In The Field: Spotlight on Christine Stallings, MSN-FNP

We’re turning the spotlight on Christine Stallings, MSN-FNP, based in Goldsboro, North Carolina. She’s talking about whether or not nurses east their young, offering advice for new nurses, and advocating for a larger mental health conversation in healthcare and among nurses.

What is your specialty and where are you based?

Family Nurse Practitioner; I work in geriatric primary care in Goldsboro, NC.

True or False: Nurses eat their young.

True. Nurses often forget that our career is built upon experience. Experience makes us unstoppable. We need to feed off of our young nurses enthusiasm and eagerness to learn to remind ourselves why we are still in this field of work.

Any self-care or mental health tips for new nurses?

Always remember why you chose this profession. It is not always glorious and we often do not get enough recognition. It can be discouraging at time but there will always be one sweet or kind patient that makes all the bad disappear. People appreciate the simplest things and always remember small acts of kindness, not always great life saving measures.

How did you choose your specialty? What drew you to it?

I worked for a primary care physician as a teenager and he inspired me to become an FNP. Nurses have a maternal instinct, an extra edge when it comes to intuition and kindness. This makes us good providers. It is not just about intelligence, it is also about connecting with people. Nurses are capable of changing the field of healthcare by providing routine care by stopping problems before they occur and building that relationship that every patient wants in their provider.