Don’t Just Patch the Bucket—Fix the Leak: What Nurses Can Learn About Optimizing Patient Health
Let’s be honest—modern medicine is great at managing disease, but garbage at optimizing health. Most of us were trained to chase symptoms, not systems. But what if we could shift from code blues to prevention breakthroughs?
Enter Dr. Scott Sherr, internal medicine doc turned hyperbaric + health optimization wizard, and our latest guest on the RNegade podclass. And let me tell you, this episode isn’t about fancy oxygen chambers and biohacking bros—it’s about how nurses can lead the revolution in whole-person care.
First, a Nurse Reality Check
You know that patient who keeps circling through your unit or office with “mystery symptoms”? Labs look normal. They're still exhausted. Still inflamed. Still off? Dr. Sherr calls that the “leaky bucket” problem—and spoiler alert: we keep throwing meds in the bucket instead of sealing the cracks.
This episode dives into the root of it all:
➡️ Mitochondrial dysfunction
➡️ Unaddressed trauma
➡️ Nutrient-depleted diets
➡️ And, yep—chronic stress that no beta blocker can fix
Hyperbaric Therapy: It’s Not Just for Divers
Dr. Sherr breaks down how hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can help restore cellular function, but here’s the twist—he doesn’t recommend diving in (pun intended) until you’ve optimized the basics.
That’s where we come in. As nurses, we’re in the perfect position to help patients address:
Sleep, food, movement, and mindset
Emotional patterns and unprocessed grief
Foundational health before high-tech intervention
Because let’s be real—pressurized oxygen isn’t going to solve your cortisol crisis if you haven’t eaten a vegetable in 4 days and your inner child is screaming for help.
Clinical Intuition is Real (and Required)
One of our favorite mic-drop moments in the episode? Dr. Sherr validates what we’ve always known: intuition belongs in clinical care.
Your gut feeling, that sixth sense, the way you just know something’s off even if the chart says otherwise? That’s medicine. And it’s about time we started training it, trusting it, and teaching it. Our episode with Jennifer Johnson, Author of Nursing Intuition, dives into this same topic and is dedicated to helping nurses cultivate this innate superpower. (Check out Jen’s Intuitive Insights Series this June 2025 and September 2025 that rewards nursing CEs at RNegade).
The Takeaway for Nurses: You Are the Bridge
This episode reminds us that we’re more than medication dispensers. We’re connectors. Translators. Guides.
If we can learn to see the body as a system—not a checklist—we can help patients heal at the root instead of drowning in Band-Aids.
And guess what? That includes us too. Because your mitochondria deserve love, too, rebel nurse.
🎧 Tune in to the full episode with Dr. Scott Sherr on RNegade.pro
🎓 Earn CE credit for this episode AND qualifying episodes of the Smarter Not Harder podcast with Dr. Scott Sherr in the RNegade library.