The Gritty Nurse

The Gritty Nurse is back, and NO TOPIC is off-limits! Launching in September 2025 with host Amie Archibald Varley, this podcast is dedicated to amplifying the voices of nurses and others who work in healthcare to explore the most pressing issues they face. Join Amie as she continues to take a deep dive into powerful and often uncomfortable topics. Though shared experriences, storytelling and the discussions surrounding the intersection of power, we will navigate the challenges facing healthcare nationally and internationally--as of course--challenge the status quo. The show's core belief remains unwavering: that compassion is the through understanding diverse narratives and perspectives is KEY. Amie will continue to explore hot-button issues like mental health, social justice, women's health, and the daily challenges within the nursing profession. The Gritty Nurse is more than just a podcast—it's a community where nurses and healthcare workers can feel heard, empowered, and recognized as the community leaders they truly are. Change is HERE.

What Nurses Don't Know About the Law Could Cost Them Everything w/ Dr. Cambria Nwsou DNP, RN, LNC

Jun 4, 2026

Do you actually know your rights as a nurse?

What does it take to go from the operating room to the courtroom — and why should every nurse care?

In this episode of The Gritty Nurse Podcast, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with the remarkable Dr. Cambria Nwosu, RN — a nurse whose career has taken her from...

Let’s Talk About Birth, Disparities, and Shifting the System: With Mama Nurse Tina!

May 29, 2026

Women’s health needs a ton of work, and it is a hill we are willing to die on. In this powerful episode of The Gritty Nurse Podcast, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with Tina Bitangcol—widely known as Mama Nurse Tina—for an urgent, unfiltered conversation about the realities of women’s healthcare,...

Exposing The Barriers: Why Are Nurse Practitioners Not Practicing To Their Full Scope in Canada? Discussions with CEO of NPAO Dr. Michelle Acorn

May 21, 2026

In this urgent episode, host Amie Archibald-Varley sits down with Dr. Michelle Acorn, CEO of the Nurse Practitioners' Association of Ontario (NPAO), to rip the band-aid off a system that refuses to evolve.

Dr. Acorn pulls no punches: Nurse Practitioners are trained, capable, and ready — and they're being held back...

The Obedient Nurse: How the "Good Nurse" Myth Quietly Paves the Way for Authoritarianism— and learning Hope Is a Discipline

May 15, 2026

What does Florence Nightingale have to do with authoritarianism? More than nursing wants to admit.

In this episode of The Gritty Nurse Podcast, host Amie Archibald-Varley and guest Meg Lambrych, RN tackles one of nursing's most uncomfortable questions: why can't nurses criticize Florence Nightingale? She is nursing's...

Nursing Needs A Defibrillation: We Are The Shift, We Are The CHANGE with Dr. Danielle McCamey & Gloria Barrera

May 7, 2026

The healthcare system is flatlining, and it’s time for a professional resuscitation.

This Nursing Week, join Dr. Danielle McCamey and Gloria E. Barrera for a heavy-hitting breakdown of the HESS framework—Humanity, Ethics, Social Justice, and Science—as the ultimate toolkit for systemic reform. From the grassroots...