Advancing Patient Care: Stacey Petruso on Her Multifaceted Nursing Journey

In this episode of Taking Healthcare by Storm, Quality Insights Medical Director Dr. Jean Storm speaks with Stacey Petruso, a healthcare professional whose nursing career spans every setting: corrections, hospice, long-term care, and leadership. 

Stacey shares her path from a first career in accounting and marketing into nursing, with roles spanning psychiatric correctional care, long-term care, hospice, and director-level leadership. She reflects on COVID-19, burnout and understaffing, the impact of appreciation and incentives, hospice lessons on dignity and communication, and hopes for better staffing, affordable care, smarter use of ER versus primary and urgent care, and a return to basic kindness.

If you have any topics or guests you'd like to see on future episodes, reach out to us on our website.

The views and opinions expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views, positions, or policies of Quality Insights. Publication number QI-071726-GK

Transcript

Welcome to "Taking Healthcare by Storm: Industry Insights," the podcast that delves into the captivating intersection of innovation, science, compassion, and care. 

In each episode, Quality Insights’ Medical Director Dr. Jean Storm will have the privilege of engaging with leading experts across diverse fields, including dieticians, pharmacists, and brave patients navigating their own healthcare journeys. 

Our mission is to bring you the best healthcare insights, drawing from the expertise of professionals across West Virginia, Pennsylvania and the nation.

Subscribe now, and together, we can take healthcare by storm.

Hi, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Taking Healthcare by Storm. I am Dr. Jean Storm, the medical director here at Quality Insights. Today's guest is someone who truly represents the heart and complexity of modern nursing. Stacy Petruso has built an incredibly diverse career across healthcare, from psychiatric nursing in a correctional setting to long-term care, hospice, admissions and leadership roles, including director of nursing, which I always say is like the Peace Corps old motto that I used to remember on TV, that directors of nursing is like the toughest job you'll ever love. It is one of the most challenging jobs. What makes Stacy's perspective so powerful is that she's seen healthcare from nearly every angle: bedside care, care coordination, and system-level leadership. She's worked closely with patients and families during some of their most vulnerable moments, especially in hospice, where compassion and communication matter just as much as clinical skill. In a time when conversations around burnout and staffing shortages and the future of healthcare are more important than ever, Stacy brings a grounded, real-world perspective on what's actually happening inside the system and what needs to change. Stacy, I’m so happy you’re here, and I am looking forward to this conversation. Thank you for joining me. Thanks so much for having me. I really- I'm really excited for our conversation today. I want to start. As I mentioned in the intro, you have had a diverse career across multiple care settings. What inspired you to become a nurse, and did you ev- ever imagine that your- your path would take you through so many different roles? No, I- I never ever imagined that. I had always wanted to go into nursing, even back when I was younger, and then life just happened. My first degree is actually in accounting and marketing, so I did the first half of my career in that side of things. Then, as my children were born and started getting a little bit older, I wanted to go back into school because I just kept finding myself in dead-end positions. So I was gonna go back and get my master's in marketing and accounting, and my husband, actually said to me, "Why?" He's like, You've always wanted to be a nurse. Just go get your nursing degree. We'll support you 100%. Just go do it." So I went back to school at 31. I had a six-year-old and a four-year-old. I worked full time in marketing and completed my nursing degree all at the same time. So it was one of the craziest times ever. I can imagine. That is, that's a lot. I've mentioned also that you worked both bedside, and that's where I met you in a long-term care facility, and in leadership. And you and I were both in healthcare, nursing homes at the bedside during the COVID-19 pandemic. So how did that impact you personally as a nurse, and how did it change the way you led teams or viewed the whole healthcare system? Personally, and I'm sure every nurse will tell you, that was probably the hardest time ever in, in my career. You're seeing a lot of sadness. You're seeing a lot of patients separated from their families 'cause a lot of nursing homes went on total shutdown where families could only visit through a window. So I found one of the biggest things I thought was important and I tried to stress in my staff is that we needed to show the compassion to our residents. Our residents weren't receiving hugs and love from their loved ones, so they were kind of relying on us to give that affection that was kind of missing during such a difficult time in the world Yeah. It was pretty awful. And I tell this story. I remember leaving the nursing home, actually the nursing home where you and I met, and seeing a son and his wife outside the nursing home eating a donut each, and then, a, into, in inside the nursing home at the door was a resident, their dad, eating a donut, and they were standing there eating donuts- Mm-hmm together. It just ... Sad. Sad sad. it was a very hard time. One I hope we never have to deal with again in our lifetime. Yeah, I agree. So you've seen nursing from so many angles. How prevalent is burnout, and what do you think it actually looks like from day to day for nurses that people outside of healthcare do not understand? I think the biggest thing with burnout is nurses not having that, work-life balance. So many times in the nursing world we're short-staffed we don't have somebody to cover the next shift, or somebody's running late or has a family em- emergency. I don't think a lot of people realize is if our second shift does not come in to relieve us, we have no choice but to stay. We can't just say, "Well, too bad, my shift is over. I'm, done." We can't leave our patients, we can't leave our members. We are 24/7, 365. So I think a lot of times w- with that being said, there's just not that perfect work-life balance, so you find yourself at work more than you find yourself with your family. I can remember one year at Christmastime, my kids were still pretty young, I had worked second shift. I was supposed to work first shift. I ended up staying for second shift, and it was, Christmas Eve. We always had a family tradition that we opened a lot of our presents on Christmas Eve from each other. So when I got home at 11:00, my family actually waited up for me so we could do that. So I, that, that can become difficult when you don't have that work-life balance, and I think that's where a lot of the burnout tends to occur in the nursing world. Yeah. I would definitely agree that it you can't leave if nobody's there. Yeah. you know, You've have experience in supervision and director-level roles. How does understaffing really affect patient care and team morale? And I have read that about a h- 100%, so almost every single long-term care facility in the United States, does have staffing challenges. So obviously it's very prevalent. What do you think leaders get wrong when trying to fix understaffing? I know personally as a leader, the thing I did was I tried to make up for it. So I incurred the brunt of the long shifts, the long hours, which in turn burned me out. And then as a leader, I'm lacking for my staff because I've burnt myself out. I think one of the most important things though is to offer some type of incentive. I know during COVID times, the skilled nursing facility I was working at, we were offered bonuses. It made things a little better and a little more I don't know how to phrase it. It just made things It made us more willing to work these long hours and be away from our families in this difficult time because we felt, first of all, that we were being appreciated. Something as simple as the director of nursing bringing in pizza or bringing in donuts, just to feel that appreciation, I think helps staff just put all hands on deck and get the job done. Yeah, I would agree. Little things can make a big difference, I think, especially when people are really putting in extra time and energy. Y- your time in hospice stands out, and you and I have talked about this over mini golf a few times. What makes hospice and palliative care nursing so uniquely important, and what has it taught you about dignity, communication, and end-of-life care? First I wanna say, first and foremost, hospice was my absolute favorite aspect of nursing. It is such a fulfilling and wonderful position to hold. You are dealing with families in the most difficult times of their lives. Their loved ones are passing away and you are there to make things better. I cannot tell you how many wonderful families I had the honor of meeting during that stage in my career. Some of the families I’m still in touch with. I've been invited to end-of-life celebrations. I've been in- invited to birthday parties that they've had after their loved one has passed. Just showing the compassion and being there to hold somebody's hand in that hard time of their life is so rewarding. Yeah. I think of ... I remember when I was in n- medical school, I obviously I saw a lot of experience, and to me it seemed like a birth, like watching the birth of a baby, and then watching someone die, pass away. It's like a similar energy, and I used to remember thinking like, "Why aren't we treating it with both with that same kind of reverence?" You know? Yeah. Yes. Making sure somebody's comfortable during end of life and just seeing that relief once the pain is controlled, once they know their loved ones are there it really is a beautiful, peaceful time. Yeah. So you've worked in psychiatric settings, work with many individuals in long-term care. They have psychiatric diagnoses and in, in rehab. Do you think one environment is more challenging than the others? And despite the challenges, do you... D- do nurses still find long-term care rewarding? Do they find working with patients with psychiatric diagnoses rewarding? Cause they're very challenging environments. Yeah, and they are very similar. I mean, With your dementia individuals it's like you're dealing with a child. Even when that individual loses their temper and becomes angry or violent, They are not able to control their behaviors. So always remembering that is really important. I definitely feel that long-term care is very rewarding. You see so many of these individuals smile at you, and I've had residents that I've become so close with. If I wasn't there, they were looking for me I had certain residents that wouldn't eat for anyone but me. So you definitely create a bond that's unexplainable with your patients. The psychiatric world and the rehab world were... Even though the diagnosises are very similar and some share the same diagnosis, it's a totally different population. And I would say burnout is very prevalent in psychiatric care as well as in the drug and alcohol field. Again, very rewarding. I've s- I still have some of my patients from back then that I'm in contact with. I see, I see how well they're doing. And knowing we helped them get clean, get sober, get their psychiatric medications on task, and they're living wonderful, productive, happy lives is so rewarding. Yeah. It's really... It is. I would agree. So given everything you've seen from bedside to leadership, what do you think nursing will look like in the next five years? So that's a, I guess this is a two-part question. And also, what advice would you give a brand-new nursing graduate entering the field today? For the brand new nursing question, that would be easy, and my, advice to them would be follow your heart. Nursing is such a broad spectrum profession. You can go to so many different avenues. So if you find something that you don't feel you're fulfilled with or you don't feel is something that f- you know, fits your personality, by all means explore further. Because there are so many different types of nursing out there that, you can explore and actually find your true passion so you're just as happy as you're making your patients. I feel like in any position, not just nursing, if you're not truly happy, you can't make others happy. So follow your heart and make sure it is something that you, choose to do and that's the place you wanna be. Not everybody's cut out to be a psych nurse. Not everybody's cut out to be an O- OB nurse. So by all means, find what makes you happy and, stick with it for the first part of the question, where I see nursing in five years hopefully finally staffed. I know that's, wishful thinking, but I know there are a lot of great schools out there. There's a lot of great you know, young people that are enrolled in nursing programs, and hopefully finally we'll be able to be staffed and give our patients the care that they deserve and need. I, yeah. I agree. I agree. I think those are... That is great advice, and I also hope My heart is in long-term care, but I hope nursing positions are filled everywhere so people can have meaningful work, feel satisfied in their work, not get burned out, and provide really good care for patients as well. Yeah. Yeah. The days are... The days can be very long. I also... I don't know if I always agree with... I know a lot of nurses like it, but the 12-hour shifts I feel sometimes that's a cause for burnout. People don't realize how demanding nursing is on your body. You're lifting patients. You're helping with transfers. You're moving patients. You're on your feet the majority of the day. It can be really taxing on your body and, doing those 12-hour shifts, especially you know, speaking as I'm aging those are a hard stretch. And I know a lot of the younger nurses in a lot of the skilled nursing facilities have it, but I think the traditional eight-hour workday is, more than plenty in the nursing field. Yeah. I would agree. I agree. So my last question, I ask a, an iteration of this question to all my guests and I... Hopefully to compile the responses someday. If you were put in charge of healthcare in the United States, what are the first changes that you would make to improve the system for both patients and healthcare workers? The first thing I would love to see, as most people in this country, is affordable healthcare for everyone. People should not have to suffer with any type of ailment because they can't afford to go to a doctor or because they can't afford to be seen. With that being said, I'd like to s- I'd like to see people using the healthcare system correctly and not over populating the emergency rooms by running to the ER with a cough or with a cold, and actually going to their primary care physician like, like they should be for that which frees up the hospitals to care for the patients that are truly in need. How we go about handling that type of situation, I guess, would be by educating our public. I know there's been times where I've actually called my PCP because I've had a chest cold that just won't go away or whatever, and they've actu- actually referred me to the urgent cares. I don't think we take enough advantage of places like that in this country. And the minor emergencies that's what they're designed for. So I guess just getting everybody back on track and making healthcare what it is meant to be for the world. I also always like to go back to the bedside manner and I'm not just speaking again on healthcare, I'm just speaking to all of us in general, how we become overwhelmed with situations in our lives and being so busy. I think people just need to stop and go back to the basics of being kind to each other and supporting each other, especially when we're dealing with people in healthcare. They're sick, they're not feeling well, And sick and not feeling well, they should also be kind and courteous to the nursing and doctor staff. Mm-hmm. But I think just remembering this is somebody's mother, this is somebody's sister, this is somebody's aunt, uncle. It's their loved one. Treat them with the compassion and respect no matter how busy you are, no matter how many times they're ringing that bell. Just going back to the basics. Yeah. And I hope you get your wish. I mean, Those are some wonderful things. So I hope you get your wish. I just wanna say Happy Nurses Week to you, Stacy. Oh, thank you. Yes. We're recording this uh, Nurses Week, although it it will be past that when it gets released, but we are in Nurses Week. So I am just delighted that there are nurses like you in the world helping patients. I was raised by a nurse. I have tremendous respect for nurses. Thank you so very much for what you do and for this wonderful conversation. I really enjoyed it. Thank you so much, Dr. Storm.

Thank you for tuning in to Taking Healthcare by Storm: Industry Insights with Quality Insights Medical Director Dr. Jean Storm. We hope that you enjoyed this episode. If you found value in what you heard, please consider subscribing to our podcast on your favorite platform.

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