Clock Out & Connect with Marc and Shantall

Marc Smith, CRNA & Shantall Cummins, CRNA
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Medicine

Two CRNAs. No filter.    Clock Out & Connect is the podcast that goes where most healthcare shows won't. Marc and Shantall work in anesthesia, one of the most high-stakes, misunderstood corners of medicine, and every episode they clock out, sit down, and get into it. Work culture, burnout, the money nobody talks about, what really happens behind the OR doors, and the life you're trying to build around all of it.  Honest conversations. Real experiences. No sugarcoating. If you're thinking it, we're talking about it.

Episodes

  1. Sep 8

    High Earner, Not Rich Yet | Episode 11

    Send us Fan Mail "Tuition is 250, 300, 350, almost 400,000 dollars" at the pricier programs, our guest says, and that's before three years of no income on top of it. Add the two together and you can graduate CRNA school half a million dollars behind before your first paycheck clears. He built an entire platform, The Finance Focused CRNA (@the_finance_focused_crna on Instagram), around exactly that gap, and he does it under a pen name he explains himself on mic, a nod to Mark Twain: Henry stands for High Earner, Not Rich Yet, Sink stands for Single Income, No Kids, his own joke about a salary that still doesn't feel like wealth. We get into the one thing he says almost nobody does before school starts (run an actual budget), the real math behind a W2 offer versus a 1099 one, why he says not every CRNA needs an S-corp, and the income-protection insurance most CRNAs have never priced out. Then it turns personal. His mother is 68 and still works part-time in labor and delivery, and she still gets told at work that it "must be so nice" her kids are both CRNAs, like nobody worked for it. If you are holding an acceptance letter right now, this is the one to listen to with a calculator open. Chapters 00:00 Welcome, and meet "Henry Sink" 02:46 Why the pen name, HENRY and SINK explained 09:37 The real cost of CRNA school, tuition plus three years of no income 13:29 Run a budget before day one, the mistake almost everyone makes 18:56 What actually lands in your account: W2 vs. 1099, and the S-corp question 29:50 Long-term disability insurance, the risk nobody prices in 45:19 Family, and "must be so nice" 1:10:04 Would he do it again ✨ Connect with us: 📧 Email: clockoutandconnectpodcast@gmail.com 🎥 YouTube: Clock Out and Connect 📸 Instagram: @clockoutandconnectpodcast 📘 Facebook: Clock Out and Connect Podcast 💬 Got a story, question, or an Off the Record submission? Send it our way.

    High Earner, Not Rich Yet | Episode 11

  2. Aug 25 ·  Video

    The Gaslighting of Birth: What Really Happens in the Delivery Room (Part 2, The Room) | Episode 10

    Send us Fan Mail It's just anxiety. That is the sentence women kept hearing back, the ones on the Retrievals podcast whose spinal or epidural was not working during a C-section, told the problem was in their head. That is medical gaslighting in childbirth, and once you hear it named, you start hearing it everywhere women describe how their births actually went. Part 1 laid out the data. Part 2 is the room itself. Dr. Neda Hashemi, MD, FACOG and Dr. Chloe Trowbridge, DNP, CNM walk us through what a good delivery room actually feels like, an OB and a nurse-midwife who built a collaborative model almost by accident, with a Pause for the Cause system so a nurse can flag a bad tracing without getting berated for it. Shantall opens up about her own breech birth and the C-section she still wonders about. Marc keeps asking the questions anesthesia never thinks to ask, because we are in the room for birth but we are not the ones catching the baby. Then it gets practical. The three questions that tell you whether a provider is actually safe for you (primary C-section rate, going to 42 weeks, how they feel about a doula), why continuous labor support is linked to roughly 25% fewer C-sections, and why free birth is climbing when trust breaks down. Nobody in this room is fighting for turf. Two providers who could have spent their careers on opposite sides of an old rivalry chose the same room instead, and they will tell you plainly that the patient is the only ego that belongs in it.   QUESTIONS WE GET INTO THIS EPISODE 01:22 What made an OB and a midwife change the way they practice birth? 08:46 How common is mistreatment during childbirth? 11:26 What is a free birth, and why is it on the rise? 18:32 What does it really mean when a doctor says your pain is just anxiety? 20:53 What questions should you ask before choosing an OB or a midwife? 25:44 Do doulas actually improve birth outcomes?   New episodes every other Tuesday. Everything we make lives at clockoutandconnect.com, free CRNA tools, the newsletter, all of it.   Chapters : 00:00 Welcome back, the room and not just the data 00:45 Two systems, evidence-based vs old school 01:22 Dr. Hashemi, how a solo OB changed her whole model 04:53 Chloe Trowbridge, from L and D nurse to midwife 06:08 A transfer done right, and one done cruelly 08:46 How often mistreatment actually happens in birth 09:28 Ego, control, and the turf battle 11:26 Free birth on the rise 12:43 When the hospital system is the problem 14:12 Shantall's breech birth and C-section 16:14 Why OB nurses put new providers through the ringer 17:46 Fear on the floor and the right to speak up 18:32 It's just anxiety, naming medical gaslighting 19:28 Pause for the Cause, building a safer culture 20:29 Green flags, how to vet a provider 22:22 Why doctors do not love inductions either 23:05 The El Paso induction culture 25:44 Doulas, the cheapest thing that improves birth 27:10 Cost and timing, how to hire a doula 29:39 What makes this work worth it 32:24 Would they do it all over again? 36:42 Wrap, two halves meant to be heard together ✨ Connect with us: 📧 Email: clockoutandconnectpodcast@gmail.com 🎥 YouTube: Clock Out and Connect 📸 Instagram: @clockoutandconnectpodcast 📘 Facebook: Clock Out and Connect Podcast 💬 Got a story, question, or an Off the Record submission? Send it our way.

    The Gaslighting of Birth: What Really Happens in the Delivery Room (Part 2, The Room) | Episode 10

  3. Aug 11 ·  Video

    The Gaslighting of Birth: Why Women Stop Trusting the System (Part 1, The Data) | Episode 09

    Send us Fan Mail A Black woman in this country is more than three times more likely to die having a baby than a white woman, and the United States is the most dangerous wealthy country to have one in. So we opened with the question we actually wanted answered. When a woman walks into a hospital already not trusting the system, is she wrong? Dr. Neda Hashemi, an OB/GYN in practice for more than two decades, and Chloe Trowbridge, the nurse-midwife who helped deliver Marc's first baby, both said no. Then they told us why. Neda runs a hospital that refuses to let medical gaslighting in childbirth slide. Every provider's first-time C-section rate goes up on the wall in a bar graph the staff call the hall of shame, and a committee reviews every first C-section before it happens. Chloe moved to El Paso and watched women get told at 30 weeks that their pelvis was too small and their baby too big. Marc's own friend heard the same line, switched providers the week of her birth, and delivered vaginally. We get into where the distrust really starts, from Tuskegee to a TikTok feed, and Neda's rule that a birth is somebody's wedding day and you do not get to ruin it. More than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths in this country are preventable, and most of what makes birth safer is not a machine, it is a patient who gets believed. Part 1 is the data and the receipts. Part 2, The Room, is where it turns personal. Save this one and come back for the second half.   QUESTIONS WE GET INTO THIS EPISODE 00:00 Why is the US the most dangerous wealthy country to have a baby? 10:24 What is the difference between a nurse-midwife, a doula, and an OB? 20:12 Where does distrust in maternity care actually come from? 27:11 Can a hospital force a C-section, and what happens to bodily autonomy in labor? 38:29 How do you rebuild trust between a patient and a provider in birth? 47:31 Does continuous fetal monitoring in low-risk labor actually improve outcomes?   New episodes every other Tuesday. Everything we make lives at clockoutandconnect.com, free CRNA tools, the newsletter, all of it.   Chapters: 00:00 The numbers nobody wants to sit with 04:17 The hall of shame: every provider's C-section rate on the wall 07:49 Welcome, and meet Dr. Hashemi and Chloe Trowbridge 10:24 Midwife, doula, OB: who actually does what 11:43 El Paso and the 5 p.m. C-section culture 20:12 Where the distrust starts, from Tuskegee to TikTok 27:11 The court-ordered C-section and bodily autonomy 38:29 Shared decision-making and the wedding-day rule 39:34 How to actually vet your provider 47:31 Continuous vs intermittent monitoring, and eating in labor 52:35 Where we cut to Part 2 ✨ Connect with us: 📧 Email: clockoutandconnectpodcast@gmail.com 🎥 YouTube: Clock Out and Connect 📸 Instagram: @clockoutandconnectpodcast 📘 Facebook: Clock Out and Connect Podcast 💬 Got a story, question, or an Off the Record submission? Send it our way.

    The Gaslighting of Birth: Why Women Stop Trusting the System (Part 1, The Data) | Episode 09

  4. Jul 28 ·  Video

    Functional Chaos: How Two Demanding Careers Make a CRNA Marriage Work | Episode 08

    Send us Fan Mail Two CRNA couples, both spouses on mic for the first time, comparing what school and money actually did to their marriages. That's this one. Everybody warned us the same way, "CRNA school's gonna be hard, the divorce rate is through the roof." So Marc and Shantall brought Becky and Adam on to say the quiet part out loud, and answer the question a lot of you are asking: how do you make a CRNA marriage work? We get into the real stuff. The month you're praying your card doesn't decline at the register. The two completely different money stories, credit cards and loans for one couple, the Army route for the other. The perfectionism spiral where you're sure you'll fail a test you already know cold. The question a burned-out nurse friend DM'd us, how do you even do CRNA school with kids. And the higher earner conversation, because in one of these marriages the wife out-earns the husband and nobody's mad about it. What actually held it together: over-communicating, asking for help early, and why working for yourself buys a family room to breathe. If you're in CRNA school, thinking about applying, or married to someone who is, this one's for you and the person who's been through it with you. QUESTIONS WE GET INTO THIS EPISODE 06:08 How do you make a CRNA marriage work when both careers are demanding? 21:44 Can you get through CRNA school with kids, or is it better to wait? 27:59 How do you handle money in CRNA school? 33:02 What does CRNA school actually do to a marriage, and what cracks first? 49:46 Who becomes the default parent, and how do you split it fairly? 1:03:52 What actually holds a relationship together through it all? New episodes every other Tuesday. Everything we make lives at clockoutandconnect.com, free CRNA tools, the newsletter, all of it.   Chapters : 00:00 Meet the spouses (Becky and Adam) 01:47 Did you know the CRNA life would follow you home? 05:18 How do you do CRNA school with kids? 06:08 Why your spouse needs something of their own 08:00 Long distance, deployment, and the daily text 13:10 Tunnel vision versus acknowledge my reality too 18:50 The CRNA school superpower: you think you'll die, and you don't 27:59 Money in CRNA school: credit cards, loans, and the Army route 34:36 What you'd never do again, and what made you stronger 41:55 The perfectionism spiral (and the 80 you're sure you'll miss) 49:46 The default parent: equal versus fair 1:03:52 What actually works now 1:07:32 From W-2 to 1099: more flexibility, more breathing room 1:09:19 Would you do it again? 1:15:01 The higher earning wife and made-up gender roles 1:20:25 You're not alone ✨ Connect with us: 📧 Email: clockoutandconnectpodcast@gmail.com 🎥 YouTube: Clock Out and Connect 📸 Instagram: @clockoutandconnectpodcast 📘 Facebook: Clock Out and Connect Podcast 💬 Got a story, question, or an Off the Record submission? Send it our way.

    Functional Chaos: How Two Demanding Careers Make a CRNA Marriage Work | Episode 08

  5. Jul 14 ·  Video

    Teen Mom to CRNA: The Part of Anesthesia School Nobody Warns You About | ft. Chris O'Connor, CRNA | Episode 07

    Send us Fan Mail Everybody loves the after photo. CRNA, six figures, living happily ever after. Almost nobody talks about what it actually took to get there. Chris O'Connor was a teen mom who had her son in high school, then a single mom of two who put herself through CRNA school on maxed-out loans, food stamps, and daycare assistance. She technically seeded out. Her GPA slipped below the line, the school missed it, financial aid caught it, and she spent a whole semester one test away from being sent home. Her last exam in the program, she needed a 76. She got a 76. In this one, Chris tells the version of the story nobody puts on the highlight reel: raising two kids while studying, sending her son to live with his dad for a stretch because she had to choose herself, and the mindset that got her through, just make the next test, just make the next day. She also gets into life on the other side, the first paycheck that made her cry, going 1099 and locums, and why she'll tell any single parent staring at an acceptance letter the same thing, if I can do it, anybody can do it. Shantall works with Chris and has heard this story before, Marc keeps it honest, and Chris says the quiet part out loud. If you've ever looked at that mountain and thought there's no way, this is the episode that talks you back into the chair. This is our perspective as CRNAs, not medical or financial advice. Everything we make lives at clockoutandconnect.com. Free CRNA tools, the newsletter, all of it. SEO tags CRNA, nurse anesthesiologist, CRNA school, single mom nursing school, nurse anesthesia school, how to become a CRNA, perseverance, Clock Out and Connect Chapters   0:00 Icebreaker: the funniest thing a patient ever said going under   7:23 Why she became a nurse, then a CRNA she never planned on   10:15 She got in, now how does she pay for it?   11:18 Maxed-out loans, food stamps, and quitting her job for school   13:17 What a day-to-day week looked like with two kids   14:51 Her biggest fear: flunking out   15:14 The GPA slip the school missed and financial aid caught   17:10 The last test she needed a 76 on   19:02 Not a 4.0 doesn't mean you're not smart   20:58 What she had to let go of, and why "no" is just an excuse   23:03 What her kids say about it now that they're grown   26:13 How she dug out: a study group and the one A she needed   28:13 Why we made this episode    29:27 What she'd tell the single mom who thinks it's impossible   30:16 Choosing herself, and sending her son to live with his dad   31:54 Food stamps to a real paycheck: the transition   33:38 The first thing she bought for herself in three years   35:19 Every practice model she's worked, and her favorite   38:12 When a facility cuts corners and it's time to walk   40:50 The real story on going locums   43:00 Marc's Minnesota winter and the snowblower that saved him   52:26 The business of anesthesia nobody teaches in school ✨ Connect with us: 📧 Email: clockoutandconnectpodcast@gmail.com 🎥 YouTube: Clock Out and Connect 📸 Instagram: @clockoutandconnectpodcast 📘 Facebook: Clock Out and Connect Podcast 💬 Got a story, question, or an Off the Record submission? Send it our way.

    Teen Mom to CRNA: The Part of Anesthesia School Nobody Warns You About | ft. Chris O'Connor, CRNA | Episode 07

  6. Jun 30 ·  Video

    The Money Myth ft. Naseema McElroy, RN, FNP: How Nurses Build Wealth on a Nurse's Income | Episode 06

    Send us Fan Mail Naseema McElroy looked at almost a million dollars of debt on a nurse's salary and, in her words, instead of crying about it, she did something about it. A few years later she was debt-free, and she says she did it without winning the lottery, marrying rich, or a single Shark Tank deal. She came on to break the money myth, the idea that you have to out-earn your problems, or stack another degree on your degree, to build real wealth. She breaks down where nearly a million dollars actually came from, two master's degrees, a California house, a divorce, a surprise IRS bill, and how she went from zero in savings to four thousand dollars a month toward debt without picking up a single extra shift. We get into the zero-based budget she calls being CEO of her money, the debt snowball that got addictive, and the move she names as her own biggest money mistake, not investing while she paid the debt down. She also talks about raising her daughters to be owners instead of consumers, one of whom now teaches other kids about money. Then Naseema has to jet, and we stay on the mic and put our own numbers on the table, Marc's student loans and Shantall's, because if we are going to ask a guest to be this open about money, we owe you the same. This one is about how nurses build wealth on a nurse's income, and the myth was never the math.   QUESTIONS WE GET INTO THIS EPISODE 09:26 Do you really need another degree to get paid more as a nurse? 23:48 How do you pay off almost a million dollars of debt on a nurse's salary? 25:09 What is a zero-based budget, and how do you use it to get out of debt? 28:39 Should you keep investing while you are paying off debt? 33:21 Why is there a racial wealth gap, and how can nurses close it? 37:29 How do you teach your kids about money and investing?   New episodes every other Tuesday. Everything we make lives at clockoutandconnect.com, free CRNA tools, the newsletter, all of it.   Chapters : 00:00 Cold open: the thing you bought to feel like an adult 06:04 Meet Naseema McElroy, RN, FNP 09:26 High earner, not rich: do you need another degree? 12:35 Why she started Financially Intentional 16:43 Normalizing money talk at work 20:15 The benefits nurses have but never use 23:48 Where nearly a million dollars of debt comes from 25:09 CEO of my money: the zero-based budget 26:55 The debt snowball that got addictive 28:39 Her biggest money mistake: not investing while paying off debt 30:03 FIRE, maxing accounts, and calling Vanguard at 5 a.m. 33:21 The wealth gap and reversing it 37:29 Raising owners, not consumers 41:05 FinTok and what social media gets right 45:49 The write-off myth 1:16:42 Off the Record: Marc and Shantall on their own student loans ✨ Connect with us: 📧 Email: clockoutandconnectpodcast@gmail.com 🎥 YouTube: Clock Out and Connect 📸 Instagram: @clockoutandconnectpodcast 📘 Facebook: Clock Out and Connect Podcast 💬 Got a story, question, or an Off the Record submission? Send it our way.

    The Money Myth ft. Naseema McElroy, RN, FNP: How Nurses Build Wealth on a Nurse's Income | Episode 06

  7. Jun 16

    Occupational Hazards ft. Bilal Mohammad, CRNA: The Emotional Toll of Anesthesia, and How to Carry It | Episode 05

    Send us Fan Mail Everybody sees the anesthesia provider in the chair, cracking jokes, looking calm. What they do not see is the bag on your shoulders. Bilal Mohammad, CRNA, the Miami provider some of you know on Instagram and TikTok as thatcrnawholifts, came on to talk about the part of this job that never shows up on the chart. He tells us about an overnight trauma shift, a gunshot wound patient who was talking before induction and did not make it, and ten minutes later a STAT C-section rolling in. A whole circle of life inside an hour. That is the occupational hazard we mean, not the OSHA kind, the emotional kind, the thing you carry out of a hard case and have to reset from before the next one. Then Bilal opens up about how you survive a career that asks everything of you. He leads with his faith as a practicing Muslim, prayer breaks and Friday prayer, even written into his contract, and he calls faith and fitness his way of leveling out. No gym session is a bad gym session. We talk about standing for hours with no break, no bathroom, no food, and why he refuses to take a bad day personally. We go a few rounds on direct laryngoscopy versus the glidescope, and we get honest about what social media misinformation is doing to patient trust, including that viral epidural clickbait. Then we drop the performance for the off the record round, the most embarrassing things that have ever happened to us in the OR, and Bilal closes with a verse he lives by, with hardship comes ease. Come hang out with us.   QUESTIONS WE GET INTO THIS EPISODE 07:36 Do you still need to know direct laryngoscopy if you use the glidescope every day? 15:21 How do you lead with your faith at work as a CRNA? 17:31 What does the emotional toll of being a CRNA actually feel like after a hard case? 22:01 What do anesthesia providers carry silently that most people never see? 28:01 Is healthcare social media giving patients more information and less trust? 35:40 Can weightlifting really be self-care for a burned out healthcare worker?   New episodes every other Tuesday. Everything we make lives at clockoutandconnect.com, free CRNA tools, the newsletter, all of it.   Chapters : 00:00 Cold open, the desflurane pop quiz 02:14 Welcome to Clock Out & Connect 03:35 Meet Bilal Mohammad, thatcrnawholifts 05:37 The DL vs glidescope debate 10:58 Explain your job in 30 seconds 12:09 What we leave at the door 14:56 Leading with faith at work 17:31 Occupational hazards, walking out of a hard case 22:01 What providers carry silently 25:52 Social media, more information, less trust 31:55 Supervision, safety or money 35:40 The body keeps score, faith and fitness 39:32 Standing for hours with no break 42:39 The first paycheck and the ROI 47:08 What the job gave back 50:21 Off the Record, OR stories we never tell 55:28 Where to find Bilal, and would he do it again ✨ Connect with us: 📧 Email: clockoutandconnectpodcast@gmail.com 🎥 YouTube: Clock Out and Connect 📸 Instagram: @clockoutandconnectpodcast 📘 Facebook: Clock Out and Connect Podcast 💬 Got a story, question, or an Off the Record submission? Send it our way.

  8. Jun 2

    Selfish ft. Dr. Dani Williams, DNP, CRNA, IFBB Pro: CRNA Burnout, Work-Life Balance, and Choosing Yourself | Episode 04

    Send us Fan Mail Dr. Dani Williams trained and competed in physique shows straight through anesthesia school, clinicals and all, and came out the other side without burning to the ground. She is a CRNA who practices independently in Arizona, and in December 2025 she earned her IFBB Fit Model Pro card. If you want a real answer on CRNA burnout and work-life balance, she lived the extreme version. So we asked how. Dani walks us through waking up at 3:45 in the morning and stacking coffee with pre-workout, over a thousand milligrams of caffeine a day to keep both plates spinning. She calls it running on borrowed energy, and it took her three years to wean all the way back down. We talk about the mom guilt and the double standard, why nobody blinks when you say you are headed to the gym but leaving for your family hits different, and what burnout actually looks like from inside the OR. Underneath it is the reframe the episode is named for. Dani says the most selfless thing we can do is give ourselves the time to be selfish, so we can actually show up for the patient. If you are running on an empty cup and promising yourself you will rest when things slow down, start here.   QUESTIONS WE GET INTO THIS EPISODE 16:41 Can you be a CRNA and an IFBB pro competitor at the same time? 32:16 How do you compete in physique shows all the way through anesthesia school? 36:41 What is borrowed energy, and how much caffeine is too much for a provider? 49:30 Is there a gender double standard for self-care in healthcare? 1:04:53 What does CRNA burnout actually look like in the OR? 1:18:40 How does CRNA independent practice change by state (Arizona vs Florida)?   New episodes every other Tuesday. Everything we make lives at clockoutandconnect.com, free CRNA tools, the newsletter, all of it.   Chapters : 00:00 When is it okay to put yourself first? 16:41 Meet Dr. Dani Williams: independent CRNA, new IFBB Fit Model Pro 24:07 What an IFBB Pro actually is, and why Fit Model 32:16 Competing through anesthesia school 36:41 A day in the thick of it: 3:45 AM, borrowed energy 46:10 Three years out: weaning off the caffeine 49:30 The gender double standard: fitness vs family 57:39 What it cost at home 1:01:19 Single moms in CRNA school, judged harder 1:04:53 Burnout in the OR: the empty cup 1:09:01 Selfish is selfless: recharge so you can show up 1:18:40 Autonomy by state: Arizona vs Florida 1:25:20 Fulfillment as currency 1:34:00 System, self, or family: where burnout comes from 1:55:35 Off the Record 2:05:49 So, when is it okay to put yourself first? ✨ Connect with us: 📧 Email: clockoutandconnectpodcast@gmail.com 🎥 YouTube: Clock Out and Connect 📸 Instagram: @clockoutandconnectpodcast 📘 Facebook: Clock Out and Connect Podcast 💬 Got a story, question, or an Off the Record submission? Send it our way.

  9. May 19

    They Stayed: What CRNA School Costs Your Marriage and the People Around You | Episode 03

    Send us Fan Mail Two marriages went into CRNA school, same pressure, completely different shape. Marc had been married to Becky nine months when he left, so she was right there in the apartment and still lonely, the two of them ships in the night while he studied upstairs. Shantall had been married to Adam more than ten years, and they spent most of school apart, her in San Antonio, him in Washington, feeling like she was in it alone. This is the episode about the people who stayed. We say the parts most people keep quiet. Shantall tells the whole thing, almost failing out her first semester, the panic attacks, flying to her best friend's wedding with a textbook on the beach, and finally swallowing her pride to ask for help, then getting treated like the weakest link for it. We talk about the jealousy, the guilt over every friendship you cannot keep up with when you have thirty seconds a day, and the friends who just did not make it to the other side. Then we land on where both marriages are now, and why neither one happened by accident. If you are the one holding it down while someone you love chases this, we see you.   QUESTIONS WE GET INTO THIS EPISODE 04:00 What does CRNA school actually cost a marriage? 12:00 Why is CRNA school so isolating for the spouse who stays home? 17:00 What is it like going through CRNA school separated from your spouse? 27:00 What do you do when you are almost failing out of CRNA school, and how do you ask for help? 41:00 Which friendships do not survive CRNA school? 48:00 Where are both marriages now, and why was none of it an accident?   New episodes every other Tuesday. Everything we make lives at clockoutandconnect.com, free CRNA tools, the newsletter, all of it.   Chapters : 00:00 Cold open 03:00 Welcome back, who paid for the yes 04:00 What we thought CRNA school would cost 07:00 Harder than we ever expected 12:00 When your spouse feels alone 17:00 Living separate lives 22:00 What it did to the marriage 27:00 Almost failing out and asking for help 36:00 How CRNA school changes you and every relationship 41:00 The friends who did not survive it 48:00 Where our marriages are now 57:00 Off the Record ✨ Connect with us: 📧 Email: clockoutandconnectpodcast@gmail.com 🎥 YouTube: Clock Out and Connect 📸 Instagram: @clockoutandconnectpodcast 📘 Facebook: Clock Out and Connect Podcast 💬 Got a story, question, or an Off the Record submission? Send it our way.

  10. May 5

    What Saying Yes Actually Cost: The Real Price of CRNA School, Military vs Civilian | Episode 02

    Send us Fan Mail There is one photo Marc still has from his ICU days. His preceptor on one side of the bed, him on the other, both turning a patient, and a friend walks in and snaps his face mid-turn. His back screaming, in that gray sweater he wore all the time. That is the exact second he knew he was done with bedside. That is where this one starts. What CRNA school actually costs has nothing to do with tuition. For Shantall it was losing her sense of self, coming out the other side with no direction after aiming her whole life at one goal, and a marriage she and Adam had to relearn after three years of distance. For Marc it was friendships, holidays, sleep, and a marriage only nine months old when they packed up and left everything they knew. We also split the two roads, why Shantall took the military route, what it covered, and the one thing it costs you that the traditional route does not, your freedom. If you are weighing this path, this is the honest version of the receipt. QUESTIONS WE GET INTO THIS EPISODE 00:00 What finally made you leave ICU nursing for good? 09:00 What does CRNA school actually cost you beyond the tuition and debt? 11:00 Can CRNA school change your marriage, even when nothing is wrong? 14:00 Why does anesthesia school break your confidence down before it builds you back up? 17:00 What keeps CRNA students from quitting when it gets dark? 21:00 Military vs civilian CRNA program: what does the military route really trade for the debt it saves you?   New episodes every other Tuesday. Everything we make lives at clockoutandconnect.com, free CRNA tools, the newsletter, all of it.   Chapters : 00:00 The photo that made Marc leave the ICU 03:00 The physical toll of bedside nobody talks about 06:00 Shantall's slow burnout out of the unit 08:00 Understaffed, unsafe, and done 09:00 What CRNA school actually cost us 11:00 How it changed Shantall's marriage 13:00 Marc's list: friendships, holidays, sleep, marriage 14:00 Losing your confidence, broken down to be rebuilt 17:00 What kept us from quitting 20:00 The military motivator: no going back to bedside 21:00 Military vs the traditional route: what each one trades 26:00 Moonlighting, leadership, and the fine print 27:00 Off the Record: what we'd tell a brand new CRNA 32:00 Next time: what it cost the people beside us ✨ Connect with us: 📧 Email: clockoutandconnectpodcast@gmail.com 🎥 YouTube: Clock Out and Connect 📸 Instagram: @clockoutandconnectpodcast 📘 Facebook: Clock Out and Connect Podcast 💬 Got a story, question, or an Off the Record submission? Send it our way.

  11. Apr 21

    Two CRNAs Walk Into a Podcast: How We Went From the ICU to Nurse Anesthesia | Episode 01

    Send us Fan Mail One of us was born in the Dominican Republic and joined the Army at 17. The other was born in Jamaica and started helping care for his grandmother after her stroke at eight years old. We met years later in an El Paso operating room, one of us the student, one of us the preceptor. This is the first time we walk through both paths, in order, from the very beginning. If you have ever wondered how to become a CRNA, this is two honest versions of the answer, one through the Army, one through the traditional college route, and neither was a straight line. We talk about standing in a cement box in Iraq at 18. Getting pulled out of anesthesia school into the COVID ICU in El Paso, coding two and three patients at once. A grandmother's stroke that quietly turned a kid into a caregiver. This is also why we started the podcast. We kept having these conversations at the dinner table and finally hit record. If you have ever wondered what actually happens on the other side of that OR door, pull up a chair. QUESTIONS WE GET INTO THIS EPISODE 11:20 Can you go straight from a new ICU nurse job to becoming a CRNA? 13:20 How do you become a CRNA through the Army, and why choose the military route? 16:45 What happens if you get pulled out of anesthesia school (the COVID ICU story)? 24:20 How do you choose between CRNA and nurse practitioner? 30:20 How many years of ICU experience do you actually need before CRNA school? 43:50 Is becoming a CRNA worth it, and would you do it all over again?   New episodes every other Tuesday. Everything we make lives at clockoutandconnect.com, free CRNA tools, the newsletter, all of it.   Chapters : 0:00 Cold open: Would you do it again? 0:20 Welcome to Clock Out & Connect 1:00 Shantall: Dominican Republic to the Army at 17 2:40 Deployed to Iraq 8:10 Meeting Adam, leaving the Army, and finding nursing 11:20 ICU burnout and discovering CRNA 13:20 Choosing the military route 15:50 Fort Sam to Fort Bliss: anesthesia school begins 17:00 COVID: pulled from school into the COVID ICU 19:20 Hawaii, becoming a mom, moving home to Florida 21:20 Marc: Jamaica to New York to Florida 24:20 His grandmother's stroke and choosing nursing 29:00 The step-down floor and getting into the ICU 31:40 University of Maryland and the leap with Becky 34:50 El Paso: the job that brought him there 37:00 The small-world connection and how they met 40:40 Being a good preceptor 42:20 Why they started the podcast 43:50 Would you do it again? 47:50 Test anxiety and getting help 48:50 What's coming this season 50:20 Off the Record ✨ Connect with us: 📧 Email: clockoutandconnectpodcast@gmail.com 🎥 YouTube: Clock Out and Connect 📸 Instagram: @clockoutandconnectpodcast 📘 Facebook: Clock Out and Connect Podcast 💬 Got a story, question, or an Off the Record submission? Send it our way.

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About

Two CRNAs. No filter.    Clock Out & Connect is the podcast that goes where most healthcare shows won't. Marc and Shantall work in anesthesia, one of the most high-stakes, misunderstood corners of medicine, and every episode they clock out, sit down, and get into it. Work culture, burnout, the money nobody talks about, what really happens behind the OR doors, and the life you're trying to build around all of it.  Honest conversations. Real experiences. No sugarcoating. If you're thinking it, we're talking about it.

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