The Q Word Podcast

We see you.  We're with you.  We love you.

It's no secret that working in the ER is a stressful job, but what is the real cost of carrying all the emotional burden inherent in life-and-death situations? Nyssa and Lisa have an in-depth discussion with Workr Beeing's Patricia and Katina, two IO psychologists dedicated to making the workplace a safer place for the self.

When team resuscitation is the goal, let the nurses run the algorithm, and let the doctors customize the code to the patient with differentials and Hs and Ts. So says Ashley Liebig in a discussion with Nyssa and Lisa about Nurse Led ACLS, and why it is important to keep egos out of the equation.

​Nyssa and Lisa have a heart to heart (to heart) with nurse Jonathan Bartels, pioneer and author of the Medical Pause - the practice of taking a moment to stop after the death of a patient.  Learn how this simple, lovely, and healing gesture helps everyone - from patient to practitioner - reflect, honor, and acknowledge what, and who, has just passed.

Nyssa and Lisa sit down with photo-journalist and documentary filmmaker Carolyn Jones, whose fascination and respect for the nursing profession launched the 2014 film The American Nurse, 2017's Defining Hope, and her upcoming project, In Case of Emergency, which focuses exclusively on the ER nurse.  Learn why she thinks nurses - what they do and what they know - need to be brought front and center into the most important conversations of today.

Taking care of a child in the ER is a special kind of challenge, and a nurse's normal assessment tools often don't apply.  Listen in as Nyssa chats with Pediatric Emergency Room Director Rebecca Cogburn, and learn about early pediatric warning signs and how to decipher them to improve your practice.  

Have you heard The Q Word Podcast yet? Find out about the tips, trends, and taboos of emergency nursing by tuning in.  

Whether you're a baby nurse applying for your first job or a seasoned nurse looking for a new position, Nyssa and Lisa have the tips and tricks you need to impress potential employers. Don't be an unemployed clueless dinosaur in a low-cut dress! Since you can’t take Alexa with you, tune in to learn better ways to nail that interview.

Lisa and Nyssa explore the question ER nurses are always asked: "what's the worst thing you've ever seen?"  Learn why nurses respond the way they do, why it is not a good question for small talk, and why a better conversation starter might be whether or not pineapple belongs on pizza.

In the final installment of this trilogy of interviews, Nyssa and Lisa talk to the three Musketeers of airways - the Boone brothers Michael and Bryan, and Tyler Christifulli - about inflatable dinosaur suits, most excellent mustachios, and how and why you should bring the SALAD and ApOX intervention techniques from the ambulance or the air and into the ER. 

Nyssa and Lisa talk to Dr. Matt Astin, a long-term fixture in the ER and dedicated educator, about the dogmas and sacred cows in emergency care, the importance of social media in nursing practice, and what Goldilocks' three bears are doing in the ER.

Nyssa and Lisa interview Matt Perry, Director of the Monroe County Emergency Management Agency, and learn how nurses and medics - two different teams - work together towards the same goal, just like Krispy Kreme donuts (aka "power rings") and Dunkin' Donuts coffee.

It is a widely accepted practice to have family present during the birth of a new baby, so why is it so uncommon for family to be near the bedside in the ER during the last moments of life?  In this very special episode, Nyssa tells Lisa about the work she's done researching, developing, and championing policies and procedures designed to bring loved ones into the ER during code blue scenarios, and why this has become her personal crusade.

Nyssa and Lisa take a field trip to the Forest Hills Cemetery in the outskirts of Boston to visit the final resting places of several notable doctors and nurses who formalized the ​profession of nursing back in the good ol' days.  Join us on this short tour of a lovely place on a creepy day, and learn a little something about the ladies who helped start it all. To see the pictures of the cemetery gates, the tombstones, and your water-logged hosts, check out our website here: 

Nyssa tells Lisa about her field trip to the Georgia Poison Center to chat with long-time director Dr. Gaylord Lopez.  Learn from the man himself about what the Center does, how they do it, and why it is better to call them instead of relying on Google to answer questions about what you may have eaten, breathed in, touched, or otherwise come into contact with that might make you sick.  And catch an ear-worm that just might end up saving your - or your patient's - life.