Nursing Interviews and Expert Advice

Read our nursing career interviews with current professionals to learn about what it is like to work as a nurse and advice for a nursing career.

Interview with Nachole Johnson, Family Nurse Practitioner, Author, and Founder of Renursing Career Consulting LLC
Nachole Johnson, FNP, is a float nurse practitioner, prolific author, and business owner who is well-known in the nursing field. Nachole has worked in nursing since 2001 and followed a laddered approach to her education and career, working from the role of nurse’s aid up to her current nurse practitioner role. In addition to her daily work and entrepreneurial projects, Nachole is a frequent contributor to Minority Nurse Magazine and DailyNurse.com. She is also a prolific blogger on her own website, Renursing.com, where she discusses topics from nursing history to challenges in nursing practice today.

Interview with Brittney Wilson, author of The Nerdy Nurse’s Guide to Technology
Brittney Wilson, RN, BSN, also known as The Nerdy Nurse, is a Clinical Informatics Nurse practicing in Georgia. In her day job she gets to do what she loves every day: combine technology and healthcare to improve patient outcomes. She can best be described as a patient, nurse and technology advocate, and has a passion for using technology to innovate, improve and simplify lives, especially in healthcare. Brittney is the author of The Nerdy Nurse’s Guide to Technology. She is a social media influencer and blogs about nursing, technology, healthcare, parenting and various lifestyle topics at TheNerdyNurse.com.

Interview with Stephen Ferrara, Executive Director of The Nurse Practitioner Association New York State
Dr. Stephen Ferrara is an actively practicing Nurse Practitioner, executive, and adjunct faculty member. He combines years of clinical experience along with health policy development to increase access to nurse practitioner-partnered care in New York State by serving as executive director of The Nurse Practitioner Association New York State. Dr. Ferrara holds a passion for health care technology and integrating evidence-based practice into daily practice.

Interview with Rita Batchley, RN and Author of Labor Pains
Rita Batchley is not your ordinary RN. She is a teacher, author, and speaker who happens to believe that nurses hold the key to real healthcare reform. Since graduating from nursing school over 28 years ago, Nurse Batchley has helped to deliver more than 3,000 babies and now, in her breakout novel Labor Pains, she delivers a gripping story that breathes life into the spirit of nursing. This timely story is sure to be loved by today’s nurses as well as those yearning to be delivered into a world where the primary ingredient in medicine is caring.

Interview with Donna Carol Maheady, Founder of Exceptional Nurse
Donna Carol Maheady, ARNP, EdD, the mother of an adult daughter with autism and other related disabilities, is a board certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and an Associate Graduate Faculty member in the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Maheady has conducted research on the experiences of nursing students with disabilities, published numerous articles and is the author of Nursing Students with Disabilities Change the Course (winner of the American Journal of Nursing 2004 Book of the Year Award) and Leave No Nurse Behind: Nurses Working with Disabilities.

Interview with Kathy Quan, Author of The Everything New Nurse Book
Kathy Quan RN BSN has been a nurse for over thirty-five years. After a couple of years of med surg nursing in a local hospital, she pursued her goal of becoming a home health nurse. Today she works part time for hospice as a Quality Assurance/ Performance Improvement specialist. Kathy has always loved to write and when she found an opportunity to combine writing and nursing she grabbed it. In 2004, she became the Guide to Nursing at About.com. She held this position until November 2007, when About.com chose to combine the nursing site into a new health careers site. At that time, Kathy started TheNursingSite.com as a new home for her articles.

Interview with Brett Badgley Snodgrass, Family Nurse Practitioner
Brett Badgley Snodgrass is a practicing Family Nurse Practitioner specializing in Family Practice, Pain Management and Palliative Care, a national speaker and award-winning healthcare blogger, who’s known as The NP Mom. She is passionate about health education, whether it’s one-on-one with a patient or student, in a lecture hall or conference, or online as The NP Mom. Her warm and engaging personality puts everyone at ease as they learn more about health. Brett has received numerous awards and serves on several pharmaceutical and medical advisory boards. She earned both a master’s and BS degree from the University of Memphis.

Interview with Alice Adams, Legal Nurse Consultant
Alice Adams has lived in Atlanta since 1985 and began her Legal Nurse Consultant practice in 2005. Her clinical background is ICU and psych, and her work involves medical case analysis in civil litigation. This work includes research, identifying critical case elements, and collaborating with attorneys on case strategy and preparing chronologies, exhibits and client reports. Her work is split between defense firms (product and premises liability, medical malpractice) and claimant attorneys (personal injury, medical malpractice, workers compensation and merit reviews).

Interview with Joyce Fiodembo, Nurse, Author and Entrepreneur
Joyce Fiodembo is a nurse, author, and entrepreneur. Joyce is the author of The Foreign Nurses Guide to Settling in America and How Nurses Cope with Difficult Coworkers, found on Amazon.com. Her next book, Reflections and Prayers for Nurses, will be out in May. She started her career in Kenya where she worked as a Travel, ICU and Operating Room nurse. Joyce migrated to America in 2002, where she had to restart her career from the beginning before she was able to take her NCLEX exam, which gave her the ability to practice as an RN, again.

Interview with Genevieve M. Clavreul, Nurse, Activist and Businesswoman

Interview with the Gypsy Nurse, RN and 20 Year Healthcare Veteran

For even more expert guidance on becoming a nurse, be sure to check out our nursing advice column with contributions from experienced nurse leaders from across the US.