Okay, let's do this. Welcome to Nursing Uncensored. I am your host,
Adrianne Benning. We are here with season ten. We are kicking off
today with a very special guest. Stephanie Beggs, CEO of URN explained she
is a Forbes thirty Under Thirty honoree. A social media influencer, Stephanie is
a passionate advocate for nursing education. She's created a thriving business and online community
that provides nursing students and nurses with resources they need to succeed. You may
already know her a five star Etsy shop of study materials, which has over
seventy three thousand sales. She's got six hundred and fifty thousand followers on TikTok,
and her YouTube channel has tons of videos that cover a variety of nursing
topics that even I like to review as like a tenured nurse, because who
couldn't use some review on topics of like patho and pharmacology and things like that.
And if that wasn't enough, Stephanie is also a badass er nurse and
a pharmacology professor. She's a total inspiration and makes me want to get off
my ass and start doing more. So we're lucky to talk with her today.
Stephanie, welcome to the show. Hello, Hello, Yes, thank
you for having me. I'm totally psyched. You live in La, right,
I do nice? Nice. So what's your favorite part about living in
La? You know the weather? Ye know, I was just gonna say
the weather is unmatched. Although it gets pretty hot in the summer. I
am such a sun baby that like, I love it. I love the
weather. I love the heat. I'd rather do the heat than the cold.
I'm a Midwest baby, and so I've been like all over the Midwest.
I'm in Chicago. Now. This is the time of year where it's
like starting to get nice, so I feel good. It's like starting to
get out and get crazy. So I need to buy a new bike so
that I can get out there. Oh yes, you can spend time outside.
I'm super excited. But anyway, I saw that you're in LA and
I'm like, oh, I want to go to La. I want to
be Oh I'm so jealous. Yeah, absolutely, I need to get out
there. So tell me about you. We summarized all of the like nursing
stuff, but what about you? Who are you Oh, that's a good
question. Let's see, I have two siblings. I'm the youngest of my
family, so I have a brother and my sister, and they're both older.
You know, I don't even know that's okay. If you had a
day to just screw around and do nothing of importance, like no errands,
no chores, nothing, what are like your top things to do? Like,
You've got a day to just goof off? For me, So I'm
I kind of I'm a little bit of a mix of both. I liked,
I'm such a homebody, so I like to stay at home and cook
and bake and just like be at home on the couch. I love that.
However, I also love like I'm a huge, huge beach girl,
so I like to go to the beach a lot, especially since the weather
is getting better, I like to go to the beach. I'm also really
big foodie, so love trying new restaurants around LA or even kind of farther.
My family lives in Newport, so I like to kind of venture out
there sometimes and like, see what's up over there? Yeah, I mean
I have those are really good answers, I know. I think that's like
the high it captures like Los Angeles. Everybody wants to be at the beach.
Shopping is great. I love shopping, but I also like to just
be at home too, So I am like a mix of both. Excellent.
That gives us a really good snapshot of who you are. And I'm
I too, am a foodie and being in Chicago huge fitting. It has
to happen, yeah, So yeah, beach is like a requirement, food
requirement. And also it sounds like you work really really hard, so you
need to have those like intense relaxation days. And I say intense relaxation because
it has to be that, right, Yeah, yeah, Okay, so
let's talk about the beginning of this like big journey as you've been on.
So I know from just knowing about you and like reading interviews and hearing other
podcasts you've been on. This all was kind of catalyzed by COVID. Right,
COVID did a number on all of us, but some good things did
come from COVID. So, yeah, will you tell people a little bit
about how some people already know because some people have been watching your videos,
so let's hear about it. Because you turned some lemons into lemonade literally,
so literally. So I graduated nursing school right as the pandemic started to hit,
and at that time everything was shut down. I had to start studying
for the board's exam the end clicks, and I had no one to study
with. So I started to teach these topics out loud to the wall or
to the and table, whatever it was, and I would record myself and
listen to it back. So I understood and kind of listened to these topics
that I was having a hard time understanding. And at that time, TikTok
was becoming big, so I started to post those videos for literally no reason
at all. I just started posting those on social media for fun, and
everyone started to love the videos. They loved the sheets that I was using
to teach in those videos, They loved my teaching style and just really ran
with it. So I was like, hmm, this all right. Like
a lot of people learn the way that I learn, So I continue to
make them. I mean I really made them for myself. I chose topics
that, like I was studying for the boards, that I was having trouble
with and posted those on social media, and then it just got big.
Everyone wanted to buy the sheets. That I was teaching in the videos.
So I started an aatsy shop called it Aren't Explained, and that's how it
was born. But yeah, I think I realized at that time that a
lot of people are like me that are more like audio visual learners, and
we're looking for that because of COVID, and they were searching for somebody to
kind of guide them through nursing school, and I just happened to pop up.
Yeah, the whole teaching method of Oh my gosh, it's amazing what
you've been doing. So what you started doing, which is talking about teaching
to the wall, the table, whatever, This is a method that I
have, Like I tutored for a little while. I did it myself in
nursing school. These concepts in nursing school. Studying in nursing school is unlike
studying for anything else, you know, it's a totally different subject matter.
These are we're talking about half of physiology. We're talking about cascades in the
body. We're not just talking about like A happens, then B happens,
and you can't just like read about them and remember them. If I'm gonna
learn this, I need to be able to recite this I need to make
this part of me, and so that's like such a good way to learn.
And then also what you said about some people are just audio video learners.
Some people don't learn well that way. Some people don't need the like
kinesthetic like acting it out. Some people just need to hear it over and
over. They need to see it. And so those are the people that
are tapping into you, you know, your beautiful penmanship, your your beautiful
way breaking things down. Yeah, And some people don't have the time,
the energy, the aptitude to be able to do it in that way.
So they find you and they're like this is perfect. Yeah. And there
are so many other people in different ways that have also found success starting in
similar ways you did, Like Han Academy, he was like making videos for
his nephew or something across the country. Mike lenares of some nursing I started
with, like yeah, started with like a dry erase board making YouTube videos.
So there's something so wonderful about finding these methods that are like they start
super simple, like helping yourself, like finding ways to make this material makes
event, and then parlaying it into something that's like helping totally. Who knows
how many people, So, yeah, that's amazing. And so you start
on TikTok or like then moved it over to YouTube or like what was the
Yeah, I just recently started my YouTube channel, like probably within the last
few months. That's super recent. I already got a lot of stuff up
there, exactly, and they're all sixty seconds. So back in the day
when TikTok started, you could only post sixty second videos. Now they're like,
I think you can go up to like three minutes, ten minutes or
something. So back in the day, it was only sixty seconds. So
all of my videos and all of my teachings had to be literally sixty seconds
or less. So I had so many videos because I did a part one
and a part two and whatnot. But now I do I post obviously all
the time on TikTok. That kind of fed over into my Instagram. So
now my Instagram is like totally aren't explained everything education and everything. And then
just recently I started doing YouTube, which are a lot more professional because TikTok
and Instagram. I film on my phone, I mean, and you don't
really need that many resources to teach or you know, to get yourself out
there. But I did want videos of mine to be professional and a little
bit longer to explain, like more difficult concepts or more interventions or treatments or
whatever. So I started making YouTube videos just recently that are about five minutes.
None of them really go over five minutes because I'm I also teaching things
out loud is my thing. But I also don't think any lecture needs to
be longer than five minutes or maybe like max ten minutes. But yeah,
so I wanted a place that I could kind of expand a little bit on
topics, and that was YouTube. So I just kind of started that one.
And that's the perfect time length because if I'm looking for study videos online,
and even when I was in school, if there's a twenty five minute
video and six minute video, I'm clicking the six minute video. No literally,
and I especially these days, like everything is online now and the new
generation just doesn't have the attention span to sit there for twenty minutes and learn
about a heart attack. And look, I'm I'm an elder millennial. I'm
in my forties. I was a non traditional student. I got my ADN
and then my bachelor's in my thirties. Yeah, I wanted digestible quick.
I don't have all days. I had a job to go to. You
know, other people I don't have kids. Other people have kids, they
have they have things going on. They got to make dinner, they got
to get the kids to bed. They don't have time to Like, they
already sat through the lecture, They've already got the study groups. They don't
have time for another thirty minutes thirty minute explanation. There's yeah. And I'm
also you know, I have I mean people probably roll therize when the others.
I have undiagnosed deficit disorder. But I'm like textbook textbook, you know,
symptoms. But when I listen to videos, I even put them on
like one and a half time speed. Oh that's nice to do, Yeah,
just because I just not I cannot wait that long. So all like
even if like even though I'm a when I was a student on canvas,
when we had to watch these videos, what have these required videos? I
would turn it onto one point five speed. If there wasn't the option to
turn the speed up, I would get so annoyed. Oh no, I
would be checked out psych So it's great to make these digestible. And I
was and like I said kind of earlier. Even I as a you know,
I've been a nurse for seven years now, but as a specialty nurse,
I don't see every condition on a regular basis. So it's really nice
to have these resources like your channel where if I have a patient coming up,
you know, I'm taking an admission and they have a diagnosis or comorbidity
or something thing that I just don't take care of very often, I can
get a crash course. I can put it on double speed, and you
know, this is stuff I've already remembered. You know, I've already learned,
but maybe I haven't seen this type of patient or five years or something,
and I just need a refresher. And then I'm like, oh yeah,
okay, I remember this. I'm good to go to. Really,
I know those resources. I get a lot of new grads and existing nurses
and even higher ups like npspas mds that kind of look at my resources to
just get a quick refresher. So definitely not just for the student, and
any any nurse that's worth her weight is going to know that she's not she
or he or they are not meant to know everything. They are meant to
know how to find what they need to know in that moment. Yeah,
so this the speed of growth. Okay, so we're talking what end of
the pandemic. We're talking just a few years here. So how have you
paced your life to match this growth? So, I, like all my
life, I have just been a go go go type of person. I
don't like to and part of the reason why I love the er is because
I cannot sit down. I don't like to just sit. I don't watch
TV shows because I can't sit for an episode. There's something else I could
be doing. I can't watch movies like it's really bad. So my whole
life, I've just been go go go. So when this business kind of
took off and took off very quickly, it almost it wasn't too hard for
me to adapt to because that is kind of by nature for me to just
go go go and run with something. So I spent all my time,
and especially during COVID, because there was nothing else to do. I spent
all of my time on this business, not knowing that it was going to
grow this much at the time. But yeah, all my time went to
this and I just ran with it. So it was easy to adapt.
I would say, are you a very organized or you just someone that just
kind of like by nature, things just kind of fall together for you.
I I don't think I'm an organized person, but I don't think i'm like
a like I see you organized, like sure liked organized. Yeah, like
the controlled chaos type of organized. Okay, yeah, and but I do
and yeah, I think that's like the best way to explain it. Yeah,
I'm organized for the most part. Okay, that's a good answer.
I go back and forth. I have days where I'm really icee you organized
type A the lines, everything, everything's labeled, everything's organized, and then
there are days where I look like I've just been running around with my head
cut off. So I go back. I can go either way. So
adaptable, I'm I don't know if it's so much adaptable if it is hot
mess some days, but we'll go with adaptable. We'll go with that.
So you and for those that don't know, you keep mentioning ed you still
work as a bedside nurse. You've had great success, you've had you know,
you've got the Etsy shop, You've got which let's before we talk about
the bedside nursing, which you still do because you love it. Let's also
talk about the fact that like you have the videos, you have the online
content, but then you actually, like you make these notes like you sell
bundles. They're they're all handwritten. That's so this always happens to me.
I always have like like a traffic jam of questions, like fifteen questions I'll
pile up right behind my teeth at the same time. So this is the
question that's really pressing for me. Are you a very artistic person like I
found writing? Do you love lettering? Were you the bubble letter in high
school? Yeah? So I have always been very creative, artsy. My
sister is a graphic designer, so I kind of get it. I feel
like I kind of get it from that a little bit. But I also
always, throughout my life, have always been complimented on my handwriting, which
is so funny that like now it's actually turned into something like never did I
think that that was gonna be a thing, But truly, like since I
was a little kid writing, I have always gotten a compliment or a comment
on my handwriting from teachers, from family, friends, like everything. So
in high school, like ASB I was a part I was a big part
of asb doing the rallies and I did all the posters. Everyone wanted me
to write the posters, so I did that. In college and my sorority,
I did like the soroting name tags with like our names and like all
that stuff, even when we had to make like birthday presents, like baskets,
like little basket reveals queen of doing that. I actually, back in
the day, I used to have a Pinterest board of my like gifts that
I would make people like little baskets, and it had ribbons. It was
so aesteadic pleasing. I loved it. That's a pinch smart. I would
totally follow. I follow so many pint sports I would be down with that.
Yeah. So, like, I've always had this like artistic I like
to things, and then when it came to making these sheets, I had
no I honestly made these sheets. They were for myself, and the colors
I just added so it wasn't just so plain like on the piece of paper
that I was reading. But yeah, my once again, my handwriting just
kind of popped off and everybody loved it. Truly, I think my handwriting
is messy. I don't know how anybody thinks that it's like so great,
which is so funny. But yeah, I've always had this artistic feel to
me. I guess people like my handwriting as well, and I feel like
it's not special. I feel like my handwriting is very stylized. Yeah,
but I really like certain people's handwriting and they say the same thing. They're
like, oh, really, yeah, I love your handwriting. I wish
I could make a aunt out of it. I can't believe how many people
like it. Like I just am like, wow, this looks so messy,
and they're like, are you kidding? That looks like a typewriter,
And I'm like what how? Yeah, No, some people just I mean,
you can't. I don't know. I just feel like some things people
just really really like, yeah, and you can't argue with that. If
that's what they want. You've got to give the people what they want totally.
So I think that's really interesting that you're kind of like this busy,
busy person. And I can also can't sit and do like movies, TV
shows. I've always I can't something, but I'm not productive about it,
like I haven't turned it into like a business. I just have like plants
and art all over my house. It's just but yeah, my partner Doug,
he's like a huge movie buff and he's always just like like, I'll
be watching a movie with him and then suddenly I don't even realize it.
He'll just be like, are you coming back? And I'll be like,
oh, I just wandered off. I did not realize I did it.
Or I'll be like folding laundry and he'll be like you, yeah, I
can't just do one thing and I can't help it. I can't, but
I too, I'm thinking like I could be I could be like editing a
podcast, I could be like making some graphics. Like that's where my mind
is at all. I know, I can't help it. I think we're
very similar in that way. I need to I need to grasp some of
that spirit of like doing something with it though, and that just like it's
sitting on my coffee table. So you are still at the bedside now,
so you do all of this, you're very very go go go. You
have this like wonderfully like productive chaotic energy, Like I really like that,
And so you're still are you full time at the bedside. So I'm kind
of all over the place. I did travel nursing for a little bit,
so I was full time. I did travel nursing for a little bit part
time. I switched day shift, midshift, night shifts. Some come all
over. Okay, So so first of all, I have to ask,
what's been your favorite shift? Days? Mid's night? Oh, if you
could do anything by far, it'd be days. Okay. I actually don't
mind mids. I did twelve to twelves. I did two to two,
and I don't mind those ones. As long as I'm going to bed when
it's dark outside, I think I'm okay. I just like night shift.
This is the struggle, and I think everybody has this struggle. Is like
I love the night shift crew. I think there's no bond better than the
night shifters together. However, I cannot my own sanity and like my mental
health is going to bed in the morning time and then waking up and like
missing half the day and you like and you're totally out of it and whatever.
I can't do it. I like, physically can't do it, but
I love the people. So it was hard. But I'm definitely a day
shift or midshift person. I can understand that. Yeah, I've been night
shift for almost twenty years now, Holy crap. Yeah, but I think
I think, I think, I think I'm long overdue for a switch and
I'm going to be night shift a little bit longer. But let's just say,
yeah, let's just say time's about up. Probably should have been up
a long time ago. Yeah, it's super hard. Kudos to people that
do night shift, truly, because it is so incredibly hard to adjust the
lifestyle to that, and especially to do it for that long. That's insane.
Nuts, I'm nuts. Yeah, but the crew, the crew is
unmatched. The vibe on night shift is totally different, but it does it.
I wonder what my life would have been like if we hadn't slept,
you know, I think about the so it is. It is completely different.
So yeah, so did you go to ED, like right out of
school? Yeah, so that's like, that's your vibe. Iwas about ED
for sure. Yeah. So what I mean? Are you just? I
mean most people I hate to I don't. I'm not gonna do the cliche
of like, oh, are you an adrenaline junkie because most people think that,
but there's something very different. It's not. Everybody is, And I
think you get adrenaline in different places like, what do you love about it?
Well, first off, go go go type of place. Of course,
of course, it's literally perfect for me. What I one thing I
love is that no to patients are the same, no to diagnoses are the
same. You don't know what's coming through that door. I love the unknown
of that aspect of really thinking on your feet and having to critically think.
And I think that stems from me just also on the side being this educator
that loves to critically think and teach people all of these diagnoses and difficult things.
I love to actually put that into action, and you do that perfectly
in the er because you're constantly having to critically think. That's a huge one
for me. Is like all of the things that you see, it's it's
always different and I love that. I also I love the fact that you
are meeting these patients. You're the first person to meet these patients first off,
when they come to the hospital through the er, You're the first person
they see, and they're so vulnerable and probably some of their worst days.
And to be the nurse that gets to greet them and hopefully treat them and
get them out of the hospital is awesome. I love that. I love
everything about the vulnerability of the patients in the er. I think that's huge.
Yeah, that's that's the part that scares me. That's the part that
keeps me away. Yeah, so I'm glad that there I want to filter
between me and the outside world. That's the uncertainty, the vulnerability, the
anxiety. I like when they come up and I at least know something.
I like that you're the greeter and the stabilizer. And then I'm second in
the line to be like, okay, you you've got them breathing, you've
stop the bleeding. I'll take you see them, Yeah, you see them.
Yeah, I'll take it from there. We have that symbiotic relationship there.
I'm glad you guys exist because that is not part of my personality.
Yeah. I'm a special person to like not to enjoy not knowing the unknown.
Yeah. Yeah, and so, and since you started in ED,
what like, what would you tell new grads like people that are coming out
now. There's a million things I could say, but the first one that
comes to mind is it will take time for things to click for you.
And I think a lot of new grads get are really hard on themselves,
especially when they start their first job because they think they need to know everything
and not everybody likes them, or they were knocked down a few times,
and it's hard for people to realize that it's going to take some time for
everything to click. It's overwhelming, it's chaotic, and you just have to
embrace everything that's going on and just put your best foot forward and if you
do that, there will be a day that things click for you. For
me, it took about six months for things to click and where I found
my voice and I found my place and I was like, I actually think
I deserve to be here. And it took a long time, and I'm
sure I questioned myself all the time, am I fit for this? Am
I ready to be here? Like? Do they want me here? Et
cetera. But you just have to push through. And I think the perseverance
that you show in that time as a new grad will really show you the
type of nurse that you're going to be. Yeah. I think that's a
big one, especially in the er, because you are thrown so many things
that you never really experienced a nursing school, for sure, and it's a
shock to new grads. Yeah, to say the least, especially in an
environment where things are constantly changing, you don't know what's coming through the door.
Yeah, yeah, for sure, that's great advice. Yeah, I
think that's what kind of advice do you have for people that have maybe an
idea or a business they want to start, or a side hustle. I
always tell people that they need to be ready to work twenty five to eight.
If there's starting a business or a venture, even a podcast or whatever,
you you got to put your all into that. And for me,
my business was so unintentional when it started, but to get it to where
it is today is extremely intentional. And I worked twenty five eight to get
it to where it is today. I mean I still do to this day.
But it's not easy. So you had like to run a business,
it's a lot of sacrifice. People will not always understand from the outside how
stressful it is on the inside. And that's okay because not a lot of
people are going to get that. But as long as you do something that
you absolutely love and you develop a dang good product, you cannot fail.
You you will succeed. You just have to put your mind to it and
be able to do the work to get to see it through. Yeah,
I think it's it's hard, but it's so rewarding. Yeah, yeah,
it sounds like it. And that's like, that's like the critical piece is
I've never heard anybody say twenty five eight, but that truly is It really
is like when I when I started this podcast, you know, not that
this is not my full time job. This is still very much like my
my side gig, Like this is not paying my rent or you know anything
like that. But you know, we're ten seasons in and there are so
many times where I've like you know, stayed up after a night shift to
record episode or like as you know, I'm like, I'm like not coming
up with a great example of a zacrifice here. You go from working to
working. Yeah, yeah, that's the reality. And when something doesn't work,
you have to figure out something else. And when you know something doesn't
doesn't turn offly you want it, you find another way to come at it.
So it is constantly, it's like a constant like it's not a struggle
because I don't feel like necessarily own error. Yeah yeah, I feel like
that's what it is. Yeah, And yeah, I think that's what makes
people successful, is that if you're willing to go through the trials and the
errors and not get knocked down and continue to push through that for something that
you believe in or that you love and you think would make a good product
or service one day. That is when the people succeed, when they're able
to push through that. Most people, when they get knocked down or someone
talks bad about their product or service or they don't get any sales, they
quit. And that's when businesses don't flourish. So I think it's a lot
of trial and error, and it's the ones that kind of push through that
make it somewhere and become somebody in a business and whatever. And it doesn't
mean that you don't feel like quit, but but it's what you feel like
every day. I know, I've there have been so many times where like
you know, like either I haven't met a self self set deadline or whatever,
and then I just think like, well, I'm you know, I'm
failing at this. Maybe I should just give up. I think that literally
every day. Yeah, and then you think, well, then, why
why the hell did I do all of this? Like why you know or
you think you know? There are people that wrote, like sent me letters
or instant messages this week that were like, oh, hey, this episode
really resonated with me, or you know, I bought this item and it
really helped me, or you know I've had you know, I've tutored people
and they're like, hey, you know, I passed my end clacts after
they didn't pass the first couple of times they took it. Those are the
things that like keep us going so that when we have those moments of like,
I don't think this is a good idea anymore, and then we have
that thing show up, that letter in the inbox, or like the purchase
in the Etsy shop, and you're like, oh my god, somebody actually
does resonate with what I'm doing. So yeah, so those are the little
things that we keep us going. So you've kind of gone, You've gone
from students to nurse. You're now a teacher, so like this has be
crazy. Yeah, So it's that crazy because as nurses, like we learn
from the moment we get into nursing school that we're like we're advocates, we're
caretakers, we're teachers. You know, we we were doing patient education,
but now you're like educating nurses other nurses. So what was that transition,
like what's it, What's what's that whole role? Like, I mean telling
me about that, I'm so fascinated, so funny, I think. To
be honest, it was pretty easy for me, and I say that because
of running this business. If I was not running Aren't Explained and teaching every
single day on social media, it would be a little bit different. But
for me, it was like, Okay, I'm just you know, I'm
doing the same thing. I'm teaching the same same way it just in person
now to real humans. And so that was the only adjustment I'd say is
having to follow like a rubric, I guess, like a syllabus again,
which is so weird because I haven't seen one since I was a student,
But having to follow a syllabus and create the like teach, create these lessons
and these teachings through that because usually I'm used to teaching whatever I want,
you know, in any type of order. And so that was the only
real hurdle. And I say that lightly because it wasn't really a hurdle.
I just had to follow a structure. So it was pretty easy for me.
It was so cool to have real people in front of me while I
taught. I had twenty nine sophomores. They were so cute and I love
them so much. Yeah, it was very very cool. But I would
say the teaching aspect, the transition was so easy for me. It's actually
very interesting to see it on the other side now that I am faculty and
not a student, which really sparked I think, if there's anything I learned
this semester teaching. On the other side, there are a lot of things
that need to be changed in nursing programs, and hopefully I can be a
part of changing those someday, because I just I and I felt this way
when I was a student. I'm like, what are we doing? Why
are we doing this? Why are there's just perked up for another episode.
That's like another topic, Yeah, like why are things the way they are
in nursing school, Because there's some things that I'm just like, what the
hell are you thinking with the structure of this or the teaching or whatever.
And so being on the other side and seeing that and seeing so many changes
that could be made is wild and I hope to change them one day.
And then knowing what the process is to change these things. Yeah, like
the hurdles and no one does it, yeah, and like yeah, yeah,
it's like it just really gets me going because it's some hold that thought
hold that I would love to have you back to talk about that literally,
like why are we making it so hard? I don't know. Yeah,
So it's not like there's a nursing shortage or anything. It's not like we
yeah, we don't need to eat our young as that that saying is still
alive and true and I hate it. And also we don't need to make
it so damn hard. Like I remember being in school. I mean,
this is just one thing, but I remember using I'm not going to name
the software, but there's a particular adaptive learning software that. Yeah, And
there were multiple times, and I still have the screenshots on my computer because
they're like almost like troph for me now, where you would have a question
pop up on the screen and then there would be four bullets of choices multiple
choice, but there's no text next to the bullets like this happened. I
have screenshots of this, and I would call my instructor over and I would
be like, hey, teacher, I have this question and four bullet points
and I have to choose. This is a proctered exam and there's no text
next to the bullet points, and they'd be like, well, we're going
to have to contact the company you bought that, but for now, you're
just going to have to click something so you can get past this question.
So basically I'd have to just click something, hope it was right, got
twenty five percent chance of getting it right. That would be a point that
would affect my score, yeah, and then have to go through all of
the unnecessary stuff afterwards to fix it. I just don't get it like that.
There were many times like so I was one of five pharmacology instructors for
the sophomore class, so there was like one hundred. I had twenty we
each had twenty nine students, right, and we all had to conversate for
the exams, and everybody got the save exam, and every class it was
very like, you know, everyone was uniform, and there would be I
everybody, every professor was supposed to go through the exam. We would point
out if there was anything that we thought, you know, was not a
great question or whatever beforehand. I would grow go through that exam so incredibly
hard because I'm like, okay, I am the one that's most recently a
student, and I know how they feel, and I know that this is
going to cause an issue, or I know that this question is stupid or
this is very contradictory, these two answers. So I would bring these up
and no one would listen to me. No one would listen to me.
And then it came time for the exam, and lo and behold, the
issues with the exam was exactly what I said. And then we had to
go through the entire process of we scared all these students that they were going
to be like, you know, you don't get no points on this question.
That was a horrible question to begin with, and then how to put
them through that, and then we all had to discuss it, and then
we had to trash the question, and then had to change all the grades
afterwards, and I'm like, this is just so unnecessary, Like why aren't
we sing so much time? And the bottom line is they're still confused about
the material and they're still confused. And then and then at the end of
the semester, these students are literally calculating your grades down to points. It's
really upsetting, I know, And that is another thing we could go on
for days, but like this is an okay, the minimum. I am
sure you had this too, and everybody, every student in ours school has
had to deal with this of the seventy five percent minimum to pass, Like
my last my school was eighty. Oh you're so lucky, Okay, So
mine was you had to get I had a minimum seventy five percent on the
exams and quizzes alone in order to pass the class. And so that meant
that everything you did extra wise, like discussion posts, essays, whatever they
had you do, like all of the busy work didn't even matter unless you
did you made the seventy five percent on the quizzes and the exams, So
you could have busted your ass off that entire semester, made a seventy four
point five percent on all of the quizzes and exams, and then nothing you
did elsewhere mattered and you failed. And I just truly do not understand that.
Yeah, I don't get it. I'm like I had that happen with
one student of mine once. She was like maybe maybe less than one percent
off of making that seventy five percent, And if it were me, she
would have passed because she busted her ass off and it's one percent. I'm
going to resist the urge to keep going because I could keep I could keep
going. But yes, it's true, and we need instructors, professors,
teachers, we need people that are going to not just go, Yeah,
this is the way it is. There's the way. It's always been the
most dangerous phrase. This is just the way it is. Yeah, if
it's if it's not helpful, if it's not right, and if the bottom
line is it's not enforcing safe care for our patients, then what are we
doing? So yes, I agree, and I'm glad to know that there
are teachers like you that are out there that are not just like you,
just go with the flow. Yeah, it's not just like, Eh,
it's been this way, this test has been being given for the last like
eight years. We're not going to change it. It's too much work to
change it. No, that's not that's not how we operate. That's not
how we operate. So I think that it's really important that people know that
they can, like, you know, they can do all these things,
that they can challenge the status quo, and they don't have to you know,
they don't have to like settle. But I also think that people.
You know, there's two things I want people to walk away from this interview
with, and that is that that they can do anything they want, they
don't have to be told. But also I came at this with a very
like like a caveat or like a personal like I was joking with Doug this
morning and I was like, man, I'm just you know, and I've
heard other people say another podcasts they were just like, man, she makes
me feel like I'm not doing enough well. But I think that it's really
important to know that everybody has their niche, everybody has their like stuff that
they're good at. And like, if you're a go, go go kind
of person, that's wonderful and you need to nurture that and you need to
like but if you're not that kind of person, I think it's really important
that you don't try to force yourself to be that kind of person totally,
and that even if you are that kind of person, you still have like
your beach time and you're time to like bake, and you're time to like
spend with your family. So I think that that's it's it's it's wonderful to
hear you talk about these things in balance, and to hear you sound so
happy about all of these things that you're doing, because at no point,
you know, I'm sure, I know that you have times that have been
stressful and that have been you know, like difficult to navigate and like learn
through. But it's just wonderful to hear you talk about how these things have
been like a natural progression and like how you've found your found your way naturally
through this. And I think that's the way it should be. Definitely,
it shouldn't be forced, right, right, never be forced. It's that
the most successful people it just happens naturally and you're capitalizing on your talent everyone.
Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, and yeah, capitalizing on my talents is
huge too. Yeah, I didn't force anything. I think a lot of
great businesses are not. They just happen naturally. It's not organic when you
try to force it. And I think that's what sets it is so clear
the people who are inorganic versus organic. Yeah, but everybody has a talent,
and there are people that I look at daily that I'm like, wow,
I wish I was like that, or I wish that I had your
talents, or I wish you know, I could be going to beach today
like how you are, but and like you know, yeah, it's just
pain. It's so funny because even people that we think of as highly motivated,
admirable people, they still have people that they look up still that they
all ye, yeah, I think I think that that's wonderful. I think
that this has been this is talking to you has said a really good outlook
for my days. It's good, so good. So how can people find
you? People want to know more about you? So on TikTok at Steph
Beg, no s at the end, be Egg at Steph Beg, I
post all the time, just little tidbits of education on there, same thing
on Instagram at Stephanie Begg's every single day there's a new education up there.
They're fun too. I mean you don't even have to be You could be
at any point in your nursing journey and still learn something. It's still fun.
YouTube Aren't explained on YouTube is where I do a little bit longer teachings
if you're studying for an exam or something very helpful. And then Etsy at
RN explained on Etsy is where you can find any of my products, all
my bundles, my merchandise, all that stuff excellent, and I'll link all
of that in the show notes so people can click and go to wherever they
want to find you. So thank you so much for joining me today.
It's joyable to talk with you, and I do mean it. I do
want to have you come back and talk about nursing education. We could go
on forever, we could be could awesome. Well, thank you so much.
It was great talking to you, and I hope you have a wonderful
day. Yes, of course, thank you for having me. Yeah,
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