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.
Hi, doctor nurse podcast. Welcome today, we have a special
guest. Theo Jones, senior, received his
bachelor's degree from surgery under Douglas College in 2014
where he worked as an ICU nurse and then a trauma surgery or
nurse. He then pursued his Masters of
Science in nursing at Chamberlain University and March
of 2018, he is currently launched in runs the And white
coat, concierge LLC since 2018 and has worked in Internal
Medicine as a nurse practitioner hospitalist, I believe you have
your master's degree in family nurse practitioner.
Yeah. Okay he began his career with an
acute pain. Fellowship at MedStar Georgetown
hospital and later managing the acute care pain service at
several sites and the North Baltimore area.
Welcome. The that is not all you're
doing. You've got a whole bunch of
other stuff too. So, Side stuff.
So we will get into all your side, hustles.
All the things that you're doing on top of your business.
So, let's Dive Right In Your Ready.
Yes, dude. All right, so I just explained
cutting your backstory but I really want to know what you do
on a day-to-day basis. What's your days look like?
How do you define yourself as far as your job title?
Sure, on a day-to-day basis. I'm a lot of different things.
I guess the best description is the entrepreneur.
So on a day-to-day basis are kind of get up.
The first thing I do in the morning, which is meet with my
assistant, kind of outline, what we need to get done for today.
I'm reviewing the patient logs that I have and just see if
there's any patients that actually need anything.
All right, I go through a lot of different things.
Mostly good workout meditation. I joined the 5 a.m.
Club recently saw him and I'm loving it.
That's a great book. By the way, people should read
that after that. After I go through patience I
actually teach to. So I'll check with my classrooms
and if there's anything left kind of follow up on Pharmacy,
request and close my day out. Wow, so take me through all the
different buckets you're involved in.
So let's start with your concierge business, the weekend.
White coat. Exactly what is it that you're
doing there? You providing Primary Care?
Walk me through that. Sure we can wake holders like
completely my baby. That wasn't briefed.
It's so we can white coat. Concierge is a subscription
service for patients. So yes I do primary care but
also do so much more. I do one-on-one.
Health Care planning, I do vitamin drips which is pretty
much included in the service. I connect patients.
To my network, I've worked at a few hospitals for a long time.
So I've met a lot of doctors, a lot of Surgeons that, you know,
they're the best in the country. I've worked at some of the time
institutions, like top 50 hospitals.
So, I met a lot of people connect to a lot of people, they
get me as part of the service 24/7.
They get access to the weekend, white coat application, which is
a telemedicine app that I have right now, on the Google store
and Apple App Store. I didn't quite make the jump to
Amazon's. Absolutely, it's not enough
business there but on a daily basis is pretty much one of
those things where it's 24/7. If they need me, they get me.
If they don't need me. It's fine.
I'm still his support you when I was looking at your website,
you've got different tiers that you've got that people can buy
into. So that just UPS the level of
care that you get am I understanding that correctly?
100% correct. So some people like the option
of not having to subscribe to so much because everybody doesn't
need that much attention and some others do.
So some want you no more than one house called a year.
If they don't feel well some want less they just want to see
me when he want to see me and that works because bothering
people too much. She kinda it can kind of change
your relationship. Everybody, everybody gets away
from that annoying friend but I Think that's why I don't want to
be in the situation. I want to be that friend this
day and when you need them, yeah, that's really cool.
So in those packages and I heard you say you do IV hydration, you
do house calls, you do Labs, you manage their medications with
some of the other things that I mean those are a couple, the
ones I can recall but what are some of the other things that
you are able to do with your concierge company or business?
I can pretty much get specialty medications.
I have good relationships with compound pharmacies.
So the need something made up for a patient.
I can just kind of call the pharmacist and tell them exactly
what I want and they do it. I mean I can kind of I can make
a lot of stuff happen. It's all about who you know,
what you can do versus what they want.
What they want done in the reality of it, if that makes
sense. Yeah, and when I say that, I
mean somebody will have one idea and then they'll come to me and
they'll just get something completely different level and
they'll never expect it. Yeah.
Oh my God, this is way better than I expected that Traditional
925 office model has ruined us as people because we've moved
into this Society where Amazon can have a package to your door
in two days. But pre prior to that, it took
weeks for the Home Shopping Network, the ship, your stuff
for HSN, but with your white coat, we kind of change the
narrative, because Healthcare can come straight to you, and
it's not just like any in your regular Health Care is like, I'm
pulling up and doing EKGs. We're doing like a fool.
I work up in the home, all I even started this thing called a
VIP days where I Market is, get it all done in one day kind of
session, I get you I get you a full physical, get you started
on the drip get all your labs done.
If you need any specials referrals, I get it done that
same day and we kind of conclude on a transactional basis if
that's what they want. Wow VIP days are pretty popular.
So do people need health insurance to see you?
Are you private pay? No, I'm probably that you don't
even need health insurance to see me, honestly, using health
insurance. The only thing that I use it for
is for the things that I order for the patient.
Other than that. Now, you don't need to have
health insurance to see me. And how many hours a week are
you working on the job? Crushing it.
How many days, how many hours a week are you working?
Because I mean driving to see patients and taking care of
people that can take a lot of time.
Do you have a radius that you work in?
That was another question. I wanted to know.
Like, do you say like, listen, if you're 50 miles out, like, we
out, or if you're like, no, no, no, I treat everybody.
No matter where they are in the greater Baltimore area, I'll go
to you. Yeah, those are my questions.
Like, how many hours are you spending a week at work?
I will say weekend, white coat physically how many hours I
would say, I spend about, Out maybe 15 hours a week
physically. As far as like digitally I will
see I made me spend about 30 to 40 hours a week okay?
So heavy on the novel's, got a ton of time in the grand scheme
of things of what I was doing. As a hospitalist some weeks is a
hospital is I'll be like clock at 70. 80 hours a week versus me
doing like 20 to 30. Yeah I own my own business.
Yeah it's kind of a different vibe for sure.
And the other different vibe is the cost.
So as a hospital is say you make about Hundred grand a year.
Are you pulling incomparable pay or more better better?
So they closed. There's medicine is pretty
lucrative, so you don't find the usual crowd, the crowd that I
usually have, I like entrepreneurs, a lot of them are
high net worth individuals who have the luxury of paying for
cost savings Services over time, saving services.
So if you can have a cleaning lady, come to your house and
clean your home. You don't have to do it, you can
focus on doing other tasks and your business, right?
If you can have a car cleaning service, come to you to clean
your car, you don't have to do it.
Now, if you don't have to go and wait inside of a doctor's office
for 23 hours, after your appointment time, you don't have
to do it. Also occupied a few other
spaces, when covid hit pretty bad, especially earlier this
year, I was going mobile covert testing.
So it was it was a pretty A pretty good year so far - she
was a really good year you can make your money plus some if you
can mark it right and find the right clientele pocket.
Wow that's incredible. That's the weekend white coat
which I like that name. I think it's really cool.
It's just got really like just got an edge to it.
You're involved in some other things.
As I was looking you up, you've got an e book that you've
written your really into Finance.
It looks like you've teamed up with another nursing influencer
and you guys have created some content.
Tell me a little bit about what your what also you're in as far
as that's concerned. Oh yes.
So to ebooks my first ebook was a so you want to be a nurse is
kind of a two-part book in one. So the first part is so you want
to be a nurse in the second half of it is.
So you want to be a nurse practitioner and this kind of
just walking you through the day one to kind of end game.
And that was kind of the intro into our second book, white
coat, green bands, which is kind of Life at Big side and trying
to help people transition away from bedside.
And it's funny me and Morgan was my business partner.
We always talk about how they don't teach too much financial
literacy in nursing. They don't teach a lot of how to
get away from this, they teach you how to be in it, but they
don't teach you how to get out of it 100%.
Yes, I'm a Financial Freedom Advocate from day one, my goal
is to be completely free. Of like anything, maybe about
40. Like I just want to have that
much passive income. Stacked up by the time I turn.
Oh, I guess 45 at this point. Yeah, I'm already 33 so.
Well, I'll be 33 this month. Well, happy early birthday.
Thank you. I love that goal.
I love that. You're dreaming big.
I feel like you're going to get there at 40.
I don't know what you got going on, but I just feel like you're
a go-getter. So I see you at 40, just
knocking it out of the park. And so, as far as that stuff is
going, is that is that it is, that all we got, is that all the
Okay, so so we're actually actually going to be relaunching
the so you want to be a nurse, but we're going to break it down
into books now, so it's going to be a lot more.
Well, I guess you would call it an Abridged version but we're
going to add a ton more information.
What type of that white coat, green bands?
The book that has a cost attached to it.
We did a part 2 which is still on sale then we did flight
school which is absolutely awesome.
I think the The Flight School record which is more like
Financial Freedom, financial literacy kind of stuff trying to
help get you from bedside to business inside of.
That course we did a lot of stuff, we had an Airbnb expert,
you had a IV rehydration team come in and kind of show the
blueprint to start your own IV rehydration service.
I even taught how to build a telemedicine practice in the
course. And that was that was pretty
fun. We talked about building an
e-book in marketing itself A bit of a marketing Guru on the side
from what I can see. Yeah, we did pretty well as far
as marketing last year. A lot of Facebook, it's a lot of
like a lot of collaboration with different things just to kind of
put everything together so we could have a lot with that.
And this year we are having got a 10 ft project coming up moving
into the digital space. I love this whole crypto thing
in this whole like exclusive non fungible token kind of There's
yes. So that's coming soon and more
to come. Yeah, as I really like how
you're starting to kind of get poetry has these roots that kind
of just go out and they goes looking for water so that the
trees number without something coming in.
I really love that analogy for what you're doing.
It's kind of the same thing of like just sending out your roots
to go find sources of income from other areas.
That's just absolutely brilliant.
And it's the thing that More nurses need to be doing and I
love having these conversations because I think it brings these
awareness to other nurses and other people are doing it.
Why not you these resources that you're providing to people?
I think is very beneficial, so fantastic.
How did you get here? Because you didn't wake up one
day and just have weekend, white coat, business, and an e-book,
and adapt, and telemedicine and all this stuff.
You went through a journey to get to this spot.
So kind of walk me through the day, you decided to become a
nurse until you're out. Point now with you got buckets
and buckets. How did this happen?
What is pretty funny? I wasn't a health care provider
initially, so I was, I used to be a therapist actually, like a
mental health may be hilarious. I was, I worked in sight for,
like, five years, prior to switch into nursing.
So, I think we really changed. I was, I remember I was dating
this girl like a time. This is before I was married.
This was like way back. Yeah, I was like at At CCBC,
which is a community college here.
And I was visiting a friend of mine, he was taken up accounting
courses and I remember being in the hallway thinking to myself
like man, I need to get out of this draining line of work.
I absolutely hate it. I'm pouring so much of myself
into this job and all I get is complaints not knowing at the
time with Health Care was, but go family.
So initially I started taking my prerequisites at a community
college and I Getting ready to apply for the nursing program
and the counselor told me I would never get into the program
with my grades which I found interesting because I mean I
didn't exactly have failing grades.
It was more so that I guess it was so much competition and she
didn't think I was good enough to make it but I didn't let that
stop me. I have this saying if is no door
letting you in jump through the window, don't be denied.
So I jump through a lot of windows.
Those flats are like three, maybe three or four different
nursing schools, which feels impossible with the amount of
paperwork. You got to do but I did it.
And that's how I end up actually going to suggest a Douglas
college. So I started there in 2011 and
while I was going through the program, my first job was as a
nursing student at the VA, which was terrible.
By the way, it was. Oh my God, I think that you see
on, I hate hate. Say this out loud but everything
that you see on the news about the VA health system on my God,
it's multiplied by 5. Oh my goodness.
So that was my first job. And after that I was ICU nurse X
term for Maryland general, which doesn't exist anymore.
I'm dating myself. All right brother, Maryland
General doesn't exist anymore but I was asking you there's
extern from there. I did some time doing that.
So the program that I was in Nats Audrina Douglas College.
They had an LPN exit option, where you can take your LPM
boards and still finish up their bachelor's.
Oh, so I did it exit. Option LPN.
I took the LPN ink like someone lunch previously and passed it
and came back to school without what I hope when I tell people
that's 30. Look at me crazy.
But I went on my lunch break, I passed it and I went back to
school. Swear to God you can access all
my friends, they with it. And I worked as a Corrections
nurse for the year and some change, until I finished my
bachelor's and acting like you're the kind of guy, the kind
of guy who could work a Corrections nurse job.
Like, I could never do work corrections but like you're a
big guy, so, like you could go into those areas and like
totally get away with it. Like, little old me even though
the money looks really great and those jobs, like, I could not
survive there. I just cut it.
Like, oh Sandra, thank you, be surprised.
Those are some of the nicest criminals.
I mean Honestly, they were nice to my face that I get in the
hospital. Really, what else do I have
taken care of some inmates? When I was a nurse and outside
of being intrigued by like why are you handcuffed to the bed?
Like I was headed just wondering what they were doing.
They really were nice. People like I've never had one
that was like you see, these terrible things on TV were like,
these people are like clamoring in the bed and then you actually
meet them and they're like, yeah, I did some stuff and I'm
here. So yeah, thanks for taking care
of me. So yes, sir and no sir.
You know, thank you. Thank you, sir.
I'm very grateful people. Yes, honestly, I look back on
it. Fondly, and the only thing I
hate it was being locked in. That was the worst like being
locked in handed to a closed minds.
You just, yeah, you know. Yeah, I can see that being a
little unnerving and, you know, that that's where they live
their lives. It's got to be gives you a lot
of compassion for them, right? Yeah.
How we roll like the taste or phones?
You can't have a phone for like eight hours at a time.
Wow. So if anybody needed to contact
you, if it was an emergency they would never be able to reach.
It was the craziest thing how so you did that job for how long?
So I was there's a OPN for about a year and after I finished
boards and I'll never forget this the day out the day I
figured figured out that I passed.
My boards was December 4th, 2014 K and I was in the office as LPN
and I remember like everybody was like happy that I passed my
boys are visit. Yeah.
Yeah.
And then charge nurse that was that it they said good job but
today is still LPN. Get back to work.
And following week I was the charge nurse.
Hey I know, right? So it's a lot of those on my
journey. I was there for about, I guess
about two years on and off. I still did some PRN.
I took my first job and I see you in 2015 and I had been
grooming myself to be as universe.
So long, I took the job and completely hate it.
Oh my goodness. What made you think that you
wanted to be an ICU nurse and then what made you realize you
can't stand it. Well, I really like the science
of it, it's such a, such a forward-thinking specialty in
nursing and they're always the creme de La Creme of journalist.
The hospital is nothing. More Pride feeling than heaven
and I see you t-shirt, a jacket. Everybody knowing each other's
eyes you nurse so you Wanted it for, like the status, like the
status symbol, like in the size, you like the science.
But also just being like, I'm at the top, the top, like the
American Express card in nursing, you know, it's true.
So what made you realize you hate it?
The personalities. Oh my God, it is such a Mean
Girls Club, like, maybe because I got the same mentality.
Like we're the bad ones. We know we're doing like lala
and then they're like also like awful to be right.
And if so is so much gatekeeping and has here, a lot of people
don't talk about this is so much gatekeeping.
I mean, depending on if they like you depending on what you
look like, it's a lot of gatekeeping they'll do, if they
don't like it. They'll try to get ready.
Yeah. And I remember my last day and I
see this is before I decided I needed to leave.
My son was just born and I was trying to get some kind of
leave. Like I'll try and take a little
bit of time off to take care of your newborn baby.
Uh-huh. Yeah.
Yes, because I'm on my wife, wasn't.
She was sick after birth and she wasn't doing well.
And then there's manager who's a woman.
Look me in my eye and said, well I think you need to focus on
your career and I was like, okay, I'm going to go ahead and
go to, there's recruitment. See if I can get reassigned to a
different spot. Yeah, that's the right move.
Honestly. Yeah, so during that time, I had
the time off actually I had a significant amount of time over
which was pretty good and I ended up going to trauma or
Which is absolutely my love. I love trauma or surgery kind of
Groom to me in a way. It helped my knowledge.
It gave me skills that I was able to translate directly as a
nurse practitioner. But in the middle that journey,
I, that's when I realized I wanted to go back to school and
become a nurse practitioner, while I was in the O and the
scheduling in the flexibility that made it possible.
This was the only unit that I worked where I actually got.
Two solid breaks. I had a morning break-in at a
lunch break. And if I was lucky, I had a
dinner break. Depending on what time the ships
were breaking down. And I was like, is this some
kind of fantasy, man? I thought I was in Narnia.
I was like yeah, it was beautiful.
Yeah, it didn't come without its challenges, but it served my
purpose which kind of wings into like use a judge.
Before it uses, you is a lesson that I usually say, I got a
little Mantra that the first chapter of the we can't wait the
white cold green beans but is called f that job and it's a
mantra. Let's kind of use your
imagination. Yeah.
Mantra is use that job before uses.
You because it doesn't care about you as which goes to say
that. In that situation, I was
working. And throughout that process, it
was kind of like, hey, come during the snow.
Come Darkness. Come during that.
You got class, I understand. But come during that.
Come do that here. We just need somebody to cover
these cases. Yeah, you know, nobody cared
about the exhaustion in the burnout.
So I did my I did my two two and a half years of studying so I
can get this Masters. I did my clinicals while I was
working, we can option. And in 2018 I graduated March
2000. Wow.
Yeah, so then you I saw that you took a hospitalist job as a
nurse practitioner, which is tough hospital, as a nurse,
practitioner jobs, bring, bring the heat.
So after you are in the or trauma, you loved it.
It sounds like that was kind of the first job you really loved.
Actually you like the prison job to the correctional unit.
Tell me a little bit about this hospital is job that you took as
a nurse because I've always been interested in hospital is job.
I feel like it'd be a really good on-the-job training because
you see everything walk. The door.
And so, yeah, I tell me a little bit about that.
And then how you ended up transitioning into your own
business? Well, okay, so hospital is if
you do not know your stuff, you'll get your butt.
Yeah, what happens that my fellowship was I did it when I
did this Fellowship in pain management, I was working like
post-surgical patients and it was, it was fun.
It was interesting. And I didn't like it after all
because all of my console to end up being those like long-term
drug users, who came in off. Like a three-day cocaine bender
and Heaven pain. And I was like, I'm gonna lose
my skills doing this so I switched the hospitalist.
So you did a fellowship which is like where they train you use
like on-the-job training, right? Yeah.
I was trained. I spent, I spent maybe about
four or five months of the Georgetown Hospital working with
a really brilliant anesthesiologist.
Actually, two of them and it was like a group of us.
We all came on to him. Learn, that's how, you know,
manage pain and then you took that job.
The Chronic pain job and you were like, this is awful, got
you? Yeah, so but I switched to
effort after I finish that out I switch to hospitalist which was
very interesting because I started to really learn what it
was like to do Internal Medicine.
The guy trained in family practice, but it was no real
precursor to what being a hospitalist was like not only is
the hours pretty grueling seven days.
Days on, seven days off is not for the weak.
I really cut my teeth during that time and I learned so much,
it made me a better clinician in some ways like I can treat a
patient in find conditions, a lot better than I would have
done, if I didn't have to train in traditional Family Medicine
experience. So you get those like home and
colds, sinus infections, tonsillitis stuff like that.
Defense it off. Yeah, but lo and behold when I
decided to switch to be a hospitalist, we had covid-19.
It was the condition and nobody knew.
What the hell is happening. Scare nobody knew how to treat
it. We was just out here blind as a
bad here. I am my first year as a
hospitalist. Oh, shoot?
Yeah, yeah, you're in it. Wow, was in the trenches?
Yeah, you did this for I guess up until the end of covid.
So when did you start your business?
Oh, it's not a weekend like, cult-like the minute I finished
school. I was like I'm not waiting for
anybody. I want to have my own practice.
This and this is how I want to live my life.
I was already laying the groundwork for week.
I'm like cold. My first logo was terrible, but
I always had this hustle to try to do more than one thing at the
same time because something's going to read.
Oh, I love that. Let's stop right there.
I like that.
You started with that mindset right out of school.
Like I need to be in multiple things because something is
going to free me. How did you get that mentality?
What what made you think that? Because I don't think that's an
eight. I don't think.
People think that what? Oh, my God, you too.
Thanks my mother has so much talent.
She's she's an artist, she's a stylist, she's a teacher.
And she's like, always done so many different things.
She was a florist at one time, and I seen her do all these
different things to make all these different things happen
and it was never all her eggs in one basket.
So watching her and my dad, my dad, he was, he started his own
business. - while when he was still young, but his 30s and 40s
and him is entrepreneur. I've seen how much Freedom that
allotted him while it took up a lot of his time.
I don't think he could scale at the time when he needed it.
But seeing those two they kind of really inspired me to get on
that wave of having my own because it's nothing like
ownership that it change your life, a lot of people go to the
table and when they negotiate the contracts his nurse
practitioners. They really forget that they're
providing a service. That is Irreplaceable.
So the equity conversation shouldn't be off the table.
When negotiating we all supposed to be rich?
I mean, that's my mindset. We supposed to be rich.
There's there shouldn't be any poverty, in our blood.
We work this hard to get here. We're supposed to be rich hands
down. I don't care what anybody says
being humble in that. We supposed to be rich.
Interesting. I like that.
That mentality of we are not
supposed to be poor. We're not supposed to be broke
because I think a lot of people are working.
NG and they have done all this work and they are broke.
And they are struggling financially.
And I like that mentality shift of just like I'm not going to
accept that. Like, that is not acceptable.
Like that is not okay. I think in another conversation
I had with another entrepreneur. She is very much.
Like, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
I let it go. And at first, I was like, okay,
just let's, and then I started realizing no.
Once you say I will not tolerate it.
It changes the atmosphere. It's like a thermostat on the
wall. You go and adjust the
temperature when you go like that temperature, don't fly here
like that. Just the thermostat doesn't go
there. Then you just realize like your
life, adjust to that. And so I think that's great.
I think it's a great mindset to have just, I won't accept that.
That's just not nice. Not okay.
With me this like a simple question is, do you tolerate
disrespect? Yes or no, right?
And if you do not tolerate disrespect and being underpaid
for your services is clearly, Respect huh.
Nobody should tolerate disrespect.
Yeah, that's the truth. I'll tell you one thing.
One of the hardest situations I've been through in my life.
So my dad died in 2018, right? I was going for interviews for
like, nurse practitioner interviews and maybe about two
to three days. After my, after my dad passed, I
had this interview with this position and he was opening.
This is vascular surgery, clinic.
And I interviewed. I mean, I Like really like
killing his interview and at the end of the interview has got
office me, seventy seven thousand dollars.
Like I'm here three days after my dad died and you offered me
three thousand dollars, I could have punched him in his face,
you know. That was the most disrespectful
thing I've ever went through in my life.
Yeah, it was fun. Why did it recently
disrespectful? Why did it feel disrespectful
explain what was going on explains?
I was being asked to do outpatient, follow-ups,
inpatient file. Follow-ups, showing up for
surgeries, the first assessment procedures I needed to cross
cover another provider work. Yeah, after the day was over.
And when it came time to say, hey, what kind of salary do you
want for this? I said, hey, 110k seems fair and
this guy looks me right in my eyes and say, oh, I was thinking
more like 77,000. Meanwhile, so much stuff that we
had to go through, at my dad's house, paperwork try to align
insurances. It's so much more than I could
have been going to be there to help my family.
In that that mental value of me being there.
It just felt like the most disrespectful thing.
World. Yeah, I see that.
So you're saying like I could have spent my time someplace
else instead I'm here and then you give me this lowball offer
for this job. That's going to be requiring a
lot of time. I shouldn't even come to.
This interview is kind of what you were thinking, right?
Yeah, you know. Yeah.
I think we call you say y'all should be on about my lateness
that I even show up to this fake, you know?
Yeah, I know. Yeah.
It's like this is like the most tragic like I don't, I don't
want to get out of bed for less than less than 58.
Right. Yeah, I hear what you're saying,
but I feel like for Value standpoint at this point in my
life. I would much rather have that
time and freedom to be with my family than to, you know, being
scrubs being told to go see this patient or that patient against
my, will versus doing it with my own with yes, you know, that's
what spurred the weekend, white coat, right?
So like that, that is exactly what is where we can.
Wait cold. I wanted to change the health
care experience for me and the patient.
It's easy to burnout is so easy to burn out and being in and out
of the hospital throughout the pandemic and seeing patients on
my own and seeing patients in the hospital.
The vibe is definitely different.
I actually, like my patients, they're good people.
We get to pick our own, right? Not, not that I dislike the
people that I see in the hospital.
Yeah, I can't pick and choose hate so you exactly what it's
your business, and someone is just kind of emotionally, just
not what your Vibe or just he's just patient is Just abusive or
whatever, nurses in the hospital have to take it.
I mean, we're not told to defend ourselves, we're not told to.
Hey listen. Like you there's a level of you
will not tolerate. We will not tolerate this
Behavior towards our nurses. And so they saw you hear these
stories of nurses, being hit kicked, and cussed out and all
these different things. Where it's like, if you were to
do that, you do this to one of our nurses, we're going to
remove you from the hospital. They don't do that.
They they allow it, they tolerate it.
And so because of that and You say personally this doesn't fly
in my space. I'm out of here.
Then you have to take it because the job won't support you and
wasn't nice about having your job.
Is you get to go it's my business.
Like I don't want you here because you're disrespectful or
abusive or whichever and I now have the authority and the power
to remove you which essentially beautiful.
I mean, again, there's probably laws and contracts and you just
can't say, Hey, listen, time and you have to inform them and If
like that but still at least you have the option of saying, I
don't have to tolerate this and that's also what
entrepreneurship buys you advise?
You not just you can tolerate what you have the ability to
tolerate, what it is that you do and do not want but then it also
frees you up from a Time standpoint of just being like I
get to do what I want to do. Like I get to go to work today.
I get to work on my baby which is different.
You have a different love for your job. 100%.
I mean honestly if I feel like I'm going to take a day off Take
a day off, I'll just call my assistant and say, hey, can you
cover the phones? Let them know that I will not be
doing anything outside of any membership work today and said,
yeah, that's beautiful. He says, well, I got to say this
here is very important. We protect our nurses,
especially I'll women or system, 90% in the field.
See, I can handle myself if the patient wants to fight back, but
it's not fair for patients, who have obvious mismatch to these
to these nurses that are on the floors in this Insidious.
I hated, yeah, I can't go to Every Hospital and protect.
But we need to protect our nurses in.
These hospitals are doing the pit, very piss-poor job, you
know? Yeah.
It kind of Angus, mm. Yeah, no, I can see that.
Yeah, I can see. It's making you upset and it
makes me upset because it's again.
I've been in those situations where you're in a room with
someone and you're like, I'm uncomfortable here and you have
to still continue to provide care.
So again, nurses are warriors and it shouldn't have to be that
way. You shouldn't have to go to work
and fight. It's kind of scary but after
all, that, and your journey, we Can white coat, I love it.
I love to how you got to where you are.
And again I think you kind of shared one of your biggest
challenges which was that day that your father had passed away
and you had to go to work and you interviewed at this job but
tell me about a time that was a real high in your career.
I mean have you had a moment along the path that you were
like, this was amazing. This day this moment was a real
high in what you've been doing and what you've been building.
I had a lot of those. It's hard to say, I mean, I
would say deciding opening doors on weekend.
Like it was one of my favorite days.
I remember, it was just something I learnt Day in 2018.
I was like, I'm going to start seeing patients but that was a
great day. Another great day was the first
day I realized that some, ER, doctors do not do any medical
work. It sounds mean, but I remember,
I remember admitting this patient.
She came in with a Plane of chest pain.
And she was complaining of this pain.
That was more like, a be great, gastric towards liver, and it
was no real Imaging done. They had this lady, like worked
for stress test and I just happened to notice that her,
your analysis had a huge amount of bilirubin in it, more than
average and I end up just kind of opting for a height of versus
stress test only for my gamble to pay off and see these.
She really had cholecystitis verse Is this chest pain worker?
She was able to have surgery and under 24 hours to study this
versus a whole different diagnosis.
I mean, this lady could add a whole different outcome for
hospital care. If we worked up for chest pain
and sent her home. Yeah, so exactly.
That was a, that was a big day for your cats being the being
able to solve your own problems or just having a knowledge to
kind of say, hey, this is what I say, I stand by it.
I guarantee you this blue magic, it's Blue Magic.
We made it. I've never heard that before.
Any other challenges that you had to overcome throughout your
journey that you like to share with my listeners today?
Hey crazy like nerves bullying, kind of caring culture.
I know some the ICU or different places.
I see you honestly this all through Healthcare Healthcare is
kind of nuts in a way. I had a bit of a unique
experience. As a black man and nursing in, I
don't think enough people talk about it.
You know what, what did you say, your experience?
What was, what did you notice? So, so it's a lot of
gatekeeping, a lot of second guessing you would be shocked.
I mean, I recently had a patient, I still kind of pick up
in the hospital once in a while. I recently had a patient, she
won't even talk to me. She told the nurse that she
didn't think I was a real provider weight, and because of
what reason being a man being black?
I was black. Oh my goodness.
Tristan was like, she was like, I don't think he's a real, like,
when I, when I spoke to the patient in this very apparent,
when you meet those patients that are discriminating against
you as a provider. They won't make eye contact.
They won't talk to you. They won't look at you, they'll
just say things like hey, I want a real doctor and I find it
always find it. Funny.
I'm like, are you sure you want to talk to a person that has
like lightly been listening to your family members care, but
I've been here day to day, you sure.
Yeah. I was like, all right sure.
I'll go get this doctor and explained the whole situation.
Situations him so he can regurgitate everything that I
told him. Yeah.
So how do you overcome it? Because one of the things that I
really find important for African-Americans, is that one
of our things about our history that I think is beautiful, is
how we have overcome, right, right, because we've had to
write, we've had to overcome such great barriers and things
that have held attempted to hold us back from success.
And so, what are some of the things are the techniques that
you've learned throughout your time, as being A black man as
working in the healthcare field as a nurse practitioner.
How have you overcome some of these?
What are some of the techniques that you've used to overcome
these moments of blatant racism? Maybe not even blatant.
That you can't even tell like what I mean, I guess.
Yeah. How have you overcome that?
I needed the confidence of 10 men to overcome the microgrid,
microagressions the confidence of ten men to stand in the face
of someone questioning, what you do for a living.
I also needed to have people to support me is hard.
It's very, very hard to find mentors in this space and I
found one really good Mentor. The doctor trained me, dr.
Michele, Martin Jones. She was like the only doctor
that would take me under her. Swing outside of my pediatric
rotation, she's like the only physician taking into her ring
on a random phone call because it was so hard to find my own
preceptor. And she's been in his so long
that if I'm feeling something I'll just call her and she'll be
like, hey, I've seen that before, she's was such an
amazing resource and she's a little older.
So she's seen that generation where she was doubt it worse
than I was and having somebody that's been there.
Tell you what's, okay? And that you'll continue to Go
through and see those good patients that will change your
life. It kind of makes me feel good.
Yeah so we'll see that and have that and it really helped me
boost my confidence. Yeah but I think the problem is
some stuff will never go away. There it is that generation.
He just it just won't go away in the things that its inherent
bias that people have is very and I mean, honestly, it just is
no no room for it in the health care profession.
Yeah. But it's still a slow process
because Unconscious bias. Yeah, I think it's one of those
things that we would like for it to be gone like cancer.
It's like why can't we, why can't we cure it?
But I think it's one of those things in life that it will
always be with us. And so what we need is
African-Americans as Puerto Ricans as biracial as Asian
Americans. Whatever it is, is to realize
one, I think it's beautiful that you said that she had it even
worse than you had it and she was able to keep staying in the
game. She To be there so that you
could have someone to talk to, to keep going in the faith.
And so, if we quit, if we say, oh, this isn't for me, I don't
have what it takes. Then what we will end up doing
is making it harder for the ones behind us because they will be
here and they will have no one to relate to.
But then also realizing that this is something that we are
going to be dealing with. And so we need to create tools
tricks, mantras whatever it is. We need to come up with things.
Things that we are able to bolster ourselves against it
because it is not going away, it is called humankind, we are
expecting humankind to move past itself and it will not.
I believe that it is something inside of us, that comes out in
different ways for different people.
And so again, I've been in a room and I don't think I've ever
shared this on the podcast, but I've been in a room where I've
had a patient, not know that, my father is African-American and
say, Slurs when the African American nurse assistant walks
out of the room and I'm like, dude my dad's black like don't
don't think just because I'm alone, couple of Shades lighter,
that I am not any more African-American than that.
Girl, that just walked out of there, out of the room.
And yet he said a racial slur in front of me and I couldn't
believe it. Now, again at that moment, I had
a moment to either us like realize that I'm not going to
change this individual. This individual is exactly who
they are. AR.
And so I'm not going to waste time adding fuel to the fire,
but it also let me see who they were and that and that for me is
just like you got to be careful around this individual.
And so I think the point of all that story is that it's around
us even when it's not blatant. And even when you don't see it,
it's still there. And so just creating like you
said, that Mantra of I am going to be confident despite what's
coming at me. I think is absolutely.
The pivotal to fighting this battle because it's not ending
and I don't think it ever will. I agree.
Also nursing needs to make some changes itself to.
Yeah, the think one, big part of the representation is to have a
bevy of Administration Management that look like us.
When I still look around and some of these hospitals and
there's management don't look like me, like I say unconscious
bias from a psychological standpoint, people feel
comfortable and relate to people that look like them versus
People that don't. So I remember I always like when
I was applying for these jobs they will always give you the
survey and say. Do you think you work well in an
inclusive diverse team? And I would always say yes and
only to get into the environment and it's a big.
No, it's no inclusive diversity. I check off two boxes.
I'm a black man and I had this joke with my friends.
I'm like the walking diversity quota and especially in
everything there. Sure being black and being a
man. You are.
You are the the now Not common, when ninety percent of nurses
are female. So yeah, for sure.
And and I guess I wonder, and this is just for my own
edification. What you feel like include like
a diverse Administration? What do you think that that
would bring to the table for African-Americans?
I think that would bring more opportunity to African-Americans
to growing and space Health Care needs us.
I think that People just seem to bypass that who I did, they need
us. Because how do you treat a
population that you can't relate to?
Hmm, being black is such a unique experience.
The thing is, nobody can tell you how to be black, how to feel
it being black. So how do you tell a patient
that has no, kind of know kind of relation to you about their
experience? It's a unique thing.
I mean from the communities we live in into the things that
I'll family say is such a unique experience.
Yeah. So how can you how can you
relate to? A patient is nothing about and
mean, and let's be honest, some of these health care providers
that first time, seeing a black person isn't clinicals is on
that. Residence rotation.
So how do you, how can you relate to somebody that you have
no experience working with? Yeah, that will be like me going
to Mexico and working as a working as provided and then
mistakenly giving every patients, kid evil.
I thought I mean Like, you don't even understand what you're
doing. Like please just stop.
Yeah, exactly. That's a really good
perspective. I like that.
You said that because there are times when I see African
American patients in my husband will say, or I'll take care of
an African-American patient or I'll come home and tell a story
and he's like, you were able to relate to them.
And I'm like God's because it's just, yeah, I was raised with my
black father. So like I know certain Concepts.
I understand certain things that are just inherent.
Like, I'm just like, yeah, I get that.
And so you're right. You, I do relate.
At different times better than other races.
But I do want to make a point that, I believe that, every
color can have the desire within them to relate and to do the
best that they could. And so to ask questions, if
you're like, am I putting this in a way that makes sense?
Or like asking those probing questions more so than just
assuming that you understand things?
I think that humility of like I might not get this.
Let me make sure that I'm presenting this in such a way or
relating to this person I think Can be done by everyone.
I don't believe that this is an exclusive thing where
African-Americans could only be taken care of by
African-Americans. I don't believe that.
Yeah, I think, but I think the problem is Healthcare as a whole
needs to get rid of that arrogance that they can do every
yes, and to admit. So, I mean, it's like, it's a
certain level of arrogance. Yeah, I agree.
And I think to admit, I don't know this.
And so I want to bridge that Gap.
That requires humility. And that is something that I
don't really see a lot in healthcare.
So, That's very good. Very good point.
Last question is, what advice do you have for a new nurse who
starting off in her career? That is a piece of advice.
You would say you want to keep and a piece of advice to toss.
Okay, first, the piece of advice I would tell us, you do not have
to start off a mysterious every what's that?
I think that is a common misconception.
You do not have to start in the med surg.
Med-surg is a graveyard every med, surg nurses.
I've ever met. They talk to themselves at the
ATM. Yeah.
Or they talk to themselves in the lunch line.
I've never seen a med-surg. There's that wasn't Driven
Crazy. You do not have to start.
That is that is the advice I want.
I did the well, it got. They don't win this.
I love that drives me crazy. Do not listen to these old
archetypes. Tell you what you have to do.
Yes, you can do what you want. I love that and tossed.
Okay. So toss that and then to keep
one piece of advice to keep and have to keep your eggs in one
basket. The idea is freedom.
We want to get away from the day side.
Let's be free. We can't spend our whole lives.
You don't want to be that one nurse on a unit that has the
jacked up back the drags, one foot monster.
Some patients you want to be free, such yourself up, we're in
the profession where we make decent money.
I mean it's even to the point where Congress wants to kept
like traveling respect. That's all good evening.
Yeah. We can, we can leverage
high-net-worth into free s. We're in a very unique position.
I mean, most nurses within a three-year time.
Period, can make six figures. It's only like, I will say like
maybe 10 to 12 percent of the people making six figures.
So yeah, let's live. This, I feel like you can start
something that hustle Investments, whatever you can to
have, as much pay you to buy your freedom out of working,
full time, you need your peace, your time out.
This is my advice, your time is worth more than you value it.
Hmm. So respect.
Yeah, yeah, your time is valuable and you don't realize
it, but it's so funny. When you're young nurse to you,
don't realize that at least I did it.
I looked at things and material things, as I had to work a shift
for that, or I got to go on this trip and so you would kind of
look, I looked at it like it was just a shift instead of that's
my time. And so once I had my son, I
began to realize, oh my gosh, my time super valuable because I'm
actually having to trade my time with my son for a job, and
that's when it became the commodity became very high,
right? So before we go a handbag, Shoes
that trip to Austin, whatever it was, it was fine to trade, my
time for that, but then when it became, no, no, the time is with
my son, and that's now the commodity that gets traded.
The price was too high. Something had to change.
And so since yeah, right. This is book called your money
or your life. I think the author's name is
Vicki. Robin, you ever read it.
I'm so sorry. Now that you've said it, you've
got to buckle your your money or your life, that's two bucks.
I got a list. I'm like this self-help
development of that. So, I mean, the thing with your
money or your life, she breaks down every product that you buy
in two hours of your life, so I don't know.
So you make $20 an hour, right? Yeah.
And you want to buy, you know, a new pair of Jordans tennis shoes
for like, $180, how many hours of your life to those tennis
shoes? Cause she, yeah, you know, yeah.
When you could have bought Nike stock about it that way by few
bison, a Nike stock, then again, appreciate Exactly.
Yeah. Like pre-pandemic Nike was like
I think Nike got as low as like $79 or something like that as
far as the stock 10-point like 117, is some point, it's crazy
people listening. We if you have another show and
you want to talk about Financial Freedom, I come back because
I'll break it down. I loved it, I loved it.
That's like my favorite thing like and I'm going to start
breaking it down. I had a Blog from like years ago
that I never touched his financing.
Dot-com. I'm going to, I'm going to start
making it active again, because that was really, really fun
time. My yeah, these people don't,
they got to get it, got to get it and tell me, hey, great
nurses. We spend so much of our Lives
serving and caring for others. We need people looking out for
us and making sure that we are getting taken care of, because
we take care of everybody. So he says that because I'll
tell you, I'll leave you with this message, whether this my
last thing, I'll say on here jobs, don't care about you, they
will replace you with The next person up, they will replace you
with the next perky one here. The minute you fall, true.
So that's so true. Gearbox yourself more than a
job. Hey man, I'm with you, man.
So for the last part of our interview is the rapid fire
questions, question. Questions, you ready?
This is great. If you gave someone a book to
read, what would it be four hour work week?
That's a very good. One of my favorite books.
Name a song that makes you happy.
Asana makes me happy. Yeah.
Kendrick Lamar humble humble Kendrick Lamar, but I don't
think I know that one sit down be humble, hold up.
Sit down. And what's your favorite
restaurant? Opens?
Heatley. Bistro is the place here in
Baltimore. It's a French Bistro that you
have the best like they have the best eggplant Napoleon and show.
The service. Me and my wife has been going
there for like 11 years. We go for every anniversary and
it's the same maitre d there. He remembers this area.
Gosh, how sweet is beautiful? That's it for questions.
Thank you so much for coming on today.
Theo and sharing your journey and yeah I encouraging nurses to
go get free. So what we're about here, the
doctors podcast. So thank you.
Oh yeah, we supposed to be rich and we supposed to be free.
That's how it is. And where can people find you?
Give us a Shameless plug. Oh yes, you can find me at
weekend, white coat on Instagram.
You can find me at, we can wait koat.com.
You can find me at Finance, nurse.com and college, boy,
Jones FNP. That's my personal page.
That one seems to be a lot more popular.
You could find me all over the place.
I'm out in this world. I love it.
And guys, thanks for listening to And don't forget to enjoy the
journey. We are at the end of our time
together. I really enjoyed the chat,
please be sure to subscribe to the show so you don't miss an
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