Real Nurse Stories – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In this compelling episode, Dr. Lorre delves into the nursing burnout crisis. She challenges the traditional self-care narrative and explores why it is insufficient for addressing the root causes of nurse trauma. Here’s what we cover:

Key Discussion Points:

The Burnout Narrative & Its Flaws:

Dr Lorre Laws criticises the standard advice to "suck it up" and manage burnout through self-care alone. Instead, she highlights the need for community healing and systemic support.

The Importance of Trauma-Informed Care:

The current nursing education lacks a focus on trauma management from a trauma-informed perspective. Dr. Lorre shares insights from her book, Nursing Our Healer’s Heart, which is designed to be accessible for every nurse rather than an academic text.

Introducing Middle Range Theory for Nurse Trauma:

Dr. Karen Foley's middle range theory provides a groundbreaking framework for understanding and addressing psychological trauma in nurses, allowing for a practical application that can be presented to employers and leaders.

Rethinking Professional Well-being:

Dr. Lorre advocates for a shift from blaming individual nurses to recognizing systemic and avoidable workplace trauma as occupational hazards. She emphasises the need for organisations to take responsibility for creating safer working environments.

System-Induced Trauma and Workplace Violence:

The episode delves into the avoidable aspects of trauma exposure, including workplace violence, insufficient resources, and dangerous staffing ratios, which are driving nurses away from the profession in alarming numbers.

Spirituality in Nursing:

Dr. Lorre discusses the often-overlooked role of spirituality in nursing care. She believes that the focus on quantitative measures has eroded the holistic approach to patient care and diminished the spiritual component many nurses find integral to their practice.

The Existential Crisis of New Nurses:

New graduate nurses often experience disillusionment when the values they learned in training clash with the realities of the healthcare system. Dr. Lorre shares feedback from early career nurses who describe their "healer's heart" as being "run over by a steamroller."

The Call for Change:

With the nursing profession experiencing unprecedented levels of trauma exposure, Dr. Lorre stresses the need for systemic changes rather than superficial solutions. Her work aims to provide resources and frameworks to help nurses navigate these challenges effectively.

Takeaway Message: The episode underscores the urgent need to address the systemic issues contributing to nurse burnout. It’s not enough to push self-care; we must tackle the root causes of trauma exposure and support nurses in a holistic and trauma-informed way.

Resources Mentioned:

by Dr Lorre Laws

by Dr. Karen Foli

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In this episode, I interview Jenn Johnson, RN, a dedicated nurse with over 16 years of experience in emergency rooms across Northern and Southern Ontario, Canada. A front-line worker through the most challenging times, Jen has witnessed firsthand the intense pressures of the profession, from life-and-death moments to the struggles of coping during the pandemic. A passionate advocate for well-being, Jen's new book, NURSING INTUITION, was written to support her peers by offering insights on reconnecting with the love of nursing and fostering resilience in a rapidly changing healthcare environment. Jen is also a wife and mother of two.

To learn more about nurse coaching and explore opportunities for personal and professional development, book a ⁠⁠⁠free strategy call here⁠⁠⁠

Follow me on Instagram⁠ @evastoreycoach ⁠

Visit my Website ⁠⁠Evastorey.com⁠⁠

Follow us for more insights and updates on upcoming episodes. Don’t forget to leave a review if you found this episode helpful! Your feedback helps us bring more valuable conversations to the forefront.

In this episode, I interview Iris who is currently a Grad nurse on placement in Rural Western Australia. Iris never wanted to be a nurse and always thought that she would go into paramedicine but became hooked on Nursing We cover her journey into nursing and her experience working as a Graduate nurse in a remote and rural site in Western Australia. Iris's interview is energetic and her adventurous, bubbly and resilient personality shines through in this episode. She describes how she took a leap of faith, taking a graduate placement in a rural area and has developed her nursing and critical thinking skills in ways that she would never have thought possible. If you are a newly qualified nurse thinking about a rural placement take a listen, you will not be disappointed I promise! If you would like to know more about the work that I do coaching Nurses or are interested in being coached by me you can find out more here

Cynarra, always knew that she wanted to be a nurse, nursing runs in her blood. Her mum was a nurse and Cynarra grew up with an older sister with complex disability needs. These early influences led Cynarra to follow a career in disability nursing and more recently teaching nurses as a nurse lecturer about how to communicate and care for clients who are living with a disability. Helping them to see the person and learn how to communicate so that as nurses we can understand their needs and how best to support clients living in the community. We talk about the importance of preceptorship, clinical supervision and Cynarra shares her tips for leaving work at work and maintaining her self care away from work. Cynarra has such a lovely gentle personality that she uses to share her knowledge and experience gained in the 8 years that she has been a nurse. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I did interviewing Cynarra. If you have enjoyed listening to this episode please subscribe to my podcast to hear all the latest episodes. If you would like to know more about the work that I do coaching nurses please visit my website https://www.evastorey.com/ If you would like to share your story please email me at eva@evastorey.com

In this episode, I interview Emillee who is currently working as a Psychiatric Liason nurse in ED in regional Western Australia. Emillee always wanted to be a Doctor and entered into nursing thinking that she would become a Doctor at a later point. She wasn't able to get a grad position and was offered a post in a private mental health clinic as a newly qualified nurse.  She came to love working as a mental health nurse and has experience working with patients in an inpatient, outpatient, mother and baby unit, community mental health, and in the emergency department in her current role. Emillee is a passionate advocate for patients who are struggling with their mental health. In this interview, we talk about the stigma of mental health both from a patient and a nursing perspective. Her interview is a testament to her willingness to take a leap of faith and learn about mental health nursing despite having had no exposure to the care of patients with a mental health condition during her training. We also covered the importance of mentorship, clinical supervision and debrief as mechanisms to help nurses deal with the stresses of working in the challenging environment of mental health. Emillee also shares her knowledge, experience, and wisdom in balancing life and work successfully. If you have enjoyed listening to this episode please subscribe to my podcast to hear all the latest episodes.  If you would like to know more about the work that I do coaching nurses or would like to share your story drop me an email at eva@evastorey.com

In this episode, I interview Nurse Jacqui as she is affectionately known by the clients that she works with. Jacqui is a passionate nurse, a confidence coach, champion of carers and a BeYOUtiful Mentor. Jacqui shares her journey into why she became a nurse and her journey into entrepreneurship as the founder of Heartplace and BeYOUtiful mentor Jacqui candidly shares her experience whilst working as a nurse, of compassion fatigue and burnout as a result of a mindset of "work hard then rest". Jacqui recognised that she was not filling her self care compassion cup along the way until it was completely empty. Jacqui shares her insights into her own self-awareness and how her perfectionism, people-pleasing and overworking also didn't serve her self-compassion. Jacqui gives some great practical words of wisdom in her interview about how to find a little space for your self-compassion because nurses need nurturing too. Please subscribe to my Podcast to hear all the latest episodes If you would like to know more about the work that I do coaching nurses or would like to share your story please drop me an email at eva@evastorey.com.

In this episode, I interview Nurse Sonia Goodwin who is a passionate nurse leader, entrepreneur, CEO and founder of Sunny Street. Sunny street is a Doctor & Nurse-led outreach service providing primary healthcare and complex coordination services for homeless and vulnerable individuals and families across the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Fraser Coast regions. Sunny Street has a mission to facilitate community connections and improve access to health care options. Sonia talks about how she became a nurse and then had a geronimo moment when she took a massive leap of faith in response to a question that was asked at a palliative care event. The question that led to the planting of the sunny street seed was "Are you really doing the best and the most that you can do for the people who need it the most?" The rest as they say is history. I loved interviewing Sonia who is a passionate advocate for vulnerable people, nursing leadership and a positive role model for female entrepreneurs everywhere. If you would like to know more about the coaching work that I do with nurses check out my Linkedin profile or visit my website  If you would like to share your story please contact me at eva@evastorey.com

Samatha's story is the final episode of 2020 where I started out to interview a nurse a month as part of the 2020 International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. Most of my interviews have been with nurses working in Australia and it seemed only right to include the experience of an Australian nurse who identifies as being an Aboriginal woman. This experience needs to be heard and understood and more importantly, storytelling is a large part of Aboriginal culture. Samantha describes  "being caught between two worlds, a love of my people and a love of the frontline and trying to find the balance." Samantha is a Koori woman from Ngunnawal and Wiradjuri country. Samatha is passionate about wanting to increase access to health services through telehealth for Aboriginal people and importantly for Aboriginal people to be able to speak to a health care worker who identifies as Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander. Closing the Gap is something that Samantha references throughout her interview. The Australian Government describes  'Closing the Gap' as being "underpinned by the belief that when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a genuine say in the design and delivery of policies, programs and services that affect them, better life outcomes are achieved. It also recognises that structural change in the way governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is needed to close the gap" Samantha's interview highlights that there is still much work to be done if the trust is to be rebuilt amongst Aboriginal communities to facilitate and sustain aboriginal community engagement that addresses their health needs and influences the services that need to be developed as a result. Samantha advocates and articulates passionately the health issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and has a dream to establish a mentoring program that can help and support Aboriginal nurses to remain in their country through accessing remote learning and mentorship from qualified nurses who identify as Aboriginal Torress Strait Islander. If you can help Samantha realise this dream please get in touch and I would love to connect you both.

Grace's story is one of my favourites so far! Grace is a student nurse studying to become a registered nurse. Her journey into nursing was inspired by a condition that she was born with as a premature 26-week old baby. Her love of human biology is testament to the great person-centred care that she received from her Paediatric team who educated and involved Grace about her condition with age-appropriate education throughout her childhood. Grace talks about her experience as a young 17-year-old studying to become an enrolled nurse and some of the challenges that she faced. Grace had a three-week volunteer placement in Nepal, Katmandu, which she describes as "a shining star experience."  Her story illustrates that despite her young age she is a natural educator with fantastic critical thinking and project management skills and there are many examples in her story that illustrate these skills. Grace was awarded the New Columbo Grant and Award from the Australian Government Department of  Foreign Affairs and Trade as a result of her volunteering experience in Nepal. Her story is truly inspiring and I have no doubt that Grace will continue to give back and contribute her time and skills, making a difference to everyone she meets. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did. If you would like to know more about the work that I do with nurses in leadership training and coaching you can read more about me here  Are interested in sharing your nursing story on my podcast, please contact me on eva@evastorey.com to arrange a chat.

Athol grew up on a dairy farm and never dreamed of becoming a nurse. He had a love of anatomy and human biology and thought that he was going to study exercise science. His Grandmother suggested Nursing to him and the rest is history as they say! In this episode we talk about Athol's nursing journey, men in nursing, his struggles with burnout and how understanding his 'why' helped him to recover from burnout and resume his nursing career after three years of pain and turmoil. Athol's story is a great example of how seeking to understand who you are as a person and what drives you to become a nurse and making wise choices for yourself rather than what others might expect of you can help you to grow as a nurse and learn to deal with the challenges of nursing. Athol has put his experience of burnout to positive use by developing the FWards App which is designed to help busy nurses overcome stress. If you are struggling with Burnout and need someone to talk to contact the Nurse and midwife support national hotline confidential support for nurses and midwives. I teach leadership skills and coach nurses and midwives because nurses need nurturing too! You can find out more about the work that I do here