This year I learned to embrace wins in my life. I even have a special journal titled ‘Robyn’s WINS’. Taking note of my wins has been a harder task for me occasionally shadowed by self doubt, fear of vulnerability, and imposter syndrome. I’m working with a business coach this year and she encouraged me to have a ‘wins’ folder in my email, but we took it one step further and created a written journal as well. There is something about putting pen to paper that truly resonates with me. 

2022 wins have included…

1. Bringing on Emily Pardue, PHMNP. Emily joined the practice in February and has been building her outpatient psychopharmacology practice ever since. She is a total gem and remains empathetic, collaborative, and truly organized! We complement each other well in areas of the practice outside of patient care. The link to Emily on the podcast is here. 
2. We’ve decided to stay virtual, for now. In the past I had a hard and fast rule to not see a new patient virtually, ever. The pandemic changed this process completely. Most of my patients have asked not when we’re going back in person, but how long we’ll be virtual. We’ve decided to meet folks where they are and want to be, continuing to practice virtually for the time being. 
3. The NPRD podcast began season two and has reached over 3,000 listeners in 42 countries! Talking to other colleagues, learning from them and sharing their knowledge through the podcast outlet has been incredibly rewarding. Yes, this is work and marketing, but it certainly does not feel like it! 

The biggest wins of course are all of you – our patients and clients. Also, our readers, listeners and followers. Thank you for sharing your journeys, care, and struggles as we are honored to be here with you. We’d love to read and hear of some of your wins. In the meantime, wishing you happy holidays and a peaceful, joyful and winning 2023.

I don’t know about you, but when I meet folks who are similar to me in very specific ways, it sparks excitement and connection. In this first podcast of our new season, we welcomed Kortney Brown, NP, RD and Whitney Trotter, MS, RDN/LDN, RN, RYT. We are all dietitians and nurses and two of us are nurse practitioners. Whitney is currently finishing her clinical rotations to become a doctorate nurse practitioner. Additionally, we have found symmetry together in choosing to work in the eating disorder area of our fields.  

We’ll hear from Kortney, Whitney, and myself on the podcast around why we chose to combine our degrees as dietitians, nurses and nurse practitioners. We’ll discuss what has and has not worked in terms of our degree combinations. For example, can we really work as both dietitians and nurse practitioners in our respective fields? Does the workplace value a dual degree? Does this dual degree mean more to us personally in terms of how we reach patients? How could our education shift to best support new clinicians to be out in the throws of practice? We also touch upon full practice authority and genetic psychopharmacologic testing.

The discussion with Kortney and Whitney helped cement for me, again, why I chose to combine the fields of dietetics and nursing so many years ago. The three of us, and potentially more folks who have chosen to combine their degrees similarly, will definitely be having more conversations! I hope you enjoy what was an extraordinary combination of minds, ideas and passion in our field.