Radical Nurse Talk

Throughout any given shift, regardless of the practice setting, nurses regularly provide care to individuals who are grieving or have experienced various forms of loss. But what about the nurses themselves? How are they coping? Nurses grieve too.

In this episode, Cory Burdock shines a light on the often-overlooked reality of nurses’ grief, acknowledging it as a normal and genuine part of the healthcare profession. For too long, thi...

Birgit Umaigba is a registered nurse and PhD student at Queen's University's School of Nursing. She is also a thought leader, speaker, health equity advocate, nurse educator, and consultant. At the heart of her work is a commitment to integrating an equity-focused perspective into nursing, particularly in addressing the needs of Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities.

Patricia Strachan, host of Radical Nurse Talk, first lear...

In this heartfelt episode, Mahoganie Hines delves into the critical role of nurses in advocating for patient-centred care at the end of life. With passion and expertise, Mahoganie highlights how nurses serve as the steady presence—the calm in the storm—when patients are facing decline and when families are overwhelmed by difficult decisions. She passionately argues that advocacy is not just a role, but a cornerstone of nursing care...

All over the world nurses work with seriously ill patients and their families, often in significantly under resourced conditions, difficult geographies, and within diverse cultural contexts. How can these nurses be supported to optimize their relational work in serious illness?

In this episode, Erin Das, a Canadian-trained advanced practice nurse based in Nairobi, Kenya, explores the challenges and strategies for supporting nurses ...

Have you ever asked a patient about their resuscitation preferences? Or what we refer to as code status—whether they would want their heart restarted if it stopped? Most nurses have asked this question in some form during various practice encounters. While it might seem like a straightforward inquiry, there is much more beneath the surface.

In this episode, Dr. Sharyn Milnes, an Australian critical care nurse, scholar, and educator...

In this episode, we explore the intersection of nursing and the arts—a rare but powerful combination in healthcare. In January 2024, The Telegraph, a renowned UK news outlet, featured an article titled "The Nurse Who Helps Dying Patients Write Poetry." The nurse at the centre of this story is Rekha Vijayshankar, a trailblazer in the field of palliative care. Rekha joins us to share poignant stories that highlight the transformative...

How can a Chief Nursing Officer influence conversations about serious illness?

In this episode, Patricia Strachan explores this question with Dr. Leigh Chapman, a dedicated nurse and leader who is advocating at the highest levels across Canada to improve working conditions for nurses—helping them not only stay in the profession but thrive. And when nurses thrive, patients benefit too.

Leigh Chapman was appointed Canada’s Chief Nurs...

How can nurses be involved in decisions that patients make about innovative heart valve interventions for which they may be eligible? In this episode Dr. Sandra Lauck thoughtfully describes her work and that of others in supporting nurses to have opportunities and language that open spaces for patients to question, understand and consider possible therapies. In this way she offers radical possibilities for all nurses to transform p...

How can we show up in our relational work with seriously ill patients, and for ourselves as nurses in the moments that are available to us? Grounded in professional and personal experience and yes, even the theoretical, Marie Cooper calls on each of us to stand up, use language and claim the relational work that makes what we do, nursing. Her passionate and articulate commitment to that effort will inspire nurses everywhere and hel...

It is well known that despite our best intentions preventable harm continues to happen to patients in healthcare systems. Further harm to patients, their families and to healthcare professionals, including nurses, can be made worse by the ways we then handle and/or talk about this unintentional harm. How can we talk about it in a way that doesn't incur further harm?

In this episode, Jo Wailling invites u...

What do we mean when we talk about a good death? How can we describe the meaningful communicative work that nurses can do with dying patients and their families?

In this episode, Patricia Strachan welcomes Dr. David Wright, a registered nurse, educator, and researcher. Dr. Wright is an Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa, and academic lead for Palliative Care and Nursing Ethics within its Centre for Research on Health a...

As a practicing Registered Nurse with extensive experience working in acute, critical, and community care settings, Janet Lovegrove has heard many caregivers' stories about feeling alone, overwhelmed, or invisible when providing care to people living with dementia or other progressive life-limiting illnesses. Sensing a real need that what most of them wanted was to be heard, to belong, and to be appreciated, Janet found creative wa...

Context is very important in healthcare. In this episode, we explore the context created at the intersection of geography, history, language, culture, and healthcare resources when Indigenous people in Canada’s far north require care for serious illness.

Our guest, Lianne Mantla-Look, is a Registered Nurse currently living and working in northern Canada. She has worked extensively in clinical roles both in hospital and community se...

Have you ever thought of communication as a vital sign for patients in the intensive care unit? In this episode, you will hear Kali Dayton, DNP AGACNP and critical care outcomes consultant, share her passion for using evidence that promotes what she terms "Awake and Walking ICUs." Communication is key to the ABCDEF bundle – a group of interventions associated with helping patients do better in the ICU and in their lives afterward....

Communicating with people living with advancing dementia and who require care can be challenging and frustrating for everyone. Despite our best intentions, dementia is a serious progressive life limiting illness that has major consequences for the person diagnosed with dementia, their families and family caregivers.

In this episode Mary Buck, an expert in fostering more effective communication practice in dementia, shares important...

Having a baby is supposed to be a very happy event, but when a baby is diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening condition in the perinatal period, families are faced with new realities and require special support and understanding. Jennifer Callen is a Nurse Practitioner with 20 years of experience in neonatal intensive care. She currently works with the Quality of Life and Advanced Care Program at McMaster Children’s Hospita...

Everyone needs access to an inclusive, equitable palliative approach to care. Palliative and end of life care is regarded in the western world as a necessary service to which everyone is entitled, and yet if we look closely, significant inequities exist in people living on the margins of societal norms, such as those who are homeless and without support who do not have equal access to such care.

In this episode of Radical Nurse Tal...

What do you think of when you hear the word “palliative”? In this final episode of season one of Radical Nurse Talk, Kath Murray discusses the importance of words in serious illness. Words such as "palliative" that we use – or avoid using - can invoke fear, "giving up" and also, hope, support and quality of life. Listen while Kath, an exemplary nurse, author, entrepreneur and international educator shares insights and reflections ...

In this episode, Matthieu Payette, Clinical Nurse Specialist at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton and Adjunct Lecturer/Clinical Instructor McMaster University School of Nursing, describes his experiences in various contexts in which people require help in a mental health crisis. He shares some possibilities for others who must respond to people in crisis and step into the moment to make a connection, build trust, maintain safety and...