.
Yes, evolving. We keep like, who thought that I
would have been here even two years ago when I graduated my
dnp. So my highs of my career,
comment every stage, like my high, like Lacey said, was
graduating getting her first job and, like, saving your first
trauma. And then your high is, when you
get your dnp and then Landing a teaching job or whatever, and
then training and doing Aesthetics, but my highs daily
are in anesthesia. Oh, it's getting that patients.
Trust in three to five minutes of meeting them when they are
terrified and they have to trust us.
And people think, oh, you put people to sleep, but really we
wake people up. That's what we do putting
somebody to sleep. You can teach a monkey
maintenance in the middle. It is the wake-up.
It is an art waking somebody up. Making sure they're safe,
they're comfortable, they're pain-free like the beat.
We do it so much that people take it for granted, they're
like oh whatever those them up, but it is so individualized and
that's why people say anesthesia is like flying an airplane.
I mean, the take-off is putting people to sleep, The Landing is
emergence. And, you know, those are the
most critical aspects that people.
They just Breeze over it because it's just what we do.
But there's just such an art to it and I take it.
So personally, every time somebody trusts me and I take
the highest honor to take care of them during those moments,
that every day that goes by, I feel like is a high when
somebody tells me that an even anesthetics any day that goes by
and someone says no one has ever taken the time.
Time to educate me and people are like, oh ha ha, Botox
fillers, because it's so it's vanity.
But it's still a level of trust that somebody needs to have in
you, because so many experiences that people come to me with her,
like oh, they just put me in a chair and just stab me in the
face with needles and told me, that's what I need.
Or they pick my face apart, make me feel like, crap, just to make
me, you know, have these procedures done and like, so
awful to me to think that because it's still a person.
And I treat my Aesthetics job. The same.
I treat my anesthesia job as My job first and foremost is to
have this person trust me and believe me and allow me the
honor of treating them and I get there by educating them and
sometimes the education people are like, oh well I don't know.
That's not where I came here for and I release them.
I'm like that's totally fine but I'm not going to treat you.
I'm not going to sacrifice what I know to be right.
And what I know to be ethical to give you a quick fix or to do
something other people have done to you because at the end of The
day, my job is to take care of a patient ethically and to my best
of my ability. I think that a lot of the trends
are taking away from the Merit of that and allowing people to
do at home procedures or filler parties or that like lip filler
pain and stuff like that. That really diminish, the art
that is of medical Esthetics just like, there's an art to
Anesthesia, we don't put people to sleep at home.
I really want to highlight what you said about like the Finesse
of emergence. Because like it made me think of
We have watched the Winter Olympics and you watch curling
and there's these people throwing a stone and like they
do the broom to like get the stone exactly where they want to
see. It looks so freaking easy.
You're like how is this an Olympic sport and then you try
it and you like fall flat on your face.
Then the ice and you're like, oh my God I can't even stand up out
here. How do these people do that?
But it's like that is like the Finesse of emergence.
That's really where the Art and Science of nursing come together
is in that moment of like emergence and you're trying to
like bring someone out and like it.
Looks really easy because we do it so often and and you're
trying to quick, because right time is money and turnovers and
all of that and so you're trying to like get someone like from
one state of mind to another state of mine really quickly to
get him to the recovery room and it looks super fast and it's
easy and all of that. But like that's really where the
Finesse comes in and that's where I think anesthetist that's
where, like, you really show off your skills.
What do you think Ella? Yeah, totally and I think when a
patient wakes up and they say, wow, I'm done already or I
didn't feel like mmm. Anything that is like, I mean
music to my ears. Nobody wants to do anything bad
and we take it for granted people around us, take it for
granted, they don't know exactly what we do and that's okay.
But I think that that to me is the high of my career every
single day of my career that's good as you were describing that
as well. I got tears in my eyes, I was
like that's what the crnas thinking, it just sets me at
ease and what you're saying Lacey about the whole Olympics
thing. I saw this meme today on
Instagram. That was like, so for the
Olympics, what we need on? The side of the competitors like
competing in the Olympics is an average person doing what
they're doing and they were like okay like we're on Earth, it's
such a big difference. Yeah I don't just like poopoo
it, I take is such a high honor to do that and so it's just like
when you're landing on an airplane, there's like the
Eyelets that you touch down. You can barely feel the wheels,
touch the ground, that Pilots that like slam down and you're
like, oh, praise God. We're so anesthesia's for me.
Yeah, that's described beautifully.
So, what were some challenges that you guys had to overcome in
your careers and this could just be anything from, like a nurse
bully to a really hard class in school.
Just anything that you just look back and you're like, that was a
mountain. I had to climb and I did, I see
you want to go first, or you want me to go?
I can go first. So, I mean, well, obviously,
like the person you told me that I Shouldn't be a doctor but be
like like overcoming moment of my career, but a good moment.
But my time in the ICU I worked in what was known quietly
throughout the whole hospital as the meanest unit in the
hospital. And so it was just like the
undertone is those people inside.
I see you owe those people and then those people all went on to
become nurse anesthetist so they did with those as I see you in
stage of people. So I worked in like a very
Cutthroat and I had to overcome a lot and really learn how To
have Teflon skin and just let it go.
And that was really helpful to gain that skill.
Then because in anesthesia I'm able to not be afraid to have
the conversation that I did today with that surgeon.
And and we have a very respectful conversation about
our patient care and everybody was born on the same page and
ever participated, but it was like to even be able to bring
that up is like I got that ability from my time spent in
the meanest team didn't ask. There you go.
I love that. Love it.
What about you? I want.
I think it was finding my voice because as females were always
kind of and I hate to play that card like as females, but really
we are people Pleasers by nature and we don't want to cause a
Ruckus or make people hate us or be mad at us and sometimes
standing up for yourself for speaking up is taken in like a
very offensive Manner, and At the same time, we're encouraged
to speak up and stand up for ourselves or our patient.
So it was really difficult to find my voice.
And that was the biggest challenge for me because it's
also a way to command respect, but in a way that is
non-threatening. And so, luckily I've been put in
this position because it allowed me to gain that skill.
There was a time when some, there was a physician who kind
of demeaned me in front of a patient and my skill level, or
my importance in the operating room.
And this is somebody who I was working alongside of we were
Pierce. And so, for me, I had to speak
up in that moment because I knew that it was important for the
patient who because they need to understand moving forward that
they need to respect their nurse anesthetist and their nurse in
general. And if they will not if they see
that, we don't respect ourselves so that for me was the biggest
challenge of my career so far, because it took such guts for me
to just say, you can't talk to me like that.
And especially not in front of a patient.
Because if you talk to me like that how is the patient going to
trust me, right? Because you basically just
demean me no level and just everything my education.
And so that was the biggest challenge for me and then also
afterwards sitting down with that person and having like a
complete conversation about, here's what you did here is, why
it was awful and here's why it will never happen again.
And it was very unlike me at the time and I was a very young
nurse anesthetist, so it's kind of like your age is playing
against you to, because everyone's always like, oh well,
You just graduate, but commanding respect is really
difficult in an operating room, especially, when you were a
young female typically kind of soft spoken and it required me
to make a scene and I'm okay with it.
I'm really happy. It happened that day because
from that moment on that person and nobody did that to me ever
again. Yeah, it sets a precedence and
then it sets a tone, right? Like you're just that's not
okay. And you teach people how to
treat you, right? So that very moment what?
Yeah, what do they say? You get It.
How do you tolerate it? Because you tolerate how you're
treated and that is so true. It's very true.
I think that's a good lesson to learn and it's definitely for
our listeners and nurses that are starting off in their
careers. There's going to be that moment
and so think back to what Ellen is saying and her experience and
just know that like in those moments you if you tolerate it,
they'll keep dishing it out. So you got to call it out and
it's going to be awkward for a little bit, but you'll be
stronger on the other side because of it.
So that's what we learn about. Our challenges and everyone
every single time I've asked a nurse about that.
I see that every challenge is actually some really cool
blessing. And you think in the moment,
this is the worst thing, but in the end you look back here like
that actually was great. So what about?
I think both of you kind of describe some mentors, but maybe
just briefly, if you want to give a shout out to anyone that
you felt like really helped you in your career, I know Lacey a
describe the crn, a that was a little bit of ahead of her and
would always dangle the carrot. But I don't know if Ellen wanted
to share anyone or Lacey. You had anyone else you wanted
to share anyone? They give you advice along the
way I see. When you want to shout, I will
give a shout out to care an ace at the Mayo Clinic.
That's, that's my Karen and she was my neighbor growing up and
she was starting nursing school when I was starting high school
and she was working as a nurse when I was graduating.
And then she was in anesthesia school as I was trying to figure
out my life. And then, she really like the
day. I got accepted to Anesthesia
school, I called her and she sent me flowers, and it was just
like the sweetest thing and she's her, she's just as been,
just a really great mentor. So the whole Karen thing like I
know I feel bad like her, like her name is now like synonymous
with like a bad thing and I was like she didn't pick her name,
she's not a carrot, he's like the OG Karen.
Yeah, I think I've had a lot of mentors.
I someone told me a long time ago.
It's really important to have somebody along side of you who's
in the same state as you someone about three to five years ahead
of you and someone three to five years behind you.
And so I've tried to always kind of keep that rule I've had a lot
of mentors I can say first job as a nurse anesthetist, my
friend, Carol lent. And she still such an integral
part of my schooling and my experience as a nurse.
And just as a female, I should say, Lieutenant, Carol went.
She's just such a strong woman and she's a mom.
She was a lieutenant in the military.
She was deployed with young kids.
I mean, she's done everything. Anesthesia she's always shows up
with a smile on her face. Has the greatest work ethic I've
ever seen in a human being and she Is so highly respected, but
always has a smile on her face and like sun shines out of her,
but amazing. So as a CRNA she was my mentor.
I have to shout out the amazing TRNA, who trained me.
Her name is Kelly Herman's. She just gives so much back to
the community of crnas who want to advance their practice.
And although I follow other injectors throughout the nation
who have been doing this for very long time and I learned so
much from them. She just really stands up for
our profession and what Right? And what is allowed for us to
yearn for and that it's okay to want more, and I think that's so
important. So shout out to Kelly Herman's
as well. I think women nursing,
especially with mentorship and coming alongside and giving back
to the ones behind us. And for the ones that are in
front of us to look back and say, like, Hey listen, I got you
like, let me show you some of the things that I learned
sooner, or like, that is also another heart of the doctor
nurse podcast to just share, where we've been what we've gone
through. Through and I believe that,
like, in these little moments, you get little morsels and it's
like, yeah, I'd be great like to have like, one-on-one mentoring,
but it is just nice to hear someone share their journey and
hear how they got to where they are and what they're doing with
their careers. So, yes, very cool.
Like an aside, we have what, we have one more person that we
need to shout out in our community.
Tanya Bales, oh yes. Oh my gosh, go to her, I know
and I mean, there's so many people, so we have a nurse
anesthetist mom's Community, that's kind of where podcast was
born. This woman is a nurse
anesthetist, who survived dirty jobs.
That was her first husband, the LA times did a big podcast on
dirty, John who was like a psychopath, who was very
manipulative. And kind of just left this like
trail of Destruction, which ended up leading up to his
murder, spoiler alert if you didn't see it.
It's been out for years so I won't tell you who killed them.
That's the surprise. But she survived this.
I think it was like 10-year marriage with A sociopath.
And she, I mean so much. She just released, I think it's
on Audible. The, it's called like the first
wife or something. So it's like her story as the
first five because they're really dirty John's and they
made to do Netflix show. But the dirty John's story
really focuses on his later years that leading leading up to
his murder. And while yes, it's not murder,
its we're like self-defense. But anyways, that's, that's a
little care for your. But she Advocates so much for
women in our community who are in bad relationships.
Yeah. With advice.
And then she's also. Now taking this platform that
she was given unintentionally, she didn't seek it out the LA
Times contacted her about this and they created this podcast,
which then blew up and led to all these other things.
But she's taken this platform and really run with it.
And like when you were talking about Kelly and the way she
advocates in our communities, it's so true.
All that Kelly has done in advocating for nurses and really
like nursing assistants showing people really what is possible
and that like you Like it's okay to ask for more and that you
can't have more, but Tanya has also done a really good job in
our community. And now across the internet,
taking her story of like you said, that bad situation that
like horrible Mountain, it, you had to climb and go through and
using that to help other people. And so will give a shout out to
Tanya's. Well, totally Shameless plug for
a dirty, John the podcast, the series, and then now the first
wife podcast audible from her perspective, totally Shameless
plug go Listen to, it is mind-blowing.
If you haven't, I'm definitely going to check it out.
What advice do you have to give a new nurse that starting off on
her career? Maybe she wants to be a nurse
anesthetist. Maybe she does it.
She has no idea what she wants to do.
What's something that you wish you would have known sooner?
I think it's important to like explore all the Avenue that
nursing can take you down even as a nurse anesthetist, like,
not just being the nurse anesthetist, you know.
Yeah, floor the roles you can have administrative Lee.
Or the roles. You can have anesthetics,
explore the rules. You can have teaching explore so
much more than just anesthesia and waking people up every day
for a living, which is okay too. But I think it's important to
know that there's so much more out there that you don't have to
limit yourself or just like wait for somebody to introduce you to
it. Yeah, that's good.
I like that. What about you Lacey?
I should have gone first and this is speaking.
Now is a seasoned nurse because I graduated nursing school in
2007 and it is now 20 21. Don't even want to do that.
But I feel like naively. Like I went into it and I was
like, we're going to help people.
And we're all part of the healthcare team and it's
beautiful, and it's great. We all were together.
Take care of these patients and then like once you really start
getting into it and you start to see some of the power struggles,
some of the politics that's played behind the scenes and
like that stuff, really drains on me.
I've now kind of reached a point of like, acceptance of it's not
ideal. It's a double-edged sword.
One like you want the one you got to take the other two.
I'm half both edges of the sword.
I I didn't know that that was a factor or even really out there
and not really understanding that and think being hit with
it. I just kind of had to learn that
like this is just double edged sword and you if you want the
one Edge you guys take the other Edge too.
And so and maybe that's not the best approach but I feel like
it's really led me to a place of Peace where it's like I can
advocate for myself and my career and my profession.
But like I recognize that there's just going to be some
people who do not see the value in what I do because Of the
letters behind my name. No, that's good.
I think don't feel like that's a negative point.
I think it's truth and the truth resonates with people so that
that is something that you need to know.
It's the it's the business part of healthcare, right?
And you kind of think it's like going to be this like unicorns
and ponies and it's going to be super great.
And you're just everyone's going to love you and you just
amazing. Yeah.
And it's just not and there's going to be like a McDreamy and
you're like where is McDreamy and get all these things.
So like I think you're right. Right.
I think there are just things that you have to deal with that.
You're like, this is really great, but this is not so great
and that's kind of with every job.
So do your best to tweeze that out.
Find some side hustles, so you're not dependent on that
stuff so that if it gets bad enough and you don't enjoy it,
it's time to go do something else and it's always good to
have that perspective, right? I think that's the right way to
approach that. So, thank you for sharing.
So the last part of the interview is a rapid fire
questions. These are questions you could
not prepare for that. Are going to be just one too.
Answer. Punch, same.
I'm always prepared. We have plans, ABCD and E all
lined up. Oh my God.
Here is option, f for yeah. All right, cats or dogs?
Cats are ducks doctor. Dogs.
Totally a dog person to and talk or texting texting text.
Yeah, yeah. And give me your favorite day of
the week and why? I don't know.
I'm going to say Wednesday because I feel like that's like
when you go over the hump and it's downhill from there and you
have the whole again to look for a good answer, I'm gonna I'm
gonna go with Thursday for the same reasons but like you're
just further over the hump so totally revising of Gina movie
where she's like, pick your favorite day and she was like
April, We are at the end of our time
together. I really enjoyed the chat,
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