Finding Nursing Career Satisfaction by Leveraging Knowledge & Skill to Align with Passion and Pur...

Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Nursing Strategies for Success podcast with this week's guest, Alexandria Jones-Patten. Alexandria is a registered nurse and health writer. She has worked in street medicine serving populations experiencing homelessness in Skid Row, Los Angeles, as well as in cardiovascular care in the hospital setting. Alexandria received a PhD in nursing from the University of California California, Irvine. She has also earned a master's degree in both nursing and business administration, and she's working as a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia University in New York City, focusing on cardiovascular disease risk research among minority populations. In her spare time, she's building a freelance writing business and showing other nurses how they can do the same. So let's welcome Alexandria to the show. Welcome to the Nursing Strategies for Success podcast, brought to you by The Nurse Speak, a show where we rally some of our nation's greatest nurse leaders, educators, experts, and advocates to tackle some of our greatest challenges that the nursing profession faces. My name is Damion Jenkins, and I'm your host for this show. So sit back, relax, and get ready to learn that nurses can do anything. Okay, Alexandria, thank you so much for being on the Nursing Strategies for Success podcast. Why don't you take a moment to introduce yourself for the listeners? Let them know a little bit about yourself. Where you started in nursing and where you are today.

Hi, Damion Jenkins Jenkins, thank you so much for having me. So my name is Alexandria Jones-Patten. I have been a registered nurse— some people still call me a baby nurse because I've only been a nurse since 2017, which I find hilarious. I thought that once I exited the 5-year mark, right, I was no longer a baby, but someone called me that not too long ago.

I wouldn't, I wouldn't classify that as baby. I would say, you know, maybe adolescent. Um, 10 years is usually when people are like, okay, you're well-seasoned, right? However, in 5 years, I know from experience you can learn a great deal and also be an amazing nurse at that mark. So I'm sure you have lots of experiences, so tell us about that.

I hope so. Thank you. So I became a nurse in 2017. I worked a really busy telemetry unit. That's where I started. Cardiovascular health is my baby, my love. Love everything about the heart.

Mine too.

Oh yay! And then I ran— go ahead.

I was saying I have a lot of cardiac experience. I started almost the same spot you did.

Yep. Awesome, awesome. Um, all right, I did that for about 3 years and then I transitioned out of the direct patient care, uh, realm, if you will. Uh, 2020 COVID hit and I think that was kind of the point where I was forced to pivot. I was one of those nurses who kind of knew as I was going through nursing school that the floor is a great place to start, but it wasn't where I was gonna finish. And I want to be sure that I say this because I know a lot of people are concerned about nurses wanting to leave the bedside. I absolutely think that we need nurses at the bedside, but one of the problems that I had to go through was really, what is my niche? Where do I belong in nursing? Not just the bedside. So around 2020, I was in the middle of my PhD studies, and I still couldn't figure out exactly what I was supposed to be doing. And I kept saying, okay, I'm missing patient education. That is the one thing that's just really, really, really bothering me. I had taken on a couple of different public health roles. I was in California at the time, and we had, you know, a lot of funding for COVID relief and COVID nursing, and there was no shortage of jobs. So I was still in a patient-facing type of environment, but nothing to the level of bedside. And I was noticing that as I'm getting people who are not my patients but are coming to me with questions— oh, I really miss this, I really miss the education, the just breaking down the blood pressure, why it's important to exercise, you know, all of the little things that we sometimes take for granted because we hear them so much, or we hear ourselves say them so much— and I said, okay, how do I get this regularly again? And going through my PhD studies, and I swear to you, I don't know how it happened, but I found someone who was in writing, content writing, as a nurse. And you know how you just do that one Google search, or you just say it one time and it pops up everywhere in your social medias? The sponsored posts all of a sudden pop up, and you didn't put anything in Instagram letting them know that you were interested. It's like Somebody was just out there listening. That's exactly what happened.

Literally listening. As you said, all of the devices connected to the internet are listening. That is a fact.

So that's how they—

that's how they introduce you. So it's like, oh, she's interested in this, so let's show her what's out there, right?

Exactly. And that was— that was what forced me to— to move forward. And I took a couple of classes from different nurse writers who are in content writing. And the rest is really history. I'm no longer, no longer touching patients, but I'm also transitioning into academia. I know some people are like, wait, what? Like, she's doing all of this? But I am. It's a transition period, and I'm enjoying it. I really am.

Yeah, imagine if you are still picking up, you know, even on a very part-time basis, like maybe once or twice a shift, having to still go into the clinical space and deal with the stresses of this clinical space. Yeah, plus your studies, plus doing your writing.

Yes.

Um, I have a lot of experience in writing as a profession, and it's a tremendous time beast. Like, it takes a lot of time to write. You know, yeah, we have a lot of tools nowadays that can help us write quickly. That doesn't take away the authorship. It doesn't take away the academic or professional integrity of making sure that it's our voice, it's our, you know, work, and we're not stealing from others. Because we can't be so sure that some of these tools aren't stealing from others.

Exactly.

So, you know, exactly. Yes, it's a great space to be in, um, but a lot of people probably think writing, oh, that's easy, I could do that, right? And you probably learned a few things along the way that, okay, it's not as easy as I thought, but it's—

yes, lucrative.

You're making money. Yeah, yeah, steady, because someone always needs content, right?

Yes.

And yes, on your, your market, right, depending on who you're writing to will dictate how fast those sales happen, right? So exactly. So it sounds like you identified your problem. Your problem really wasn't a plague on nursing per se, like some of my— right, would, would speak on. More or less, you just weren't finding your groove. You didn't find what you jived with Yes, throughout your early journeys, and then, you know, having that passion for health teaching, now you're like, hey, I can take my knowledge as a nurse into a daily or weekly activity that allows me to still use my nursing knowledge, still help people, but I'm aligned with what I like to do, and that's writing. So that's amazing.

Yes, thank you. You know, I love the way you put that too, because it's true. Like, we are trained to go to the bedside, but there are nurses doing everything. Like, we take— we really don't think about the fact that we have two terminal degrees. We don't think about the fact that nurses are in health policy, they're in public health, they're— we are everywhere. We are literally everywhere. And unfortunately, you know, I don't think that the school system— sometimes we, we give— we don't always give them a fair shake. It's really hard to also allow people to explore all of these different avenues that you can go into as a nurse. And it is critical that you start, you know, clinical acute care, especially if you do intend to continue to touch patients. And even when you do decide, okay, I'm no longer doing that, you have to come with some type of experience that the next person isn't coming with, so that when you do step into that business role or that health policy role, you've got something to contribute there that the rest of the people on the team just simply cannot.

Absolutely. And I think it's so important, again, to go back to, you know, we don't give schools enough credit because you say you're transitioning into academia. And just before we started recording, we were kind of on a little banter about academia. I've been you know, in and out of the academic space, both at the, you know, trade school level, community college, um, organizational level, like healthcare organizational level, whether it's home care, agency, long-term care, or acute care. I've taught in all of those capacities. I've taught at universities as adjunct. So I really kind of had a fair share, and I've really taught every program in nursing except for doctorate studies because I don't have a doctorate. So I haven't taught any doctorate-level classes. I have done guest speaking at, you know, doctorate programs but never really taught as a professor. However, with that being said, schools are starting to catch on and they are starting to incorporate entrepreneurship into some of their— they are starting to speak to the possibilities that nurses have beyond the bedside. However, we have to remember our history and how lessons and curriculum was designed over time regarding nursing education. And truly, the education changed based on the needs of our society at large. So initially, it was very community-focused, right, for the big hospitals and the specialty surgical centers and the high, high-level, um, acute care services that we offer nowadays. Before all of that, it was community-based. We taught nurses how to go into people's homes or take care of them in senior centers and keep them healthy or manage their disease processes so they can have some form of a normalcy with what they're dealing with. And then the hospital started popping up. So then nursing curriculum changed to focus mainly on bedside acute care nursing with very minimal focus on long-term care and very minimal focus on home health. Very minimal focus on community health, and absolutely zero focus on nurses creating their own patient care services.

Right, right.

So, you know, as we know, when we look back in history, things change. Um, they change often. Sometimes we do a little bit of a backwards step, which I feel like we've done in recent years, kind of gone backwards a little bit with just general professional integrity. As a whole. I wouldn't say, you know, one area is better than the other— hospitals, long-term care, home care, New York versus LA. I don't think any of that really matters. I think it's just a holistic kind of, um, we, you know, maybe it was the pandemic, maybe it was agency nursing that kind of created this weird dichotomy, but a lot of nurses don't want to be nurses anymore.

Well, I think too COVID had a lot to do with that. I I still remember there really being a really big fallout really between just really kind of everyone with, well, who's going to take care of this next COVID patient? I took care of the last one, or I'm really worried about bringing this home to my family. I have chronic conditions too, and everyone's screaming like, what about me? Like, when am I going to be the priority? And I don't think that's a hit on us. I think it's just that none of us had dealt with a pandemic and we really didn't know what was going to happen. We were seeing— we were taking care of healthy young people and they were dying from this. It was a really scary time, and I think it really kind of opened the eyes of a lot of people to really ask themselves, okay, but really, what am I doing? Am I living in my purpose and my truth? And if I'm not, maybe I need to make some type of shift, or I need to figure something out because the alignment, like you said, it's, it's off. Yeah. And I think pre-COVID you could kind of sort of mask that still with, you know, different things. But once COVID hit, life really became something where we— that we looked at it differently. We looked at, you know, our outlook different.

Yeah, of course. And, you know, the days of saying, oh well, a prudent nurse would do this, and a good nurse would be resilient, and and you'll figure out a way to deal with it, right? That didn't always work. Way back, you know, 14 years ago when I started as a registered nurse, when I got my license, that didn't work then, you know, being told, oh, toughen up, buttercup. That certainly did not work for me back then, so I know it's not working now either, especially when people are in a mindset of, I don't have to be here, right? I don't have to. I've chosen to enter into this career. I've chosen to take employment at this organization. I've chosen to accept the schedule and the pay rate, but I can change my mind whenever I want.

And I think some of that has to do with the fact that we're seeing so many different generations across the board right now. I'm a millennial, but I know I hear some stories about both my generation and our Gen Zers. And just the, the mindset of, okay, am I going to continue to work in a space where maybe I'm not feeling as valued, or how do I change that? How do I go about that? Like, there's more, there's more push for action, I think, which is something that maybe, maybe, maybe not wasn't seen as much or to the magnitude of some of our other generations. Maybe. I, I really don't know too, too much.

I mean, based on my observations, it is. There seems to be a much more immediate need for the issue to be addressed, right? And to no, you know, fault to the younger generation, right? They grew up in a, in a world where what they needed was available, right? Thank God for technology and medicine and everything to be able to have it right away, right? Thank God we're in the country we're in versus some other countries where we have these resources available at a fingertip. Right. So there is this kind of on-demand, instant gratification, needing something now and getting it. And if I can't find it at this one moment, I can shift and find it at the next moment because there's some app, company, person, delivery service, counselor, tutor that is available and waiting for me.

Something, right?

Created like this on-demand economy. And so people are treating employment very similarly. And so, you know, with a very tough position as nursing is, it becomes even more challenging for nurses in my position, for instance, who are in the education space, in the administration space, in the space of creating systems that work across these generations so that way we're considering the learning methods and preferences of all of these individuals. It's a very wide base of people that we to support, and we have to be sensitive to the idea that everyone's going to want something presented in a different way, right? It is more challenging for educators and administration at this moment than I think ever before.

Yeah, I'm not envious of you. I, I know that you've got to be going really, just having some tough days.

Yeah, the days are, the days are long. I don't find them to be exhausting or, um, you know, stretching myself too thin because I really enjoy what I do, right? So I really enjoy being a problem solver. I really enjoy being able to touch those individuals in a way that I wish I had someone do for me when I was a young nurse figuring things out. Um, I like being able to challenge my superiors and say, but wait, does that really make sense? Is this the best approach? Do we think we're being as thoughtful as we should be in this decision considering the impact that it may have on multiple people. And so, you know, I don't— I've never enjoyed like a singular authoritative figure saying this is the way it is and then it just trickles down from there because I've seen that multiple times and it very rarely works, you know. So, you know, although shared governance can't always be a model in a facility, I do think that it's important that we at least attempt to take pieces of shared governance, involve the team from every level, and get their insight, get their input. What is their feedback? What would they like to see differently? When you actually invest in learning this information, it's amazing how little the team really wants in return.

They just want to be heard. They want to feel like they're part of the team.

They want to be—

they want to feel valued.

They want, they want what is due to them. They want their pay on time. Yeah, they want to be able to take their breaks. Yes, they want to be able to take their vacations. Yes, they want to be able to earn that overtime and get it on their paycheck and not have to fight for it. Yeah, they want supplies readily available when they need them. They don't want to have to go searching for them. Now, sometimes that's an internal issue amongst the team themselves, right? They just don't do the restocking that's necessary. The supplies exist, but they just never put them where they should go, right? Um, but they shouldn't have to daily fight to find a blood pressure cuff because the Dynamap machine or the vital sign machine is not working.

Down. Yep.

Fight to find a medication to give to the patient because, you know, someone forgot to reorder it for the patient and it's not available on the unit, right? Whatever the case is, systems need to be put in place so that way we're supporting these folks just at the bare minimum. If the organization can do the bare minimum to make sure everything's in place so that people can do their job effectively, that's all they want. But we live in a— we live in a world, and you're in the New York City area, right?

I am, I am.

We live in a world in New York City because that's where I am, in Manhattan. We're actually right really close to each other. You go to Columbia, right?

We are, we are very close to each other.

I'm at 100 and something Amsterdam is the facility I'm working at, right? So we're right there. Um, in New York, and I'm from Baltimore, so I have a little bit of bias, right? From Baltimore for 16 years, most of my nursing career is in Baltimore. Um, so it's hard not to compare, but here in New York, things move very quickly.

Yes.

And it's very easy to fall behind here, and I feel like on a daily basis we're working 4, 5, 6 weeks behind. And so again, it goes back to having the appropriate people in place. If you don't have the, the actual manpower to be able to do the work that is expected to be done, then to— that's just to stay on time with everything. You're always going to be running behind, and if anything goes wrong, it just takes that much longer to get it fixed and to get caught up. Yeah, vendors. You know, if you've ever had to hire a contractor or get vendors out to a building or your— even your home to just fix something, weeks and weeks and weeks booked ahead. It takes forever to get things done because there's just so much that needs to be done in such a fast-paced place. We have a lot of patients to care for, a lot of staff to govern, um, a lot of hands in the pot. A lot of people want theirs right now. And so if you have a supportive team You know, as we were discussing before, if you have a supportive team that allows you to put these systems in place, and it may not happen overnight, many of these things might take months to even years to fully realize. But if you have a dedicated team that want to use their skills to get to that vision, and the organization supports that vision by creating a realistic budget to attain that. Maybe even through grant writing, which I think a lot of organizations are not tapping into that potential. They're not even trying to grant write. Maybe they need to hire some grant writers, right? We got plenty of people such in your position, people in PhD studies that would love to leverage their skills to grant write. I know that's a big part of a lot of, you know, doctorate programs depending on— oh yeah, but especially in education, that's how a lot of education gets funded. But we need those resources. And if we don't have those resources, um, you know, I'm just not so sure how long we're going to be able to sustain our current healthcare model, right? The current bedside nursing model that we are trying to keep alive, that we— you and I specifically— know is not working.

Well, and I hope too that, again, if, like you mentioned before, if we've got an education system that warming up at least to the notion of allowing for nurses to see really just this wide array of spaces that they can be in. I, I think that that's really going to help. But I also know too that one of the other issues that we're having too is really getting more nurses into faculty and into teaching. You know, um, people are looking at it from a financial standpoint and thinking, okay, I'm working at the bedside making double what you're asking me to.

Yeah, a lot of responsibility, really, if you think about it. Yeah, not all— you know, you go to the bedside, yes, you have life and death situations, you have patients, right, worry about— there's a lot of legal and ethical considerations. But when you're teaching students and signing off on their competence to become licensed, you are now not only impacting your 6, 7, 8, 10 patients you're caring for in a day but now you're impacting thousands, right? Because I did— nurse released out into the community can kill hundreds of people before they get caught, right?

It's true. I did a rotation of teaching. Oh, sorry, go ahead.

No, you go ahead. You did a rotation in teaching?

I, I did a rotation in teaching during my PhD studies, and I have never been more terrified of, you know, having to really teach new nurses, new nursing students about nursing process and, and ADPIE and really getting them to critically think. You know, we, we try our best to create this NCLEX world of everything's perfect, all of the resources are at their hands, but then what happens when they get out and maybe they're at a community hospital? I, I was grown out of community hospitals. I've never worked in, you know, these larger healthcare systems. So I am very used to— and I was fortunate enough to go through a new grad program. I'm very used to having fewer resources, but I'm also used to that community setting where my nurses never let me fail. They never let me be without. There was always someone watching, even if I didn't know that they were watching. Right.

I think that's also, again, part of the busyness of everything, is that I think fundamentally most of us still have our heart in it. We want to do the right thing, but sometimes just being so overwhelmed with tasks and deadlines and do this now and regulations— because let's be honest, the regulations do make nursing even more complicated. It seems like every year the state and governments just keep adding more and more and more and more things that facilities can be charged for, which then be— it becomes a financial crisis, right? And so if the facilities are facing millions of dollars of losses because nurses aren't labeling medications, it's just adding one more task that the nurse has to do in addition to juggling priorities of patients not falling, patients getting the correct medications, patients getting correct CPR if they code, right? So it's a lot of— just a lot of tedious administrative things that are placed on nurses' shoulders, which actually take them away from being nurses. And I think that overwhelm is what's causing the largest part of nurse burnout, um, and compassion fatigue. It's because they don't actually get the moments to be good nurses because they're just inundated with tasks that honestly you could pay someone minimum wage to do those things.

They don't get the chance to breathe.

Yeah, you can have units that don't make, you know, maybe brand new straight out of high school unit clerks where $20, $25 an hour is a great salary for them to get started in their career. They could be labeling medication vials, they could be organizing carts and, you know, doing certain documentation that the nurse just has to put their signature on. There's so many things, so many different ways we can allocate resources where we don't necessarily need a licensed nurse to do those tasks so that the nurses can actually focus on the nursing skills.

And those assistants can always be the next round of nurses, right? You know, we're always—

exactly.

Yeah, there's so much conversation too around, you know, not just the nursing shortage but also how few spots there are in these programs. Well, having someone who's already been around a clinical setting to really kind of get their feet wet and understand if this is something that they really want to do. That's also really helpful and may end up lowering that turnover rate, that first year running away from the nursing field altogether rate, right? Yeah.

And, you know, partnering with schools is also something that, you know, I'm continuing to doing, although I'm not currently working in an academic institution and I'm in a clinical institution. I find it super valuable to partner with school affiliations and bring students into the building, um, because I believe giving everyone an opportunity to get a good education. I know our facility is a great learning space. Um, it is one of the nicer facilities from what I've seen from my own experience. We have a lot of resources, we have a lot of support. However, there's also some real-world situations that everyone needs to be exposed to sooner than later, which I think is great, especially for these new CNA students, these fundamental nursing students, and we even get some senior nursing students that are coming back through the long-term care, uh, setting, which I think is excellent that nursing programs are bringing their senior nursing students back through the long-term care arena because long-term care needs good new grad nurses.

Oh yes.

So because we can really grow them in long-term care, you can go from a bedside nurse to a unit manager in a year and a half, 2 years if you're good and you excel. So there's a lot of room for growth in long-term care as well.

So, and some people really love long-term care too. They find that they really thrive there, and it's not as— for them, for some reason, it's just not as stressful. They, or they just really thrive in the specific type of stress that comes with long-term care. I started in long-term care as a CNA.

Yeah, it is stressful. Long-term care is stressful. You have a tremendous amount of residents to care for. The ratios are much larger, larger than you would get in a hospital. With the aging population and the, you know, continued addition of comorbidities that our population is facing, long-term care is no longer, you know, a cute little nursing home where grandma, grandpa are sitting around all day, right? It's, it's becoming mostly subacute rehab. That's the need. That's what our community needs. We need beds for subacute rehab to care for these people before they're safe to go home. And a lot of our senior citizens who are well enough to be in a long-term care space are finding themselves staying at home because now we have more community resources, because our education kind of went back to getting people out of institutions and putting them back into the community. So a lot of these long-term care facilities are slowly transitioning to be mostly subacute rehab, which also— there's a financial incentive to that. They need more care, so the more care we provide, the more the facility can make. So from a business standpoint, it makes sense. From a community needs standpoint, it makes sense. Now, if we were facing, uh, ethical dilemma of having these long-term care patients homeless, then it would be a big problem, but that's not the case. So, you know, as long as it's moving the way it's moving now, long-term care settings are a great place for a lot of nursing skill, believe it. So you started off as a CNA, but you didn't work in long-term care as a nurse at first, right?

I did not.

No, I started in long-term care right away, straight out of high school, um, straight out of college, because I didn't want to wait like some of my classmates. I just wanted to get in there and get my feet wet and start doing nursing. Let me tell you, a year and a half later, out of that long-term care arena, when I got into that tele floor, that, you know, progressive telemetry unit, I was running circles around the—

I bet you were—

skills. I bet you were with time management, with handling stress, with communicating, with, you know, anticipating issues. I was, you know, wondering, where's the social worker? You know, because in long-term care you do a lot of communication with the social workers. And I was really taken aback by the nurses at the hospital don't talk to the social workers. What?

What?

Right, not me. I went to their office. I still talked to them, and they were so surprised. They're like, you know so much helpful information, thank you so much. And I'm like, that's my job. But, but, you know, I ran circles. So, you know, any new grad nurses out there, nurses who are interested in long-term care, let me tell you, you're going to learn your skills, and you're going to learn them quick.

It's very true. I still remember some days of, you know, being on telly and having someone in a step-down or an ICU come to our floor and they just are like fish out of water. Like, what do you mean the patient's awake and up and walking and running down the hall? And what?

Yeah, they don't talk, we just do what we need to do. And that's exactly—

yeah, exactly. Yeah.

And so now in a long-term care space, you have a large population, they're confused, a large population that, you know, are bedbound and they have wounds, a lot of wounds that you wouldn't normally see in a hospital unless it's an ICU type setting or something like that. Um, yeah, so long-term care has a lot of opportunity. All right, so Alexandria, talk a little bit about what you're doing with your writing and if you have any way for folks to get in touch with you.

Yeah, so I'm in the health and wellness, heart health, mental health, because Mental health is my second baby. I'm in those spaces, so most of my clients are in those realms. I do a little bit of ghostwriting as well. I love it because again, I don't have to do it every day, right? The more you write, the faster you get. And back to one of the points that you made earlier about writing, it can be a daily thing, especially in the beginning when you're trying to generate those ideas and you're trying to get the pitch together. Or if you're grant writing, you're trying to make your point, prove a case, whatever. But it gets so much easier to the point where you don't have to do it every day. Like, I've spent much of this week just looking for ideas— what's in the news, what's going on— so I can create my next round of pitches for people for next week. I love it. It doesn't take me nearly as much time as it used to. It's something that I can do from home. I don't have to leave. Awesome.

Nice.

And yes, people can find me. I'm, I'm on pretty much all socials. Um, LinkedIn, YouTube. I started making some YouTube content as well as some blogs on my personal site. So for anybody who might be interested in knowing more about how to get into content writing as a nurse, you can find me on YouTube at Millennial Nursepreneur. My personal website, or my business website, is authoredbyajp.org. I have a weekly blog, and I'm really just talking through some of the things that I kind brushed over, I think, as I was getting started and going through those courses. I'm one of those people, I'm a lifelong learner. I just kind of move, move, move, move, move, and I have to go back and say, okay, well, what have I missed? Why am I not landing this pitch? Why am I not getting this next client? So I started creating content around that for people who are just interested in knowing more about how to get started and really where to spend their time in the beginning.

Awesome. Well, that's amazing. Um, so off the top of your head, what are some nurse writers out there that you've kind of mentored, you know, with, uh, worked with in the past? Because I know quite a few myself. We might have a network that is intertwined.

Um, so I did my first course with Elizabeth Haynes, who's awesome. And then I did my second course with Janine Kelbeck. I hope I say her name right. Because I always look at her name and I'm like, wait, is that it? And I really haven't had the chance to work with too many other nurse writers who have their own course. I know that there are some out there. I see people on LinkedIn and it's like, hey, I'm here too. Hey everybody.

And it's good to connect with all of them. So keep building that network. Janine and I work together. You know, I've been on her podcast, she's been on my podcast. Um, and so the reason why I mentioned the network is because— are you a member of the National Nurses in Business Association?

Yes. So I actually went last year, and me being the introvert that I am, I came by myself, and I really just was so afraid to talk to so many different people. I think I might have talked to 3 to 5 people in that 2-day spiel that I was there.

Did you see me in passing by chance? Do you remember?

I don't think I did. I don't think so.

I go every year. I've been going since 2017. I've been on stage 3 times and did my own talking, um, not last year but the year before. I was on the main stage in Vegas, which was really nice. Um, but yeah, so the National Nurses in Business Association is an amazing place to continue to connect and network. Um, even though you didn't talk to too many people, I'm sure you found it extremely valuable. You probably learned—

I did. There.

It is an opportunity for you to break out of that introverted state, right?

I'm working on it.

So you're going again in July, which is going to be in Orlando this year. I'm gonna be there, so look—

awesome.

I'll connect with you. I'll be your security blanket if you need.

Oh, I appreciate you.

And then I'll introduce you to a lot of the people there that is going to open up your entire world because, um, I've become very friendly with everyone. And so even the people who put together the organization, the people that we initially are starstruck by, like just in awe— how have they accomplished all these things as a nurse? Um, I've become friends with all of them, which is really, really cool. It's really cool.

That is cool.

Yeah. So, you know, that's so awesome. And, you know, Donna and Michelle Podlesny, the president, and, you know, just all of them, um, Stella, all of them are just so amazing. Renee, Dr. Renee Thompson, they're all really amazing, super supportive, lots of amazing resources to just make nursing better just in general. Well, some of it's clinical, some of it's education, some of it's inspirational, some of it's coaching, some of it's entrepreneurship. There's so many avenues that we can support our own tribe. And I think an MBA is excellent, um, at creating that nursing tribe. Honestly, if it weren't for entrepreneurship and education, I probably would have left the profession early.

Oh wow. Well, I'm glad that you found your tribe. I'm looking. So that's awesome.

I think, I think there's a lot of potential there for you. Um, writing is tremendously important, and I've even done— so the Mainstage presentation I did 2 years ago was literally about how to create a successful educational business based on your nursing skill set.

Awesome. Is there a recording? I'm gonna go find this.

It might be recorded. Um, okay, they, they have us do an initial voiceover just in case something happens and the conference gets canceled, so they could still have an online audience. Um, it might be in the NNBA website store now. Um, okay. Yeah, so usually they'll try to put the recordings there, but I know for sure I have a branding one that's there. Um, but yeah, so awesome. Well, I hope to see you. I don't know if you made any plans to go this year, but I hope to see you if you do go.

I'm actually planning a wedding this year, so we shall see.

Yay! Planning weddings are so much fun.

A little stressful and expensive.

Stop. If you find yourself stressed over your wedding, you're not doing it right.

Oh, okay, good to know.

Truly. Um, let me give you some wisdom. You and your partner should make it as convenient and as your touch as possible. Don't worry about anyone else. I'll try to accommodate the preferences and the likes and the wants and the don'ts from everyone else. You choose the location that's convenient for you. You choose the setup that represents your style most. When you put your own stamp on it, everyone will rave about your wedding. Don't feel like you have to, you know, stick to some kind of traditional norm, because oftentimes tradition can be very rigid and very, you know, stressful. Like you said, you got to get this, you got to do that, you got to do this, blah blah blah. It's, it's a competition and it shouldn't be. This is a celebration of love. This isn't about stress. There's other things to stress about, not the day that we're joining, you know, in union. So that's what I mean. We started fighting when we were trying to accommodate and do other things, and I said, let— nope, let's make it us. And it still is one of the best weddings everyone talks about. So that could be for you too.

That's awesome.

Look, y'all didn't know the podcast was going to be about weddings and stuff too. It was a learning opportunity here on—

I'm here for it.

Awesome. Well, thanks so much, Alexandria, for joining me on this episode of the Nursing Strategies for Success podcast. It was a pleasure speaking with you. And again, I know you're planning that wedding, but hopefully you could squeeze in that weekend in July at NNBA. So take care.

I will definitely try. You too.

All right, talk to you later. Bye-bye. And that concludes episode 1 of season 4 of the Nursing Strategies for Success podcast with this week's guest, Alexandria Jones-Patten. We hope that everything we shared for you in this episode will help you realize that you can leverage your nursing knowledge and passion to find alignment and career satisfaction within the nursing profession. As always, if you have any questions about anything that we've shared in today's episode, feel free to visit thenursespeak.com/contact and get in touch with me. I would love to have a conversation with you. All of the ways to connect with Alexandria will be in the show notes of this episode and As always, until next episode, take care, be well, and remember that nurses can do anything.