Sparking Interest in the Nursing Profession

Podcast Transcript

[00:00:00] Carol Pehotsky: We know there's much said out in the world about the ongoing need for nurses, but before we can welcome nurses into our profession, we have to capture the hearts and minds of those who are curious about nursing, and we know it's really never too early to start introducing students to our profession.

[00:00:21] I'm joined today by Linda Gardner. To learn more about how the Cleveland Clinic Center for Nursing Career Exploration is providing innovative programming to introduce nursing to everyone from kindergartners through adults.

[00:00:35] Hi, and welcome to Nurse Essentials, a Cleveland Clinic podcast where we discuss all things nursing from patient care to advancing your career, to navigating tough on the job issues. We're so glad you're here. I'm your host Carol Pehotsky Associate Chief Nursing Officer of Surgical Services Nursing.

[00:00:55] Welcome back everyone. Our topic today is talking about building a nursing pipeline, and as I've been reflecting on the conversation that we're looking forward to having today and thinking about my own journey, and if you've listened from the start, I apologize, you've heard notes of the story already, but it wouldn't have mattered if you had come to me as a senior in high school as an eighth grader, as a kindergartner, I was convinced I was not going to be a nurse.

[00:01:21] I was scared of hospitals. My, my dad had had some workplace issues with construction that had landed him, unfortunately as a patient. And so, my perception was, yes, the nurses are doing great things, but it was my, my focus with hospitals more about my dad. They took great care of him. He's doing fantastically.

[00:01:39] But as my journey went along and I had the great fortune of working in healthcare in a different role, then I really got to see the amazing work that nurses do and the difference we can make in a variety of ways.

[00:01:51] Fast forward to, you know, now my daughter is 14 and I think I've also shared on this podcast that she was saying since the time she was three that she was going to be a Cleveland Clinic nurse. Her dad and I are both nurses and, and we hadn't even really talked about being a nurse, but just I suppose being around us, it had sort of come into her memory.

[00:02:08] And probably with some irony, I was able to do a career fair when she was in third grade, the topic I chose was hand washing. Right. Something kids can do. I, I brought the surgical hand scrub to show them that as well as alcohol foam, and it happened to be in February of 2020. So, turns out showing kids how to wash their hands. I guess I must've been prescient and did what I could there to start talking to kids about nursing and, and some of them were, oh yeah, I, I know somebody who's a nurse.

[00:02:39] And so it was fascinating to me, just with my own lens to really hear about. Even at that age there was, there was an openness to it or not. But it really does ring true that these days it's, it's probably never too early to start talking to, to kids about nursing. The great opportunities they can provide and the great outlet it can be for those who are looking to care for others.

[00:03:00] So with that is my great pleasure to welcome today my friend and colleague, Linda Gardner. Linda and I have known each other for years, and it's been a wonderful relationship and friendship. Linda is currently the senior director of nursing education professional development. Welcome, Linda. I'm so glad to have you today.

[00:03:16] Linda Gardner: Thank you, Carol. I'm happy to be here.

[00:03:18] Carol Pehotsky: So eventually we're going to get to building a nursing pipeline. But you have a fantastic story about how you became a nurse, how you spent some time in peri-op nursing, our specialty, how you then moved away from that. And among the many other things you do, you get to oversee a lot of our nursing pipelines.

[00:03:33] So would you be so kind to share with our audience a little bit about your journey and how it landed you here?

[00:03:38] Linda Gardner: Absolutely. So, growing up I always wanted to be a nurse. That was one of the things I wanted to do and also be a teacher. So, I spent a lot of time writing on the walls pretending I was a teacher.

[00:03:47] I had the opportunity to get my LPN in high school. Okay. So, my junior and senior year. [Wow]. I went to high school, got my LPN, graduated and decided, nah, I, I want to go be a teacher still. So, kind of left that LPN license. Went to school, got my middle school license, went to,

[00:04:03] Carol Pehotsky: oh my gosh.

[00:04:04] Linda Gardner: Went and taught.

[00:04:05] Carol Pehotsky: Can we pause there? Middle school, come on. All right. Bless you.

[00:04:08] Linda Gardner: That is the best stage. It's my favorite age.

[00:04:10] Carol Pehotsky: All right.

[00:04:10] Linda Gardner: So, went and spent some time teaching middle school five years and then stepped back and said, ah, I'm missing the nursing. [Okay]. So, I went out and looked to see who wants to take me, and I was interested in surgery.

[00:04:22] Mm-hmm. So, Marymount Hospital said, Hey. We have a surgical tech position that we hire LPNs into, and so they hired me and trained me from day one, how to wash my hands, how to do everything the proper way, because at LPN School, Carol, you don't learn how to do all of those things.

[00:04:37] Carol Pehotsky: No, no, unfortunately.

[00:04:38] Linda Gardner: So, I started my role at Cleveland Clinic as a surgical tech with my LPN license at Marymount Hospital.

[00:04:45] Immediately said, I love this. Went back to school, got my RN. Didn't want to leave the OR, stayed in the OR, got my RN continued working at Marymount, and then again, continued going back to school, got my master's, and then worked into a coordinator role, which is now the a and m role. [Sure]. Stayed at Marymount.

[00:05:06] Some education opportunities became available. Had come and met with you a couple of times and we kind of worked through some things. Started some education pieces at Marymount. Eventually Marymount ended up having an education position, which I was like. Pick me. Pick me. Here's why. This is my love.

[00:05:21] Carol Pehotsky: All the paths coming together.

[00:05:22] Linda Gardner: Yeah, everything kind of meshed together. So, I became the educator at Marymount. We did some really awesome things there.

[00:05:28] Carol Pehotsky: Yes, you did.

[00:05:29] Linda Gardner: Built some new paths, really created some opportunities. And then the education manager position became available. So, I came to Maine campus overseeing the enterprise educators in peri-op.

[00:05:40] Love that opportunity. Started some pipeline opportunities for the peri-op journey, which I'm sure we'll talk about a little bit later. And then the senior director position became open. And so, I've moved into that role and I'm able to now take my love of students and nursing and really being able to combine those. So, loving my journey.

[00:05:59] Carol Pehotsky: I love it. And I'm struck by being a parent of a middle schooler. It, it takes a special person to teach, period. It takes maybe an extra special person to teach middle school, but what a fascinating lens you come at this nursing pipeline with knowing that you spent five years with kids that are in a, a pretty ripe age in terms of learning where their future could take them.

[00:06:20] Linda Gardner: Absolutely.

[00:06:21] Carol Pehotsky: So, let's linger there for a moment. So, going back to your days when you were teaching, what sort of things did you hear kids talking about in middle school when it came to their future?

[00:06:30] Linda Gardner: Oh, they had lots of different careers they wanted to do. Many of them had two or three different things they wanted to explore. [Sure]. They would talk about their parents' careers. They talk about what they saw on tv and a lot of it was what they saw on tv, but not really what their careers were. Right. It was that [sure] ideation of what you see and not the true background of what's happening. So that was very interesting. So, we make sure that we really say, here's what you see on tv, but here's the reality.

[00:06:57] So very interesting what middle schoolers think is happening. It's even more widespread with the social media and what students now see or think is happening. Mm-hmm. So, it's really important that we get in there and kind of clear the air and give some true expectations about what the variety of careers are.

[00:07:15] Carol Pehotsky: Absolutely. So, can you give us a brief overview of the various programs that we offer through the Cleveland Clinic Center for Nursing Career Exploration? Maybe spend a little bit of time, if you don't mind talking about the creation of that center and then what you guys do some really amazing things. We'd love to hear more about it.

[00:07:30] Linda Gardner: Yeah, so we started the center, so the Center for Nursing and Career Exploration. We were like, everyone comes to various people. You probably have your neighbors coming to you saying, hey, you know, my granddaughter wants to become a nurse. I don't know who to send them to. Or My nephew wants to shadow a nursing. I don't know what to do.

[00:07:49] You know, at the grocery store, you run into people and they're like, hey, can I come and shadow? Or I want to go to nursing school. What's the best nursing school? All of those different things,

[00:07:57] Carol Pehotsky: career fairs, all of them

[00:07:58] Linda Gardner: come around, right? Mm-hmm. We get requests for career fairs, we get requests for, you know, how do I get my student in to even have an idea of what nursing is? Mm-hmm. And so many of us were sitting around talking, we're like, we don't have a central location for people to come and say, we want to learn more about nursing. So, we developed the Center for Nursing Career Exploration, kind of as that one stop shop for people to be able to learn about nursing.

[00:08:20] And we said now we need to be able to break this up [Yeah] so that we have focuses. Mm-hmm. So, we broke it up into four areas. [Okay.] We have the K through eight, which is our pre pipeline.

[00:08:30] So this area really focuses on those students that are still learning what their careers are, but like you said, it's never too early to get in. So, here's where our launchpad to Nursing bootcamp focuses. [Okay].

[00:08:43] Then we really look at our pipeline. So, these are students that are nine through 12. [Sure]. And then our adult learners. [Mm-hmm.] So, our special program here is our nurse shadowing program. You can start shadowing here at Cleveland Clinic when you're 15. A lot of people don't know that, but that's a great age to start going and getting that experience, exploring really what nursing is.

[00:09:03] But then I want your adult learners because [yeah], this is like kind of a second career for me. Yeah. I did it in high school. [Yeah. Yeah.] But right. [Mm-hmm] for you, it's a second career. You don't really know what nursing is unless you come and check it out. [Yep].

[00:09:13] So we want adult learners to come explore it, check the different specialties out. Or maybe you've always only worked in, in the OR like I did, and maybe you're thinking, hmm, maybe I should go check out behavioral health. [Sure.]

[00:09:25] You want to go check it out before you take that job there. So, you can come to us, and we'll help you out. And one of our big programs in this area is the Holly Aspire Nurse Scholar Program. [Mm-hmm.] So that is one of our, our big focus areas.

[00:09:36] And then we have two other pathways. We have our nursing career navigation, so here's where our nurse associate extern program fits into. [Okay.] And this is where, so you've been a nurse and here's where I've been in the OR all my life [mm-hmm] but now I want to expand and look somewhere else we can help you navigate and look for other areas.

[00:09:53] Carol Pehotsky: Oh, wow.

[00:09:53] Linda Gardner: Or this is where your neighbor comes to you and says, I don't know where to go to school.

[00:09:57] Should I do an LPN or a BS N? And we can help look and navigate and say, let's look at, at where you are in your life, what makes the most sense, what are your goals? And we can help guide you. We can't make decisions, we can't do financial, but we can talk about what those positions are [Sure] and what they look like to help you, you know, on your journey.

[00:10:16] And then we have the nursing career opportunities. One of the areas that we're really focusing on now is our adjunct faculty.

[00:10:23] Carol Pehotsky: Oh, okay.

[00:10:23] Linda Gardner: So, we've talked about nursing and how great nursing is, and we want to have this pipeline, but once we get our students to the pipeline area, we need individuals to help us [yeah] with [yeah], the teaching. [Mm-hmm] and so adjunct faculty, especially in that clinical space, is so important.

[00:10:38] So Cleveland Clinic is really focusing on how do we get adjunct faculty; how do we get them to come and work here? But how do we get our own nurses to become adjunct faculty? So that is a huge focus right now that we are aiming to improve and really get our own caregivers out into the workspace. Especially in those specialty areas, OB, Behavioral Health, L and D, those are the areas we are really looking for caregivers.

[00:11:00] Carol Pehotsky: Sure. I want to know a little bit more about each of this is such a vast menu of options. So, you know, I'm struck especially by the, the pre pipeline, so obviously kindergarten to eighth grade, that's a really wide range of kiddos and learners and interest levels.

[00:11:16] [Mm-hmm.] Talk to me about what sort of that pre-middle school looks like. What are some things that your teams are doing or, or the rest of us could be doing and make it meaningful for those kiddos that are maybe fifth grade and younger?

[00:11:29] Linda Gardner: Yeah, so our goal again, the center has just started. [Yes.] So, we have really focused on that sixth to eighth grade.

[00:11:37] Carol Pehotsky: Okay, sure.

[00:11:37] Linda Gardner: As we are developing, we are starting to look at how do we get those fourth and fifth graders and then the K through three. Mm-hmm. Some of the things that we have looked at. So, you went to your daughters and did a career day. [Yep.] Those are great opportunities. I went to my daughter's second grade class.

[00:11:53] Unfortunately, I didn't do hand hygiene. I took peri-op nursing. [Well, you know,] because that's my specialty, so. I want to just introduce peri-op nursing. [Mm-hmm.] And many people may not know, but we do have a peri-op video where it kind of walks through and shows the different peri-op areas. [Mm-hmm.] And it really emphasizes nursing. Mm-hmm. Because we did a really great job showing our specialty.

[00:12:13] And so going out and just showing little clips of videos and talking about it, but then they want the hands-on. So, I knew I couldn't just go and show second graders a video. [Right.] So, I took the hats, [yeah], the gloves, the masks, the booties.

[00:12:26] The phone calls I got from parents and text messages saying, my kid is still practicing putting on the booties and is still wearing the hat around the house. I was like, those are disposable. Like, I didn't mean for them to take them home. But the students loved them. [Yeah.]

[00:12:42] So just getting out and having those conversations with the students. Small snippets. [Mm-hmm.] It was probably 15 minutes. [Yeah.] But I got more parent phone calls. It was a combined class. My daughter happened to be in a, [mm-hmm] combined class. The way her school runs was amazing. [Yeah.]

[00:12:58] Getting out with the kindergartners. So, there are, you know, little books you can go and read. Again, sometimes parents are invited into read a book and talk about it. [Yeah.] And make connections. Doc McStuffins. [Oh yeah.] You know, it's funny, even with our sixth to eighth graders, when we make connections, so with older kids, you can say, okay, you're watching Grey's Anatomy. The sixth to eighth graders. I'm like, all right, well know Halle is the nurse, but who does all the stuff?

[00:13:22] Right. Halle is the one helping Doc McStuffin, so we make those connections. [Yeah.] Just bringing in those little connections to the students and talking about you have the nurse at school, it's okay to go and talk to the nurse. [Oh, sure.] Who can help you. [Yeah], you know the nurse. You don't just go for bandaids. What are the other things you can go and do with the nurse at school? Mm-hmm.

[00:13:40] So those are some of the areas, but we are actually really working on developing some approved content that we can take for our caregivers to be able to go when they have questions. Or, you know, how do I go and talk to a, a second grader? [Yeah.] How do I go and talk to a kindergartner? [Yeah.]

[00:13:53] So that's definitely on our forefront that we are starting to work on and, and hope to have, we want to call it Nurse on the Go.

[00:13:59] Carol Pehotsky: Ah, I love it.

[00:14:00] Linda Gardner: So, it'll be like nurse on a bag we didn't think was appropriate, but it would basically kind of be information in a bag or a tote where you could call us and say. Hey, Linda, team. I was invited by my kid's school. I want to go out. We would get stuff put together for you in a bag. Some hands-on materials. [Yeah.] Prizes that you can give away. Again,

[00:14:18] Carol Pehotsky: everyone loves prizes.

[00:14:18] Linda Gardner: Everyone loves prizes. Get them back into the, you know, mindset. Also, they'll look at it and say, oh yeah, this is when so and so came out and we talked about nursing.

[00:14:26] And that way you can go to the school and bring it back to us. We refill it for the next person who's going to go.

[00:14:32] Carol Pehotsky: And then that takes that fear away of, I don't want to say the wrong thing, I want to do it in a development appropriate way. That's wonderful. You've already hosted several of these programs, so we'll talk about the six to eight one next.

[00:14:44] Tell us a little bit more about that. And you know, you mentioned earlier how important hands-on is. So let can talk us through what the six to eighth grade program looks like and how you incorporate that hands-on piece of it.

[00:14:55] Linda Gardner: So, this is my favorite because this is my, [yes] this is my grade, Carol. So, the sixth-grade launch Patch and Nursing Bootcamp is.

[00:15:04] Four hours of nonstop interaction. [Okay.] Our students come in for the morning, of course we do the welcome. You have to do icebreaker, make sure everyone knows who you are. But we start the day off with the students in, they're all in groups. [Okay.] And we have a nurse educator at the tables with them to make sure there's interaction.

[00:15:22] [Mm-hmm.] And the students are just placed like you would if you started. In a nursing unit, they don't know each other. [Okay.] Even if you come with friends from a school, you are just placed on your unit for your shift. And they start off with where do nurse nurses work? What do nurses do? And we really are working on changing the face of nursing.

[00:15:42] [Mm-hmm]. We all know that we are caring. You have to have, you know, that warm heart wants to help take care of people, but we really start changing the face of you have to be a critical thinker. [Yes.] You have to be innovative. Math and science are crucial to nursing. And the one thing we have learned is that if we don't start instilling that in our students now, by the time they get to high school and college, it's too late.

[00:16:07] [Hmm.] You really want to make sure students have an understanding that math and science are a huge part of nursing. Think about your anatomy and physiology.

[00:16:16] Carol Pehotsky: The rigors of Absolutely. Micro. Absolutely. Yes.

[00:16:18] Linda Gardner: Nursing is a rigorous field. [Mm-hmm.] So, we start talking about that. [Great.] And we hope in that first, you know, little piece we have started for them to see wow, I just, I have to be more than a caring person. [Yes.] You know, I have to be able to speak up. [Yes.] you know, we talk about that a lot, you know, in the peri-op world. You have to be able to speak up. And so, we start talking about those things.

[00:16:39] But then they, they really become a nurse. So, they get a patient, and they follow this patient throughout the day. They get a clipboard, so we don't have the funds to have an electronic medical record. One day, Carol, they will each walk around with the me a medical record. But back in the day when we all graduated from school and we had our paper record, our students walk around with a, a paper medical record. [Okay.]

[00:17:00] And they follow this patient through five interactive hands-on stations. [Cool.] Where they follow this patient with a very common diagnosis. Patient comes into the ER with a family, and we all know family is very much a part of the patient. [Yes.]

[00:17:16] So they go through these five stations, they're doing blood draws, but it's not just the task of doing the blood draw.

[00:17:21] It's reading the labs. [Wow.] So, it's that critical thinking of what's an appropriate lab? What might be happening if the lab is off. [Mm-hmm.] They have to save the patient. So, a patient goes into respiratory distress that they learn about CPR. [Okay.] They learn about going into an MRI and what do you have to assess a patient for an MRI?

[00:17:40] [Mm-hmm.] You know, the metal, all of those things. Did you check to make sure they didn't have ankle bracelets on, or you know [mm-hmm] a toe ring? Patients have lots of things, but you have to do that full assessment. [Yes.] So, lots of questions and things they go through. They actually learn how to do an assessment.

[00:17:54] They all end up with a stethoscope at the end and get to take that home.

[00:17:57] Carol Pehotsky: Oh, cool. Nice.

[00:17:58] Linda Gardner: So, um, and there's some AI built in so they can hear the patient talking. [Wow.] So, they run through these five stations where they're learning about different areas of nursing. [Okay.] And get to bring that home with them.

[00:18:09] When they come back, they do an escape room. In the escape room. All kids love those now. [Sure.] But really what they're doing is they're bringing together everything they've learned. [Mm-hmm] to take that, you know, culmination and figure out what was going on with this patient. Critically, think innovatively talk about how can we help take care of patient X.

[00:18:30] [Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.] How did they feel about how they took care of, you know, the patient for the day?

[00:18:35] Carol Pehotsky: Oh, reflecting on how they did. Nice.

[00:18:37] Linda Gardner: So, reflect, that's a big part of nursing. [Yeah.] It's a huge part. Right? [Yeah.] And then we also talk about communication. [Mm-hmm.] Because handoff communication is essential. [Yes.] So, part of that escape room is did you read all of the directions? Because if you don't read all the directions, you're not going to escape it.

[00:18:52] And we, you know, talk about escaping your shift at the end of the day, but it's really, what did you learn about nursing? How did you feel? And then really talking about what's the next steps? Bringing all of that together, that nursing really is at the forefront [mm-hmm] of everything going on with your patient.

[00:19:10] Carol Pehotsky: So, what kind of feedback have you gotten from your middle schoolers?

[00:19:14] Linda Gardner: So, the, the very first time we did this was at main campus. [Okay] and it was a beautiful day out. So, we took them out and we got this picture outside on the stairs in health space, and we're waiting and.

[00:19:24] I was like, hey, just out of curiosity, if [Yeah,] if we were to do a, a part two, how many of would you come back every hand shot up. [Aw] it was amazing. And actually we, we've run several of the sixth to eighth grade boot camps. [Mm-hmm.] And we're running this one at Medina and I'm looking at this student and like. She said, this girl looks so familiar.

[00:19:47] And she's like, do you know my, my grandma? [Oh, okay]. And she tells me her grandma's name and I was like, yeah, she works at so and so in the, in the Oh, in the OR. [Mm-hmm.] And I was like, weren't you here before? She's like, yeah, I came to the one at Maine. She's like, I just loved it so much I had to come back. So that tells you we are [Yeah] making a lasting impression. And, and the content that, that we're giving them is stuff that they can take back home.

[00:20:12] Carol Pehotsky: So I don't have to, of course, done that to then come into the ninth through 12th grade programming, but presuming that those who are showing up for those little more clarity that they're leaning towards nursing or that it's narrowed down. You talked for those two to three things. What does that look like then for those learners in that experience?

[00:20:31] Linda Gardner: So, the ninth through 12th graders, we've only had one session for the ninth through 12th for the launchpad. [Mm-hmm.] And what we found was they want more. [Hmm.] So, we are tweaking and adding more.

[00:20:42] They have a lot more questions. [Okay.] So, we're definitely making it, um, higher level. We're adding in more medication questions where they have higher level critical thinking that they have to do. They absolutely loved in our evaluation. So, we're of course doing evaluations. [Mm-hmm] because that's what you do.

[00:20:57] How do you get better at what you do [that's right] if you can't see what the students are saying. They had some of the same scenario, but we made it higher level. [Okay.] They absolutely loved it but had really great questions and were able to understand obviously more. [Mm-hmm.] So, we were able to build in more of that critical thinking, what happens next?

[00:21:15] How do you really become a nurse? What courses should I be taking? So really starting to dry the,

[00:21:20] Carol Pehotsky: the nuts and bolts of

[00:21:21] Linda Gardner: the nuts and bolts of it.

[00:21:22] Carol Pehotsky: Now you've intrigued me, I really want to do this. What do I do next?

[00:21:24] Linda Gardner: What do I do? Nice. And then the extra piece we throw in there is you can come and shadow now. [Sure.] So, let's, you know you've had this experience. If you're really interested, let's pull you in and you can come and shadow. And so that is something we make sure to let all of our students know.

[00:21:38] The interesting thing with ninth and 12th is we really didn't think we were going to get the students' interest to want to come to this.

[00:21:44] Carol Pehotsky: Really?

[00:21:45] Linda Gardner: We're like, well this is really going to be sixth to eighth grade. You know, we originally only said nine and 10. Oh, okay. And then I started getting phone calls from parents. Well, what do you have for my 11th grader? I have a, I have a senior. What do you have? And I was like. We didn't plan anything. [Huh?]

[00:21:58] Like we didn't ask for funds. You know, this is all grant funded, currently philanthropically funded. We didn't go that route. [Yeah.] but I started getting all these phone calls, so we opened it up nine through 12. [Okay]. And all of our nine through 12, our main campus, one that we opened for July, filled in three days.

[00:22:14] Carol Pehotsky: Oh my gosh.

[00:22:15] Linda Gardner: Well, that's 20 people over.

[00:22:16] Carol Pehotsky: A good sign of interest.

[00:22:18] Linda Gardner: Yes. 20 people over what you know, we have slotted for. So, we ended up opening, majority of ours for the summer are for ninth through 12th graders. [Great.] Because the interest is there. So definitely they are interested. So, then we make sure that we slot in, you know, here's the shadowing. [Sure.]

[00:22:34] And what we're doing now [mm-hmm] Is how do we build launchpad two so that we can continue to bring them back. And it, we're looking at launchpad two. Is that where we make sure we bring in colleges and things to help them along the way.

[00:22:46] Carol Pehotsky: That's amazing. You mentioned the adult, right? And so do you have to be a Cleveland Clinic employee to learn more about, you know, you'd mentioned that there's ways to learn about nursing school or about nursing.

[00:22:57] I'm, I'm not a 12th grader. I'm much older than a 12th grader. Any number of years beyond 18. How do people tap into that? Are there limitations? Do I have to be a Cleveland Clinic employee?

[00:23:09] Linda Gardner: Absolutely not. So, on our website. [Mm-hmm.] So, we now have the Center for Nursing Career Exploration website [Nice.] there's an interest form. [Okay.] And so, you can click right on our interest form and there are questions.

[00:23:20] So you'll say, I'm a Cleveland Clinic employee. It will route you one way. [Sure. Okay.] I'm not a Cleveland Clinic employee. It routes you a different direction. And there you can say, I'm interested in nursing school. I have questions. I'm interested. I'm an RN. Or I'm not an RN. because you may be an RN, but you're interested in coming to the Cleveland Clinic [Sure. Mm-hmm] and have questions. Or you may not be an RN, and you're interested in schools or interested in shadowing.

[00:23:45] So that is a great way to be able to reach out to us because then you get an individual email sent to you, so you know the exact contact. So, it's [nice] you're directly connected. We love for individuals to reach out that are not a part of the clinic as well. Yeah. You, you can come and shadow. There is the onboarding process, and we have teams that help that onboarding process. We can give you the gamut at Cleveland Clinic to give you those options to shadow.

[00:24:09] And at multiple hospitals. [Yeah.] You don't have to drive to main campus. [Mm-hmm.] You can go to the regional hospitals; we have ambulatory centers. [Mm-hmm.] There's a variety of places for caregivers to come. And we'll talk to you about the various school options as well.

[00:24:21] Carol Pehotsky: That's wonderful. So, we have listeners throughout Cleveland Clinic, but also beyond our figurative and little four walls.

[00:24:28] So I, I mean, what a, what a blessing this funding has been and, and how generous of, of those givers to really help set up the center. It, it's not something that we see. [Mm-hmm.] And so, we have listeners that aren't from Cleveland Clinic that are inspired, but say, I, I don't have grant funding, but I want to be part of the solution for my community, for my friends and neighbors for the community surrounding my hospital.

[00:24:52] What advice would you give to them?

[00:24:54] Linda Gardner: Start small. [Sure.] Don't bite off more than you could chew. Even just starting and having those opportunities to have those conversations. [Okay.] You know, if you are a part of your PTA at your school, or if you have connections where you can just send bits of information out about nursing or within your space, right?

[00:25:14] If you are a nurse on your unit and you are passionate about nursing [mm-hmm.] And you could spread a little bit of that information to your caregivers and ask everyone to send a nugget of that [Sure] to their kids' school, you are starting to spread the pipeline. Go and find out from your hospitals, hey, do we even do shadowing?

[00:25:34] [sure]. There are so many people that didn't maybe about, [yeah] realize that their hospitals provide shadowing opportunities. [Mm-hmm.] You know, so many people come up to me and they're like, I didn't know you could shadow here. And I'm like, yes, there are opportunities. So, there are probably opportunities within your hospital.

[00:25:50] That, and shadowing costs, no money. [Right.] It, it just costs time to be able to make those connections. So, I would start small, see what opportunities are already within the hospital, dig up a policy that says, yep, you can shadow, find out what those requirements are and start small. Those are great ways, opportunities to do that.

[00:26:08] Carol Pehotsky: And in a shared governance model, what a great project for a local nursing practice committee or, or a group of, of nurses from a diverse set of settings in your hospital, say, we want to go spread the joy to the community. How do we do that in a way that reflects our organization, our organization's values, as well as the value of nursing?

[00:26:26] Linda Gardner: Absolutely. And, and you could start with small groups. Yeah. Girl Scouts. That was one of the first places I went. [Oh sure. Yeah.] Was a Girl Scout troop. [Right.] Find a small area that you can go and talk about nursing, talk about your community,

[00:26:39] Carol Pehotsky: make it hands on and bring gifts.

[00:26:40] Linda Gardner: Yep. They, they, and they'll even just take candy. You can toss candy to kids when you're asking questions. They absolutely love that as well.

[00:26:49] Carol Pehotsky: So, one more question on this topic, because you'd mentioned it, and again, this could be its own episode, and we have had episodes about this, but you'd mentioned remodeling the face of nursing. [Mm-hmm.] So for even those of us who aren't going out or don't, maybe don't have opportunities to, to go into schools or what have you with social media, with interactions we have with our friends, our families, our community, what are some things that we should all be doing to help create the next nurse of the future?

[00:27:19] Linda Gardner: We need to talk about what we do. [Okay.] We need to really talk about we are a profession. [Hmm.]

[00:27:26] We're not a job. We're not the doctor sidekick. You know, think about who spends all the time with the patients. [Mm-hmm.] Who is making those day to day, minute by minute decisions and what knowledge you have to have to do that. [Mm-hmm.] Right.

[00:27:42] We do not give ourselves enough credit, and I think that's a part of many nurses’ personality is that we're kind of there. We tend to be the saviors. Many of us, at least a lot of the groups that I, I am with. But we do it because we're knowledgeable. [Yes.] We're experts. [Mm-hmm.] We are content experts.

[00:28:02] Yes, we are passionate and care for our patients, but we do it with the expertise that we have, and we need to start sharing that we are content experts. Just because we don't have MD behind our name doesn't mean that we are not just as empowered and important in the roles that we do in saving those patients and helping promote their, you know, health and safety.

[00:28:23] Carol Pehotsky: Yeah. It's, it's about an interprofessional team. [Absolutely.] And I think to your earlier point about what's seen on media television, about the roles and how they interact versus if we're all going to be part of a highly valuable organization, if we're all going to be committed to the care of patients. We need all sorts of caregivers around that patient.

[00:28:43] The, the physician is a very important caregiver. There are many other roles that are also very important. Mm-hmm. And this is what nurses bring to that team as well. [Absolutely].

[00:28:52] We're not going to go on a crusade against social media, but I think it's a good reminder to us all. Yes, we have hard days. There are days that no matter what your role is in nursing, that you go, whew, how do we talk about, or do we not talk about?

[00:29:03] I mean, it's, I think it's that piece that says, if all I'm ever doing is talking about how exhausted I am, how [mm-hmm] how, [mm-hmm] rough the shift was, or whatever it is I'm going through. Kids are listening to that. Our neighbors are listening to that. Why would I want to do that too? If this is what, whatever I hear my friend saying when she or he talks about what they do as a nurse.

[00:29:23] Linda Gardner: Exactly It. And that's only a small piece of it, right? [Yes.] Because if that was the bigger picture, you and I wouldn't be sitting here today.

[00:29:29] Carol Pehotsky: Nor would anybody else.

[00:29:30] Linda Gardner: yeah. Right. So that is a small piece of the pie. The bigger piece of it is why we are here, and that's what we need to be talking about and elevating to the people around us, to your families, your friends, you know.

[00:29:45] Carol Pehotsky: Anyone who listens.

[00:29:45] Linda Gardner: The folks Yeah. Whoever's out in the ball stands listening to us. That is who what we need to be saying. [Mm-hmm.] Yes. You're going to have a bad day. It's okay to have a bad day. [Mm-hmm.] We all have bad day. Every,

[00:29:55] Carol Pehotsky: every profession does.

[00:29:56] Linda Gardner: Right. We all have it. Yep. We see it everywhere. Yep. If the bad day is always happening, then you are not in the right space and you need to, to look at your head space. [Mm-hmm.] Overall, this is the right job, and I know for me it's, and, and I know it is for you. [Absolutely.] Because you wouldn't, we wouldn't stick it out this long.

[00:30:12] Carol Pehotsky: That's right, and that's how you really build a pipeline is [absolutely] perfect. You've given our listeners a ton of information to reflect on and think about and how we can all be part of that solution and thank you for everything you and your team do to be an active part of that solution here in Ohio. It already is paying dividends, and it will continue to really help our profession in this space.

[00:30:32] Before we wrap it up though, I'd like to ask you a couple fun questions so that our listeners can get to know you a little bit as an overall amazing human being in addition to an amazing nurse. So, first question.

[00:30:43] You do a lot. Your role is very active. It's diverse. You lead a, a diverse team of caregivers. It's time to go home and it's time to recharge. What do you do for you? How do you recharge?

[00:30:55] Linda Gardner: So, I committed in 2024 that I was going to keep my nails up.

[00:30:59] Carol Pehotsky: All right.

[00:31:00] Linda Gardner: Because I have two kids that

[00:31:01] Carol Pehotsky: I love yours they look fabulous.

[00:31:03] Linda Gardner: Yes. But between being PTA president and dealing with, uh, the children, I needed some an hour of mom time. [Yes.] So once a month I get an hour of mom time and I, I take care of that.

[00:31:17] Carol Pehotsky: Good for you. Good for you. And you, you'd mentioned this a little bit, but I want to get a little bit deeper. You know, as an organization, we're spending a thoughtful time this year talking about our purpose, talking about our why.

[00:31:27] Would you be kind of to share with us what's your why?

[00:31:29] Linda Gardner: Yeah. My why is it is so important to make sure that we are continuing growing our pipeline. And so being able to connect my nursing and my teaching I finally feel like where I'm, where I belong. [Wow.] I belong in this role. Yes, there are still days I go home saying, what was I thinking? Or did they put me in the right position? Are they sure they hired me, right?

[00:31:51] Because we all have those days, right. I mean, that's just a part of the job. But most importantly, I go home and know that I am doing everything I can to help improve the profession [mm-hmm] and expand the profession. Things are rapidly changing, and I want to be a part of that change.

[00:32:08] And I know that, you know, 10, 15, 20, 30 years I want to know that I've helped build that pipeline and the people that are taking care of you and I [mm-hmm] and, and other listeners, they've had that opportunity, the best opportunity to make sure they're taking care of us and being innovative and creative and, and making life better so that we're not doing the things that we do to current nurses.

[00:32:29] We are the face of healthcare. [Mm-hmm.] That we are proud of who we are and just really paving that path.

[00:32:36] Carol Pehotsky: Wonderful. Thank you so much for joining me

[00:32:37] today.

[00:32:38] Linda Gardner: Thank you.

[00:32:43] Carol Pehotsky: As always, thanks so much for joining us for today's discussion. Don't miss out. Subscribe to hear new episodes wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, we want to hear from you. Do you have ideas for future podcasts or want to share your stories? Email us at nurse essentials@ccf.org. To learn more about nursing at Cleveland Clinic, please check us out@clevelandclinic.org slash nursing.

[00:33:10] Until next time, take care of yourselves and take care of each other.

[00:33:17] The information in this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical or legal advice. Consult your local state boards of nursing for any specific practice questions.