The Gritty Nurse Podcast

When it comes to healthcare, it should be about people first, right?

In this episode, we speak with Dr. David Fisman, a professor of epidemiology, Internal Medicine Physician and Infection Diseases Consultant we ask him all the tough questions:

When it comes to modelling pandemic data, how screwed are we? Is Covid Airborne? Should I send my child/children to school? How does a disease go from being acute to endemic? What’s a likely timeline for COVID-19 to become endemic? Will wave 4 be the most deadly? Will this shit end? Vaccines have done most of the heavy lifting, but we need honesty, transparency, strong public health policy and working collectively as a community to end this pandemic.

Dr. David Fisman is a professor of epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto and a practicing internist. His areas of expertise include Infectious diseases, public health, and epidemiology.

He is interested in developing and applying novel methodological tools that allow physicians and public health experts to make the best possible decisions around communicable disease control, using the best available data.

Dr. Fisman completed a residency in internal medicine at both McGill and Brown Universities, before completing a fellowship at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston, and a Master of Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Fisman was also an AHRQ fellow in health policy at the Harvard Centre for Risk Analysis.

You often hear that nursing is a calling. A gift that is bestowed upon those who "answer the call". Well that isn't often the case! People who enter the profession of nursing may come from different walks of life and varied backgrounds. Some stumble into nursing, while others always "knew" they wanted to be a nurse. Either way- the end result is the same...a passion for advocacy of those who are most vulnerable and learning to care for others using nursing science. We sit down and speak with Adrienne Behning, a nurse and fellow podcaster about her journey into nursing and her awesome podcast "Nursing Uncensored".

Why have we have gone back in time on women’s rights and women’s health? What does “my body, my choice” mean? In this part 2 episode with Adrianne Behning from “Nursing Uncensored” , we discuss Adrianne ’s experiences working in an abortion clinic in the states. We also discuss the ideas surrounding “my body, my choice” and the new abortion laws in Texas.

Do you remember your training when it came to social media use as a healthcare provider? We do, it pretty much was DON'T USE IT. Social media use was discarded as "extracurricular". What if we told you that social media is a powerful tool for empowerment, change and the exchange of healthcare knowledge? It's time to shut down the misconceptions of social media use and think about how we can use it innovatively in healthcare. We discuss it in Gritty Nurse fashion, the only way we know how.

Nursing morale is at an all time low. How do we keep nurses and other frontline practitioners happy on their jobs? What does it take to keep nurses happy and retain them? Unfortunately, this year- the pizza is just not going to cut it. In this episode, Sara and Amie examine what it takes to really retain nurses. We discuss innovative solutions and suggestions that may keep your healthcare staff happy and continue coming into work. We also discuss the harsh realities nurses face trying to stay healthy while at work.

"Start the retention process when employees are still open to staying, not after they already told you they are leaving".

"You do not build a business, you build people--and then the people build the business".

Resource: Global Shortage of Nurses, McGill 2019

https://www.mcgill.ca/nursing/files/nursing/nurse_shortages.pdf