Health
Nurses speak out: 'What I wish I'd known before entering the profession'
FIRST ON FOX: With nearly two-thirds of nurses in the United States experiencing burnout — including 69% of those under 25 years of age, according to the American Nurses Association — many in the industry are calling for change.
A recent survey by AMN Healthcare, a health care workforce solutions company based in Texas, found that most nurses aren’t optimistic about improvements, with 80% saying they think the year 2024 will be either “no better or worse” than last year and 38% of nurses expecting it to be worse.
“The concerns that many nurses have about their profession were not created by COVID-19 and have not gone away now that the crisis has passed,” Robin Johnson, group president of nursing solutions at AMN Healthcare, who administered the survey, told Fox News Digital.
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“Many nurses still feel overworked and undercompensated,” she said.
“What they want to see is a change in their daily working conditions — better hours, fair compensation and more time with their patients.”
Left to right, Karie Ryan, Michele Acito, Katelynn Blackburn and Lisbeth Votruba shared insights into the nursing profession with Fox News Digital. Two other nurses shared thoughts as well. (iStock/Karie Ryan/Michele Acito/Katelynn Blackburn/Lisbeth Votruba)
Amid the ongoing challenges faced by today’s nurses, six people in the profession shared what they wish they’d known before they decided to enter the field — and what advice they’d give to newcomers.
Lisbeth Votruba: ‘Nurses don’t have enough influence’
Lisbeth Votruba, a third-generation registered nurse in Belmont, Michigan, is also the chief clinical officer of AvaSure, a virtual health care platform.
“When I first entered the profession in the 1990s, I was surprised to learn that although nurses are held to high ethical and legal standards, they do not have the influence to match that level of accountability,” said Votruba.
“I see trends to show this is changing, and I am doing what I can as a member of the senior leadership team of a technology company to make sure the voice of nurses is heard as health care technology is being designed,” she said.
Lisbeth Votruba, a third-generation registered nurse in Belmont, Michigan, is also the chief clinical officer of AvaSure, a virtual health care platform. (Lisbeth Votruba)
“Nurses must be at the table for every discussion about technology that impacts the patient,” she said.
Mat Wellnitz: ‘Wish I’d known the stress involved’
Mat Wellnitz, a registered nurse in Big Rapids, Michigan, recently retired from a rural hospital after more than 34 years, most of them spent in critical care.
“I wish I’d known the amount of stress that’s involved in nursing,” said Wellnitz.
“I would have taken more time off for myself. It wasn’t until about a week after I retired that I realized how much stress I was blinded to.”
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He added, “I used to lie down and instantly could feel my heart pounding, always thinking about work. But not anymore — and I sleep better.”
Larry Williams: ‘Your work impacts your overall health’
Larry Williams worked as a registered nurse at California’s Stanford Hospital in the intensive care unit before retiring in 2021.
“I went into nursing with my eyes wide open … There were no surprises because I worked in two different hospitals while going to school,” said Williams.
“My advice to anyone considering nursing and health care in general is to find a way to actually work in a hospital prior to graduating. Pay attention to your strengths and weaknesses and choose an area that fits you as a person.”
“It is not the career for everyone, but it was for me.”
He also told Fox News Digital, “While you are working, pay attention to how your work is impacting your overall health. Not everyone is cut out to work in the ICU. I still have occasional work dreams, and I remember the names and faces of people I cared for who did not survive.”
Said Williams, “That is balanced by the happy memories of my peers as well as lives that I have touched … It is not the career for everyone, but it was for me.”
Karie Ryan: ‘Bedside nursing is not the only option’
Karie Ryan, currently the chief nursing officer at health tech firm Artisight, spent 27 years as a nurse in Florida, with a specialty in medical/surgical/orthopedics.
Karie Ryan, currently the chief nursing officer at the health tech firm Artisight, told Fox News Digital, “There are so many specialty opportunities, including nursing informatics.” (Karie Ryan)
“I wish I had known that bedside nursing is not the only option available in order to make an impact,” she told Fox News Digital.
“There are so many specialty opportunities, including nursing informatics.”
She added, “If nursing schools offered exploration in nursing informatics and other subspecialties, it would open a new world of possibilities not only to those entering the field, but as a consideration for nurses later in their career who may want to transition but remain in the profession.”
Katelynn Blackburn: ‘Constant pressure took a toll’
Katelynn Blackburn, a former nurse who is now an entrepreneur, worked 12-hour night shifts for parent access care in Chico, California, for over two years before leaving the field.
Katelynn Blackburn worked 12-hour night shifts for parent access care in Chico, California, for over two years before leaving the field. (Katelynn Blackburn)
“I wish I would have known more about how my personality would affect my profession in the medical field,” said Katelynn Blackburn.
“I am empathetic and caring; however, the field itself comes with a lot of pain and anxiety for patients and their families,” she said.
“The constant exposure to hardships, on top of the pressure of providing comfort and support to patients and their families, definitely took its toll on me.”
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She added, “I wish I had thought less about the income and salary and more about what the actual job entails. You must find something you are passionate about and ensure that it will secure your family financially.”
Noted Blackburn, “I have always had an entrepreneurial mindset and a personality driven to achieve more — so I decided to leave to pursue something I felt more aligned with.”
Michele Acito: ‘Emotional bond is deep’
Michele Acito is executive vice president and chief nursing officer at Holy Name Medical Center in New Jersey. She joined Holy Name in 1989 as a telemetry nurse, working in the cardiovascular and intensive care units before she was promoted. Earlier in her career, she worked as a staff nurse in orthopedics at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center.
“I wish I’d known about the emotional commitment I was making,” said Acito.
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“We know we will be committed to providing the best care … but the emotional bond and commitment you make to patients and families as they navigate through life-changing events is deep. As a nurse, you quickly learn how to comfort, celebrate, support and educate patients and families through the good and the difficult times.”
She added, “Today, nearly 40 years into my career, I am able to reflect on how my training as a nurse helped me to help patients and families during their most vulnerable moments. It is what makes me proud to be a nurse.”
Michele Acito is executive vice president and chief nursing officer at Holy Name Medical Center in New Jersey. She originally joined Holy Name in 1989 as a telemetry nurse, working in the cardiovascular and intensive care units. (Michele Acito)
“Another thing I wish I had known before entering the profession,” said Acito, “was how complex it would be to blend a career, a young family and a household.”
“Nursing was the perfect career for someone striving to manage it all.”
But “what I realized was that nursing was the perfect career for someone striving to manage it all and find fulfillment and purpose on a personal and professional level. It requires thoughtful prioritization, planning and support.”
Other insights: ‘A nurse is a career learner’
Acito also shared the importance of ongoing education to set up nurses for success.
“Having graduated from a BSN program, I thought I was educationally set for my entire career,” she said. “I quickly realized that was not true.”
She noted, “A nurse is a career learner. Obtaining degrees is very important to remain current with theory — but learning through continuing education is paramount to staying current in practice.”
“Technologically, nothing remains the same in health care,” said Acito. “It’s an ever-evolving field. Pursuing a nursing career in hospitals and health systems that are committed to investing in innovation and technological advancements is critically important.”
Acito also pointed out, “What I did not know then, but I know today, is that I made the best career choice when I decided to be a nurse. The hours are difficult, the stress intense, the emotional commitment deep — but the rewards are innumerable.”
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Colorectal cancer, once considered a disease of older age, is becoming a crisis for younger adults. New research shows one group getting hit the hardest – those without a college degree.
A recent study from the American Cancer Society analyzed data from over 101,000 adults aged 25 to 49 who died from colorectal cancer between 1994 and 2023.
While death rates remained stable for college graduates, they climbed significantly for those without a bachelor’s degree, the findings showed.
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For young adults with a high school education or less, the mortality rate rose from 4.0 to 5.2 per 100,000 people, while the rate for those with at least a bachelor’s degree stayed flat, at approximately 2.7 per 100,000.
This does not mean that a degree offers some kind of biological protection, researchers cautioned.
Colorectal cancer, once considered a disease of older age, is becoming a crisis for younger adults. (iStock)
The difference is likely driven by the conditions in which people live and work, which often correlate with education levels, the researchers noted.
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The study suggests that the higher death rates are likely driven by differences in the prevalence of risk factors, including obesity, physical inactivity, smoking and diet, which are “known to be elevated among children and young adults with lower [socioeconomic status].”
Because the study relied on death certificates, researchers couldn’t say exactly why college graduates had better outcomes.
Because the researchers didn’t have the patients’ actual medical records, they couldn’t see things like frequency of screenings or treatment options, which would impact survival outcomes. (iStock)
Certificates typically list the cause of death, age, race and education level, but they do not include a person’s full medical history.
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Because the researchers didn’t have the patients’ actual medical records, they couldn’t see things like frequency of screenings or treatment options, which would impact survival outcomes.
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Colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death for men under 50 and the second leading cause for women in the same age group, according to recent statistics.
While colorectal cancer death rates remained stable for college graduates, they climbed significantly for those without a bachelor’s degree, the findings showed. (iStock)
Because the disease is highly treatable when caught early, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) lowered the recommended screening age from 50 to 45 in 2021.
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Common signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer can include a change in bowel habits, such as diarrhea, constipation or narrowing of the stool, that lasts for more than a few days, according to the American Cancer Society.
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Other signs that warrant seeing a doctor include blood in the stool or a persistent feeling of needing to go to the bathroom but being unable to go.
The research was published in JAMA Oncology.
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A young woman who started vaping at the age of 15 has been given just 18 months to live — after being diagnosed with lung cancer in her early 20s.
Kayley Boda, 22, of Manchester, in the United Kingdom, was engaging in heavy vaping on a regular basis when she started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in it in January 2025, news agency SWNS reported.
The retail assistant said doctors turned her away eight times, telling her she had a chest infection — until she began coughing up blood.
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After seven biopsies, Boda was diagnosed with lung cancer. She underwent surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy — and in February 2026, got the all-clear, the same source reported.
Two months later, though, doctors said the cancer had come back in the pleural lining. Now she’s been given 18 months to live.
Kayley Boda, 22, is shown in the hospital. She started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in January 2025, she said. She had been vaping since the age of 15. (SWNS)
The young woman has now issued a warning to others to be aware of the dangers of vaping.
Boda said she smoked a bit as a young teenager. She took up vaping after that.
Then, “a few months after I switched from reusable vapes to disposable ones, I started coughing up brown, grainy mucus,” as SWNS reported.
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“Doctors turned me away eight times with a chest infection. … Then I started coughing up blood, so they did an X-ray and found a shadow on my lung,” she added.
“They told me they were 99% sure, [since I was] so young, that it wasn’t cancer, so not to worry about it. When I got the results back, and they told me it was lung cancer, it felt so surreal.”
Boda said she was “very naive” before her diagnosis and thought that “something like this would never happen to me.”
She said that she had surgery to remove half of her right lung.
“After the surgery, I started chemo and I had a terrible reaction to it. I couldn’t lift my head up. I was throwing up blood. I was urinating blood. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep.”
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She said that when she got the “all clear [in Feb. 2026], it felt amazing, but just two months later I was told the cancer had come back, and I have 18 months to live.”
She added, “I’m 22. This isn’t meant to happen to somebody my age.”
“Stay off the vapes because they will catch up with you.”
She blames her cancer on vaping, she said.
“My symptoms started a few months after I started disposable vapes, and there’s no lung cancer in my family,” she said. “I haven’t vaped for three months, I’ve made my partner stop, I’ve made my mom stop, I’m urging all my friends to stop. Stay off the vapes,” she continued, “because they will catch up with you.”
When doctors did an X-ray, they found a shadow on Boda’s right lung. She was later diagnosed with lung cancer and has undergone surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy. (SWNS)
She said she’d been using reusable vapes since the age of 15 and began using disposable vapes a few months before her cancer symptoms started.
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In November 2024, when she developed a rash all over her body, doctors said it could have been due to shingles, chicken pox or scabies, she told SWNS.
‘Nothing worked’
“I got treated for all three, and nothing worked,” Boda said. “It got to the point where I was cutting myself from scratching so hard.”
A few months after that, she began coughing up a dark brown mucus, with “grainy bits, the consistency of sugar, in it,” she said. When the coughing continued, she visited the doctor’s office, but was told it could be scarring from pneumonia or a chest infection, she also said.
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It wasn’t until March 2025 that she began coughing up bright red blood. At that point, doctors gave her a chest X-ray and told her they’d found a shadow on her lower right lung.
Over the next four months, she had seven biopsies as doctors took samples from the “shadow.” In August, when she went to get the results, she was told she had stage one lung cancer.
Boda is shown in the hospital. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy. (SWNS)
In September 2025, she had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, and the surrounding lymph nodes. During the surgery, doctors upstaged her cancer from stage one to stage three after finding cancer in six surrounding lymph nodes, she said.
Following the surgery, Boda was unable to breathe properly and had to learn to walk all over again.
“The oncologist said this is so rare.”
After finishing chemotherapy in February 2026, Kayley was given the all clear, leaving her feeling elated.
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However, just a month after that, she began experiencing extreme chest pains and was told by doctors she had a pleural effusion — a build-up of fluid in the lungs. She had the fluid removed, but when doctors tested it, they discovered her cancer had returned to the pleural lining of her lungs, giving her 18 months to live.
“The oncologist said this is so rare, and usually something they see in patients that are 80 years old,” she said, as SWNS reported.
Increasingly, vacation hot spots are enforcing strict bans on the use of e-cigarettes in public venues. (iStock)
Boda claimed that doctors were unable to pin her cancer to a specific cause — but told her that smoking and vaping definitely didn’t help.
Since her diagnosis, she has stopped and is urging others to stop, too.
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She’s hoping to raise the thousands of dollars needed for treatment to try to prolong her life, she said.
Last year, Fox News Digital reported on the case of a Pennsylvania woman, 26, who said she vaped for just one year before her lungs collapsed. She was 22 when she took up the habit, she said in an interview.
“Everybody warned me about it, but I didn’t listen — I wish that I did,” she said.
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Dr. David Campbell, clinical director and program director at Recover Together Bend in Oregon, told Fox News Digital at that time that signs of collapsed lungs include sharp chest or shoulder pain, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
Lung issues are just one of the many health issues linked to vaping, he warned. The habit can also increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as exposure to harmful heavy metals.
Melissa Rudy of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.
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The key to feeling better in a fast, overstimulated world might be surprisingly simple: Live a little more like your grandparents.
A growing social media trend, dubbed “nonnamaxxing,” draws inspiration from the slower, more intentional rhythms associated with an Italian grandmother.
The lifestyle is often linked to activities like preparing home-cooked meals, spending time outdoors and making meaningful connections.
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“Nonnamaxxing is a 2026 trend that embraces the slower, more intentional lifestyle of an Italian grandmother (a Nonna). Think cooking from scratch, long family meals, daily walks, gardening and less screen time,” Erin Palinski-Wade, a New Jersey-based registered dietitian, told Fox News Digital.
Nonnamaxxing, derived from the name for an Italian grandmother, is a trend that incorporates lifestyle habits hundreds of years in the making. (iStock)
Stepping away from screens and toward real-world interaction can have measurable benefits, according to California-based psychotherapist Laurie Singer.
“We know that interacting with others in person, rather than spending time on screens, significantly improves mental health,” she told Fox News Digital, adding that social media often fuels comparison and lowers self-esteem.
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Living more like previous generations isn’t purely driven by nostalgia. Cooking meals from scratch, for example, has been linked to better nutrition and more mindful eating patterns.
Adopting traditional mealtime habits can improve diet quality and support both physical and mental health, especially when meals are shared regularly with others, Palinski-Wade noted.
One longevity expert stresses that staying healthy isn’t just about food — it’s also about joy and community. (iStock)
There’s also a psychological benefit to slowing down and focusing on one task at a time. Anxiety often stems from unfinished or avoided tasks, Singer noted, and engaging in hands-on activities can counteract that.
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“Nonnamaxxing encourages us to be present around a task, like gardening, baking or knitting, or just taking a mindful walk, that delivers something ‘real,’” she said.
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Palinski-Wade cautions against turning the trend into another source of pressure, noting that a traditional “nonna” lifestyle often assumes a different pace of life.
The key, she said, is adapting the mindset, not replicating it perfectly.
Nonnamaxxing, derived from the name for an Italian grandmother, is a trend that incorporates lifestyle habits hundreds of years in the making. (iStock)
The goal is to reintroduce small, intentional moments that make you feel better.
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That might mean prioritizing a few shared meals each week, taking a walk without your phone or setting aside time for a simple hobby, the expert recommended.
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Singer added, “Having a positive place to escape to, through whatever activities speak to us and make us happy, isn’t generational – it’s human.”
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