Exclusive Interview with Nurse Maddi

In this interview, ICU nurse and social media influencer Maddi Flanagan shares her journey from documenting her ICU experiences on Instagram to becoming a leading voice in nursing education. Maddi discusses how her initial blog evolved into a platform dedicated to supporting new grads and providing valuable educational content.

She offers insights on balancing a full-time nursing career with a growing social media presence and how her work with organizations like AACN has shaped her professional development. Discover how Maddi's experiences can guide your own nursing journey, whether you're navigating new challenges, seeking educational resources, or exploring career growth opportunities.

Exclusive Interview with Nurse Maddi

allnurses: All right, let's start with your name and your organization.

Maddi: My name is Maddi Flanagan. I am an ICU nurse in San Diego, California.  

allnurses: Talk to me about your social media presence. You have a pretty big following. Is it just on Instagram, or are you on other platforms as well? How did you decide to go all in and pursue this?

Maddi: Instagram, I would say is my main source. I do dabble with TikTok, and recently, as of last week, I decided to jump into YouTube and started doing vlogs there. I originally started back in 2018 — I had just transitioned from being a tele-neuro nurse and had been accepted into the ICU residency program, so at that time, on my page, I started a blog. Then, on Instagram, I just started posting information about my transition and started sharing what it was like, the content that I was learning, the educational topics, and I slowly transitioned my page into a nursing education page.

After about a year, I decided that new grads are my jam, and this is who I want to teach. New grads are just so excited to learn, and I really wanted to pave the way for them because I feel like when I transitioned, I didn't really have anyone to look for or look to. So I did that, and I stuck with Instagram for many years and just started doing education stuff.

At first, I did not plan to make it an influencer account. I was just doing it strictly to time mark what was happening in my life, as well as put some education out there, and keeping all the friends I've had from high school and family that was following, keeping them up to date with my journey. And then, yeah, people just ended up liking it and asking for more content, and before I knew it, yeah, this is what I'm doing now.

allnurses: As far as nursing education goes, what does that content look like? Are you doing demonstrations? Tell us more about that. 

Maddi: I've tried a little bit of everything. The biggest things that I stuck with are: I used to do a lot of medication education. I would take a photo of a medication or something at work and then either make a post about what that medication was, or on my stories, I would do pop quizzes. Every week, I would put up different medications or equipment and ask my followers, "What is this?” They could interact, and then about 24 hours later, I would jump on and provide the answer. 

I had a podcast for about two years called "Life and Scrubs Podcast," and we had episodes every week. Most of those questions were originally questions I was receiving in my DMs. I noticed that I was getting the same questions from people over and over again, like, "What items do I need for clinicals?" or "How can I pick a specialty?" or "What are the things I need as a new grad?" I kept seeing these same questions. Finally, as I was typing a lot of the same things, I thought I should make a podcast of all these questions and answer them all. So, I did that for a couple of years. Then, in the past year or two, I transitioned more to a lifestyle focus. Now, I do a lot of "days in the life of a nurse," "days off as a nurse," and "how to enjoy your days off."

allnurses: That's great. So, you have a partnership with AACN. How did that come about? Second, do you have other partnerships, and how do you find those?

Maddi: Yeah, so AACN reached out to me a couple of years ago. They were starting an influencer partnership with their marketing team. Originally, I attended the virtual NTI—this was three years ago—and they were looking to promote it more. They wanted me to tell my coworkers and followers about the virtual option. This was coming after COVID, so I think everything was trying to revamp again. So, yeah, they just reached out, and we chatted about stuff.

Most companies that you do partnerships with in the influencer world, there's usually a contract, different deliverables, and those are things that you can negotiate. Everything I do, as far as partnerships, are things that I've truly either tried, been a part of, or absolutely represent. I worked with them for that first year for the virtual, and then they reached back out after that and said, "Next year, we're gonna do an in-person. It's going to be a couple of you”—there were three of us—and yeah, we were able to come out and experience that in person in Philadelphia.

allnurses: At NTI, are you doing any sessions? Are you guys talking to anyone or sharing your experience?

Maddi: Yeah, last year in Philly, we did daily recaps of the day; it was Facebook Lives. That was me and one of the other influencers, and that was recorded. So we did stuff like that. We do a lot of pre-conference posts, as well as interviews. This year, one of the other gals, her name is Diane, attended the very first NTI 50 years ago—so we did a little recap. We had an interview a couple of months ago and then had an interview here, just tying it all together. But yeah, most of it is either pre-conference or during the conference, and then we do a recap.

It's a lot of talking about my personal experience attending NTI. Why I feel it's important for my career and being a critical care nurse—I got certified this past year with my CCRN, getting my CEUs, and just really supporting AACN. I already supported this organization before and on the outside, so having the opportunity to support them from the inside has been great.

Your question about working with other brands, they come in different ways. Sometimes, if there's a company that I absolutely love and think a lot of my followers would really enjoy, I will reach out to them. Most of the time, the company will reach out to me and say, "Hey, this is what we had in mind for XYZ. Is this something you'd be interested in? Let's chat." So, I have a longstanding partnership with Figs, the scrub company. I'd say that's my biggest one. I also have a couple of other ones that I work with.

allnurses: What are some of the challenges that you've faced as a big influencer in the nursing world?

Maddi: I would say the time commitment is one. I still work full time, so I wouldn't say it's a hard job, but it is definitely time-consuming. I like to be intentional with the content that I'm putting out, so I'd say that it's challenging—just balancing that with life.

I think each stage has different challenges. So, when I first started, it was everyone, you know, saying, "What are you doing?" "What, like that's so embarrassing?" and this and that. Mentally, it was like, "Okay, you just have to do this. This is something I want to do. This is something I'm passionate about. I just need to do it and not care what other people think." Because there are people out there who are genuinely looking for this type of content, that was a challenge in the beginning.

Then, figuring out what your niche is, is kind of challenging as well. The social media world is always changing, and what might have been cool last week is not cool this week. So, just trying to stay up with the trends.

Then, I would also say, just people in general,  just the comments you can get. I've been very fortunate with my account, that it's pretty happy, lifestyle-type nursing, and I don't get too many negative comments. There are definitely people—there's always going to be those people—but I think just criticism in general can be hard. 

allnurses: Yeah, and I don't know if I've said it, but I was always told never to read the comments—never read the comments. You could post a picture of a puppy playing with a ball, and someone would have something bad to say. So, you have to ignore that stuff.

Maddi: Yeah, well, you know, the saying. It's like, you could be the best looking avocado, and someone's still going to hate avocados. 

allnurses: Absolutely. Have you faced any opposition from management or other nurses?

Maddi: I would say I've been fortunate. I'm pretty upfront; I've worked at two different hospitals and was very upfront with my management team and everyone there. Being very clear that I will not be recording when I'm on the clock. I would never put patient information—no HIPAA. Everything I do is for educational purposes. I've been very fortunate that at both hospitals I've worked at, my managers have been very supportive. I just make sure that it doesn't ever interfere with the actual care I'm providing or my work time. I do know friends who have had issues in the social media world because their managers were not supportive.

allnurses: What have you learned about the business side of nursing from trade shows, partnerships, and that aspect of it? 

Maddi: Definitely more on how to advocate for yourself as a nurse. I think I've learned a lot of that through social media and meeting people from different parts of the country. Getting outside of what you know in your hospital and having social media, and having all these pay transparency posts, and you know, this is what we're dealing with with our breaks over here and, and getting to learn more about other hospital systems, what other nurses are going through —that's been eye-opening for me. I would definitely say a benefit to the social media side is getting to meet other people and learn about how I can take those experiences and put them in my day to day work. 

allnurses: That leads to my next question — what are the most rewarding aspects of being a known influencer?

Maddi: I would say getting the opportunities to meet people, opportunities just like this. When I started this page years ago, I never thought that all these opportunities would come. I believe that it's helped me professionally, especially things like this, interviews and getting to talk to people and be more personable. It got me outside my bubble, which I think translated at work. I felt like I was able to connect with patients more; I was able to understand where they're from and their stories because I'm able to do that through social media. 

Then, I would also say learning more about nursing and the different types of nursing. I went straight out of high school to nursing school and graduated early. I was like, this is what I want to do; this is my one thing. Then, through social media, I was able to learn, "Oh, my gosh, there's outpatient nursing, there's home health nursing." There are so many different types of nursing that you're not taught about in nursing school, and until someone's in that specialty and you're learning about it from them, it's hard to know about it otherwise.

allnurses: Do you have any advice for aspiring nurses who want to be influencers and grow on social media?

Maddi: Do it for the right reasons; have and know what your "why" is for starting it. You could just start it, but I would say it's not going to be as fulfilling, and you might not be as successful if you go into it just for the fame or the glitz of it.

The most influential people I know who are successful are successful because they have a passion, they have a voice, and they have a point that they're trying to share. If there's someone out there who is aspiring to do that, find your niche and find what it is you know. There are so many of us nurses, but we all have our own story, our own examples and experiences to share. Be true to yourself. Don't post things just because you feel like you have to post them or because that's what people want. Post what makes you happy.

All nurses: Next and last question—what is next for you? Are you looking to expand and get into other media or more big-picture things? What's it going to look like in five years?

Maddi: That is the question of the century. That has been at the top of my list this past week. Coming to NTI especially, I get it in my head, "this is what I'm going to do," and then you meet so many people who are in different things, and I'm not exactly sure what is next. I definitely would like to keep growing on social media with the educational side. I want to make more connections with people, not so much grow in an aspect of numbers, but grow in the aspect of actually knowing who's following me and being able to interact with them more often.  Attending events like this, I really enjoy. As far as professionally, I really like where I'm working right now. I've been here for about two years and hope to continue working here. I've also been thinking about doing some education at our local community colleges and nursing schools and maybe getting into being a clinical instructor or a didactic instructor

allnurses: Where can our audience find you?

Maddi:

• Instagram: @nurse.maddi
• TikTok: @nurse.maddi
• YouTube: @nursemaddi

That's all my socials, and like thank you so much.

allnurses: Thank you