DNP Ep. 76: Working Remotely as a Professional Nurse Writer with Joelle Y. Jean, RN, FNP-C

Sandra Pagenta: Hi, Dr. Nurse Podcast Nation. Welcome to the podcast. Today we are chatting with Joelle Jean. She graduated from New York University in 2005 with a bachelor’s in nursing. She worked at a general pediatric emergency room labor and delivery experience. Then she went back after it looks like 10 years.

She acquired her master’s degree and became a family nurse practitioner, and she’s now a full-time senior writer for the nurse journal.org. She lives in New York City, with her husband and two adorable children, a cat named Zuzu. Welcome to the podcast.

Joelle: Thank you for having me.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah.

I’m so excited to chat with you about what you’re doing, cuz I’ve had multiple nurse writers on and I really like this role because I feel like there’s a lot of flexibility and there’s a lot of things you can do with it. Yeah. That a lot of nurses aren’t aware, so I can’t wait. Yeah. Yeah. So let’s dive in.

So kind of describe to my listeners what it is that you do as a full-time senior nurse writer and kind of what your job looks like day in, day out. .

Joelle: Yeah. So as a full-time nurse writer basically, the whole process is pitching ideas. Finding interviewers and then writing the article. So I have, it’s a very small team nurse journal.org.

There’s me as the internal writer. Then I work with copy editors. Well editor, copy editor. Then it goes through publishing, and then the article comes. We meet about, you know twice a week. Well, I’m sorry, biweekly. Okay. And we just really pitch ideas on what is trending in nursing. I write for their blog, it’s the news and advice blog.

So whatever’s trending, whatever I find is very dear and near to my heart. I will pitch the idea. We’ll either vote yay or nay, and then we, you know, go out and find interview interviewers, nurses to interview. I write the article. I do the research on the article. Then it goes through the whole editing process, and then it starts over, over again.

so, wow. Yeah.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah. When you guys put out a journal, is this like a monthly journal?

Joelle: Like it’s daily, an article goes out daily.

Sandra Pagenta: Oh wow. Yes. So you guys are putting out content every day? Yes. Okay. Yes. And so when I was looking at the website and seeing the staff, you’re the only nurse on the staff, correct?

Yes,

Joelle: I am the local nurse nurse. On the staff. Yeah. Again, it’s a small team, so eventually that may change. But yeah, it’s they, they realized that they needed an expert writer for the site and, um, Serendip, serendipitously, I ended up getting the role cuz I was writing. Maybe a year prior to that.

I met another nurse writer Porsche. She’s at the right nurse on Instagram. Yeah. And she started, a program where she was looking for nurse writers. And I’ve always loved writing like ever since I was a child. Love, love, love writing. But I became, I became a nurse and, but I still wrote on the side and I ended up falling finding Porsche.

And she basically emulated everything that I was, she was a nurse, she was a writer, she was African American, and I was like, oh my God, this is exactly what I wanna do. Yeah. So I freelance writing. I did freelance writing with her for about a year. And then this position came up right at the like heart of Covid, where I was a nurse practitioner in a clinic and it was nuts.

Sandra Pagenta: And you had two babies

Joelle: I have two babies, two kids.

Sandra Pagenta: Were you doing like home care on top of work?

Joelle: My, and so it’s crazy. It’s, I know, I think I have post-traumatic stress syndrome cuz I’m trying to think about like how we did it. But my mother-in-law was, I blocked it out. Yeah. Trying to, I tried not to think about it.

But my mother-in-law was very instrumental during that time. She took them, my oldest one did homeschool. I mean remote learning. And my little one was just turning once, like right at the height of Covid. So he wasn’t in school or anything, but my mother-in-law took them. My husband and I, when he was off he would, you know, take care of them.

And when I was working yeah, whatever, but I was away from, I know this is going in a whole d different No,

Sandra Pagenta: no, this is important. No, this is important. Cause it’s what you had to do. Yeah. To keep, keep working.

Joelle: My husband works in healthcare too, so in the height of Covid, she took them for six weeks. She was like, don’t even come over . We had to see them through the door, like it was so trauma. Wow. Because we didn’t wanna get them sick. We didn’t want, she was like, if you guys, oh, cause you’re in healthcare. Yeah. Yeah. So we didn’t wanna get them sick. We didn’t wanna get her sick, you know?

She was just like, just until we figure out what’s gonna happen, you guys, I’ll take care of them. So she took them for six weeks. We went to visit them like every couple of days. So traumatizing. But that is traumatizing. He made it through, my goodness. Yeah. And then during that I was writing and then I realized like, oh, this position came up and I applied and interviewed, and the rest is history

Sandra Pagenta: What I love about this too is that it actually kind of gets you out of that C O V I D. So you know, where you’re kind of in the covid line of fire working in the healthcare. Yes. Cause now you’re working from home, right? Yes. And so you’re able to kind of take your kids back from your mother-in-law?

Yes. Like could be my babies and Yes. So yeah, you can drink them home and you know, she doesn’t have to be a full-time mom again and you can actually see your children. How did you get to this specific spot in your career as you’ve been kind of going through, I know you’ve worked as.

You know, emergency room, pediatrics and then labor and delivery. And then just kind of transitioning, what made you go like, I don’t think I want to be at the bedside anymore. I don’t think I wanna be clinical, like in the trenches type work.

Joelle: Yeah. I mean, I think, I, I became a family nurse practitioner.

I love, that’s one of the biggest things I miss, is the patient care. Yeah. I don’t miss the b bureaucracy and all that nonsense that happens with, with being a clinician. I miss my patients terribly. However, writing has always been a passion of mine, like forever, for as long as I can remember. I always loved creative writing.

I wanted to be a children’s book writer for a really long time. , I was like in a critique group and everything. Then I realized how hard it was and I was like, it’s really hard to get published. Yeah. So that was, which is

Sandra Pagenta: surprising cuz I’ll read like books to my kids and you Oh, to my kid. and I’m like, this is the lamest child’s book I’ve ever read.

Yeah. Like how did this get published? And so, but yes, there is a really fine line between like Goodnight Moon and then there’s the other books

Joelle: yeah, I mean, I wanna be a really well known children’s book, really great writer. So yes, a lot of it is who, you know, some of it is who you know but, but it’s, it’s a lot of work like putting in all those queries, like you have to like, get a literary agent.

you know, you have to like query your work, which is like send the letter out to, to pitch your idea and then get picked up. I never went that far, so maybe I gave up too early, but you can

Sandra Pagenta: always go back. Yeah,

Joelle: yeah, yeah. Especially now still back of mine.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah. Especially as like an established writer now.

Like you could come up with a nurse book or something. Don’t give up on that dream. I know

Joelle: and, and, and like minorities too. There’s not a lot of books for minority children, so, yes. Yeah.

It’s still a passion of mine, but you know. Yeah. , I was riding with Porsche, like I said earlier, and a lot of it had to do with imposter syndrome. Right. So you think like, I’m not that good of Ari.

Like I can write, but I’m not the best. I don’t write for the New York Times. You know what I mean? Yeah. So you think like, oh, I have to be able to be this, like, well written, well read, established writer, but in actuality, the reader just wants facts, you know? So as long as you can get that information out to the reader and it flows really well, It’s not that difficult.

So being with Porsche really helped me get over that imposter syndrome, like me submitting an article and I’m like, what do you think? She’s like, Joelle, just let it go. Yeah, it’s fine. It’s good. It’s edited. It’s published. Once you see that happening over and over again, you’re like, oh, okay, well maybe I do kind of know what I’m doing. I went for this role. I had a portfolio luckily of articles were already published, and I was a nurse. It was basically a job that was written for me. So, that’s so I really, you know, I went for it and that’s where I am today.

Sandra Pagenta: Throughout this journey, as you’ve been kind of getting to this spot as nurse writer, there’s been moments that have been hard, moments that have been easy.

Would you give me an example of a moment, kind of like what you said, like with the imposter syndrome or a situation that happened that you’re like, maybe I’m not cut out for this, but then you just kept persevering and you kept pursuing, yeah.

Joelle: Your dream. Yeah, I think, I think a lot of it has to do with, like constructive criticism.

When you start getting that in the beginning you’re like, oh my God, maybe I don’t know what I’m doing. Maybe it’s not the best work, but it’s really just. Crafting you to be a better writer. Like it just because you forgot a comma, you know, doesn’t mean Yeah. Or it’s in passive tense versus active tense.

Like, doesn’t mean you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s just that building up that confidence and knowing like, you know, what you’re writing is, is really for the audience. I don’t have. I mean, there’s some articles that I write now that my editor was like, Hmm, maybe it needs a little bit, something more like, we need like a little bit more you know, better interview quotes or something like that.

So that’s when you’re like, oh, you, your, your ego gets a little bruised. But yeah. Other than that I haven’t had anything super duper. Like traumatic. Yeah.

Sandra Pagenta: What you’re describing is the ability to get feedback and to see it as a gift and to see it as something that is making you stronger instead of like, man, I’m not, this isn’t for me.

I’m not doing this. Like I’m not getting five star ratings every single time. You still have to keep going even though that piece wasn’t your best work or you know, they think something else might need to be added. It’ll help grow your skillset. Yeah. A little bit more.

Joelle: Yeah, definitely. What are you gonna say? Yeah, no, I was gonna say that it’s, it’s just so opposite from nursing. Like nursing, it’s like, life or death, right? So you kind of really, really know, need to know what you’re doing. And I think I took that with me in this new role.

Like, you know, that, you know, self-criticism, like, you know, it’s not good enough or whatever, but you learn like, okay, you can just erase. what you wrote and rewrite it. Yeah.

Sandra Pagenta: It’s a good perspective. You wanna think that you’re a perfect nurse. You don’t have to have and carry that weight of I’m not perfect. It’s like, no, I, I, just erase it and write it in. I think it’s really good that you said that you had mentors along the way.

Somebody to kind of help you kind of get to where you needed to go. Is there anybody else that’s inspired you as you’ve been kind of in this new role as senior writer?

Joelle: Yeah, my, I mean, I, my number one fan is my husband, He’s amazing. So supportive, , in all my endeavors, more excited than I am in whatever I pursue, which is great.

And I have my family, my family’s super supportive. I mean, my, I come from a very traditional Haitian background, so my dad’s like, Writing like what I thought you were taking care of patients, you know, but no, I mean, they’re super curious about what I’m writing. Like, send me this article when you’re done, and.

I wrote an article about like nursing within generations, so I focused on like a Haitian family. It was like a mother, a daughter, an aunt, and they all were nurses and they talked about their experience of how, they, how hard it was to come to the United States and take, having to take over nursing courses and just that camaraderie and that, the, I guess their ribbon of how, you know, they stay together and a lot of it, even though it’s different generations, they still had the same experience at the end of the day.

You know, they loved, loved nursing and I was really privileged enough to actually, write that story for them, which I love. Like that’s, that’s, that’s what’s the golden nugget of writing, you know, just like being able to tell. Someone’s story, you

Sandra Pagenta: I think it’s interesting that you say, when they came over.

Cuz I know a lot of foreigners when they come from other countries, they’re, they’re educated to be physicians and nurses. Yeah. And then they get here and they’re told you can’t practice. Yeah. So they have to retake all these exams and I’ve, I’ve had other, other minorities, people from other countries that have come over and they’re like, no, I’m a nurse over there.

But I had to redo everything to come over here and work. So it’s actually really admirable to see how. , they kind of humble themselves and get right back into being a student nurse again. One of the things I’m just curious about, what are some of the topics that you write about with the nurse journal.org? Because as I was looking through it, you guys create content and this is why I think. What you’re doing is so important and for nurses to hear and to see what you’re doing because you create content around scholarship money.

You create content on like how to get from where you are right now to being a travel nurse, and that’s somebody that like, doesn’t even know that they wanna be a nurse, how to become a nurse or not a nurse. Like you walk them through all the steps. The journal is a great resource.

Any nurse or any person considering being a nurse that’s like, I don’t even know where to get funding to go to nursing school. I don’t even know. Pitch your nurse journal.org to my listeners to get them to figure out why would I check out what she’s working

Joelle: on? Yeah, I mean, our brand is really about like uplifting the nurse voice, right? We want to grab you at all milestones and nursing. Very many, like maybe eight or 10 milestones, right? You’re like thinking about nursing. You become the nursing student. You can either become a nurse’s aide, an L P N, get your associate degree in nursing. You can get your bachelor’s degree in nursing.

You can decide to do forensic nursing. You could decide to be a travel nurse. You could decide to be a community. So we really try to like, Pinpoint where these nurses are in their whole journey of nursing. And we just really try to educate you know, that group, that community, you know we, you know, you want to be like, The resource that everyone goes to, right?

Well, that all nursing perspective students or experienced nurses go to, to just get information on. , the, on the career, the, you know, the nursing career.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah. And that was the thing I was noticing is I was looking through like, oh, this is what you do if you, you wanna go into the military to have them pay for your nursing degree.

Like it is a plethora of information. You just have to literally click and you’re in a spot that’s teaching you what you need to do to get to where you want to go. So I just think for nurses, again, that are looking for different career options that are like, I don’t wanna do this anymore. I wanna go do something else, but how do I get there?

Yeah. You guys are a great resource. And again, it’s written by a nurse. You have nursing contributors on your on staff. And so I think there’s a lot of great information that you guys are putting out that again, would help nurses. I know you miss, miss Bedside and caring for patients, but now you’re caring for nurses.

So it’s definitely, again, people are people, so you want to care for all. And even though it’s something different it’s still that same mantra of. providing care, and I think that’s really, really neat. And so if you could go back at the start of your career and give yourself a piece of advice, something that you wish you would’ve told yourself at the beginning of your nursing career, what would you tell yourself?

Joelle: Wow, that’s a great question. Hmm. I think what I would tell myself like now I know there’s so many avenues to nursing, you literally can do anything with a nursing degree. I think I would explore a little bit more. I, I stayed in the emergency room for a long time because I loved everyone I worked with, so I stayed there for like 11 years because you’re just like, the people make where you were.

That’s true, that’s true. But I would’ve liked to maybe experience more of like the tech side, you know, maybe do informatics. Just figuring out like a little bit about what that is about. Just not to, not to not take it seriously. You definitely should take nursing seriously, especially your first couple of years, but not to be afraid to explore other options.

, you know, like we were talking earlier, like we are so nurses never say no to anything. We’re multitaskers. We’re interested in pretty much everything. So just not being afraid to like, try new things. And if it doesn’t work out, you know, there’s always a nursing job waiting for you. There’s a shortage.

Yes, there. It will still be there.

Sandra Pagenta: It will still be there, Yeah, no, it’s true. So many nurses get on and say that exact same theme of like, Don’t worry, there’s always something there for you to just kind of step back into and, and to go back to. So why would you stay if you’re unhappy?

Because that will always be there. So go try this thing that might find enjoyment in. And I agree with you, the right boss, the right people, the right time. or all the things that you need to have a really, really good career and a job that you don’t want to leave. If you’re missing any of those elements, your boss is not great, or the people that you work with aren’t great or it’s just not the right time in your life or whatever it is that you’re doing.

you’re gonna be miserable at your job. And I think that’s another, good thing for a nurse to hear just that. , it’s okay if you really like where you’re working, you like who you work with, and you stay a little bit longer because the people are good. I think that’s important and it’s sometimes really, really hard to find. So if you find it, hold onto it.

Yes. And so for the last part of the interview, it’s the rapid fire questions. Are you ready? I’m ready, All righty. All righty. So we already know your favorite subjects in school was creative writing. Yes. . What was one subject that you didn’t like Learning in school?

Joelle: Oh my God, there’s so many . I, well, you know what?

I wasn’t the best student. Like I really, I really wasn’t. I was, wow. I loved to write, I loved like communications, marketing, all that stuff. The things that probably was my worst subject. Oh my God. I loved psychology, but it was introduction to psychology. Yes. What so hard? Yes, I had to take it over

Sandra Pagenta: cause it was, took nutrition twice.

I took nutrition twice too because it was nutrition. Another

Joelle: one. You’re like, oh, I know how to eat.

Sandra Pagenta: I eat not doing well. Dropping it like, I don’t understand. Yes. You’re like calorie counting

Joelle: times cut reading the, the nutritional. Yes. Okay. We can’t even figure it out. Imagine like the regular person.

Sandra Pagenta: Oh.

What a disaster. Yeah, no, it’s totally a bad system, but I remember that class. That was one I struggled with. Yeah.

Joelle: Nutrition. Intro to psychology. Statistics.

Sandra Pagenta: Yes. Stats that. Another one, they make you take it every year too. It was like, oh, healthcare stats, and it’s like, come on, man. Gosh. Never used that. Why did I have to?

I’m just kidding. I have to use it sometimes, unfortunately. Yeah. What was your very first job that you ever took?

Joelle: Ever, like when I

Sandra Pagenta: was ever, ever, I’m talking like ever, ever,

Joelle: I think it was, I’m babysitting. I guess it would be okay. Yeah.

Sandra Pagenta: You were a babysitter. If you had to give a book to someone, what would be a book that you would just be like this one?

Joelle: I love the outliers . Ooh, are you talking outliers from Michael Malcolm Gladwell? Yeah. Malcolm. Malcolm

Sandra Pagenta: Gladwell.

Joelle: Ooh, so good. If you think you can do something and you’re, afraid, just go ahead and do it because these people were not supposed to do what they ended up doing.

And there were successful at it. There was a need and they went for it. And it’s, it’s, it’s a

Sandra Pagenta: great book. Yes. I love Malcolm Gladwell. He writes two other books that I love. It’s called Blink, that Book. Okay. Fire. If you’ve never read it, it’ll blow your mind. And then the other one is David and Goliath. , I’m a sponge around anything he says. Yeah, I’m like, How do I like, absorb what it is that you’re saying and talking about? Cause he’s just so smart. It’s based on like facts. Yes. Economics. It’s, yeah. It’s one of those statistics that we hated.

He, loved it and so we’re glad he loved it. Cause now we get a bit of it for how he makes really difficult concepts. Just really easy to understand and put it in ways that you can just, that are palatable, like that word. It was so wonderful chatting with you today.

Thanks for coming on the podcast and describing and sharing what, it is that you do and how you’ve developed your career and how you found something that lights you up inside that brings you joy. Yes. Yes. And yeah, it gives you the kind of life that you want. That’s what this podcast is all about.

It’s about hearing stories from other nurses. Went for their dreams. They just went for it. And sometimes that’s entrepreneurship. Sometimes that’s this role that they didn’t even know existed or they didn’t even know that they could morph their career into. And it’s going for it and giving it all you got not looking back, burning the ships.

Yeah. , it’s going, I’m burning the ships, man. I’m not going back.

Joelle: Going forward. Yeah, you get more, you feel more confident with experience. So it’s like, even if you know now we’re at, I’m at that stage where I’m like, okay, yeah, go for the.

Sandra Pagenta: The dream. Yeah. And again, I can’t wait to see you when you write your children’s book.

Cause I think that that that dream I’m not gonna let die for you.

Joelle: We’ll see, we’ll see, we’ll see. But I would love you, I would love to write about you, your podcast. So definitely I will reach out and definitely puts an article about that. Definitely. Oh,

Sandra Pagenta: that would be awesome. I would love that.

I’d totally be, I’d totally be down for that. So just let me know. Okay. Alrighty guys. Guys, thanks for listening to the podcast today. Check out joelle, check out, check her out on, I’ll tag her and all her social media accounts.

So that you can see what she’s doing, check out the nurse journal.org because again, like I said, there’s a ton of information on there that if you were thinking about role switching roles or you wanna go for that nurse practitioner role, they’ve got all the stuff on there that you need to be successful and to be able to figure it out.

You don’t have to work really hard. They did the work for you, so check ’em out guys. And as always, enjoy the journey