Welcome back to The Bossy Nurse Podcast, the show where we spotlight nurse creators, innovators, risk-takers, and the ideas that shape their success.
In this episode, ER nurse and author Jenn Johnson shares how to trust your gut with science behind it, and how storytelling can be both a coping tool and a career-builder.
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Key takeaways
- Nursing intuition is research-backed.
- Writing your stories down can lighten the load and help you process what nursing puts on your shoulders.
- Rural nursing teaches resourcefulness fast, and those early constraints can shape how you advocate and think clinically.
- If you’re building something new (a book, a product, a side business), start small and break it into pieces—then keep going.
Show notes / what you’ll hear in this episode:
- Rural ER roots: Hear how Jenn’s early start in a very rural Canadian hospital shaped her confidence, creativity, and “make it work” mindset.
- Workplace bullying: Learn why Jenn says workplace bullying can escalate when leadership doesn’t intervene and how she decided it was time to move on.
- What intuition looks like: Listen to Jenn explain what “nursing intuition” really looks like in practice. Noticing the story doesn’t add up, catching what might be missed, and acting early.
- Evidence behind intuition: Hear how she reframes intuition as more than pattern recognition and why she wanted to ground it in evidence-based research.
- Storytelling as coping: Follow Jenn’s storytelling process: expanding the “two-minute 3 a.m. nurse story” into full sensory detail and using writing as a way to cope and heal.
- Publishing realities: Get a behind-the-scenes take at what it takes to publish. Traditional vs. self-publishing, costs, royalties, and why “bulk sales” matter.
- Growing as a new nurse: Hear what Jenn teaches new nurses to track progress.
- What she’s building now: Learn where Jenn shows up as an educator and what she’s focused on building next.
Resources mentioned
- Nursing Intuition: How to Trust Your Gut, Save Your Sanity and Survive Your Career (Jenn’s book)
- 100 Shifts: A Care Planner For Nurses (mentioned as a tool for tracking wins)
- Reedsy (self-publishing platform Jenn recommends exploring)
- MasterClass (mentioned as part of her learning stack)
- NurseCon / Nurse Blake (mentioned as a speaking milestone)
Where to find Jenn online
- Website: https://www.nursejenn.ca
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ernurse.jen/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ernurse.jen
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-johnson-bscn-rn/
Bio: Jenn Johnson, BScN, RN
Jenn Johnson has been an ER nurse in Canada for many years. Through those years, she was bullied and had to leave jobs because the toxic people she was working with were never dealt with, so she decided to move on. Jenn takes us through three different times she was bullied and how she dealt with each one based on her past experiences and how she grew every time it happened.
With all of her experience at the bedside, she also realized that she could use her intuition, that gut feeling we all get sometimes, to get her patients the care they need much more quickly than if she waited for lab and diagnostic tests to come back. Her colleagues respect her as she uses her intuition to quickly communicate with others to get patients treated before they become even worse off.
Jenn’s book – Nursing Intuition, is finally here! In the book, she will discuss the science behind using intuition and how she incorporates it into her patient care. Jenn has a wealth of information to share, and I cannot wait to read her book when it comes out. You can find Jenn at www.nursejenn.ca. Check out her work!
Timestamps
- 00:09:45 — Jenn shares how she switched from biology into nursing.
- 00:12:37 — Starting out in a very rural hospital (and what that really looked like).
- 00:19:31 — Bullying and the decision to leave the north and move south.
- 00:29:20 — Turning “two-minute stories” into detailed writing as a coping tool.
- 00:42:37 — What “nursing intuition” means to Jenn, and why it’s not “woo woo.”
- 00:49:08 — Traditional vs. self-publishing: royalties, timelines, and hard lessons.
- 01:05:37 — Where to find Jenn online (TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, website).
