Hello Friends 👋
In this special Tech Tuesday episode of The Incubator Podcast, Ben and Daphna sit down with Amanda Williams, a clinical nurse specialist and the creator of Amanda’s NICU Ed, an educational platform designed to support NICU nurses through social media and online courses. Amanda shares her journey from bedside nursing to becoming a key educator in the NICU space, highlighting how Instagram and other platforms have revolutionized the way neonatal professionals learn and connect.
Amanda discusses her approach to distilling complex neonatal topics into engaging, easy-to-understand content, including her certification review course and mini-courses aimed at improving nursing education. She emphasizes the critical role that well-informed NICU nurses play in patient care, from early identification of clinical concerns to helping families navigate the NICU journey.
The conversation also touches on the growing challenge of diminishing hospital-based educator roles and the need for independent educational resources. Amanda shares insights into her creative process, the time investment required to produce high-quality content, and her passion for building a collaborative learning community.
Tune in to learn more about Amanda’s work, her educational philosophy, and how to access her valuable resources for NICU professionals.
Listen now and explore more at amandasnicued.com
Use code “Incubator20” for 20% off Amanda Williams’ Certification Course!
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Short Bio: Amanda Williams is a NICU nurse, Clinical Nurse Specialist, and dedicated NICU educator with a passion for sharing knowledge and supporting the next generation of neonatal nurses. Since beginning her career in 2009, she has worked in neonatal intensive care, and she currently serves as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in a Level IV NICU in Los Angeles.
Committed to fostering education and professional growth, Amanda utilizes social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, as well as her website, to provide accessible and engaging learning resources for NICU nurses. Through her work, she aims to create a supportive community where neonatal professionals can connect, learn, and grow together.
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The transcript of today's episode can be found below 👇
Ben Courchia MD (00:00.594)
Hello everybody, welcome back to the Incubator Podcast. We are back today with a special episode where Daphne and I are welcoming to the show, Amanda Williams. Amanda, thank you for making time to be on with us today.
Amanda Williams (00:13.143)
Thanks for having me. Really excited to be here.
Ben Courchia MD (00:15.698)
We're very happy to have you on. I've been following your work. You are a clinical nurse specialist in Los Angeles, California, and you are the founder and the mind behind https://amandasnicued.com, which has basically become this suite of educational resources for NICU nurses. And it is quite popular. It is very well made.
And so we're very excited to find out a little bit about what your journey has been like and a little bit about the work you're doing. I'm going to let Daphna start us off. I realize that I'm talking a lot. shouldn't be.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (00:59.11)
Well, so my first question is really about the platform that you've decided on. Why do you think it's important that we have kind of these, I wouldn't say alternative, but really novel formats for education and healthcare?
Amanda Williams (01:17.719)
Yeah, so it's really interesting. I've been a NICU nurse for 15 years and I've always been kind of a self -proclaimed forever student. And in 2018, when I was in school for my clinical nurse specialist, I became the educator in my NICU. And I was trying to kind of infiltrate the brains of all of the newer generation, younger NICU nurses by creating education of things that came up or questions people had. And I used Instagram and
I was surprised to see how many people I didn't know that were starting to follow my account that were interested in the content. And so I've noticed over the years of having this Instagram account, how many nurses like to utilize social media, whether it's Instagram or YouTube or TikTok, as just another platform and resource to kind of communicate with each other, create this community, but also learn from each other.
So I really enjoyed being able to meet a lot of nurses from all over the world, as well as other NICU folks like you guys and other providers. And it's really fun and it makes the world feel so much smaller.
Ben Courchia MD (02:22.296)
I was very jealous because I think you engaged with Gabriel earlier than we did. was like, damn, I wanted to be first on this one. Yeah.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (02:22.36)
Yeah, totally agree.
Amanda Williams (02:26.037)
Mm -hmm. He's wonderful. Yes, yes, I reached out to him. And it's also the community. Everybody is so willing to share their knowledge. I reached out to him just because I've had nurses asking about hemodynamics and trying to understand it better. And so we created a Hemodynamics Week where we talked about all kinds of different things that people really enjoyed. So, yeah, there's so many people to learn from.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (02:34.286)
Yeah.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (02:41.198)
Mm.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (02:52.78)
And just so people can find you, so you're on Instagram, like you said, at Amanda's NICU Ed, and there's a ton of videos there, videos, reels, about a variety of topics. Some of them are pretty physiologic in nature, which I think is really valuable. So that's definitely a resource. And tell us a little bit about what you've got going on, what can people find at your website?
Amanda Williams (02:57.025)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Amanda Williams (03:18.663)
website, I try and create a lot of different educational content. I have a newsletter that I send out bi -weekly on different topics. So in July, I did a whole overview of ECMO, neonatal ECMO, was really enjoyed, NERS, breastfeeding, supporting breast milk production, developmental care, all kinds of different things. have a
a neonatal certification review course for NICU nurses. One of my many passions when it comes to NICU nursing is helping nurses develop professionally. And I believe getting those certification is one way to do that. And so I have a course that allows nurses to kind of learn more and prepare for that certification exam. has lecture materials and certification questions and all kinds of different fun things.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (04:06.732)
It's neat because I think even if people weren't going to get their certification, that it seems pretty valuable even just at the bedside.
Amanda Williams (04:15.773)
absolutely. I cover many, many different topics. It's from surgical, cardiac, respiratory, and I'm adding to it all the time. So it's a lot of fun. And I've had a lot of nurses reach out to me and just tell me that it's really helped them just in their practice, not even to get certified.
Ben Courchia MD (04:32.422)
So one of the things that I think in education is so hard is editing. And I think that's what caught my eye with initially your Instagram account. You have these little series of posts. They're super well designed. They're very pleasant to look at. They're not threatening in any way. But you have these topics very well condensed in the form of a few slides. How difficult is it?
to take something like you said, hemodynamics, pulmonary hypertension, say, OK, I'm going to try to distill this into four slides. Can you walk us through that process a little bit?
Amanda Williams (05:03.575)
Mm
Yeah, it definitely takes some time and it's my forever student kind of self creating like the big picture and then narrowing it down and down and down of like, what does the nurse really need to know at the bedside? What would I want to notify the neonatologist or the NNP about? And how can I understand what I see with that baby and the physiology behind it? So what is that? Like today I just did a talk about
Ben Courchia MD (05:08.768)
Ha!
Ben Courchia MD (05:19.696)
Mm -hmm.
Amanda Williams (05:34.197)
reverse differential cyanosis and what is that and why is it happening? What can I kind of see in that baby's heart from the arteries, like where things are happening and how it makes sense at the bedside. So it does take some time, but it's something I enjoy doing.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (05:48.962)
Hmm.
Ben Courchia MD (05:52.978)
was going to ask you, go ahead.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (05:53.166)
also really loved that you've got big topics like say something like HIE or pulmonary hypertension, and then you've got these snippet topics that I think are equally as valuable. Like what's the OI? What are some of these tiny terminologies? Interpreting one single blood gas and these review questions, I think those are super valuable.
How do you decide then, kind of what are the topics, what's the highest yield?
Amanda Williams (06:26.721)
Sometimes it's just from nurses reaching out to me. They'll send me a direct message, a DM and be like, hey, I had this patient, can you help me understand? And so that will be an idea that will come to me. Or there's just, I find that there's a lot of hot topics that everybody's interested in, like HIE, like the different congenital heart defects, things like that. So, and oftentimes I try and make it where it's a lot of information that goes together. So I did the OITO,
posts around the same time I was doing conversations about ECMO. And it's like those really go together when you're thinking about when would you start ECMO and it's like when there's an OI greater than, you know, 40 or whatever it might be. So I try and kind of condense them together as well so that people can see how one piece relates to the next.
Ben Courchia MD (07:15.91)
I wanted to ask you a little bit about nursing and nurses education because I feel like it's always one of the most underestimated aspect of neonatal care where some, and I say some because I want to exclude myself from this group, may think like, well, the nurse doesn't really need to know how all this works. mean, we just need the nurse to carry out the orders that are in the shop. And that is...
Such a misguided way of thinking. Can you tell us a little bit about why nursing education, when delivered correctly, can lead to better care for our babies?
Amanda Williams (07:49.853)
absolutely. I mean, as a team, we all have to work together, right? And so if the nurse is identifying something that's abnormal or the nurse knows what to look for based on that, the maternal history, the, you know, the pregnancy, the baby's course thus far, if they're able to pick up on those tiny details, then we can intervene in a more timely manner versus, you know, the neonatologist reviewing the chart and saying like, wait, this has been happening for how long, you know, we would prefer that the nurse is noticing these very nuanced details and
Ben Courchia MD (08:15.452)
Mm.
Amanda Williams (08:19.575)
kind of raising the flag and saying something's not right with this baby, let's investigate further. So I agree, sometimes it is kind of like, you don't need to know that as a nurse, but if I do, I'm able to provide even better care for that family and that baby. And also, you know, when the docs are at the bedside explaining things to the family, sometimes it's like overwhelming. And if the nurse can, over a 12 hour shift, kind of give little bits of information and help them connect the dots.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (08:28.459)
I do.
Amanda Williams (08:46.923)
then that's helpful in integrating the family in the care as well.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (08:51.522)
I love that it's really, I think, a shared language, right? So that everybody knows what we're looking for, what the long -term plan, as much as we can anticipate it is. I do think your page would be a great resource for families too. Do you have families who log on and follow?
Amanda Williams (09:08.949)
Yeah, I do. have a few families, maybe more than I realize. But yeah, do have where I'll post something and occasionally I'll have a parent who will comment and say, my baby had this. And I always love to be like, how's your baby doing now? And find out, you know, kind of how they're doing and what could we have done better as the NICU team when caring for you and your baby.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (09:13.411)
Hmm.
Ben Courchia MD (09:22.09)
Mmm.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (09:30.122)
I that. And I wanted to follow up on Ben's question on nursing education, because we're certainly moving into this time in medicine where lots of service lines are being trimmed. And I am finding that in lots of hospitals, that educator role is disappearing or is just being assigned to somebody who also has a full clinical role. So how are we going to be able to fill these gaps?
Amanda Williams (09:59.925)
Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, partially it's intrinsic to the nurse that it's like, I do want to learn. And so a lot of the people who follow me on Instagram, it's not like they're not being paid to learn the things that I'm providing. And I'm not being paid to create Instagram content, but it's that intrinsic desire to do better by our patients. But also our systems need to support education, knowing that our team members, all team members need to have quality education to provide the best patient care. So it's many things.
Ben Courchia MD (10:31.004)
I wanted to go back to the content that you're providing for free on social media and then move on to a little bit of the course you're offering. I want to harpoon back on the quality of each post and wanted to ask you a little bit, how long does it take you to draft a single post from the moment you have the topic to the moment the actual post is actually being released?
Amanda Williams (10:50.823)
it takes a maybe two to three hours to put together kind of a draft of what I want to do and break it down. And also, you know, I use multiple different sources to validate the information I'm posting because I don't want to, you know, lead anybody incorrectly. So it takes anywhere from two to three hours per post, I would say.
Ben Courchia MD (11:10.598)
Yeah. And I'm only asking because if you look at the post, I was expecting something along those lines, but I'm thinking if somebody, yeah, if somebody hasn't seen your page yet and they're listening in the car to this podcast, I want them to understand that you're not just like basically brain dumping anything on social media. This is curated and reviewed. so I think it needs to be mentioned. Can you tell us a little bit about, you know what, I actually don't know when your account officially went up, but I'm curious about from that point,
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (11:13.73)
Yeah, people underestimate it.
Ben Courchia MD (11:40.402)
How has this transition happened where you went from delivering education on social media to say, I'm going to actually make my course to help nurse with certification and so on to help them through that as well.
Amanda Williams (11:53.207)
Mm Yeah. So I created the Instagram account in 2018 and it was just about a year ago that I started working with a mentor to create an actual course. Helping nurses become certified has always been kind of a passion of mine. It's something that I've done in my own institution and it was one of my very first projects as a bedside nurse was actually creating a study group for my co bedside nurses to help them get certified. And so it's always something just in the back of my mind like, I would love to offer
Ben Courchia MD (12:03.462)
Mmm.
Amanda Williams (12:20.787)
something like this to more nurses. And just by collaborating with a mentor of mine, I was able to create a website and make this course and this platform where I can have questions and kind of up the quality of the education that I'm providing people online.
Ben Courchia MD (12:39.514)
I see. And can you tell us a little bit about how can people access this course if they are interested?
Amanda Williams (12:44.727)
Yeah, yeah, they can go to https://amandasnicued.com/ and there is a button that you can push to that gives you all the information where you can purchase the course and enroll and you get weekly emails from me just to kind of cheer you on and educate you and give you tips about learning about active learning. You know, there's differences in the ways that we learn and helping make connections in our brain. And so I try and kind of
facilitate that inside of my digital course.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (13:16.172)
And can you tell us a little bit about your mini course in case people aren't saying, I don't feel like signing up for a whole big course, but I really like this idea of this head to toe assessment course that people might find useful.
Amanda Williams (13:27.191)
huh. Yes, yes. So I created a head to toe assessment course that's just like a mini course. It's only $10 and it's maybe about two and a half, three hours long. And it's truly going into detail about that head to toe assessment. Because even our physical exam that we're doing as the bedside nurse is super important. And, you know, identifying normal versus abnormal and what we should be looking for and what we should notify the docs about. So we have a mini course as well.
Ben Courchia MD (13:28.101)
You
Amanda Williams (13:56.808)
as well as a free course that's just test taking tips for nurses who, know, many of us have test anxiety. So just some tips and tricks about test taking in general.
Ben Courchia MD (14:07.964)
Very cool. I wanted to ask you one last question before we close the show. A lot of your posts are associated with on social media, for example, are associated with a blog post on your website. Is that something that you do for every single post or only for the ones that really have like a midi type of subject?
Amanda Williams (14:25.953)
When you say blog posts, do you mean like multiple pages?
Ben Courchia MD (14:29.552)
I feel like I've seen sometimes on there's a, maybe by the way, maybe it's the same thing, but I've seen on your Instagram account, maybe there'll be a post on a certain topic, maybe nears, but then on your website, there'll be almost like a blog post with a longer, almost like a typed up version of it. so sorry. So I'm just wondering if this is something you do for every post that people can go and read more about, or if this is something that you do for a curated set of posts.
Amanda Williams (14:43.314)
yes. -huh.
Amanda Williams (14:53.025)
I've done that for a curated set of posts. So I try and integrate both the Instagram posts, which is really high level overview of the topic. And then what I use for my blogs is the more into detail writing out all the information where we can kind of dive a little bit deeper.
Ben Courchia MD (15:12.304)
Very cool. I think it's such an important work that you're doing because a lot of clinicians, providers really look always for things to discuss with the team. I think there's always an interest on rounds or something. And I feel like we tend to really scavenge for resources. And you and many other educators online provide such good content that really you don't really have to reinvent the wheel. You just go on the website and you can find a great topic.
things are well summarized. And so I encourage everybody who has educational didactics, whatever scheduled to visit the website for some inspiration. Is there anything else that you would like to leave our audience with? Anything that you're working on? you're looking forward in the future that people should know about?
Amanda Williams (15:58.391)
Well, follow me on Instagram at https://amandasnicued.com/. If you are interested in more education, you can go to my website https://amandasnicued.com/. I really love to teach and to hear from all the people in the community, ideas for topics. It always is like super exciting when I hear from people to say like, I saw this, can you help me understand? So thank you so much for having me. I'm really so happy to be here.
Ben Courchia MD (16:21.738)
huh.
Ben Courchia MD (16:26.414)
No, thank you, Manu. Thank you for the work you're doing and we'll link all these resources into the show notes. Thanks again for joining us.
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