Coffee Before Clinicals
Coffee Before Clinicals
Real nurses. Real professors. Real support for nursing students.
Nursing school is hard. We’re here to make it a little easier.
Coffee Before Clinicals is a podcast created by nurse educators who understand what it’s really like to balance exams, clinicals, care plans, and the never-ending pressure to “figure it all out.”
Hosted by experienced nursing professors, this show is your go-to space for:
- Practical survival strategies for nursing school
- Test prep tips that actually work
- Deep dives into diseases, meds, and clinical scenarios
- Case-based learning to help concepts stick
- Real talk about burnout, confidence, and impostor syndrome
This isn’t a polished lecture or a YouTube recap. It’s the voice of nurses who’ve been where you are—and now walk beside you in the classroom and on the floor. Whether you’re on your way to clinical, prepping for the NCLEX, or questioning everything during finals week, we’ve got your back.
No fluff. No judgment. Just coffee, clinicals, and the clarity you need to keep going.
New episodes drop when you need them most.
Follow wherever you listen—and grab your coffee before clinicals.
Coffee Before Clinicals
Stop Memorizing, Start Narrating: The Secret to Understanding Disease Processes
Remember struggling with pathophysiology, staring at pages of scientific terms wondering how anyone could possibly remember it all? You're not alone—and it's not your fault. The problem isn't your brain; it's the approach.
Pathophysiology transforms from an overwhelming memorization challenge into an intuitive learning experience when you approach it as storytelling. Your brain naturally retains narratives better than isolated facts. That red blood cell traveling through narrowing vessels isn't just biology—it's the beginning of a compelling story that explains why symptoms occur and treatments work.
The five-part patho story arc provides a framework for understanding any disease process: the normal baseline (once upon a time in a healthy body), the trigger that disrupts homeostasis, the body's compensatory response, the crisis point where symptoms peak, and finally, the resolution through treatment or adaptation. Suddenly, those disconnected symptoms make sense as logical consequences of an unfolding narrative.
Imagine pneumonia not as a list of symptoms but as a "neighborhood invasion" where bacteria move into the alveoli uninvited, causing white blood cells and fluid to rush in, ultimately blocking oxygen exchange. Or heart failure as an "overworked employee" forced into constant overtime until it simply can't keep up, leading to backed-up traffic (edema) and exhaustion. These frameworks make complex pathophysiology stick in ways that rote memorization never could.
This approach transforms how you'll perform on exams, communicate with patients, and think clinically. Next time you're drowning in patho notes, step back and ask: Where in the story am I? What happened before? What happens next? How can I help rewrite the ending? Your understanding of the body's stories will become the foundation of intuitive, excellent nursing care.
Ready to stop memorizing and start understanding? Let's transform how you learn pathophysiology—one story at a time.
Music by Smallrose Productions
Once upon a time, in a body not so different from yours, a tiny red blood cell began its day. It slipped quietly through the arteries and the capillaries, carrying its precious cargo oxygen To every little corner of your body. It had a rhythm, a purpose, a well-worn path, but one day something changed. The road narrowed, the trip took longer, the red blood cells found detours it never had taken before, and slowly the whole system began to feel the strain. That's not just biology, that's a story, and that, my friends, is pathophysiology. Not just biology, that's a story, and that, my friends, is pathophysiology. Today we're going to talk about why patho is best learned as a story and why that little shift in how you think about it could make the hardest class in nursing school finally stick and start to click. Research in narrative nursing shows that our brains latch to our stories rooted in human experience Precisely what I'm doing here with our little red blood cell journey.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Coffee Before Clinicals, where we mix equal parts caffeine and clarity to help you survive and, dare I say, enjoy nursing school. I'm Jennifer, your host, nursing professor and former ICU nurse. I have taught hundreds of nursing students and I've watched plenty of bright, motivated people walk into pathophysiology full of hope and walk out like they've just lost a fight with their textbook. If you ever sat down with your patho notes, stared at a page full of cytokines and enzyme names and thought I don't even know where to start, you are not alone. The feeling is normal. It's not because you're not smart enough or because you didn't study hard enough. It's because we've been trying to memorize random puzzle pieces without seeing the picture on the box. And here's the good news your brain is designed to remember things when you're part of a story. You already do this all the time, whether you're following your favorite TV series, remembering a patient's case from clinical or telling your friends about the wild thing that happened at Target. The trick realizing that every disease, every condition already has a story built in. And once you can tell that story, from healthy starting point to the plot twist, to the resolution, you'll start to see patho in a completely new way.
Speaker 1:So why patho feels overwhelming? Let's be honest. Pathophysiology has a bit of a reputation you hear upperclassmen whisper about like it's some kind of academic horror story. Or you have a patho next semester. Better clear your schedule and say goodbye to your social life, and once you're in it. You quickly see why the textbook is a massive, like doorstop massive. Every chapter throws about five new Greek or Latin words you've never heard before and there's an avalanche of details, molecules, lab values, feedback loops, and it all feels disconnected.
Speaker 1:Most students come into Patho thinking it's about memorizing lists, signs and symptoms, lab values, treatment options. But here's the thing If you don't understand why those symptoms happen, they'll never stick. It's like trying to remember the middle of the movie without knowing the beginning or the end. And here's the part nobody tells you. It's not your fault if you're struggling.
Speaker 1:The way patho is often taught makes it seem like a bunch of isolated encyclopedia entries. But that's not how the body works. Your heart doesn't wake up one day and decide to fail. It's been adapting and changing over time. Your immune system doesn't throw a fever just because it's responding to a whole chain of events. These aren't random lists of facts. They're cause and effect, they're plots, they're stories. Once you start thinking about disease as a story, with characters, conflicts and resolution, you're no longer trying to memorize the unmemorable. You're connecting the dots, you're following a sequence and suddenly patho stops feeling like a list of strangers and starts feeling like a cast of characters. You actually know them. This isn't your fault.
Speaker 1:Storytelling pedagogies have been shown to transform student thinking in nursing education help concepts stick and not slip away. So the patho story arc. Every great story has a pattern and so does every disease process. I call it the five-part patho story arc and here's how it works. Part one setting the normal baseline. Every story starts within the world, in balance. For patho, that's your normal anatomy and physiology. For the lungs, it's quiet, effortless gas exchange and happy little alveoli. For the kidneys it starts steady, filtering and fluid balance. This is your once upon a time moment.
Speaker 1:Second inciting an incident, the trigger. This is the moment trouble walks in a virus, a clot, a genetic mutation, something disrupts the peace. Then, part three rising action, the body's response. The body is a problem solver. It will fight, adapt, compensate. Inflammation, increased heart rate, fluid shifts these are all attempts to restore order. Part four the climax, the crisis point. Symptoms peak, the body's compensations are maxed out In sepsis. This could be dangerously low blood pressure. In an asthma attack it's severe bronchoconstriction. And then, finally, part five resolution, recovery or management. Here's where the treatment or adaptation happens.
Speaker 1:Antibiotics clear the pneumonia, diuretics reduce fluid overload or the body finds a new normal it can live with. So an example pneumonia as a neighborhood invasion story. The setting peaceful avioli neighborhood. The trigger bacteria move in uninvited, rising action. The white blood cells and fluid rush in, clogging the streets. The climax oxygen can't get through Shortness of breath, fever crackles. Resolution antibiotics clear the invaders, mucus clears, peace restores. Here's an example of heart failure as an overworked employee the setting heart clocking in at an easy eight-hour shift. The trigger high blood pressure means daily overtime, rising action. The heart muscle bulks up, stretches, works harder. The climax it can't keep up edema, shortness of breath, fatigue. The resolution medications and lifestyle change to reduce that workload.
Speaker 1:You're doing what narrative nursing advocates, using stories and scenarios to teach complexity, value and human context, not just dry facts. So how to use this method? When you're learning a new condition, treat it like you're interviewing a main character. Ask yourself who are the characters, the organs, the cells, the pathogens, what's the conflict, what's changed from normal, what's the sequence, how does one event lead to another? And then finally, the resolution cure, management, adaptation. Take your notes and turn them into a story Textbook.
Speaker 1:In left-sided heart failure, the left ventricle fails to pump effectively, using blood to back up in the pulmonary circulation. So here's the story. Imagine a pump so tired it can't keep up. Blood backs into the lungs like rush hour traffic and every breath feels like it's through a wet sponge. And at the bedside you can use it too. Instead of telling a patient you have an infection in your alveoli, you could say your lungs are like little neighborhoods and right now they're crowded with extra fluid and bacteria. Antibiotics will help clear them out so that you can breathe easier.
Speaker 1:On the NCLEX, when you are given a scenario, figure out where you are in the plot. If you know the story, you can predict the next chapter. Even in online learning, storytelling builds connections and deeper understanding. A pilot study with nurse educator students found narrative approaches help transform how they learn, not just what they learn. All right, one more sip. Here's your one more sip for today. Here's your one more sip for today.
Speaker 1:Patho isn't just a subject. It's the story of the bodies under stress. Every patient has one and every clue. You see. Symptom, lab value changes is part of their plot. When you're overwhelmed, zoom out, ask where in the story am I? What happened before out? Ask where in the story am I? What happened before, what happens next and how can I help rewrite the ending? You don't have to memorize every chapter today. Just keep practicing the shape of the story and soon telling it will feel natural and one day you'll explain heart failure or sepsis to a patient with confidence and realize you're not just studying patho anymore. You're telling the body's story and changing it for the better. That's it for today, friends. Until next time, may your notes be clear, your scrubs be comfy and your coffee be strong. You've got. This is coffee before clinicals.
