Are We Teaching Nurses to Pass the NCLEX… or to Survive a Trauma?

A pediatric ICU nurse educator gets real about simulation labs, bedside chaos, and what nursing school is really preparing students for.

If you’ve ever precepted a new grad and thought,“Okay… but what do I actually do right now?”

This episode is for you.

On this week’s At the Nurses’ Station, Kelly and Sam sit down with Jameson — pediatric ICU charge nurse, clinical instructor, and master’s-in-nursing-education student — to talk about what’s changed in nursing education, what COVID did to clinical training, and why simulation labs can only take you so far.

Spoiler: mannequins don’t curse at you, kick you, or ignore your plan of care.

What We’re Talking About

This episode dives into:

* The impact of COVID-19 on nursing clinical hours

* Simulation-based learning vs real bedside experience

* Concept-based nursing curriculum

* Teaching to the NCLEX vs teaching clinical judgment

* Why new grad nurses sometimes struggle with prioritization

* Generational differences in resilience and accountability

* The gap between academia and real-world nursing

Jameson shares how watching students graduate during the pandemic, many with heavily simulation-based clinical experiences pushed him toward teaching.

And he’s on a mission: bring reality back into nursing education.

Because running a trauma isn’t multiple choice.

This week on At the Nurses’ Station, we break down Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in nursing and why understanding it might be the key to supporting new nurses, preventing nurse burnout, and building stronger emergency room teams. From brand new grads who don’t yet know where the IV tubing is, to experienced nurses navigating safety and workplace stress, we explore how physiological needs, belonging, and esteem show up in real hospital life. If basic needs like knowing where supplies are or feeling supported during a critical patient aren’t met, it’s nearly impossible to grow into a confident, competent nurse.

We talk about what it really takes to move from “baby nurse survival mode” to respected, steady team member and why belonging and professional confidence can’t happen before safety and foundational skills are secure. Whether you’re a new grad nurse, travel nurse, charge nurse, or healthcare leader, this episode reframes nurse development through the lens of Maslow’s hierarchy and challenges us to ask: are we expecting self-actualization from nurses who don’t know where US is?

In this episode of At the Nurses’ Station, Kelly and Sam dive headfirst into workplace violence in healthcare, focusing on the daily reality of patient and visitor aggression toward nurses and hospital staff. From verbal threats and intimidation, to physical assault, they examine why so many healthcare workers are told this behavior is “not tolerated”, yet continue to experience it shift after shift.

They discuss how nurse safety is often deprioritized in the name of patient satisfaction, why hospitals rely heavily on de-escalation training instead of real security support, and how repeated exposure to violence leads to normalization and burnout. The episode also explores the legal and ethical gray areas surrounding assault on healthcare workers, including intoxicated, psychiatric, or cognitively impaired patients and why meaningful change in hospital workplace safety won’t happen until violence against nurses is treated as unacceptable, not inevitable.

Kelly and Sam are finally back after the holidays and they’re spilling ALL the tea on what “vacation” really means when you’re a nurse and a mom.

In this hilarious & honest return episode:

* 10 days in Mexico without kids = actual rest (and why 7 days would’ve been torture)

* Coming home to a surprise fourth cat (and teenage boy smell emergency)

* Why vacations with kids are just parenting in a new zip code

* The mental load of planning, packing, and coming home to laundry mountain

* Mom guilt when you’re finally alone vs. the freedom of child-free travel

* Jorge the hot-stone massage guy, fantasy football winnings, and why freckles are apparently all sun damage 😭

* Bonus: teeth roots dissolving, burning nursing textbooks, and why makeup = face paint

If you’ve ever come back from vacation more tired than when you left or cried because your kid texted “I’m crying right now” at midnight, this one’s for you.

New episodes drop Tuesdays. Hit subscribe and join two bedside nurses who tell it like it is (with zero filter).

In this episode of At the Nurses’ Station, Kelly and Sam talk about personality types in nursing and what tools like the Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, and Big Five can (and can’t) tell us about ourselves at work. From communication styles to conflict and burnout, they explore how personality shows up on the unit.

Personality tests are everywhere in nursing, from team-building exercises to leadership workshops, but do they actually help? In this episode, Kelly and Sam break down some of the most common personality frameworks nurses encounter and talk honestly about how useful they really are in healthcare settings.

They discuss:

* What the Enneagram focuses on versus Myers-Briggs and the Big Five

* Why nurses are often drawn to personality typing

* How personality differences affect teamwork, conflict, and communication

* Where these tools can help and where they fall short

* Why no test should be used to excuse behavior or box people in

This is a grounded conversation about self-awareness, curiosity, and using personality tools as a starting point — not an identity.

Whether you love personality tests or roll your eyes at them, this episode offers a thoughtful, nurse-centered take.

In this episode of At the Nurses’ Station, Kelly and Sam talk with nurse practitioner David Rosenbeck about leaving the bedside, nurse burnout, and how remote nursing jobs are changing what a nursing career can look like. From ICU and ER work to working remotely, David shares what life beyond the bedside actually looks like.

David Rosenbeck is a nurse practitioner with a background in ICU and ER nursing who decided traditional bedside care wasn’t the long-term answer for him. After working in oncology and experiencing firsthand how burnout shows up in healthcare, David began exploring non-bedside and remote nursing roles — something most nurses aren’t taught even exists.

In this conversation, we talk about:

* Why so many nurses are thinking about leaving the bedside

* What nurse practitioner careers can look like outside the hospital

* The reality of remote nursing jobs (pay, flexibility, and tradeoffs)

* How burnout, life priorities, and timing shape career decisions

* Why nurses don’t have to leave the profession to find something better

David also shares how Go Beyond the Bedside was created to help nurses find legitimate remote and non-bedside nursing jobs without sorting through thousands of misleading listings.

This episode is for any nurse who’s wondering if there’s another way — and wants an honest look at what’s possible.

Find David, legit job possibilities, and maybe your new future at Go Beyond the Bedside

In this episode of At The Nurses’ Station, Kelly and Sam take on a topic that has become nearly impossible to ignore in emergency medicine. Addiction is everywhere. It shows up in triage. It shows up in the trauma bay. It shows up in the conversations nurses have in the break room when the shift feels too heavy to carry alone.

What begins as a simple story about kids, snow gear, and the chaos of December quickly shifts into a candid conversation that every nurse has had. What is addiction. Why does it hold people so tightly. And how do we respond to it when we are the ones treating both the physical damage and the emotional fallout.

Kelly and Sam walk through the history of heroin, meth, and fentanyl. They talk about how patients react when they hear the word fentanyl at the bedside. They share stories from their own lives. They talk openly about the way pain management has changed over the years. The episode also steps into the uncomfortable territory of personal responsibility, social support, and how a single “yes” can change the entire trajectory of a life.

This conversation is honest. It is messy. It is compassionate. And it reflects exactly what nurses say to each other when the curtain is pulled back. It also highlights how difficult it is to fix a problem that affects hospitals, families, and entire communities.

If you are a nurse or someone who cares about nurses and their work, you will relate to every moment of this episode.

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Welcome back to At The Nurses’ Station, the podcast for nurses about everything except the patients 🩺✨

In this episode, Kelly and Sam fully embrace the realization that they are… not young anymore. And honestly? That’s kind of the point.

This conversation bounces from early internet nostalgia and T9 texting, to working Thanksgiving shifts, to inventing the greatest holiday tradition healthcare has ever seen: Trash Giving. Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Fast food, queso, candy salad, and zero guilt.

From there, things go exactly where you’d expect nurses to go: Facebook scams, online dating horror stories, and the humbling realization that technology has moved on without asking our permission.

The heart of this episode is an honest, funny look at how technology has changed nursing. From Voceras and medication pumps to the skills we used to rely on daily, we talk about what tech makes easier, what it makes worse, and what it might be quietly taking away.

It’s funny. It’s a little unhinged. It’s incredibly relatable if you’ve ever counted drip rates, worked a holiday, or realized you trust coworkers way more than the internet.

If this episode made you laugh, nod along, or feel seen at all, make sure you’re subscribed here on Substack so you never miss a new episode, show notes, or behind the scenes thoughts from At The Nurses’ Station 💬🎧