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Nate McPartlin discusses how CareerStaff can help get your CNA career off the ground using a staffing agency to gain experience, try new settings and explore locations close to home or across the country.

Janet Kennedy and Patricia Laramee discuss strategies for effectively and responsibly using social media in healthcare. Janet Kennedy has been an early adopter of social media in various forms throughout her personal and professional life, but when she noticed that there was a need to educate healthcare providers on the responsible use of social media, Healthcare Marketing Network and Get Social Health were born! Join us as we discuss how Get Social Health can help healthcare businesses improve their web presence and the Healthcare Marketing Network can teach direct care providers how to use social media responsibly.

Clinical psychologist Dr. Eleanor Barbera, PhD, devotes her career to improving the care of the elderly living in congregate care homes. Join us to find out how CNAs and other nursing home staffers can use psychological insights to create better long-term care for elders. Recognizing that she had a lot to offer but few willing listeners in her clinical setting, Dr. El set out to publish her thoughts and ideas online and a blog was born. Over the years, her blog MyBetterNursingHome.com has grown to include information for the care team (doctors, nurses, direct care staff), patients and families and offers something for everyone. When she began to realize that she was seeing the same issues being experienced by many residents of long-term care, she decided to write a book to educate them on the specific challenges of transitioning into long-term care and offers strategies, information and resources to help the resident settle in. Today, she provides programs for staff training, intervention services for struggling residents or staff members, and education resources for staff, residents and families. Her articles have won many awards and her topics are engaging, informative and relevant to today's care-giving environments.

Hospice: it’s not just a place to die. In this episode, we sit down with John Mastrojohn, chief operating officer for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) to discuss his personal nursing journey and explore hospice and palliative care as a career option. John holds two master’s degrees — one in nursing administration and one in business administration, which makes him uniquely qualified to understand the challenges of leading this large organization without losing sight of the nursing principles of compassionate, holistic, patient-centered care that nursing is built on. Early in his career, John worked as an orderly with HIV and AIDS patients, which eventually led him to hospice care. He was astounded by the care provided for the terminally ill. This philosophy of care really resonated with him, and led him to where he is today.

Registered nurse Kathy Quan from The Nursing Site joins us on today's episode of the Nursing Assistant Podcast to discuss home care and hospice nursing, her journey from dancing to nursing, and her current role as a quality assurance nurse, blogger, and author of seven books. Kathy's goal is to help other nurses and healthcare professionals transition into different fields within nursing. After starting her writing career with About.com, then transitioning that content into her own website which quickly became a treasure trove of information for nurses and nursing students, then becoming an accidental author that spurred a career that produced 7 books including -- The Everything New Nurse Book (2 editions), 150 Tips and Tricks for New Nurses, The New Nurse Handbook, The Everything Guide to Careers in Health Care, The Everything Guide to Caring for Aging Parents, a popular e-book Time Management Skills for Nurses and her newest book, Exploring the Home Care Experience. Listen as Kathy and show host Patricia discuss quality assurance, home care and hospice nursing challenges, Kathy's transition from a dance major to nursing, how Nurse Alice (aka "The old army nurse") influenced her journey, how a "math challenged" nurse obtained a minor in math, and much more.

Registered nurse, author, blogger, international keynote speaker, and entrepreneur Brittney Wilson (aka the “Nerdy Nurse”) joins us on today’s episode of the Nursing Assistant Podcast to discuss nursing informatics, technology, and blogging. Brittney’s goal is to help other nurses and healthcare professionals gain confidence with technology. She does this through her Nerdy Nurse blog, her speaking engagements, and her two books — The Nerdy Nurse’s Guide to Technology and The Nurse’s Guide to Blogging. Listen as Brittney and Patricia discuss nursing informatics, workflow process improvement, how retail customer service skills can be adapted to the nursing profession, building an online presence, and much more.

Today we are joined by the Podmedic himself -- Jamie Davis, founder of MedicCast and host of the popular Nursing Notes Live Podcast. Jamie is an RN, educator, author, serial entrepreneur, media personality and world-renowned podcast host. On today's episode of the Nursing Assistant Podcast, he shares his journey into nursing, as well as his current endeavors as a media personality. Listen in as we explore a non-traditional nursing role and discover how our unique traits and experiences can lead us in unexpected directions. In Today's Episode Jamie's journey from being an EMT/paramedic to an RN. How his background in communications led him into podcasting. Explore his many podcasts and discover how each has a specific audience. How Nursing Notes Live delves into different nursing specialties. How Jamie became affiliated with Johnson & Johnson's Discover Nursing campaign. Discussion of non-traditional nursing roles. Featured Organization of the Week Are you interested in furthering your career in nursing or medical administration, but need a scholarship to help you out? The Uniform Retailers Association might have you covered! The URA offers 2 scholarships, worth up to $2,000 annually to qualified applicants. But you better hurry... the deadline for applications is June 30th! Click here for more information and qualifications.

Pioneer Network's director of education Joan Devine, RN shares her personal journey into nursing and discusses the concept of resident-directed care, and how it differs from task-centered and person-centered care paradigms. The Pioneer Network is a national not-for-profit organization whose focus is educating caregivers to provide care that is truly centered on who the client is as a person, as well as their medical needs. Their mission is to empower residents and families to voice their preferences and effect culture change. What You'll Learn in This Episode: Joan’s journey from a career in music therapy, to activities director, to nursing, and beyond. Exploring nursing as a second career. What culture change is. How CNAs are crucial to culture change and resident-directed care. Resources to learn more about resident-directed care.

Health Sense founder and CEO Anne Sansevero (RN, MA, GNP, CCM) discusses geriatric care management and caregiver-client matching. The Florida Health Care Association is our featured organization of the week for offering a CNA essay contest. Health Sense is a care management organization that coordinates all aspects of a patient’s care, de- mystifies the complex healthcare system and provides education to patients and their families to help them take control of their health and treatment. We also discuss her caregiver matchmaking business Holistic HomeCare Associates, located in the Manhattan area. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: Anne’s journey from Ireland to the United States and her journey from an RN to master’s degree to entrepreneur. What geriatric care management is. How care management can help patients achieve better healthcare outcomes. How CNAs can be helpful in the care management process through direct caregiving services. How a caregiver matching program can help you achieve higher wages and better job satisfaction. How to contact apply for contract positions through Holistic HomeCare Associates. Featured Organization of the Week Our inaugural Organization of the Week this week is an awesome organization headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The Aging Life Care Association, where our guest Anne Sansevero serves as a board member, focuses on providing education, support, networking, and mentoring to healthcare professionals involved in geriatric care management. Through conferences, webinars, teleconferences, podcasts, social media and individualized mentoring, they ensure that professionals have the tools they need to be successful. They also offer consumer resources to help educate the community on elder care resources and refer consumers to aging life care professionals in their area. If you are interested in developing a career in geriatric care management, this helpful organization is a one-stop shop! Visit AgingLifeCare.org for more information.