Shownotes Transcript
How many men was there in your nursing school? We were four. I think we were 12.
So actually, wow. Actually, pretty good. Well, I went a couple of years after you. That's that's you. Holy mercies are on the rise. Hey, the mercies. We are getting more male nurses out there. It's great. I love to see it. I love to see it, too. And guess what? This male nurse says sassy as fuck. They it's it's not. It's they're sassy as fuck. I mean, like, go off. Like, I've seen the sassiest fucking person. Carson.
Joey, Mikael, yeah, sassy bitches, Logan. Hey besties, it's your favorite caffeinated, medicated, and never hydrated nurse, Nurse John, and welcome back to your favorite podcast, I Beg Your Pardon. Besties, another week, another podcast, another hangout and gossip with me. I'm so happy to be here with you today, wherever you are right now, listening in your car, out
work, at home, walking, running, whatever you're doing, running errands. I hope you're doing well. I hope life is treating you well. And if it's not, remember there's another day and you just got to keep trying and trying and trying. That's the most important part of life.
what I always tell you guys every single week. Anyways, Bessie, if you're listening to this podcast right now, do me a quick favor. You make sure that you follow us in Apple and Spotify podcast. Leave us a five-star review and make sure that you share this episode if you love it and all the other episodes that you like. Nurse John is currently on tour. That is right. The short staff tour, Leg 2 Shifts Getting Real, is currently running.
its course here in North America. We're currently, I think this week we're heading to Columbus, Cincinnati, and Louisville.
I keep messing that shit up. Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky. And I'm super excited to go back again in the Midwest. That's Midwest, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're probably wondering who the guest is, but you'll know soon. But yes, I'm so excited to go back to the Midwest. Honestly, I got to love Midwest since, um, we started the tour because I've been to Wisconsin, Milwaukee, uh,
So many other places that I would never thought I would be. But honestly, Midwest slays the fuck out. Listen, the bars, the night, the nightlife in the Midwest is crazy. I would never thought it.
would be that, you know, much better than L.A. or, like, the big cities because, honestly, those little bars and clubs, they have lit music. Everyone's just so fun. It just feels weird because, you know, these kids are literally, like, 2010. Like, they were born in 2010, and I was born in 95, and it feels fucking crazy because some of them, like, looks older. And, honestly, I feel like a lot of people would, like,
I agree with me, but when I was 14, I look 14 and I, I, I love Hannah Montana. Uh, you know, there's so many other Disney fucking shit I watch and it, you know, I, I, it, I was a kid, but now kids these days, uh,
I don't fucking know. They look older than I do. Like, I just found out that Benson Boone is 22 fucking years... 22? The man looks like he's had, like, four kids, like, two divorces, and, like, he's ready for another, like, marriage. But, anyways...
It's fun. I love the short staff tour. If you haven't gotten your tickets, make sure that you get your tickets now at www.nursejohnnshows.com. Again, that's www.nursejohnnshows.com. Come see me in the city near you. If it's not in your city, drive with your friends, your family, your colleagues, everybody. Just bring them to the short staff tour. Honestly, it's super fun. It's super relatable. And it's just good to be able to just go out and talk about work.
But not just the sad part, the good parts and the crazy part and laugh about it. Because I think that's the important thing that we could honestly do in this crashing fucking healthcare system, you know, these days. It's just laugh about the whole situation because honestly, it's been crazy. And I know there's also topics that we're going to be talking about, but that's later on. We're going to touch on some sensitive topics later.
But another thing also, if you didn't know, I have my skincare. It's called Philly Skin. Philly as in Filipino, duh. But Philly Skin, my first ever skincare line. If you haven't tried the under eye serum, you should definitely go try it now. It brightens those dark circles because, listen, what is the biggest problem that we have in healthcare? Because you've been working those 12 hours, five shifts in a row, 12 shifts in a row because some of you are all fucking crazy. Right?
but dark fucking circle and this under eye serum targets those dark circles smoothens it and honestly it works so well i've been using it myself and all my friends so go ahead and get yourself some philly skin at www.phillyskin.com all right jesus that's a lot of crazy advertisement in there and also oh my god holy shit i forgot
And if you didn't know, what scrubs do I wear? It's Gard Malad, G-A-R-D-E-M-A-L-A-D-E. If you haven't tried Gard Malad, you should definitely go check them out. That's the only scrub brand that I wear. I love them so much. I've been working with them for so long. And honestly, their scrubs ate the fuck up. That's all I can say. And their newest release right now is Moss Green and Lilac. You should check them out, www.gardmalad.com.
Alright, that's done. Now, Bessies, you're probably wondering who's the guest for this week of the podcast. Well, I brought one of the newest friends that I met, like, I think four weeks ago in one of my shows in Milwaukee. Listen, he is friends with one of my good friends, Mikael. Yep, Daddy Mikael, that's right. I know you guys have seen Mikael. I know he's super handsome. Yeah.
You would want to be sedated, intubated, or restrained if he's your nurse kind of thing. But he has a friend that also does social media. And I liked his content so much. And I've asked him to come join us in Milwaukee to hang out and meet other nurses. Because we are all male nurses. But here today in the podcast, I brought...
is none other than Nurse Austin. Thank you so much for having me. Very happy to be here. Of course, of course. Thank you for coming here. You're in LA right now. Absolutely. No, I love it here. This is my second time. Really like the weather coming from the Midwest. It's a little bit different, so it's nice to escape the cold. Yeah, and what are you doing here in LA, actually? I was visiting some friends. I have a friend who lives out here. Him and his brother do social media, and they're very successful with it. So they were running the LA Marathon, and I was going to run it.
But I actually backed out just because I didn't want to get injured or anything like that. So they ran yesterday. They absolutely killed it. But I was happy to just watch from the sidelines. What's their name on social media? They are the Pointer Brothers. Pointer Brothers. Yep. Two brothers. They do a lot of like sports content. Like they used to do sports celebrations content, little dances, things like that. But...
Oh, that's cute. Went to high school with them and they became very successful with it and moved out here. Oh my God. The Pointer Brothers. You guys should check them all out. Check them out. That's amazing. That's amazing. And so like you're just visiting basically here to support them and to come out and see them too at the same time. Exactly. But it's trying to, it's convincing me to move out here. It's super nice. How do you find LA? I love it. I like the speed of it. I like the weather. Everyone out here is really nice. It's beautiful.
different from the Midwest. I grew up in Boston, moved to the Midwest a little bit later.
haven't tried the west coast yet but i could definitely see that in my future you could you could see yourself living in la i think i could i mean first of all it's too fucking expensive that's one thing i know a lot of uh angelina's knows is that la is extremely fucking expensive it feels like new york almost yeah no it's crazy i mean new york will still always be going to be the most expensive freaking city there but like la is
crazy too when it comes to that yeah i'm lucky every time i come out here i have a place to stay so at least i'm not spending money on that that's good food spend a lot on ubers every day a couple hundred on ubers i would say that's that's right but being able to save on housing is huge for sure for sure but um yeah i think there's no other place like la honestly like moving from canada to la yeah
I was scared, first of all, because it's such a big city, but it's a city of dreams, right? Yes. Like, it's a city of, like, if you love entertainment industry, if you are in, like, content creation and stuff like that, which is so... What do you call this? It's so niche to move to LA once you start social media. Yeah, yeah. I feel like everyone... That's the dream. That's... Exactly. But, like, you know, not everyone's successful with it. Some are successful, but at the same time, like...
I think it's also a place of just like, you gotta just try it and see for yourself. And if it works out, it works out. If it's not, it's not. Yeah. At least visit. Exactly. At least visit. I mean, I visited this place like a few times only because of like content creation. Like I would never go here if it wasn't for that. Yeah. And it took a big leap of,
Moving in here. And honestly, I could have not done the best decision. Like this is the best decision I've ever made. Cause honestly, you've given me so much opportunity to, um,
you know to do that i would never thought that i would be doing in my whole life yeah these are my my trial runs right now trial runs i want to do a full time yeah that's amazing so let's just go back so austin yes bring us back to like because everybody knows you as nurse austin right but who's austin outside of nursing like bring us back yeah bring us back my childhood boston
Boston is where you were born. Yes, I grew up in Boston. I was there for the first 18 years of my life. A small town about 20 or 30 minutes north of the city.
I have, my parents grew up like 15 minutes, both of them from where they currently live now. I have an older sister who's 30, an older brother who's 27. And then I'm the baby of the family. Oh, you are the baby. Yeah. Yeah. Can you tell? No. Cause I, I, I, I mean like I, I would have thought that you would be in the middle. Yeah. Oh,
Okay. Yeah. No, I'm the baby. I love being the baby too. But, um, so do you get all the attention from the parents and the grandparents and everyone? I think I did. I have younger cousins now who I think have stolen the show a little bit. They're super cute. Um, so I don't blame them at all, but yeah, I definitely got that attention there for a while and I was, I soaked it in. That's amazing. And like your parents, like what do they do for a job if, if that is something you could share?
Yeah, my dad works kind of in like the tech industry. He finds ad space for websites and things like that and places their ads. He didn't start there, though. He worked in like the car industry. He used to work for a device that you could put in your car and it would track it if your car were to get stolen. Holy shit. Yeah, it was kind of cool. So he did that up until a couple of years ago and then switched to something else.
that didn't require him to travel as much and things like that. And then my mom, she owned an athletic apparel store until just about like six months ago. They bought that when I was in fourth grade. It was just one town at the time, but they bought it from an older woman and she expanded it to like
15 towns, all sports. Wait a second. So your mom, basically your parent owns like a clothing store. Yes. Yeah. What? Yeah. Athletic. And they just sold it. My mom actually still works for the woman who bought it to like carry over clients and things like that. Right. For sure. But
I think she'll probably part ways with that here shortly. What's the brand's name? It's called Team and League Outfitters, just in a small town near us. It's just a small thing. It's not like a brand, but they sell other brands' clothing. That's amazing. Holy crap. So your parents have...
always been hard workers because this are crazy hard work like hard working jobs yes yeah their work ethic is crazy it taught me my brother and my sister how to work really hard my sister is a third grade teacher currently and she loves it yeah so that is amazing she's done that for a couple years and then my brother he lives in new york he does like private investment banking he lives on long island right
Oh my God, he's a finance bro. He's a finance bro. Holy crap. He's great at it too. That's so funny though because like just looking at your background and stuff like that, both of your parents looks like they're in business industry. Yes. Your brother is also in the finance and business industry. Yeah. And then your sister and you kind of like, you know, took a turn and went to a very, very more of like a caring, more of like, you know, like...
people to people kind of jobs. Because the work they're doing right now, like your parents and your other brother, it's more of like, they're not hands on with people. They do transaction, but it's not like a teacher or a nurse. Yeah, it's a little different. Which is literally like, I feel like to be a nurse, it requires you to have some kind of like influence somewhere in your family or in your life for you to be like, hey,
I want to be a nurse because like my grandma used to be an aide or something like that. Is there any influence? Like how did you choose to become a nurse? Kind of interesting. I applied mostly to business schools. So I actually was taking that path to go to business school and maybe follow more of the path that my brother took. Yeah. But I would say from a young age, if you ask anyone in my family,
Everything that I do is typically I'm looking out for other people. I want to help other people. I try and be as compassionate as I can towards everyone around me and, um,
Um, when my grandpa went into an assisted living home, I saw how the nurses cared for him and I was very impressed by it and moved by it. And my mom just threw out the idea that with my business applications to just throw like two nursing school applications, cause honestly it fit my personality way better. And I think she realized that a little bit better than me at the time. Cause I was 17. Um, I got into nursing school at the university of Minnesota and,
And so I ended up going across the country for nursing school because they had a great program. And yeah, I did my four years there and still live there now, which is crazy because most people love Boston and would say, I want to move to Boston so bad. Because Boston is beautiful. I've been to Boston once. I played in one of the theaters in Boston and Boston is just like, it's like a mini New York. Yeah. But like...
I agree with that. Better. I love it. I think I will end up back there at some point. I just, I needed to explore. Um, for sure. You're young too. How old are you now? 25, 25. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So I got some time to explore a little bit. I wanted a big school. University of Minnesota had like 52,000 ish. So big enough for me. Great nursing program. Everything kind of just worked out that way. Holy crap. So nursing was never really like, um,
I don't want to say not a passion, but it wasn't like a first choice that came out into your mind, but was just something that was thrown into you. And you're like, you know what?
I would love to see what's in it for me. Yes. It was not a first thought. It wasn't like from a young age, I want to go into healthcare, I want to be a nurse. But I think people more mature and older than me saw the traits that I had in myself. Oh, that's super nice. Eventually, yeah. When it came college application time, my mom was like, nursing I think would fit you really well. I totally agreed. Yeah.
I was a little skeptical because it's such a female dominated profession. But I'm so happy that I went into it. I really would not change it at all. I'm happy I didn't go the business route. That's nice too because let's say you guys go for Thanksgiving dinner and the whole family is there. You guys can actually talk about different things.
Yes. Like once a teacher, once a nurse, once in finance. Yeah. And I feel like that's so much better than having like all health care in one table and just like talking about the same fucking traumatic shit that you guys go through. So I feel like you guys have such an interesting table. Yeah. When you guys have like a family, you know, family gatherings and stuff like that. I have one cousin who is a year older than me. She's the only other health care worker in our family, but she went into nursing the year before me.
really liked it. So it's nice during those like holiday dinners and things like that. Yeah. We can chat about it on the side and kind of like stress... Oh, that's fun. Stress relief and stuff like that. But yeah. It's nice to have someone in your family who actually knows what you're going through because I think the con of like not having healthcare in your family is that nobody will ever understand the shit that you go through. Yes. It's like...
no matter how much you explain it to them, it will just not click to them. Like the reaction you're looking for will not be the reaction you're, you know, you're, you're going to be getting from them. Right. Oh, that's so fun. So you moved to Minnesota. Yes. And then you've stayed because right now you live in Minnesota, right? Yeah. I was not expecting to stay. My plan was graduate nursing school past the NCLEX.
moved back to the East Coast immediately. But my nursing school friends and just my college friends in general are the best people I've ever met. The Midwest culture is like everyone's family. So their families kind of took me in. I did holidays with them. I've done Christmas, Thanksgiving. Oh my God, that's the sweetest freaking thing ever. So I wasn't ready to go back out East quite yet. So I've been there since college. I've been there for two extra years. So six total.
That's amazing. Yeah. I mean, like, it's true, though. Like, the Midwest has this, I don't know, like, when I visited these places in the Midwest, it just gives so much of, like, my culture of, like, very country, very, like, homey, very, like, hospitable. Yeah. You know, because, I mean, like, Boston, New York, L.A., or, like, the big cities is just such a fight or flight kind of, like, lifestyle of, like,
Like you work, you sleep, you work, you sleep, you work, you sleep. And that's the only thing you got to do. Yeah. So when I went out to the Midwest and everyone was so nice, it was like a shock to me. Honestly, coming from Boston where everyone is a little short with you. Yeah. I felt that in Boston because I remember we were crossing the street. Oh, my God. So there's one thing in common between Boston people and New York people. They will honk the fuck out of you. Yeah.
So, yeah, when I went to the Midwest, no one uses their horns, which is so weird. Everyone thought I drove like a maniac when I got out there. I was using my horn. People were like, maybe not. Don't do that. So different. Yeah. Driving in Boston and I mean, watching you guys drive out here is nuts as well. Yeah, this is insane. LA traffic is not something you should play with. Yeah, no, I'm not jealous of that. It's crazy here. It's crazy. It's crazy.
Okay, so then you stayed in Minnesota. You did four years in... How was nursing school for you? Nursing school would have been very tough without my nursing school friend group. We had...
11 of us that were so close we were in a group chat together we did study groups together went out on the weekends together kind of just kept each other in check that's literally my group of friends i mean like yeah i do have group of friends in nursing and they they became family to me yeah they end up like they were literally in my wedding they were like all of them yeah like the the
the celebrations in my life. Yeah. Because that's insane. But 11, holy shit. That's a lot. We were, uh, we were like a 90 person class and 11 of us clicked super well right from the start. And we were able to bounce ideas off of each other, de-stress each other. Right. A lot. Go out and have fun and be able to chat about nursing school is hard.
Oh, crazy hard. I think if you don't have a friend group, it would be a really big struggle. Right. So having a group of people going through the exact same thing as me was super helpful. Yeah. So...
Since you're talking about like having a group of friends in nursing, are you the type to study more by yourself or are you the type to like you need people around you to help you study? Yeah. I like studying alone. Like I'll throw in headphones and stuff, but I like being surrounded by people that I know. That's so me. That is so me. Like my friends are like yapping. Yeah. And I put my headphones on so I can actually just memorize a bunch of fucking medication. Exactly.
I mean, if I don't have headphones in, I'm going to yap. And I need to, we would sit in the library for eight hours. That's why I'm like 11 of you. I was like, we were five and like we yap so much. Yeah. And I remember the library that we used to go to. It's like, you can rent it for 24 seven. Yeah. Yeah. And so we would rent it for 24 seven. We will go there at 7am in the morning. Like we actually keep each other in check, in check, like 7am, 8am.
We get there. Everybody brings their breakfast. We eat. Like we make that fucking library smell. Yeah. So bad. Like we would get like chicken wings and everything. It's insane because like, you know, the cope, like we cope when we're fucking stressed during like exam days by eating. Yeah. Okay. It's really fucking bad. Yeah. I think I'm the same way.
But yeah, I would study. They're also some of the smartest people I've ever met. Like anything that I had a question on one of 11, I mean the benefit of a big group, someone could answer it or explain it really well or say, Hey, this is what worked for me.
But yeah, if I'm not locked in with headphones, I'm not getting anything done. Yeah. So that's what we usually do, actually. And for anyone who's listening right now, if you're a nursing student or you're graduating or you're starting nursing school, whatever you are right now in your journey of nursing,
One thing that really did work for me and my friends is that the first four hours of us being in the library is that we study by ourselves. And then we gather after the four hours so that we can study together. That's really smart. And so the reason why we did that is because we're like, listen...
All of us are empty-minded when we meet at 7 fucking a.m. And it's too fucking early, too. And so we're like, listen, let's fill our brains with something. Let's gather after four hours. And let's quiz each other about the whole fucking thing. Very good advice. Exactly. And because, like, me, too, I just cannot study alone. First of all, like, I would be on my phone the whole time. Me, too. My friends would keep me in check. It's like, John, you've been on that fucking phone for five minutes. I was like, fuck.
five minutes. I would have stayed in my phone for like four hours and I'll be fine. Once I go onto my phone too, I don't put it down. So they would also keep me in check. That's it. That's it. That's why I love group, like finding a good group of
in nursing school that will help you and not pull you down. Yes. Because that's something that I've seen too is that sometimes the people that you choose and you're not mindful of the people that you become friends with or like be part of that group. Yeah. They can actually pull you down. Yeah, totally. Surround yourself with good people. Good people. You'll all uplift each other. Big thing with having a nursing like school friend group was for skills lab. I don't know how your skills lab worked. Oh my God. We always part.
But being able to practice with each other, we would all like go to one person's house. Someone would throw on a gown and be the patient. That's so funny. Not having to practice with like a stuffed animal or something like that. Right. A real human who could talk.
that was one so fun and so funny we have so many snapchats from those situations but that's so true great practice us too i really yeah i remember we went on like uh we finished like one of our big finals exam so we decided to go to a cabin together nice but we know that two weeks after we have to go back for a skills lab and it's iv insertion oh so you're practicing
we practiced each other in the cabin and i remember two of us passing the fuck out because no it it was bad but like it was so much fun like you were talking about snapchat like my snapchat is full of like memories with my friends yeah a lot of good content ideas in there i'm sure i should go back on them i should go back i should go back in it but yeah for anyone who's listening right now and you're a
It really depends on who you are as a person, really, like for studying. But like, again, like I have ADHD undiagnosed, but I diagnosed myself a long time ago. But find your style of studying. But if you're someone who's easily distracted, who has ADHD, who's
chronically fucking online like who's not anymore in this generation but being in a group is so much more important but also being mindful of like who you're
you know, associating yourself with because you need people who are extremely motivated for you to be motivated. Because if anyone else is lower than you, then you are all going to crash the fuck out. So just be wise and mindful. Yes. And nursing school is not easy. I don't know. Have you ever Googled like world's hardest profession? Sometimes nursing pops up. Nursing school is...
The hours. Not for the week. Yeah. The hours. Like, longest fucking hours of, like, studying and course material is in nursing school. Yeah. That's insane. I mean, everyone is a little bit different. So if studying alone works for you, go for that. But a friend group makes the world of a difference. I had a great friend group during it. Still best friends with them. Are you still talking to the 11 of them? Oh, yeah. We have a group chat. People are throwing in work stories and things like that, which is great also for content for me. Thank you so much.
But yeah, we still stay in contact. Someone is always texting in there, which is super nice. For sure. Still my best friends, I would say. That's nice. And are they all in Minnesota? People spread out a little bit. Some from Chicago, one from Wisconsin. Oh, God. But most of us actually stayed pretty close. University of Minnesota, and I would say...
most Midwest schools, the people are usually from that state. Right. So they're actually all from pretty close, which is great for me because their families were close and were able to bring me in that way. For sure. You guys see each other and stuff. Yeah, yeah. So most of us did. Yeah. Local. Man, I just had like a little depression before.
I actually miss my friends in nursing school, man. I know. I will. I know. I, I, they were in my show when I went to Montreal. Oh yeah. Oh yes. I invited every single one of them. It was so fun. But like, I just remember the amount of like mental breakdowns that I've had in nursing school. And those people were the,
people who was there for me yeah i remember that the amount of times we would study until 3 fucking a.m yeah they see you at your worst oh my god like man like this people like there were strangers before like i hated some of them but now like they are the people that i love the most and shout out to all of them i love you guys so much how big was your nursing class
We were 140. Big. At the end of nursing school, we were 30. Oh, my God. Yeah. Okay, we didn't lose that. I think we lost like 15. 15? Yeah. I don't know. Y'all must be smart.
y'all must be smart our course was easier than yours or something holy shit anyways moving on like so you were more of a group uh studying kind of person but a mix of like also like alone yes i like to be surrounded by my friends but i do like to study alone but it was nice to be able to bounce ideas off them when i needed for sure for sure and what did you like most about nursing school
um because this is coming from a male male's perspective okay so like i don't want to like i guess like make it like super like niche or obvious but like how many men are was there in your nursing school we were four i think we were 12.
So actually, wow. Actually, pretty good. Well, I went a couple of years after you. That's that's you. Holy mercies are on the rise. Hey, the mercies. We are getting more male nurses out there. It's great. I love to see it. I love to see it, too. And guess what? This male nurse says sassy as fuck. They it's it's not it's they're sassy as fuck. I mean, like, go off. Like, I've seen the sassiest fucking person. Carson.
Joey, Mikael. Yeah, sassy bitches. Logan. They're out to get you guys, so just be careful. I'm kidding. But I do. I love to see male nursing is on the rise. I think we're up like 40% in the last couple of years. There's a lot of males coming into nursing. How did you get the statistics? I googled it at one point. Are you looking up? Well, I needed it to...
Film a video, feel good about myself, see how many males were coming into it and see if I could convince a couple guys to just go for it. I mean, it's really hard, I guess, to convince people, I mean, like male to go to a very female dominated place.
you know, profession. First of all, like, you know, toxic masculinity exists and some people just need, like are unaware of like, you know, you can be a male and be in a female dominated. And honestly, like it makes a lot of difference being like, you know, being a male in a female dominated because there's a lot of fucking drama. Okay. Every unit needs a couple of guys. The guys kind of like they balance, they,
It balances the whole like crazy ass like...
shit in the goddamn unit. It makes a difference. Sitting in that nursing station, though, and listening to some of the females banter is hilarious. Yeah. I love being just a fly on the wall for it. Exactly. And I love my male co-workers because I gossip a lot too, sorry. But my male co-workers, they're just there to work. They're just chill guys. Yeah. All the guys. They couldn't give a fuck. A single fuck.
The only thing they make sure is that the patient is breathing.
And they are going to get out of there at 7.29. Very timely. Very timely, too. Yeah. No, the guys that I work with are great. I think the women like working with us. We had a cool little layer dynamic to the unit. That's nice. Help with boosting, of course. Boosters, yeah. But yeah, maybe just level out the hormones a little bit. Exactly. It makes a good balance in the unit. But yeah.
The male population in nursing is growing, which I'm super, super happy to because you can be whoever you are right now and you can do whatever you want. And it's not about sex. It's about your passion and what makes you happy. And if it really is something that you...
You know, you can wake up and feel good about it, then do it for yourself. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's the most important part about it. Yeah. And I feel great going home from work knowing that I work in the ICU. So typically that stay is...
and that patient's worst time of their life. For sure. So if I can put a positive spin on it, make them smile, laugh, just be someone for them to talk to, that makes me feel really good. So driving home, I usually feel awesome. Depends on the night, of course, how things went. But...
It's a very rewarding job. I recommend it to everyone. I know social media sometimes portrays nursing and healthcare as a negative field. Right. But it really is a positive field. I love it. Oh my God. It's 100%. Like, I completely agree with you because like, you know, like my videos kind of like not
Not kind of, but mostly show the crazy shit that happens in nursing. But those crazy shit doesn't mean that we hate this goddamn job. It's just to show you that these are the things that we're going through that you don't see in the public eye because it's hidden in those hospital curtains. But it's just nice to show you guys how shitty it is for us
being in this profession. But guess what? You're alive. You're fucking breathing. You're safe. You're back in the community. Yeah. It's that's, that's kind of like how I tell people. I was like, yes, it's fucking scary. Like shit. Like, you know, like fuck.
finding someone on the fucking ceiling and like getting them back down. Like that shit's crazy, right? Scary. But guess what? We still do our fucking job. I don't think people don't understand. They think of nursing. You might think school nurse or just passing meds, but it really is not like that ever.
There's always something going on. Exactly. It has shifted so much since Florence Nightingale. The girl. The girl. That fucking hoe made it look like nursing was the fun shit. I'm kidding. She opened those windows. She opened her legs. I'm kidding. She...
Her years was just so different from now. But, you know, it has shifted in a way that there's so much more responsibility for nurses. And it's crazy because it's normalized to in a way that.
you're not even getting recognized from that financially. Like, you know what I mean? Like the hidden jobs that you do to do this job is insane because you literally have to give up so much of yourself to do one job to keep someone alive. Absolutely. So it's insane. I couldn't agree more. I would say apart from nursing, you become like,
a bodyguard in the hospital, you become a mechanic, you become IT, you start wearing many hats and yeah, maybe being compensated for all that would be a little better. Right. If we could just tip...
Tips. If we can get tips from like... I know. Please, I want the iPad. That was so funny. I wish we can get tips because it's customer service. Yeah, in a way. Nursing is customer service. In a way, definitely. Especially when I float to med-surg floors sometimes, I feel like a personal servant occasionally. See, this is how ICU sees us med-servants. Personal servants. I'm kidding. But okay, so you're an ICU nurse. Yes.
How did you choose this specialty and why? Yeah. In nursing school, I did a couple different things to get a feel for what I wanted to do. So I was a medical scribe in the emergency department to see if I wanted to work in the emergency department.
wasn't necessarily for me. I think those nurses are amazing, but it was a little too hectic and out of control. I'm a very type B nurse, but I do like some form of order. Like I don't need a crazy report or anything like that, but I like some form of like my lines look nice and I know everything that's happening and I have a good history on my patient. Um,
So I switched from being a medical scribe there to a nursing assistant in the ICU that I actually currently work in. I did that for the last two years of college. It was a brand new ICU. They opened in April of 2020. Oh my God. So it's a brand new goddamn hospital. Yeah, just the unit. The hospital didn't have an ICU. So our hospital has two campuses. The other one had an ICU. Ours did not.
So your unit must be nice. It's very up to date. I like it a lot. So yeah, I started there. You should be lucky like that. I got a really good feel for how an ICU runs, what type of tasks an ICU nurse does. And I liked the autonomous part of being in an ICU, of being able to titrate drips and things like that. And the connection with the providers is a very close one. You're
chatting with them constantly right so then i applied there as a new grad i was the only new grad actually on that unit at the time um and yeah just started hit the ground running had orientation for like only 15 shifts or something and then i was on my own 15 shift yeah it was short it was short but i knew everyone from being a nursing assistant and that helped a ton okay but
But it wasn't very long. But baby, I'm not taking a 50-shift orientation. Fuck that. I had to keep that one a secret. Oh my God, that's insane. I mean, honestly, it's not even a secret because this is the reality now. Some nurses are literally getting four shifts of training and they're like, yep. And now guess what? Next week, you're in charge. Yeah. Of what?
that's why like in tiktok they're saying about like you know i'm 22 i'm in charge of like you know a whole goddamn unit yeah i became charged six months in to our job six months our weekend night shift needed another charge so that the my heart is sinking right now it's not to say that you're not good but six months like it was short yeah i mean like even after like
Five years of nursing, I feel incompetent. I was a little skeptical. I had the choice. I could have said no. But I don't know. It seems like a fun opportunity. Hey, you know what? You were gaslit. Like, hey, listen. It just means that you're too good. And you're like, oh.
Yeah, you're actually like the star nurse. So you should be on this whole thing. Yeah, I'm 22 at the time. I'm like, oh, my God. OK, well, that's fine. I mean, like, you know, you probably have learned so much from then to now. Yeah. And you stayed in ICU then. I did. I've been there two and a half years now.
I love it. I love my coworkers. I work night shift and I love night shift. So I don't have plans to leave right now. Eventually I'd like to go back to NP school or CRNA school. Um, so shit, Austin. Okay. In the works. In the works. Holy shit. I mean, CRNA sounds good.
A lot. It does. But I've shadowed a couple times, and I think their job is so cool. It is very cool. Whenever they come up to our unit to intubate someone or anything, I'm so jealous of their job. So I started looking into it. My parents have friends who do it, and they recommended it to me. That was also a big part of going into nursing was that store that my mom owned, some of the clients that would come in were CRNAs. And I used to work there in my teens.
And they just loved being CRNAs. Right. So that was kind of a pull to go to nursing school as well, was these people from a young age were telling me how much... I mean, I thought about going back to school for NP school. Yeah. But just thinking about studying again is too much. Even just doing the modules is too much for me. Modules irritates the shit out of me. Yeah, it's tough. You're not even fucking...
forward or skip like you gotta watch the whole fucking thing like that that already irritates me imagine going back to school and doing thesis and exams and a bunch of like study sessions again like holy shit yeah but I don't know I love healthcare and I love learning
I have some coworkers who are now in CRNA school that I stay up to date with. And they, they say the schooling is hard, but it's all worth it. And the money too. I mean, everyone who does it, I've never heard anyone say like, I wish I didn't do this. So it's always a good sign. I'll think about it. I feel like I, I, I, all the nurses. I,
Honestly, man. Imagine us just like, okay, going back to school, but I don't even think I can do social media if I go back to school. I feel like I have to just quit for a bit to do CRNA just because really school is a lot for me. I mean, I love studying. I love learning new things, but for me, like...
to balance school and other things. Like I had a hard time balancing life and school. Yeah. Like my family did not see me for the whole like time I was in nursing school. Like I skipped my birthday, skipped goddamn fucking New Year's because we're back in like three days after. Yeah. So we're like, you know what?
Fuck. No. Like, but yeah, I mean like, you know, I mean like furthering your education for yourself is something that is very subjective. And if it's something that you want to do, that's absolutely fun. Yeah. Yeah. So still have to make that choice, but we'll see. So you're talking about you're a night shifter. Like what's about, what about night shift that you like and,
Let's start with like why night shift over day shift. Yes. So I started night shift as a new grad. I feel like lowest on the totem pole. You get put in night shift typically. For sure. Cause that's the easiest way to like learn. Yeah. Easiest way to acclimate. My orientation was on day shift. So you get to see the hustle and bustle of what day shift in the ICU looks like. And then they put you on nights. It's a little, everyone thinks it's slower, but I mean, people aren't less sick at night. So yeah,
I don't know. It is. It's a little more chill, but it's chill because you can actually medicate them legally and they can sleep. Yeah. Like, you know, you're out of in your melatonin, your diamond hydrogen. It's all there. You can just fucking like one shot it and like, yeah, you know, it's good. Yeah. And I mean, our patients are intubated and sedated most of the time. So, yeah, we try and keep them comfortable overnight. Let them for sure. Um,
I currently am staying night shift because I am obsessed with my night shift coworkers. We have a group, we're only a 10 bed units. We have like six nurses on at a time. I wrote 10 bed and six nurses.
Yeah. So it's two to one ratios depending on what therapy. Two to one. Okay. That makes sense. If they're like on a paralytic, it'll be a one-to-one. If they're on CRT, it's one-to-one. But yeah, the group of six that I work with, our average age is like 27 on night shift. Everyone's 30 or below, which is super fun. And we hang out outside of work and it's just like, it's such a blast and our providers are amazing overnight. Yeah.
They're pretty young too. So right now I'm just like, I'm having a blast with it. And I,
I love the fact that when I go and do stuff during the day, there's no one there. Like I can go to the gym, grocery store, all that type of stuff during the day and it's never busy. So that's holy shit. Yeah. I like it. Speaking about work life balance here. Sounds like you are living the work life balance that everyone wished they got. I don't know. The first year of night shift was horrible though. I couldn't, I couldn't sleep past noon or one, even if I was going back the same night.
So that was a struggle, but I've kind of locked into a good schedule. Right. I plan out my week at the beginning of the week and it's all, it works out really well. I mean, like honestly, just hearing it, it looks like you have a fairytale kind of unit because this is a very rare kind of situation to, to,
be, be having fun with every single one of your cool workers. And at the same time, your providers are amazing. Yep. This is the kind of shit you see in grace anatomy. And like you actually go to the real world and you're like, Oh yeah, not this one. Don't see it very often, but I'm very lucky. And working with most of your viewers probably know Mikhail, um,
Oh, yes, you work with Mikael. Yeah, we're on the same unit. We're on the same weekend. So we work every third weekend together. Like, it really doesn't get better. How did you and Mikael...
Like, how did you know that he was on social media? Because now you're doing social media. Yeah. So I started nursing there earlier than him. But he had been a nurse for at least a year, just like an hour north of where we live or work right now. He came down to move closer to the city and...
had ICU experience so he came to our ICU and he would kind of like go off during his shift and sometimes like film content I would funnel him ideas that I would think of like hey I think you should film this how did you feel like how did you find out he was doing content I just like saw him filming in the break room
So, okay. So you're like, what the fuck are you doing, man? I was like, what? I knew what TikTok was, but I was not on like healthcare side of TikTok at all. So I didn't really know that people did that. And then he had a great following. I think at the time he had like 70,000. Now he's much bigger than that. Yeah. And he told me,
it was making money and doing well and it made the job a lot more fun for him. So he was the one who told me to do it. I would not have gotten into social media at all had it not been for Mikhail. So I can only thank him for any success that I have. Shout out, Papi. Shout out, Mikhail. We love you, man. We
like dreamy boy okay so he got you into doing social media yes and how did you just accept it that you're gonna be doing social media i'm gonna tell you're gonna show people like you know you your personality and you as a person because that's that's like the biggest thing about like i mean like i don't know how much research research you've done but um
you know, social media can be very, very toxic. And it's basically accepting that people are,
will be intruding your life. Yeah. More than, more than what you could have, you know, imagine. Yeah. I was a little skeptical to go into it, but Mikhail had great success and he had very positive feedback on the things that he was doing. I focused my page right when I started on just new grad nursing tips. So how I got through nursing school, how
how I studied for the NCLEX, things like that. Eventually, I moved into still trying to keep on the positive note of five reasons why I love working in the ICU and just try to make it a positive page for care workers. Of course, there are times where I'll talk about a bad shift and it's honestly nice when people in the comments are like, I've totally experienced that and it's relatable for them and things like that.
Yeah. I don't know. It's been a great thing for me. Social media. You like it? I like it a lot. It's so much fun. I don't have an end goal with it. I did not expect for it to do well, but it kind of, I mean, it gained traction fast. Right. Having Mikhail in my corner, um,
He really walked me through how he had success. And I just like, he wrote a path for me and I just followed that. That's amazing. I mean, congratulations. I mean, like now, like, you know, people know, knows you. It must feel good. Yeah.
Like how, how does your group of people in the ICU feel like, no, like it feels about it. It's the funniest thing in the world when we're, when Mikhail and I, cause we like go into work together and everything. Yeah. Um, see us in the elevator. They're always like, Oh, you're the Tik Tok boys. Cause I'm sure our stuff just gets funneled. Yeah. They like don't know our names, but they're just like, I see you on Tik Tok. And it's, it's fun. It's fun. When I float to other units, um,
I've taken pictures with everyone who's on night shift that night, which is kind of a funny thing. How'd you feel about those? It's a little odd at first. It gets super awkward because I remember when I was in a hospital full time working and stuff like that, I would be
Taking breaks And like people Will recognize Even patients And they will take pictures With me And I was like Please Not here I was like Don't do it right here But like you cannot Like I'm such a people pleaser That I cannot say no So I'm like Yeah I was like
let's take a picture and the next thing I know like you know my co-workers are like did you just take a picture with this patient I was like yeah I didn't want to but like I did yeah no but it's fine everyone in our hospital supports us a ton with it that's amazing they joke around with us of course but for sure I mean that I think that's another I don't know what the fuck kind of hospital you're working at right now but like you're kind of like making people who's listening right now want to work in that hospital because like
a supportive hospital of someone in social media is kind of insane to me because like, I mean, like, you know, I think the healthcare industry,
content creator environment is growing really fast because a lot more Gen Z's even millennials even like older generations are now coming to TikTok and their or social media just in general and like they're starting to share more about their journey in nursing and stuff like that you know we have the the dark humor comedy
You have the educational ones. You have the lifestyle nursing creator. You have the travel content creator, nursing. And there's just so many sub-branches now of nursing and social media. But I think at the same time, a lot of people got in a lot of shit too in social media because our profession is such a sensitive place.
like profession that, you know, you being careful, even if you are careful, people will always be out there to get you. Yeah. Because people are jealous of like, why the fuck is this bitch now? Like I, I used to work with him. He's not even that fucking great. Like, you know what I mean? Like that's my scare. It's like, so somebody just like to get, yeah. Yeah. Somebody will always try to get you. And so like, it's just hard to try. Yeah.
in this niche of content creation because first of all, you gotta be so fucking smart of what you do and what you post. And secondly, is that you have to be very,
Yeah. Because it's crazy. Coming into it, my like highest recommendation is to not film at the hospital. Yeah. It seems I think like the OR just has free range because I feel like they're always filming in the OR for some reason. But don't film on your unit. We learned that the hard way and had to take all that stuff down. Of course, we didn't break anything.
any hip or anything like that. We just had a no social media policy at the hospital. Right. So we had to take it down for that reason. Nothing came of it. They just said, don't do it again. Now we just film at home and it's all good that way. But if you're going to get into the content space, social media and shit. Yeah. Don't film at the hospital. Don't film at the hospital. I used to do it in my hospital too. And like, I think,
One thing I've learned is that no matter how you justify yourself, let's say even though you're really on break and let's say you're done from your shift and you're filming it like in the locker room or stuff like that, there's no way to actually justify that when it has to be put in front of you.
in a goddamn like projector in the ethics committee and just be like hey so like what time did you film this and I could be like well during my break like how can you actually prove that unless otherwise there's like time stamp and like fucking pictures of you clocking the fuck out that exact same time you filmed that so yeah
don't film in the hospital like you said. Turn your fucking house or part of your house, just like this fucking wall right here. I turned this, as you can see, on the other side of Austin. I just put a bunch of stuff and I can buy medical grade stuff in Google. And if you want to film content, do it at home. And also just be mindful of what you post in social media because some of you guys, Lord have mercy, but like...
Don't punch down on patients or situations in the hospital or anything that you make your contents of because the last thing you want is for people to be offended. And people these days gets offended in the slightest fucking, you know,
word that you say. And again, healthcare and just nursing itself is just too sensitive of a profession and a niche that if you want to talk about patients, here's one thing I've learned too and I'll give it to you too as advice is that you know how I make fun of like, I don't want to say make fun, but I make fun of like situation that happens with like my dementia patient or someone who's having like a mental illness
illness or anything like that yeah i don't make fun of their situation i make fun of myself in that situation yeah because at the end of the day it's not really them the problem or it's not really them who's experiencing it it's mostly you yeah it's like if your dementia patient started like you know painting poops in the fucking wall and then what you did is laugh about it
That's punching down. But guess what? If your patient, Mr. Smith, is painting poop and then he throws the poop in your face and then you act like there's a peanut butter in your face, the fun is on you, not on the patient.
And it shows too that you care because after you wipe that fucking poop, you just left. Like, you know, you didn't fucking fought the patient, which that's all you can do. That's all you can do. And it's always making fun of yourself because again, this is your platform. If you're trying to get into comedy, you,
Make sure your comedy is punching up, not punching down. And it's educational and not just very dark. Because the humor that we have in nursing is real fucking dark. It is. No one will ever understand that. Yeah, unless you're in it. I mean, a good thought to have is just the it's someone's family member. So if they listen or watch your content and you're making fun of their family member or they're the patient themselves, it's
Not a good look. Like we're in healthcare because we're nice. We like helping people. We're compassionate. So portray that through the internet as well. You know? And yeah,
i mean since we're talking about that now also anyways there's a lot of violence against healthcare worker these days so yeah you know what i mean like at the same time like that's why you know this healthcare creators are so important like what we're doing right now which i would call a job yeah it's so much needed because we shed a light on the things that again like is
happening so often in our profession but is not given attention because for them it's normal to get abused as a nurse or have you ever experienced that in your career personally I haven't I mean
I've had people like throw things across the room and things like that. I've never been seriously injured, but it's crazy now. Recently, and I think social media has brought it more to light. This stuff has been happening. Oh, yeah. Forever. Forever. But now people are kind of getting exposed for it. And so in that sense, I think social media is great, but it's so sad. Like I just saw a news article yesterday of a, I think a woman,
in the Carolinas or something just got punched in the face really hard or something like that which is fucking insane man it's nuts and yeah people used to just like stay quiet and be like oh it's part of the job but it's not part of the job that's it that's what I'm saying is that there's so many things now that is so normalized in our profession that it's okay and like
Again, like what I hate the most is when they mention things like, oh, well, the patient was mentally like incapable. If the patient was able to throw that fucking thing, the patient was able to fucking think. So please, like I hate when they did that to that old woman and the old nurse in Florida. Yeah. And she's like, I don't even care if she's fucking dying. Where's the Baker's Act? Yeah.
Fuck the Baker's Act. The fucking nurse is literally dying on the floor. Her face was like, you know, crushed. And they cared about more that the patient was not in the right mental state. Like, the fuck? Like, take the fucking patient and put them in a fucking jail. That's what should have happened. It is crazy. The...
hospitals just start looking out for themselves in those situations rather than their employees sometimes. And I think that needs to be rearranged a little bit. It does. And before we get dark on this fucking podcast, which is this is, this should have been like another topic, but so it looks like you're enjoying being a nurse and at the same time doing content creation. Have you seen like, is this something that you see yourself doing or,
like for a long time or are you like you know nursing is just a plan b for now and then if i want to do more like you said crna and stuff like that then i love nursing i'm very passionate about it i i
Never dread going into work. I actually really enjoy work and look forward to it. Austin, shut the fuck up. Please. There it is. There it is. But I think it's because of my coworkers. Okay. Okay. You got fine coworkers, but like you're selling this shit. Like he's selling us some kind of book. No, I'm kidding. No, I'm kidding. But like,
Honestly, it's so nice to hear that, that you actually don't dread to go to work and you actually enjoy going to work. Because honestly, these days, a lot of us are just dreading going to work. And I'm so happy for nurses like you who are enjoying the profession and has, like, hopefully, knock on wood, never have to ever experience the super dark profession.
of it. Yeah. Because it just is not fun. And like, if you are in that really positive, enlightening, like motivating environment of nursing, really fucking good for you. Like, honestly, like for everyone who else is in the same state as him, like,
Please stay there. I know. Stay there. I'm lucky. But CRNA, I would say, is plan A. Yeah. I'm totally fine doing bedside. I do think I would max out on bedside at like eight years or so. It's a tiring job. It is a tiring job. Very physically exhausting. Working night shift eventually will start taking more of a toll on my body. I'm sure. Watch you like deteriorate and grow older. Yeah.
But for now, it's great. I think there is I think eight years is going to be my hard stop for it. Yeah, for sure. CRNA, I'm currently in the process of applying. So I'm working on that right now. Wow. It might take a while to get in. I only have two and a half years of ICU experience. So you need like a how much critical care you need. Two years. Generally speaking, most schools require two years.
to apply of experience. So I am just past that threshold. So I'm applying in with like the bare minimum requirements essentially.
So I'm going to apply for a couple of years in a row and see how it goes. I'm interested in NP as well. If CRNA didn't go as planned, which was, that's fine too. And then the social media thing is picking up. And I mean, you were able to make it into a living. I mean, if I'm lucky enough for that to do the same for me, that's awesome. If not totally fine. It is. It is. And honestly, like I keep telling people is that if,
If you're a yapper and if you just want to be able to share your life as a nurse, as a new grad, as a male nurse, as a female nurse, whatever the hell you are in healthcare, do it. And the time is now. There's no good time to start doing social media because honestly, every single day is a chance for you to pose that amazing idea you have in your head. But again, going back to the topic that we were talking about, it's just that...
if you decide to really pursue social media is to be mindful to always, you know, to surround yourself with people who does the same thing as you so that you get motivated. Yes. Because sometimes it gets demotivating when you're the only one doing it. And sometimes progress, engagement and, and,
Growth is not quick for everybody. It usually takes time. But what I also tell people is that consistency is the key in social media. Like if you give up at one point because you're like, oh, this is not working, it will never work. That's true. I've started...
With zero followers and I consistently post. I consistently dig my head with ideas and shit like that. I even exaggerate shit. And guess what? It still fucking sells. You know why? Because somewhere, somewhere in the world, somewhere, somehow in the world, somebody's experiencing that shit. Yes, relatable. I posted twice a day for the first three months. That's good. I used to post three. Morning, night.
lunch dinner if i had enough ideas but yeah for for three months twice a day and i think people enjoyed that consistency my stuff started getting pushed out um and yeah that's how i feel like i had a kind of rapid growth um you did mostly just because of that consistency i would say that's it that's it you just gotta keep doing it and like
Again, like surround yourself, just like you said, in nursing school, like if you have social media friends, you have Mikael, you have other people that you chat with in social media, like keep those people. And as long as those people are good people, that's the most important part. Because also just like in nursing school, you need people who's going to push you up to success instead of pulling you down to, you know. Absolutely. Yeah. So that's the most important part.
Yeah, for sure. Good. Well, lastly, to end this episode of the podcast to everybody's listening right now. And if you can give them an advice that you want as a nurse, as a content creator, whatever you want, they're ready. Yeah, I think if I could pass anything along, it would just be follow your
what you're most passionate about. So I was passionate in healthcare and I give 150% of my effort to that job when I'm there. I have recently become passionate about social media and I am putting 150% effort into that as well. So if you're going to do something, don't half-ass it. Go for it. People are going to
say some negative things about it and poke fun at you. And you just have to brush that off and keep on moving forward. Yeah, that's amazing. That's true. That's so true. Because honestly, again, like no matter how good you are, that's another thing that I've realized in social media and in just life in general is that no matter how good you are as a person, there will always be someone or something that will not love you.
like you and that's completely fine because what matters is the people who actually cares about you and supports you and no matter what era you are in your life they're always there and those are the people that you should keep in your side and only listen to yeah definitely because you know we get we go through eras of life like you can be in your
bad bitch era and like you know two months from now you're in your depressive era and as long as you have that person whether you're in your high in your lows that's the people that you should be keeping in your life yeah that's amazing couldn't agree more thank you so much for having me no thank you Austin for being here in the podcast and I'm you know it's nice to have you and I think like people got more
Of you than just knowing Nurse Austin. Yeah, absolutely. In his car. I'm happy to share. In his ICU and stuff like that. Well, again, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of the podcast. And one more thing. If people ever want to follow you, where can they find you in social media? Yeah, they can follow me at Nurse underscore Austin on TikTok. And then Instagram Nurse underscore Austin underscore.
Okay. So follow him on TikTok and Instagram and probably Facebook and YouTube because I'm going to make him do all of those other social media so he can keep making money. And next thing you know, like Nurse Austin is Daddy Austin with the money that he's making in social media. But follow him at Nurse underscore Austin on TikTok and Nurse underscore Austin underscore on Instagram. And
And again, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of the podcast. Again, if you love this episode, make sure that you follow us on Apple and Spotify podcast, share this episode, leave us a five star review and make sure that you follow us through also an Instagram. You can find, I beg your pardon, an Instagram. And thank you again so much, Bessie, for listening to this episode. And I hope you have a good rest of your week. And remember, stay caffeinated, medicated and hydrate yourself. It's
The summer is about to be here. Shit's about to get real. I love you all so much. I'll see you again next week for another episode of your favorite podcast, I Beg Your Pardon. See you all again next week. Bye. Bye, guys. Thank you.