About Nursing Uncensored
Meet the Creator & Host
Adrianne M. Behning, BSN, RN
Hi, everyone! I’m Adrianne, the creator and host of Nursing Uncensored. I’m so glad you’ve found your way here and I hope you find some helpful information or maybe have a much-needed laugh. I’d like to tell you a little bit about myself and the content I create.
I’ve been a night-shifter since I became a nurse in 2016. I got my start as a pulmonary step-down and palliative care nurse in Iowa, I worked as a med-surg float pool nurse in Minneapolis, and now I’m back to Pulmonary Stepdown in my sweet home Chicago.
I attended community college and got my ADN. I started working soon after passing NCLEX and entered an RN-BSN program simultaneously. I completed my BSN through the University of Iowa in 2018. Before becoming a nurse, I was a CNA for 11 years and I credit that with developing the foundation of my practice and philosophy.
I’ve been a lifelong fan of radio and now podcasts, and I had a list of favorite podcasts I listened to faithfully all through nursing school. As good as those shows were and are, I always felt something was missing from all the content. And that was also before the explosion of incredible shows that exist now.
Adrianne is seen in a window reflection while holding her face shield in an empty hallway at some obscene hour of the night. 2020.
How the Podcast was Born
In 2014 when I started my core nursing classes, there were some great podcasts about pathophysiology, career advancement, pharmacology, entrepreneurship, and other nursing niches. Still, it was nowhere near the endless catalog that exists now. The content I was craving back then was on what it’s like, day-to-day living as a nurse. I wanted info on everything from how to cope with those shifts that make you want to quit to helpful apps and products for nurses. I couldn’t find it, so I tried to make it.
I began podcasting in 2017 as a novice nurse with minimal knowledge of audio editing, online conferencing, podcast production, online marketing, or any of the things that would have been useful for starting a podcast. And to echo dinosaur sounds, there just weren’t the options we have now for recording and streaming. So I’m pretty damn proud that I learned to use Audacity on a super sh!tty Acer laptop (shown below).
my philosophy on story-sharing
I may not remember something I read in a book, but I will probably remember a specific patient care story passionately told by a veteran nurse. This is the spirit I bring to the content I create and share.
Old pals, nurses Andrew Craig and Brad McLaughlin, joined me on the mic in the early days (AKA our cell phones), giving me the courage and momentum to get this podcast rolling. Though they have moved onto other endeavors in their lives, they’re always part of the Original Nursing Uncensored crew (or Med Room Chronicles: Nursing Uncensored, as it was called in those days).
(L to R: Adrianne Behning, Brad McLaughlin, Andrew Craig: The original Nursing Uncensored crew.)
Through a combination of online research, YouTube tutorials, podcasts about podcasting, and trial and error, among other things, I learned how to create and manage a podcast. I built a website, resumed a long-lost blog habit, began vlogging (and stopped), and started a small online store for podcast merch and nursing-related art. I’ve done it on my own for years and I just made the personal goal of trying to learn one new thing each week. After years, I’ve learned a lot of new things.
The Goal
I try to create content that is raw, real, and relevant to life on and off the clock. I want to use this platform to educate in an informal setting, using humor and storytelling as meaningful teaching tools. I may not remember something I read in a book, but I will probably remember a specific patient care story passionately told by a veteran nurse. This is the spirit I bring to the content I create and share.
Adrianne interviews Swardiq Mayanja, AKA Q the Nurse. Q is a repeat guest on Nursing Uncensored.
On the podcast, I interview nurses of all kinds about their experiences and passions. With the blog, I try to bring practical, actionable tips, valuable lessons, and real emotion. With videos, I let you in on my life, show you what products I love, and exercise my video conference skills with guests. There’s too much to talk about to limit it to one form of media! I’m not an expert at a single one of them, so I am just going to keep learning and trying new things.
I hope something I have created or curated influences you in a positive way, encourages you to chase your dreams, or makes your next shift a little better.
Happy Nursing!
Love,
Adrianne
Sometimes, you gotta slay your own dragons.