Love n' Leary Nursing Podcast

Nurse.org
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The Love n’ Leary nursing podcast is where nursing leadership, innovation, and real talk come together. Hosted by nurse leaders Marion Leary, PhD, MPH, RN, and Rebecca Love, RN, MSN, FIEL, the show dives into the issues that matter most to today’s nursing community. Each episode features candid conversations, expert insights, and bold perspectives on healthcare, leadership, advocacy, and the future of nursing. Whether you’re a bedside nurse, nurse leader, or healthcare changemaker, Love n’ Leary offers thoughtful dialogue and practical takeaways to inform, inspire, and empower nurses at every stage of their careers.

  1. 2d ago

    The Importance of Teaching Policy in Nursing

    Why should nurses care about policy?  Nurse anesthetist and policy expert Angela DiDonato, DNP, CRNA, FAANA, joins Marion and Rebecca to answer that question with stories from the front lines of nursing advocacy. She shares how frustration with Pennsylvania legislators inspired the Amplify Nursing podcast, how CRNAs won formal recognition in Pennsylvania after more than a decade of advocacy, and why understanding healthcare as an industry gives nurses a tool to change it. Plus: why she calls compassion fatigue "crap," how a three-minute surgical huddle won over hospital finance, what she teaches her policy students at Penn, and why every nurse should submit a public comment on the CMS proposed payment rule before the September 14 deadline. Whether you have never touched policy or you are ready to lead, this episode shows you where to start. Article: Why Every Nurse Should Care About Policy, From a CRNA Who Helped Change State Law Jump Ahead: 0:58 - Welcome and guest introduction: Angela DiDonato2:18 - The Amplify Nursing origin story: "Aren't you just the assistant?"5:53 - Why policy feels boring, and how podcasts translate it for nurses7:40 - The Pennsylvania CRNA designation fight: one of only two states without recognition11:39 - Nursing reimbursement, AI billing codes, and the CMS public comment window (closes September 14)15:04 - "Your voice matters": healthcare as an industry, and the surgical huddle story20:24 - What Angela teaches her policy students at Penn25:30 - Why you should get involved even if you never touch policy: you're a constituent26:59 - Closing thoughts and how to start localGuest links: Pennsylvania Association of Nurse Anesthetists (PANA): https://www.pana.org/Connect with Angela on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-didonato-a0929826/Take action: Submit a public comment on the CMS proposed 2027 physician payment rule (file code CMS-1848-P) at regulations.gov before September 14. Related reading on Nurse.org: Nurses Have Waited a Century for Billing Codes. AI May Get Them First: https://nurse.org/news/ai-billing-cmaa-cpt-codes-nursing-reimbursement/ANA Responds to Nurses' AI Billing Concerns: https://nurse.org/news/ana-statement-ai-billing-codes-cpt-medicare/Nursing Excluded as a Professional Degree by the Department of Education: https://nurse.org/news/nursing-excluded-as-professional-degree-dept-of-ed/Listen to more episodes: nurse.org/lovenleary 🎙️ About The Love & Leary Podcast Thank you for tuning in to The Love n' Leary Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share it with a colleague. 🌐 Connect With Us Official Website: Visit nurse.org/lovenleary for episodes, articles, and exclusive nursing resources.Watch on YouTube: Subscribe to  Love n' Leary Podcast YouTube to watch full video episodes and highlights👥 Follow the Hosts on LinkedIn Stay connected, network, and join the conversation with us professionally: Connect with Rebecca: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccalovenursingConnect with Marion: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionlearyAbout Nurse.org: Empowering, entertaining, and uniting nurses worldwide. Explore more career guides, news, and community stories at Nurse.org.

  2. Sep 8

    The Voice of Health Justice in a Time of Growing Silence

    Why are health equity voices getting quieter online?  Dr. Oni Blackstock, founder and executive director of Health Justice and a primary care and HIV physician, joins Marion Leary and Rebecca Love to talk about the engagement drop advocates are seeing on LinkedIn, why she left Twitter to protect her mental health, and how she balances speaking out with staying well.  She shares the family lineage that keeps her going, from her physician mother who served Central Brooklyn to great-grandparents born during Reconstruction, plus her community-centered work on how AI gets used in healthcare and why she believes National Nurses United is showing the entire industry how organizing is done.  Her advice for every nurse: find your sphere of influence and use it. Article: Why Health Equity Voices Are Going Quiet Online, and What Nurses Can Do About It Skip ahead: 0:59 - Welcome and guest introduction 2:24 - Roots in social justice: her mother's story 6:12 - Are advocates being algorithmically silenced? 9:34 - Leaving Twitter to protect her mental health 11:30 - Balancing speaking out with staying well 17:45 - Your voice matters 19:55 - A lineage of resilience, from Reconstruction to now 23:30 - Community-centered governance for health AI 25:47 - The Health Justice origin story 31:35 - Every nurse's sphere of influence Helpful links: Connect with Dr. Oni Blackstock on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oni-blackstock/Health Justice: https://www.healthjustice.co/About Dr. Blackstock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni_BlackstockNational Nurses United: https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/Read the excerpt from Legacy by Dr. Uché Blackstock in the Harvard Gazette: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2024/02/was-racism-a-risk-factor-in-mothers-leukemia/Listen to more episodes: nurse.org/lovenleary 🎙️ About The Love & Leary Podcast Thank you for tuning in to The Love n' Leary Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share it with a colleague. 🌐 Connect With Us Official Website: Visit nurse.org/lovenleary for episodes, articles, and exclusive nursing resources.Watch on YouTube: Subscribe to  Love n' Leary Podcast YouTube to watch full video episodes and highlights👥 Follow the Hosts on LinkedIn Stay connected, network, and join the conversation with us professionally: Connect with Rebecca: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccalovenursingConnect with Marion: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionlearyAbout Nurse.org: Empowering, entertaining, and uniting nurses worldwide. Explore more career guides, news, and community stories at Nurse.org.

  3. Aug 25

    The Way We Treat Each Other Should Be Just as Important as the Care We Provide: Bullying and Incivility in Healthcare

    Bullying and incivility in healthcare are getting worse, not better. In this episode of the Love n' Leary Nursing Podcast, hosts Marion Leary, PhD, MPH, RN, and Rebecca Love, RN, MSN, FIEL, talk with Renee Thompson, DNP, RN, FAONL, FAAN, CSP, CEO and founder of the Healthy Workforce Institute, about why toxic behavior persists in nursing and what actually stops it. Renee shares the research behind the problem, including data linking incivility to psychological safety and a $2 billion-a-day price tag for workplaces. She explains why "nurses eat their young" now cuts both ways across generations, why leaders default to silence, and why one-off workshops never fix a culture. Then she lays out the strategies that work: equipping leaders, setting behavioral expectations as a team, making healthy workforce a standing agenda item, and building real feedback skills. She also shares the message behind the second edition of her best-selling book, Enough! Eradicate Bullying & Incivility in Healthcare, and the one thing every witness to bullying can do today. Article: https://nurse.org/news/nurse-bullying-incivility-renee-thompson Connect with Renee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rtconnections/https://healthyworkforceinstitute.com/https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/17635625.Dr_Renee_ThompsonSkip Ahead: 0:59: Marion welcomes Renee Thompson, CEO and founder of the Healthy Workforce Institute1:42: Renee's 30+ year nursing career and why she left a job she loved to fight bullying3:52: The data: psychological safety, the AONL Joslin Insight study, and incivility's $2 billion-a-day cost (SHRM)6:20: Is it getting worse or are we just better at reporting it? (Both.)7:24: Why the pandemic's "healthcare heroes" moment didn't last8:49: Nurses eating their young — and now their old10:33: Marion asks: is it incivility, or a more confident generation? Scripts for both sides13:53: Rebecca on why these conversations stay at the water cooler — and why culture change beats one-off workshops15:53: What actually works: equipping leaders, ending silence as a strategy, the HR disconnect, team compacts, and the #1 tip — healthy workforce as a standing agenda item21:18: Enough! Eradicate Bullying & Incivility in Healthcare, second edition23:52: Parting wisdom: the three parties in every incident — and why the witness is the most powerful🎙️ About The Love & Leary Podcast Thank you for tuning in to The Love n' Leary Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share it with a colleague. 🌐 Connect With Us Official Website: Visit nurse.org/lovenleary for episodes, articles, and exclusive nursing resources.Watch on YouTube: Subscribe to  Love n' Leary Podcast YouTube to watch full video episodes and highlights👥 Follow the Hosts on LinkedIn Stay connected, network, and join the conversation with us professionally: Connect with Rebecca: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccalovenursingConnect with Marion: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionlearyAbout Nurse.org: Empowering, entertaining, and uniting nurses worldwide. Explore more career guides, news, and community stories at Nurse.org.

  4. Aug 17

    Stand Up, Speak Out: The Politics of Science (with Colette Delawalla, PhD)

    Stand Up for Science founder Colette Delawalla, PhD, joins Marion Leary and Rebecca Love to talk about what's happening to federal research funding — and why nurses belong in the conversation. Delawalla shares how a banned words list days before her grant deadline led her to organize a protest that drew tens of thousands, why she believes institutions won't lead this fight, and her practical advice for anyone who wants to get involved but feels overwhelmed: pick one issue, do one small thing a day, and vote in every election. A candid conversation about science, advocacy, and burnout for nurses at every career stage.  "Pick a Lane": How Nurses Can Fight for Science Without Burning Out Skip ahead: 00:59: Marion introduces Colette and shares her own background with Philadelphia Science Action and the March for Science 02:37: The banned words list, the grant deadline, and the decision not to cut the word "woman" 05:30: Searching for a protest, finding none, and posting on Bluesky 08:19: Social media as the battleground for public opinion 11:22: Rebecca on showing up to the Boston rally and finding almost no nurses there 12:57: "Stand Up for Science, not Stand Up for Scientists": the big tent argument 14:14: The Nursing is STEM Coalition and the push for federal designation 18:00: Federal funding cuts and what Colette expects next 22:14: "Pick a lane" — practical advice for nurses who want to engage 25:03: Current Stand Up for Science campaigns and how to get involved 27:23: Closing thoughts Links: Stand Up for Science: https://www.standupforscience.net/ Nursing is STEM Coalition: https://www.nursingisstem.org/ 🎙️ About The Love & Leary Podcast Thank you for tuning in to The Love n' Leary Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share it with a colleague. 🌐 Connect With Us Official Website: Visit nurse.org/lovenleary for episodes, articles, and exclusive nursing resources.Watch on YouTube: Subscribe to  Love n' Leary Podcast YouTube to watch full video episodes and highlights👥 Follow the Hosts on LinkedIn Stay connected, network, and join the conversation with us professionally: Connect with Rebecca: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccalovenursingConnect with Marion: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionlearyAbout Nurse.org: Empowering, entertaining, and uniting nurses worldwide. Explore more career guides, news, and community stories at Nurse.org.

  5. Aug 10

    When We Make It Harder for Immigrant Nurses to Practice — We Are Not Just Failing Them. We Are Failing Each Other (with Lulette Infante MSN, RN-BC, CPHQ)

    The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this episode belong solely to the hosts and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, beliefs, or position of Nurse.org. Lulette Infante arrived in New York City from Manila at 18 with two suitcases and three younger siblings to help raise. Thirty years later, she's a nurse informatics leader, and she's sounding an alarm about what immigration enforcement is doing to patients, to the nursing workforce, and to the care pipeline every American will eventually depend on. In this episode of the Love n' Leary Nursing Podcast, hosts Marion Leary and Rebecca Love talk with Infante about her 25 years in pediatric hematology/oncology and ambulatory care, the LinkedIn post that resonated across nursing, patients who are now too frightened to show up for chemotherapy, and the history of Filipino nurses in the U.S. health care workforce.  Plus: why she believes advocacy doesn't require being the loudest voice in the room, and what nurses can do on their very next shift.  >> RaDonda Vaught on Life After Nursing, Shame, and the Mistake Every Nurse Fears Timestamps 00:58: Meet Lulette Infante MSN, RN-BC, CPHQ07:57: The article and the LinkedIn post that started it10:44: Thirty years in: what it feels like now16:34: The American dream, immigration policy, and the nursing pipeline22:18: The history of Filipino nurses in the U.S. workforce28:56: Closing thoughts and Lulette's LinkedIn quoteMentioned in this episode Infante's LinkedIn PostNursing, Immigration, and Peace & Power by Patricia Regalado American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA)Association of California Nurse Leaders (ACNL)Center for Nursing Value fellowship🎙️ About The Love & Leary Podcast Thank you for tuning in to The Love n' Leary Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share it with a colleague. 🌐 Connect With Us Official Website: Visit nurse.org/lovenleary for episodes, articles, and exclusive nursing resources.Watch on YouTube: Subscribe to  Love n' Leary Podcast YouTube to watch full video episodes and highlights👥 Follow the Hosts on LinkedIn Stay connected, network, and join the conversation with us professionally: Connect with Rebecca: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccalovenursingConnect with Marion: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionlearyAbout Nurse.org: Empowering, entertaining, and uniting nurses worldwide. Explore more career guides, news, and community stories at Nurse.org.

  6. Jul 30

    Nurses Waited a Century for Their Own Billing Codes — AI May Get There First (with Stephanie Witwer)

    Nursing has never had its own CPT billing codes — but AI is about to get 288 of them. In this episode of the Love n' Leary Nursing Podcast, hosts Marion Leary and Rebecca Love sit down with Stephanie Witwer, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, a leading ambulatory care nurse expert and strategic advisor to AAACN, to unpack the AMA's proposed AI CPT codes and what they mean for the future of nursing. Stephanie explains how CPT codes work, why nursing work is billed as "incident to" physician services, and how $266 billion in annual nursing care remains invisible to payers. The conversation breaks down the three proposed AI categories — assistive, augmentative, and autonomous — and the legal, ethical, and economic risks of reimbursing AI while nursing stays unbillable. Could health systems be incentivized to invest in AI instead of nurses? Most importantly: there's something nurses can do right now. A CMS public comment period is open, and the hosts are calling for 100,000 nurse comments to get concerns on the permanent public record. Topics include: CPT codes explained, RVUs, incident-to billing, AI reimbursement, autonomous AI and nurse practice acts, nurse staffing economics, and how to submit a CMS public comment. Jump Ahead: 00:58 – Welcome and episode overview: AMA's proposed AI CPT codes and the CMS comment period with Stephanie Witwer03:07 – CPT codes 101: the 1960s origin, AMA ownership, and how they became the national billing standard08:58 – Are there any CPT codes for nursing? (Spoiler: zero)14:55 – Assistive vs. augmentative vs. autonomous AI, and the nurse practice act problem16:53 – The economics: what AI reimbursement means for nursing jobs20:05 – The call to action: a billing taxonomy for nursing, how to comment to CMS23:03 – Closing thoughts: the power of a unified nursing voiceResources: Comment on the CMS physician payment rule (CMS-1848-P, the PFS) by September 14, 2026.Comment on the CMS hospital outpatient rule (CMS-1850-P, which the ANA refers to as HOPPS) by August 31, 2026.Register and comment on the AMA CPT Editorial Panel Meeting Interested Party through August 10, 3036For additional background, see Nurse.org's in-depth coverage of AI billing and nursing reimbursement: Nurses Have Waited a Century for Billing Codes. AI May Get Them First (7/16)Nurses Have Never Had Their Own Medicare Payment Designation. Software May Get One First (7/20)The Evolution of CPT Codes and Their Emergence as THE National Healthcare Billing Standard (7/22)Becker's Healthcare coverage: New AI billing codes spark concern across nursing (7/17)Nurses’ AI pushback expands to new front (7/20)The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this episode belong solely to the hosts and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, beliefs, or position of Nurse.org 🎙️ About The Love & Leary Podcast Thank you for tuning in to The Love n' Leary Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share it with a colleague. 🌐 Connect With Us Official Website: Visit nurse.org/lovenleary for episodes, articles, and exclusive nursing resources.Watch on YouTube: Subscribe to  Love n' Leary Podcast YouTube to watch full video episodes and highlights👥 Follow the Hosts on LinkedIn Stay connected, network, and join the conversation with us professionally: Connect with Rebecca: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccalovenursingConnect with Marion: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionlearyAbout Nurse.org: Empowering, entertaining, and uniting nurses worldwide. Explore more career guides, news, and community stories at Nurse.org.

  7. Jul 13

    The Wisdom He Can Teach (with Paul Coyne, DNP, MBA, MS, APRN, AGPCNP-BC)

    Hosts Marion Leary, PhD, MPH, RN and Rebecca Love, RN, MSN, FIEL kick off the first Nurse Spotlight episode of the Love n' Leary Nursing Podcast with someone who has quietly reshaped how nursing sees itself: Paul Coyne. Jump Ahead 00:58 — Welcome and introducing Paul Coyne, Love n' Leary's first Nurse Spotlight guest01:55 — Paul's early years: heart disease, hospitalization, and paralysis at 1503:00 — Suffering a stroke a week after college graduation04:31 — The moment at Goldman Sachs that changed everything05:50 — What his Wall Street colleagues said about him switching to nursing06:49 — The challenges of being one of the only men in the room08:27 — Six degrees in three and a half years10:00 — Why the pace was less about ambition and more about proving his brain was back12:18 — Choosing to pair the nursing degrees with an MBA and Master's in Finance13:00 — What "manifesting" looked like before he knew the word for it15:19 — Becoming one of the youngest chief nurse executives at HSS at 3516:07 — Leading 2,000 people through the pandemic17:30 — The 30-minute-a-day leadership practice19:00 — Why nurses can spot fake care from a mile away21:25 — Starting Augie and the philosophy of augmenting instead of replacing25:00 — Random LinkedIn outreach and Rebecca's original 2017 message to Paul26:18 — The text message and the story of the mother whose son has leukemia29:25 — Why every nurse leader wants to help more people29:45 — Paul's two books of poetry and how it started with a dream32:00 — Writing 100 lessons for his son in case he wasn't there to teach them34:00 — How his poems have connected with readers across every experience36:23 — Final thoughts: possibility, framing your own story, and telling the world38:32 — Closing thanksPaul is a nurse, nurse practitioner, entrepreneur, healthcare executive, and poet. He was born with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, suffered a stroke at 22, moved to New York to work as an interest rate derivatives analyst at Goldman Sachs while relearning how to speak, and then walked away from Wall Street after seeing himself in scrubs during a corporate physical. What came next included six degrees in three and a half years, the co-founding of a computer vision company called Augie, and one of the youngest chief nurse executive appointments in U.S. hospital history at 35. In this episode, Paul shares the moments that shaped his path, why he thinks empathy is a strategic asset in healthcare, how he built a leadership practice around one 30-minute conversation a day, why he writes poetry, and the text message that arrived one hour after he told his psychologist how much he missed being a chief nurse. Marion and Rebecca dig into what nurses can learn from Paul's story about possibility, purpose, and the power of showing up as themselves. 🎙️ About The Love & Leary Podcast Thank you for tuning in to The Love n' Leary Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share it with a colleague. 🌐 Connect With Us Official Website: Visit nurse.org/lovenleary for episodes, articles, and exclusive nursing resources.Watch on YouTube: Subscribe to  Love n' Leary Podcast YouTube to watch full video episodes and highlights👥 Follow the Hosts on LinkedIn Stay connected, network, and join the conversation with us professionally: Connect with Rebecca: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccalovenursingConnect with Marion: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionlearyAbout Nurse.org: Empowering, entertaining, and uniting nurses worldwide. Explore more career guides, news, and community stories at Nurse.org.

  8. Jul 6

    Inside the Largest Nurse Strike in Massachusetts History

    Hosts Marion Leary, PhD, MPH, RN and Rebecca Love, RN, MSN, FIEL welcome Shannon Vieira, RN and Kara Wilson, OT of MGB Home Care for an urgent conversation about one of the largest healthcare strikes in Massachusetts history. On July 8th, home care nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, dietitians, and speech-language pathologists will walk off the job for seven days. On the same day, inpatient nurses at Brigham and Women's Hospital will also strike — and the hospital has announced it will lock them out for an additional four days. In this episode, Shannon and Kara walk through the changes to their working conditions that led up to the strike, the caseloads pushing home care clinicians past safe practice limits (up to 50 patients per clinician), the growing wage gap between frontline workers and executives at the seventh-wealthiest hospital system in the U.S., and what they're actually asking for. Marion and Rebecca connect the dots between staffing, cost of living, hospital economics, and the future of the healthcare workforce. Whether you work in home care, hospital nursing, or any patient-facing role, this conversation explains exactly why nurses and their colleagues across Massachusetts are drawing a line — and why the rest of the country is watching. Jump Ahead 00:58 — Welcome and introducing Shannon Vieira and Kara Wilson02:10 — What led up to the strike: the point system, salaried pay, and lost overtime03:22 — A new CNO, efficiency mandates, and a 20-25% productivity jump04:13 — The UKG clock-in revelation05:21 — Is this the first home care strike of its kind?06:08 — The parallel Brigham and Women's inpatient nurse strike07:04 — Same-day strike, plus a four-day hospital lockout08:09 — Why the lockout feels like a strong-arm tactic09:30 — Why nurses across the country are watching this strike so closely10:29 — Caseload realities on the OT side: 34 patients in 32 hours11:49 — Why home care is more than face time with the patient13:39 — What Shannon and Kara are asking for14:18 — The safe caseload research: 25 max, 18 ideal15:59 — Sicker patients, faster discharges, and 30-day readmission risk17:19 — The executive pay disparity and MGB's $35.8B in assets18:10 — MGB reported $2 billion in net gains last year19:12 — Why Boston's 53% higher cost of living matters21:58 — Retention, hourly rate math, and clinician burnout23:30 — Who sits on the MGB board of directors26:07 — Shannon's final thought: the unionization wave was created by MGB26:35 — Kara's final thought: self-care as patient care27:55 — Marion's closing: "The people united will never be defeated"Listen now at nurse.org/news/love-n-leary-nursing-podcast. 🎙️ About The Love & Leary Podcast Thank you for tuning in to The Love n' Leary Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share it with a colleague. 🌐 Connect With Us Official Website: Visit nurse.org/lovenleary for episodes, articles, and exclusive nursing resources.Watch on YouTube: Subscribe to  Love n' Leary Podcast YouTube to watch full video episodes and highlights👥 Follow the Hosts on LinkedIn Stay connected, network, and join the conversation with us professionally: Connect with Rebecca: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccalovenursingConnect with Marion: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionlearyAbout Nurse.org: Empowering, entertaining, and uniting nurses worldwide. Explore more career guides, news, and community stories at Nurse.org.

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The Love n’ Leary nursing podcast is where nursing leadership, innovation, and real talk come together. Hosted by nurse leaders Marion Leary, PhD, MPH, RN, and Rebecca Love, RN, MSN, FIEL, the show dives into the issues that matter most to today’s nursing community. Each episode features candid conversations, expert insights, and bold perspectives on healthcare, leadership, advocacy, and the future of nursing. Whether you’re a bedside nurse, nurse leader, or healthcare changemaker, Love n’ Leary offers thoughtful dialogue and practical takeaways to inform, inspire, and empower nurses at every stage of their careers.

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