Nurse Rosa's INsights

The culture killing your career isn't the patients. It's the colleagues.

Renee Thompson, DNP, RN, FAONL, FAAN, CSP has spent 32 years in nursing and the last 15 building one of healthcare's most important movements: a structured, proven approach to ending bullying and incivility in the workplace. As CEO and Founder of the Healthy Workforce Institute, she has seen what toxic culture does to nurses, to teams, and to patients, and she refuses to accept it as inevitable.

In this episode of Nurse Rosa's INsights, Renee breaks down why incivility is a patient safety issue, not just a morale problem, and what nurses and leaders can do right now to change the culture on their unit.

In this episode:

Why subtle, normalized workplace behaviors are more dangerous than the dramatic blowups

The founding story of the Healthy Workforce Institute

How the Healthy Workforce Framework gives organizations a real path forward

The direct connection between disrespect, staff turnover, and patient outcomes

How AI is expanding the reach of culture change in healthcare

Connect with Renee:
Website: healthyworkforceinstitute.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rtconnections
Facebook: facebook.com/HealthyWorkforceInstitute

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Can hearing aids prevent dementia? Hearing instrument specialist Madison Levine joins Rosa Hart to explore the connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline, and why treating your hearing early may be one of the most important things you can do for your brain health and longevity.

Madison founded "Levine Hearing" 11 years ago, building on her mother's 35-year legacy in audiology. She now leads a full clinical team offering hearing diagnostics, hearing aid fittings, ear hygiene, tinnitus care, and vestibular services, while speaking at national conventions to advance public awareness of hearing health.

In this episode you will learn why untreated hearing loss is linked to dementia and cognitive decline, how the ear-brain connection affects memory and longevity, what is driving the stigma around hearing aids and how that stigma is shifting, which innovations are expanding access to hearing care, and why early detection and treatment change long-term outcomes.

Connect with Madison Levine at

levinehearing.com

on Instagram at @levinehearing and @madisonlistens, and on LinkedIn.

Connect with Nurse Rosa

Instagram: @NurseRosaSpeaks

Get her Book: Speak Up, Start Now

What if the reason cancer wins isn't the tumor itself, but the silence it forces on your immune system?

Aaron Edwards grew up in Henderson, Kentucky, left home at sixteen for a bold academic experiment, and spent a decade in biotech working on some of the most cutting-edge gene therapies in the world before asking himself a hard question: why does promising science so rarely reach patients?

That question led him to Harvard, and then to KiraGen Bio, where he and his team are building what he calls "noise-cancelling headphones for cancer therapy." Using gene editing and AI, KiraGen is engineering immune cells that can finally hear through the suppressive environment solid tumors create, and fight back.

In this episode, Aaron and Rosa talk about the journey from a small Kentucky town to the frontier of CAR-T cell therapy, what glioblastoma patients and their families need to know right now, and why the future of cancer treatment should show up in your community clinic, not just at elite academic centers.

In this episode:

Why CAR-T therapy transforms blood cancers but has largely failed solid tumors until now

The "noise-cancelling" science behind KiraGen's approach to glioblastoma

Aaron's concept of "Ms. Frizzles," the teachers and mentors who invest in potential before the outcome is certain

What an off-the-shelf cell therapy library could mean for everyday cancer patients

Why $250 million dedicated to pediatric brain tumors could accelerate progress by years

Connect with Aaron:
Website: kiragenbio.com
LinkedIn
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Every minute a stroke goes untreated, 1.9 billion neurons are lost. In this episode, Nurse Rosa Hart sits down with neurosurgeon Dr. David Dornbos III to talk about what is changing in stroke care, what still needs to change, and what he would do with a billion dollars to move the needle.

Dr. Dornbos is an Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky Department of Neurological Surgery and a specialist in cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery at the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute. With over 130 peer-reviewed publications, NIH funding for early stroke biology research, and a seat on the Executive Committee of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, he is one of the sharpest minds working at the intersection of clinical care and innovation in stroke today.

Whether you are a bedside nurse, a stroke coordinator, or simply someone who wants to understand where brain attack care is headed, this conversation will leave you thinking differently about time, technology, and what it means to fight for your patients.

In this episode, you will hear about:

What drew him to neurosurgery and specifically to stroke

The latest innovations in endovascular stroke treatment and where device technology is heading

His NIH-funded research into the early biologic environment of stroke and why that window matters

Why he believes even a small shift in ischemic stroke outcomes would create a profound ripple across the entire healthcare system

His answer to the billion-dollar question: device innovation and adjuvant neurotherapeutics as the highest-impact investment in stroke care

How earned media and awareness campaigns can be a powerful tool for stroke prevention

How to connect with his work and the CNS community

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Dr. David Dornbos III
01:29 Journey into Healthcare and Neurosurgery
03:52 Innovations in Neurosurgery
06:15 Research and Development in Stroke Treatment
11:29 The Importance of Action in Innovation
13:13 The Billion Dollar Question: Strategic Healthcare Investments
25:39 Connecting with Dr. Dornbos and Closing Thoughts

Connect with Dr. Dornbos

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-dornbos-iii-27576635a/
X: @DornbosIII_MD
Instagram: @david.dornbos
Facebook: David Dornbos III

Resources Mentioned

Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Podcast: https://www.cns.org/newsroom/podcasts

Connect with Nurse Rosa

Instagram: @NurseRosaSpeaks
Podcast: Nurse Rosa's INsights (Health Podcast Library)
Get her Book: Speak Up, Start Now

If this episode resonated with you, share it with a nurse, a stroke survivor, or anyone who cares about what happens inside the walls of a hospital when time is running out. And if you are not subscribed yet, hit that button so you never miss a conversation.

Cooking fires are the number one cause of residential fires in America, and older adults are among the most vulnerable. In this episode, Nurse Rosa sits down with an AI-driven kitchen safety innovator and a leading occupational therapy researcher to talk about what aging in place actually requires and the tools making it possible right now.

Guests:

David Eby, CEO of CookTop Safety Corp., developed an AI-powered smart kitchen sensor that predicts and prevents cooking fires before they happen. As a personal caregiver to his own parents in their mid-eighties, his work is as personal as it is innovative.

Dr. Pamela Toto, PhD, OTR/L, BCG, FAOTA, FGSA is an occupational therapist, professor, and director of the Healthy Home Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on strength-based, evidence-driven solutions that extend older adults' ability to live independently.

In This Episode:

Why cooking fires are a critical and underestimated risk for older adults

How AI and IoT technology protect independence without removing autonomy

The gap between clinical best practice and real-world aging care

What caregivers need from technology to do their jobs better

Connect with Our Guests:

David Eby: www.CookTopSafety.com | linkedin.com/in/davidmeby |

Dr. Pamela Toto: healthyhomelaboratory.pitt.edu | linkedin.com/in/pamela-toto

Nurse Rosa's INsights Podcast is produced in partnership with the Health Podcast Library.