DNP Ep. 7: Journey of the Nurse Practitioner Burn-Out Coach

Sandra: [00:00:00] Ananya how are you? Welcome to the doctor nurse podcast. 

Ananya: Thank you so much for having me, Dr. Pagenta it is a pleasure to be here and speak to you and your audience. So thank you for having. You’re 

Sandra: very welcome. So I was looking at your history and you’ve just got such a great backstory and an interesting , career timeline.

So let’s start with, what is your current role and your job title? What do you do for a living? 

Ananya: Sure. So I am currently a life and career coach mainly focused on helping nurse practitioners who feel burned out or are just curious as to know if there’s a better way to have balance and boundaries in their life.

And so I am dedicated to helping support the next generation of nurse practitioners really find that purpose and balance. So that is my daytime job and I am also a Perdiem pediatric nurse practitioner and the emergency department. And I [00:01:00] am continuing to work clinically as well. 

Sandra: Very cool. So take me back to the beginning of your journey.

When did you decide to go to nursing school and then take us through your degrees? Sure. 

Ananya: So I, began my nursing journey in undergrad in around 2007, I didn’t have necessarily a nursing kind of aha moment or a mentor, but I, you know started my journey as actually pre-med and I got into that first organic chemistry class and I realized this is just not, this is not for me.

And I wanted to really have a more hands on approach to taking care of patients. I knew I wanted to do something medical. I do have a family of doctors and it just didn’t feel like the next most natural step. I know that nursing. Just like a fit to me. So I you know, did my undergrad at university of Memphis and I began my nurse externship [00:02:00] as a pediatric ICU nurse.

And I loved it. I loved the autonomy. I love the critical thinking skills. I love the bedside connection with the parents and the patients. And I found myself really wanting more autonomy and more. Impact in the plan of care. So the next natural step for me was to get my master’s in nursing. I went to Columbia and I actually did a dual approach with public health as well.

And I wanted to look at things in a broader lens with, you know, social inequities as well as disparities and how they contributed to patients coming to the hospital. So that brought me to my first job as a pediatric nurse practitioner in the emergency department. And that is where my bread and butter, my skills, and my foundation has been built.

I absolutely loved that job. And then, you know, shortly after last year I decided to make the pivot into entrepreneurship. So I became a nursepreneur. 

Sandra: Awesome. And [00:03:00] throughout your journey from a pediatric nurse to a pediatric, a pediatric ICU nurse, excuse me. And then a pediatric nurse practitioner in the emergency room.

How did that help you get to your current role? 

Ananya: That’s a great question. I think that it really laid the foundation for knowing how to critically think as well as knowing how to understand my value as a nurse practitioner and how we deliver care and how we contribute value to the healthcare system. So it allowed me to be efficient, to know how to become indispensable as an NP, and then also.

On the job, I was able to precept and teach a lot of other new nurse practitioners as well as NP students. And that is where I gained the understanding of how we really don’t understand how amazing and valuable we are. So I speak in teaching and precepting on and off the record and to building the momentum to my coaching services.

Sandra: [00:04:00] And as you’ve been a nurse practitioner, coach, what’s been one of the things that you’ve noticed they most need to hear. 

Ananya: Hm. I love that question. I think that something across the board that I notice is that nurse practitioners, no matter what track you’re in, whether it’s pediatric FNP, adult Gero, I think that we often are. Conditioned to believe that we can’t our earning potential rather is not beyond the bedside, which is absolutely false. I’m here to tell you through my personal experience, as well as that of my colleagues. And I think if anything, this past year with COVID and how frontline workers, as well as nurse practitioners and specialties, you know, we noticed such a large volume of furloughs and layoffs, you know, we understand.

That there is life beyond the bedside. In fact, it’s almost something you have to consider whether you’re a new nurse [00:05:00] practitioner or seasoned, and that our earning potential is really infinite. So often I find myself reminding my clients that I work with that. You can do nursing on your own terms and you can define what success looks like, and it can absolutely be beyond the bedside.

So I find myself reiterating that and really holding that vision while nurse practitioners discover that in their journey. 

Sandra: I love that. And what I love most about that is I was in a similar place with my son when he was born. And I felt like I needed to spend more time with him as he was growing up.

And. I remember the day that I walked into my boss’s office and I asked him to have a part-time status at my job. I said, I cannot do full-time anymore. It’s draining, it’s draining my family. It’s taking away time from my son and so I remember going to my boss nervous that he was going to let me go and say, sorry, we [00:06:00] don’t have a place for you. And he’s like, no, we have a place for you. I’ll adjust the schedule. And it wasn’t until he had said that to me, that I realized I’m valuable, like even at a part-time capacity. I’m still bringing value to my job.

They still see me as someone that they like to keep on, to work, and it meant a lot. And it also required me to have a mind shift. Wait a minute. I was gonna, I was thinking my attending was going to get rid of me and he didn’t, he, he was like, absolutely. If that’s what you need for your family.

And let’s, let’s work around that, then I think that’s something that as a nurses, you kind of have this all or nothing type mentality, and it’s sometimes it’s, it’s half of that. It’s like, no, you can actually be productive at your job and also spend time with your family.

 And be fulfilled in both. So I think that’s a great perspective to keep reminding nurse practitioners of this is such a great field that you do have the option to walk in and say, Hey, I need to adjust [00:07:00] this, or I’m going to adjust this you know, like you kind of have that 

Ananya: power. Absolutely. I think, you know, the common thread here is that we often get paralyzed by limiting beliefs and the stories we tell ourselves in nursing and nurse practitioning is you know, from the outside, looking in, it’s hard to understand.

Having gone through it. I totally get why we believe that, we’re conditioned to believe that, being medical and clinical that is our, our only niche and expertise and that’s where the earning potential ends. And so we tell ourselves. Until you see what’s possible.

And so that is, you know, my main goal is to show what’s possible and really, you know, debunk these limiting beliefs that we hold. And we may not intentionally hold, but they do exist. 

Sandra: Yeah. And you know, honestly, that, that line that you just said is the heart of the Doctor Nurse podcast to show that it’s possible and to highlight people doing it.

Because I think you’re so right. [00:08:00] Like, you’ve gotta be reminded. You have to be told, and then you have to be shown, like, I can show you how to do it. And then. You got to go do it yourself. You know, like you remember in nursing school, when they were teaching you how to do like hand washing, right? The teacher walks over to the sink.

She watches her hands. She sings a little song, happy birthday, whatever song you want to sing to yourself. And then she looks at you and she hands you the soap. And she’s like, all right, your turn let’s show. Show me how to do it. It’ll empower you to see somebody else doing.

And doing it and you’re doing it like you are showing nurses. We’re not just at the bedside. We’re not just in the clinic. We are, we can create our own businesses. We are business people. And I don’t think that that training and that in that mantra gets put in into our teaching. Absolutely.

Yeah. Which I think is. Wrong. So anyway, we’re going to change that Ananya so let’s do a girl. All right. So give an example of one of the [00:09:00] biggest successes that you’ve had in your career. 

Ananya: Love these questions. So I would have to say that whenever I’m able to feel that I’ve truly made a positive and empowering impact on another nurse practitioner, where I see her light up and take know full radical responsibility for her earning potential, which I believe is really our ticket to be able to leverage and bargain more than that is where I feel.

That my purpose has been really fulfilled. And I know that sounds pretty cheesy and corny, but the first time I helped someone negotiate a salary in her, be able to get exactly what she asked for was the first time my eyes were open to what’s possible. If I can help myself and then. Prove that and help someone else who else, and how many more people can I help?

That’s the first time that opened me up. So I would have to say really being able to have that ripple effect and seeing, you know, nurse practitioners step out of their comfort [00:10:00] zones and take that, you know, empowerment and, you know, take that next step has been the biggest accomplishment in my trajectory and in my NP journey

oh, that’s 

Sandra: cool. So what about a challenge? What’s something that you look back and you thought, man, that was a really tough mountain to overcome, but I did it .

Ananya: I have to say that the challenges that come with being an advanced provider and really having to show your value to your employer in multiple different ways. So an example a specific one that comes to mind is We onboard it myself and another nurse practitioner, we onboarded 10 new nurse practitioners at my previous employer.

And a challenge was, you know, initially we were not getting any compensation for that. It was a whole new curriculum and a new program without any previous president that we were creating from scratch and really not, you know, having the [00:11:00] backing and the support that I know that our physician colleagues would have, if it was in the same position.

And really understanding that the work that we’re doing is really setting up the next onboarding of a nurse practitioner should succeed. Then going back to our chief and explaining, this is a legacy we’re leaving and really articulating why we feel we should be compensated in different ways.

I think that was a challenge initially around our mindset to first understand, no, we are creating a legacy and we should be, compensated I think that was probably the biggest challenge and hurdle. Ultimately we were able to be on the same page, but I think that that’s something across the board is our intellectual property is not valued first because we personally don’t recognize how valuable it is.

And then number two, being able to reinforce that and show our employers the intellectual property and how much we can really accomplish and our worth and value in the system. So I would say that that’s an probably ongoing. 

Sandra: Yeah. [00:12:00] And you know, there’s this book that I read called think like a breadwinner and it’s by Jennifer Barrett.

And it is an interesting book on the story of a female breadwinner of her home. We kind of talked about this a little bit , before the podcast, but she describes in the book that women tend to do a lot of work for free. And at first I was like, well, she’s talking about like, and then she says, she started looking at her career and she’s like, I was doing these things. In my job and I wasn’t receiving any compensation for it. I was just doing it. And I was taking it on almost kind of like the mother hen, you know, and she’s like, I just noticed it was like I did all of the, she gave an example of.

Something that she was doing, oh, like ordering the notepads for the practice or whatever job she was doing. She’s like, I just took care of it. And she’s like, but that really wasn’t my job. It wasn’t in my job description. And it was [00:13:00] taking away from the things that I could have been doing to be more productive and to, further advance my career or whatever it was.

And so she had to start prioritizing, like, I can’t. I can’t spend time doing that because it takes away from me being productive with my actual work. And it was kind of an interesting thing to kind of sit back and reflect on and just be like, as women, I think we tend to do that. We set ourselves in positions where we just do work for free because we just kind of think we have to.

And I think it’s great to just challenge that and just say, Hey, listen, that. Is it going to be work I do for free. Like, I’m just not there’s a value to that. And I think that that should be a compensated thing so it’s a really great book. It, the challenge, a lot of things that I had had in my mind to go, yeah, we need to, you know, speak up and challenge the system because men are not afraid to do it.

[00:14:00] And this field of nursing, which is predominantly females especially when we get into that nurse practitioner role We’ve got to do more advocacy for the work that we do and getting that recognized 

Ananya: absolutely. A hundred percent. 

Sandra: So those were great examples of both.

Thank you. And along the way, did you have any mentors, anybody that kind of came alongside you and really made a difference in your career? 

Ananya: Yeah. I mean, I think that honestly know all of us can attest to really being where we are, because we’ve had amazing people, open doors for us. And that is definitely been my case, for sure.

I think I’ve had a multiple mentors, you know, throughout and NP school, whether they were my preceptors who were really invested in my growth and saw something in me and how division for me before. I see it. And so I definitely had a lot of great preceptors along my nurse practitioner rotations, and then in the last year and a half or so, I would say that L. Pearson as she is the owner [00:15:00] of healthcare consultant academy she was the first nurse I have met who was doing nursepreneurish and.

Then I met Katie Harris and Jill Weberding who also embodied entrepreneurship. And that was the first time my mind was open to what we can do as nurse entrepreneurs and that this is a full on business and empire. So I would say that the impact it has made in terms of really giving me the courage and confidence to also follow that and. My own dreams. I would say, has made the greatest impact in my career and my journey. 

Sandra: Very cool. And what advice do you have for a brand new nurse? She’s sitting at graduation. She has a diploma in her hand. Probably not. Cause I don’t think they give you the diploma, but anyway, you know, like you’re just sitting there with your diploma.

You’ve got the world all in front of you. What advice would you give her? Starting off in the beginning of her career? 

Ananya: Oh, I love this question so much. [00:16:00] I would say that the level of expertise that you have to never undervalue, and to know that, you know, while the experience you’re going to get from your employer in the setting that you work in is invaluable, that the true value is absolutely internal and that you will never.

You know, I’m taking a stance here. You will never get paid by your employer, your true worth. And I challenge you to consider ways that you can create those opportunities for yourself from day one, rather than in the face of a pandemic. When you know, things are becoming actualized, but rather from day one, knowing that you hold the power to that.

And no one else can want something more for you than yourself.

Sandra: Yeah, that’s really good thinking that. I mean, I always tell my patients that like, no one cares about you more than you care about yourself. They’ll come into the [00:17:00] clinic and I’ll be like, so what meds are you taking? And they’re like, I don’t know. And I’m like, okay, so you need to know because no, one’s going to care more about you than you. So it’s just, it’s that same concept of, yeah. You have to realize that a hospital isn’t going to care about you as much as you and your family are going to care about you. So take care of yourself first. And whatever that looks like if that’s working per diem or working PRN, or, you know, finding those side hustles and those side gigs because side hustling is where it’s at and so many in so many ways, but also just.

Finding your calling and finding the things that get you fired up because then you won’t feel like you’re working. You’ll feel like you are contributing on top of getting paid for it, which is, I think the best thing that you can do is find a calling and Find find your calling and then do it in a way that is meaningful.

And yeah, I think that’s really cool. So the [00:18:00] last part of the interview is the rapid fire questions. Don’t don’t so we’re going to do them really quick and here we go. First one what’s your most used emoji? 

Ananya: Ooh probably the the hearts and the eyes. 

Sandra: And what are you currently reading? 

Ananya: I an amazing book called we should all be millionaires by the amazing Rachel Rogers.

And it is one of the best books I’ve read. So definitely check it out. Ah, 

Sandra: and what’s one thing you’re most excited about in 2021. 

Ananya: I’m excited to really take my business to the next level and serve more nurse practitioners and make a bigger impact. I have big visions, big goals, and I’m ready to see the needle move in there.

Sandra: Fantastic. Well, it was so wonderful talking with you. Thank you for coming onto the podcast and sharing what you’re doing and sharing where your heart is in nursing? I know it will be an inspiration to those 

Ananya: listening. [00:19:00] Thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity.