Reinventing Undergarments for Patients who Require Catheters and Leg Bags Following Life-Altering Surgeries and Recovery
Episode

Brian Mohika, CEO at CathWear LLC

Reinventing Undergarments for Patients who Require Catheters and Leg Bags Following Life-Altering Surgeries and Recovery

There are many ways to impact healthcare and it is our guest’s mission to enlighten other nursing students to show that other options are available.

 

In this episode of the Outcomes Rocket Nursing podcast, we are honored to interview Brian Mohika, CEO at CathWear LLC. Cathwear is a revolutionary undergarment system for catheter and/or drainage leg bag needs. 

Brian discusses the pain point that CathWear solves. He shares how it improves the patient’s medical condition and quality of life. He also talks of the value of nurses in medical invention, the unique vantage point nurses offer, and the need for nurses to be on the table. You’ll also hear Brian’s thoughts on success, learning from mistakes, what truly matters in life, and more. 

This is an inspiring interview and Brian dropped a lot of gems so make sure to tune in!

Reinventing Undergarments for Patients who Require Catheters and Leg Bags Following Life-Altering Surgeries and Recovery

About Brian Mohika

Brian is the CEO at CathWear.  He is a US Air Force Veteran and a registered nurse. 

Brian has worked in Interventional Radiology as a Radiology Technologist for 10 years. He has assisted in numerous drainage placement procedures. He advanced his medical career by getting a second science degree. He now has a BSN and he currently works for the Visiting Nurses Association in the Merrimack Valley. He encounters many patients requiring leg bags in his day-to-day work responsibilities. 

Reinventing Undergarments for Patients who Require Catheters and Leg Bags Following Life-Altering Surgeries and Recovery with Brian Mohika, CEO at CathWear LLC: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Reinventing Undergarments for Patients who Require Catheters and Leg Bags Following Life-Altering Surgeries and Recovery with Brian Mohika, CEO at CathWear LLC: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Rebecca Love:
Hi everyone! This is Rebecca Love with Outcomes Rocket Nursing, bringing you interviews with some of the most innovative and leading nurses around the globe. Today it is my honor to bring to you, Brian Mohika, a registered nurse from Boston with multiple science degrees and own several U.S. medical patents and one European patent on different inventions and is the CEO of a medical device company called CathWear. CathWear is a medical underwear designed for patients who require the use of leg bags by removing the unsanitary velcro and elastic straps catheters, reducing the infection rates, increasing cost savings and restoring quality of life for these patients struggling with the use of wearing leg bags. And I can tell you, as a nurse who used to take care of patients with turps, this is absolute invention that was so needed for so many thousands of people whose lives are disrupted. But Brian, it is such an honor to have you on this show.

Brian Mohika:
Thank you. Thank you for having me. It's an honor as well.

Rebecca Love:
Well, so, Brian, as we get started, you know, tell us a little bit what inspires your work in health and health care today?

Brian Mohika:
For me, my inspiration comes from showing people that we don't have to follow any sort of pattern that's been set before us and that there are a lot of ways to impact health care. For me, I never knew that there were other nurse inventors. I say it all the time in a lot of interviews. Maybe somebody heard me say it before, but that's something that has really fueled my passion is that I didn't know that nurses could be entrepreneurs. Nurses could be innovators, inventors of medical devices and things of the sort. Certainly, I wasn't taught any of those things while I was in nursing school, and that's where my passion comes from is just trying to enlighten other nursing students or really nurses in general that there are other options available. The workarounds are the medical devices. The workarounds are the innovations of tomorrow, which is why nurses are at the forefront of medical innovations because of our close proximity and professional intimacy that we share with patients.

Rebecca Love:
Brian, you are so right on. And you know, I'm not sure that actually in any of the interviews that I've done to date that we actually ever even mentioned that in nursing school, we really never were introduced to the idea of innovation or entrepreneurship or different roles than what was by the bedside. So I love that your passion comes from trying to inspire other nurses in the profession to see the incredible opportunities that present themselves in nursing that might lead them into innovation or entrepreneurship. And there are people out there that have done this. So, you know, let's dive into a little bit about what you have done with CathWear, which is how is CathWear adding value to the health care ecosystem in patients today.

Brian Mohika:
Well, CathWear does that by changing again, something that has been put in place. CathWear is a medical underwear that's designed for patients that require the use of leg bags post procedure. Usually it is a urology patient, whether it's a super pubic tube or a foley or nephrectomy drain. Those patients are given a leg bag with straps around the thigh, which go around the thigh or they go around the ankle. That's just what they've been given. That's the latest technology. Those straps, they become unsanitary. The bag slides up and down the leg. It poses for embarrassing moments, and it just further complicates the patient's medical condition and significantly reduces the patient's quality of life. What CathWear has done to impact the health care industry, if you will, and creating value in the ecosystem is by showing that we don't have to necessarily, nurses don't necessarily have to be by the bedside and be able to impact patient care from an entrepreneurial perspective, giving us the ability to have nurses in the business sector of the world and essentially playing both sides of the fence. Because we're not only able to see the business side of it and grow a market that may not have been tapped into yet. Yet at the same time, growing that market with the foundation based on patient safety and satisfaction to improve patient's quality of life. Something that I always have said to myself to keep my myself motivated, my team members. You know, we kind of tend to compare one invention to the other, right? We kind of live our life lives comparing, and that's very unfortunate. So I I remember when CathWear was first invented, I would say to myself like, well, it's not really the cure for cancer, you know, like, it's just a medical underwear. But at the same time, if every nurse invented a product, we would be able to reach the patient from a holistic standpoint. So yes, it's not the cure for cancer, but it's a medical underwear that solves a certain problem. Five nurses come up with five medical devices. We've impacted the patient five ways.

Rebecca Love:
I love that, Brian, and you're so right on. I know that sometimes we think that innovation has to be something that is, to your point, the cure for cancer. But there are so many ways that you can impact the quality of a patient's life by just looking at that problem in front of you. And to your point, you know, explain to us, step us back a little bit about before CathWear existed. What was the problem and why did you see that solution? And how is what we're doing differently than what was available before? Because I think that is just so powerful to actually play the value of what you're saying here. So tell us.

Brian Mohika:
Absolutely. Something else that I wanted to add is that in nursing school, it's not even mentioned. It's like you have to go into Med Surg. You have to go into the certain departments. People were saying that it was going to be suicide for my career if I didn't follow in the way that it was recommended and I didn't know what it was talking about, yada yada yada. And you know what? Those ways are changing, and we're seeing that now. For CathWear, the impact comes greatest because it was the only innovation that worked successfully each time was this strap. So these patients would come in if they lived in warm weather environments. They couldn't wear shorts, they couldn't wear skirt, they couldn't wear a dress because the bag would slide up and down the leg. And those things, I see patients sometimes in public and I can see the leg bag. These patients would come in. Countless patients would come in. I was working in the interventional radiology department and I have my degree in radiology as well. I was in my first year of nursing school when I had the vision for CathWear for this medical underwear. But patients kept coming in and the look on their face. It was just this plight where they just seem helpless. It's in a sense your body is disfigured because you now have these two drains coming out of it or one drain and you have this leg bag that's become a part of you now. And having to manage that, navigate that, that's where the patients were when I found them. And now, I mean, we're number one on Amazon, number one on Google. We have a four and a half star rating the last time I checked. And if you have a bad product, Amazon will surely let you know. But if you have a good product, Amazon will surely let you know and why. I wanted to highlight that this is because sometimes it's easy hearing it from the inventor that this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. But when the patients, doctors, caregivers and nurses are saying the same thing in these reviews, it just goes to show the impact of what a nurse sees. Now we're the only product in our category that's invented by a nurse, and we're the only product in our category that is covered by Medicare, the only product in our category that's invented by a U.S. veteran. I was in the Air Force to know that the innovation is what helped us become number one speaks to the value of what nurses innovate. Because we look at things and we're like, wait a minute, that won't work because of x y z. But if you change this and you change that, that would make it work. I don't believe that there are many professions in health care that have that same vantage point. Now it would be unprofessional of me to try to discredit doctors or anyone else, even if I good because everybody plays a key role. But nurses have this role that we need to understand that we have an obligation to innovate because we can hear and see what the patient is going through more than others.

Rebecca Love:
You know Brian, I loved your story about Amazon, and you know that they will let you know, when your product is not breaking well and vice versa. And you know, that kind of feedback is often hard for any of us to do. And I'm just so glad to hear that that to your point, many inventors often feel like their invention is the greatest since sliced bread, but it's really getting out there and testing and getting that feedback that becomes such a humbling and eye opening experience. Brian, you know, as you were talking to your point, there is a lot that nurses know because they're right at the bedside. I mean, I think, you know, now you're a CEO, you've had some success behind you with CathWear, where it's been a long road and a hard work coming. But you know, when you are out there talking, especially to business leaders because you have now crossed over to the other side of health care, which is, you know, in the products of sales and marketing and partnerships. I mean, you're dealing with people who drive financial decisions. You know, what things do you think that side of the business should know about nursing with regards to their inventions or driving health care and overcoming barriers? What things do you think there needs to be a more fundamental understanding of about nursing from those business leaders that you're meeting and working with as you try to bring a new product to market in the background that you've come from?

Brian Mohika:
Yeah, that's a great question. And that's one of the main reasons why I wrote my latest book, Let It Flow. It's based on my journey of becoming a nurse entrepreneur. I did it realized that not everybody had the heart of the news. I didn't realize that the business world was as cutthroat as it was. I obviously knew that it was different, but I didn't know that it was. It's very unemotional. It's very numbers driven. It's reality. It's either this or it's that. It's not like nurses were like, no, but the sky is blue because it's great. And it was difficult for me to navigate that. It took me years. It affected my ability to lead as well because when I formed the CathWear team, I thought that we were all going to be friends because I'm like, Well, we're in this project. Like, Of course, we're going to be friends, like we're going to like, whose house is Thanksgiving at this year? You know, I envisioned myself like going on vacations with our families together and all that, and all of us grew up together. So that made it even more of a reality in my own head. But we were older. We hadn't seen each other for like 15, 20 years after high school, and all of them are business minded. And it was difficult because I didn't know what they were thinking and I assumed, which is horrible for me to think that they were emotionally driven. And likewise, for me, I didn't have a business acumen as much as I do now. And what I would want anybody in the business to know is that nurses think completely opposite from what you think. But there's a balance, though, because my business partner Edwin Alvarez, you know, we always have this joke that if I was running the company, I was giving away Kathua units for free. I was giving them away to anyone that wanted one. I'm like, No, it's OK. Do you want one or do you want two. You know, like, does your dog want one? Because to me, you know, we grew up extremely poor. All of us at CathWear were so I understand what it feels like to not be able to have something, need something and not be able to pay for it. But what they were thinking was, you know, they said, Brian, you're going to essentially run the company dry if you keep giving these units away for free. I'm like, we can just charge it up like it's a sample. You know what I mean? And that didn't work. And it took a lot for me to understand that concept. And then the other side of the joke is, we always say, if Edward ran the company, we also run it into the ground because he wants to charge $100 for a pair of underwear and he doesn't care if he can't afford it or not. Right, because there are people in business, they're in business to do business, and it's difficult. But at the same time, you need a nurse. If there's any type of medical innovation, you need a nurse on the team, even if the nurse is not the inventor. Because nurses will give a perspective from patient practicality, safety, you know, patient care standpoint that a business person will never see. My business partners they joke all the time and they say, you know, we feel like we've earned an honorary nursing degree with the things that you have taught us. And likewise, you know, I've had this heavy dose of learning to be balanced. I'm a lot more balanced with my emotions and reality now and now I'm able to effectively lead. And it's critical for people in the business world to understand that you need a nurse on your team to see the things that you can't see, and you have to learn to balance the nurses emotions, not to where they're running the company, but to where that you're able to use it as a positive. And that was something that was very, very hard for me. It was in depth. I could be here forever talking about emotionally what that was like, knowing that quote unquote, they weren't my friends. You know, because in nursing, it's like, you know, I love you, man. Oh, how are you doing? You know, we rub each other's back like, how are you feeling today? Like, you know, is there anything I can do to help? And in business, it's like, I don't care what your emotions are. Are you showing up to the meeting or not? And I'm like my flat tire, and I had a bad day, like, they just don't care about that stuff, you know? And I see you laughing. I see you laughing the whole time. So I know that you know what I'm talking about.

Rebecca Love:
You know, Brian, to your point, I think nursing school and everything they taught us about empathy. They told us about thinking and feeling and believing. But they never talked to us about the financial side, the strategic side, the operational side, which need to be made without emotions and most situations. But your point is so well taken that you know, when you are looking at medical devices, when you are looking at bringing new products to market and health care, nurses are going to give you a perspective from the patient, the safety and the practicality and usability and largely honestly feasibility of adoption of a product that most of us with just straight backgrounds in business would never, ever be aware of. And it is in those nuances that anybody who started a business and tried to go to market realizes everything is in the nuances. It is always the small details that can trip up the most brilliant of products. And so I love to hear you say this because I think the story and how you deliver it, Brian, I see it in my head. It is. It's more than a picture. It's an absolution example of the way that the worlds collide between nursing and business.

Brian Mohika:
Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Rebecca Love:
Sotell us,an example, a similar external to CathWear, where were you saw a nursing team provide a great solution to a problem?

Brian Mohika:
Well, that's the thing. Now I'm starting to see a lot of teams form and now my experience is changing. I haven't seen yet a team of nurses put something together in front of me, and that's where I want to be. That's where I want to strive. I want to head towards that type of environment where I'm watching how other nurses now collaborate to bring something to market, where for me, I've kind of just been on my own fending for myself. I have had some experience with the American Nurses Association Innovation and Advisory Board, and that is something where it's really it's high level of a bunch of people, a lot smarter than me. And the things that they're putting together, I can finally get. I've been on the board for about a year and I've had about three or four meetings, I think since then. And I'm able to see a little bit of what it's like when there's a bunch of medical personnel on a call. And that's what I want now. I want to be in those types of environments. So to answer your question directly, I don't have the experience now to have seen it, but I strive to.

Rebecca Love:
And I think that's such a poignant statement, Brian, because to your point, there have been so many conversations I've been brought into on health systems and there are so many conversations where they're like, well, this has all been physician led. And as a nurse, I sit in those rooms and I hear that and I think to myself, I think this is wonderful, and I'm thrilled that my physician colleagues are driving innovation or new initiatives within their hospitals, and they're being heard. But where is that space for nursing? And I think you and your story and your example is just showing such a power example of bring nurses together, allow them to innovate, get together and solve those problems because they're going to solve problems that are going to scale across the suffering of humanity in a way that deals with day to day life that I'm not sure that we're seeing in other verticals. And I think that what you're talking about is a new vision for future of health care. It's a new vision that would give nurses the time and the space. And if you are a business professional listening to what we're doing and talking about today, you know, make spaces for nurses to innovate and bring them to the table.

Brian Mohika:
Absolutely.

Rebecca Love:
Great, Brian.

Rebecca Love:
I wanted to add something that you said. I haven't heard anybody else. Say it until you just said it now when. And I know this is this could be up for debate, but it's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. When a doctor invents a medical device, from my experience, that doctor has invented something for his specific task. This one surgery procedure or whatever. Now I understand that there are countless procedures. He's not the only one on the planet doing that procedure, which is where the debate comes in, while everyone doing this could be able to use it. Yet at the same time, when a nurse invents something and I believe that that's what you just said, it's so wide, it's so broad, and it's because of the perspective that the nurse has, which is very, very different than the physician side. Both of them are needed. It's just that everything seems to be physician driven, which is why I thought that I was the only nurse that had invented a medical device. I mean, obviously, I knew nurses had done a couple of things, but in my naive mind at that time, it wasn't until I got on LinkedIn, and that's what I wrote in my book and Let it Flow. When I got on LinkedIn, I actually got on there on accident, trying to see if I can find a way to to reach a lead that I was pursuing. And when I set up my account and I started bopping my head around, I was like, Whoa! I didn't realize I was a big fish in a little pond. And now when I got on LinkedIn, I'm a little fish in a big pond, which is where we should always strive to be because there's room for growth there. And that's when I was like, Wow, somebody else invented it. Wow, someone else this. There's another nurse entrepreneur and then all these PhDs and all these other things. And it was great because it let me know that there were other people onto this new generation of nursing, this change of the tide not changing anything from the past, but more adding to it as another foundational brick on how we can help patients and when a nurse invent something, it's so many more patients that are impacted.

Rebecca Love:
You know, Brian, you said something that I love how you sort of expanded on the idea because I often say there is no truer inventor than nurses, because when they invent, they're not inventing for themselves. They're inventing to alleviate patients suffering. And I think you did such an excellent job, you know, explaining and dictating. Often when physicians do invent, it's a tool that they use to help their practice, which in the grand scheme of things, yes, it can make surgery better, it could make that wearable device more efficient, but when it's coming to alleviating human suffering in their inventions, it is constantly those nursing inventions that stop me in my tracks. And I think it was the compassion, the empathy. It was the relatability of witnessing this human suffering over and over again that inspired this invention. And to your point, if all of the nurses in the world who experience that human suffering took that idea that they use with tape and a pair of scissors and maneuvered that device, just imagine what we could have. So, Brian, I mean, I know you have written two books. You are a CEO of your growing company. By all things, life appears to have been a very fortuitous experience. But for our audience, it would be really wonderful if you perhaps could help us set the stage on one of those setbacks that you've experienced. And what was that key learning that you took? Because I think in life we are all on this journey experience things that we're not sure we're going to get through. And it's in those moments that life makes the decision either to go for it or not. So can you dive into that for us?

Brian Mohika:
Yeah, absolutely. For me, I was always married to outcomes. I was always married to my expectations and that was my aha moment where things changed, where I just started realizing that, you know, I'm not defined by how many degrees I have. I used to think that that's what defined us. Or I thought I was defined by how much money I have in the bank, you know, and those are the things that the world tells us. Like these are the the standards to determine whether you made it or not. You know, and the thing is, is that that standard always changes. It's unattainable, right. The goalpost is always moving. Right? I thought I was like, Oh great. I'm a nurse inventor. I get on LinkedIn and there's a million nurse inventors so that goal post quickly left from my grasp. And you know, you can have a million dollars in the bank, a trillion dollars in the bank. There's always somebody that has more. And those were the moments that for me helped me grow. Like if CathWear was successful or not, I'm not. It doesn't determine my mood because I don't identify with the success of my company. If I'm able to graduate the top of my class from every degree that I'm pursuing, that doesn't define me. And once you realize what defines you and it's not the things of the world per se, because it is true what you said, Right.. I mean, one thing that is guaranteed is death in this life. So our accolades are not what's going to define us, but it's leaving that impact. Like, I will leave an impact in nursing that path where medical underwear is here to stay away beyond me and that's what we should strive for. We shouldn't strive to make money because there's millionaires and billionaires that commit suicide and that are miserable. So money is not the key, but it's creating value. And if we can create value within our career, within our projects, and let the value be the passion, money will take care of itself. but building that legacy of innovations that last for however long they're going to last. That's what it's about. And for me personally, I identify with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's what's changed for me. I look at my life from an eternity perspective, and it's helped me not feel rushed anymore because I know that there is another life and I will spend that life with the Lord because he's died for my sins. That's what's important to me now, and I realize that other people are in different walks of life and people look at things different. But that was my aha moment. The person that I was before in my former life, I was very arrogant, very prideful and very title driven, and it was killing me. I wasn't able to achieve those goals, but now I'm able to be more focused to be more even keeled. And now I'm able to truly impact patient care because I realize that there is no rush. It's more of a marathon and I'm just putting finishing my leg of the race. And then another nurse will come in and invent something that would be better than CathWear or whatnot.

Rebecca Love:
You know, life is a marathon. Life is a marathon, and I love that advice about, you know, you don't need to be in such a rush. And I think that is a powerful statement for so many that are in this space today trying to achieve what they think is the definition of success or what is truly they think is the measurable and definable features of it. And I think to your point, Brian, it's just that reassessment to yourself personally, what is truly going to matter to you in the long term? And and I think again, it speaks again to the nursing profession when the motivator in and of itself is very rarely money when it comes to nursing and nurse innovation and entrepreneurship because it is more and greater often about the individual alleviating that pain points in the market.

Brian Mohika:
You end up doing that. You remove the pain point like so any time. And that's why, as nurses were obligated, right? Like if you see a patient in the street or not, you but anyone per se. After you've seen CathWear, when you see a patient in the street that has a leg bag, as a nurse, we would be doing a disservice by not letting that person know, Hey, there's a product out. Because as nurses were obligated to give the latest innovations towards patients, you know, and something that you said is very true, it is a marathon. I had that vision in the operating room in 2012, patented in 2013. If somebody would have told me in twenty thirteen when I was awarded the patent that it would be 2021, almost 2022, I would not have. I haven't made a penny for me. Obviously my company is growing. We keep reinvesting the money into the company, so I'm working solely off of passion, right? But if somebody would have said to me, Hey, nine years are going to go by and you're not even going to make a dime, I just wouldn't have believed it. I would have been like no nine years. I'm going to forget you guys. Like in nine years, you guys are going to have to find me. I'm going to have my own island. I'm going to be on a yacht, somebody is going to be feeding me grapes. And when I look back now, I just see how long it really takes. And I understand why nurses don't innovate because it's so overwhelming. Having to balance family, having to balance life. I haven't met anybody. Maybe you have, but I haven't met anybody that has been able to successfully balance both. I've seen either that one is always doing better than the other, right? Like, if my wife is mad at me, well, CathWear, I'll see you later. You know what I mean? If my business partners are upset at me, it's like, Well, honey, I'll call you in a little bit. And it's just that balance. You end up learning how to dance a little bit between the both so that there is some sort of stability. But it's difficult because there is time that you have to invest in it and when there's no money involved, like then when I invented my the surgical clip and I sold it to cook medical, people were like, Oh, well, you already have two patents like, Oh, you're already all set. And at that time I was in my second year of nursery school. They're like, drop out of nursing school, you don't even need it. And this and that. And I'm saying to myself, like, no! Luckily, I didn't take that advice, but that's how long it takes, and I understand why people quit. And that's the passion that I have is to let people know, like, I am so excited for CathWear, where and it's nine years, what caused that? Because being self motivated, it's a skill that not too many people have. Like before the the interview today, I had mentioned to you that we just signed with Cardinal Health. Like, that's huge. Like, those are these little milestones that you get that just keep you going that let you know. Any time I'm feeling down, I just look at the reviews on Amazon. It seems like some of those reviews, like I paid somebody to say that. Because it is like what? People saying, like, you've changed my life. Like, I was so embarrassed. But the highlight is, is that it is a marathon, that we can't quit, and the patient's plight has to be the dangling carrot for nurses, knowing that that has to be your goal, that you're trying to reach that pain point and remove it. And nothing can can satisfy that desire until you get there. But it's hard and it's a lot and it's, you know, problems with my business partners and personalities and this and that. And then I still work now as a nurse in the home health space, you know, having to balance the work life. So it's a lot of things. But at the end of the day, when you put the patient first, who cares? And that's what you've seen and that's what you see, especially with COVID and all this stuff that's happening like you've seen literally nurses like I mentioned in my book, Let It Flow, it's it's like we're firefighters Right.. You see firefighters running into a burning building. Nurses, we're like running into the pandemic, you know, even though we're in there and we're complaining and we're crying, but we're still showing up for work. We're still giving patient care. We're still making sure patients are safe. We're still putting ourselves last. Well, you have to take that same mentality and apply it to your business plan.

Rebecca Love:
Brian, I'm so glad that you shared that because I think so many people and especially when they come and they listen to this podcast, they assume that all these nurses that I speak with have totally made it. And you just opened up, I think, a life in a conversation that we're still juggling and you're still juggling and you're still hustling and seeing patients on the side and working really hard at making your dreams happen and creating a conversation in a space that's safe for it. And I have to tell you, I loved Let It Flow. It was one of my favorite reads that I had read in the last year, and I encourage anyone who is listening to check it out because Brian's stories, things that he hasn't talked about on here that are displayed in the book are so raw and so authentic and they're relatable to nurses that there are few stories that I have read that have impacted me the same way. So one, Brian, I just want to thank you for that and tell us as we start to wrap up today, what are you most excited about? Because as you just said, you know, you're still running in to the fire and the craziness of COVID. But what has you excited about health care or the future today?

Brian Mohika:
Something interesting is to say here is everybody has a story in them. Everybody has a book that they can share. The problem is is that especially on social media, on all social media platforms, we we don't share our pain. We don't share the embarrassing moments. What we do is we kind of get this really fancy degree and a fancy title. And then we hide behind that. I have found that the more transparent you are, the more effective you're going to be because everybody can identify with failure. Rarely do people identify with success. If you're sitting in a room of 100 people and you say how many people have started a business, not too many hands are going to come up. But if you stand in a room and say how many people have been affected by alcoholism, drug addiction, divorce, abuse of some sort, how many people here have been fired? How many people have been depressed? There'll be countless hands that are raised. But we don't we don't talk about that because it's taboo or or what not, you know, and we shouldn't be that way because we need to be effective. And the only way to be effective the best is transparency. And I was very transparent in my book Let It Flow About My Mistakes. You know that I made as an entrepreneur and the business plans and the way that I was approaching it because I kept saying to myself, Do other nurses know? Do they know that they don't want to be friends with you? Like, do you like, is it just me? Or is it like, dude, they don't care? Like, I used to hang up the phone when we first started and I get a phone call like, Oh my God, this patient called me and said that we changed their life and blah blah blah, and I'd be crying. And they're like, how many units did they buy? And I'm like, Well, one. And they're like, OK. I'm like, What the? But know what I mean? So nurses need to know that it's good and bad being a nurse in the business side, but it's always going to be great being a nurse no matter where you are. There's value to it. What gets me excited is partnering up with other nurses. I'm starting to move into a different part of my career where I'm getting involved into organizations where those organizations are trying to find other nurse inventors. I can't. There's not enough time on the interview for me to talk about how hungry I am to sit in front of nursing students, to sit in front of organizations, talk about leadership in general, but mainly the no quit mentality that nurses have to have in every aspect, including in innovation and inventing medical devices. That's what gets me excited.

Rebecca Love:
I love that Brian and I do hope, you know, I think that's the world and the conversations are going to happen and you are sharing them. It's going to be just so many light bulbs going off. So based on that, how can people reach you if they want to ab you come and speak? Or how can they find you if they want to reach out and have a conversation? Where can they find you, Brian?

Brian Mohika:
They can find me on LinkedIn, can also find me on Facebook. They can reach me through our proprietary website at CathWear.com and you can also email me at brianmohika@cathwear.com as well.

Rebecca Love:
Brian, it is always so great to speak with you. Thank you for joining us on the Outcomes Rocket Nursing.

Brian Mohika:
Yes, Ma'am.

Rebecca Love:
And everyone that tuned in, thank you so much for tuning in and to listening to Brian Mohika today. And tune in again to listen to other incredible nursing innovators and leaders signing out for Outcomes Rocket Nursing. Thank you.

Brian Mohika:
Thank you.

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Things You’ll Learn

  • Nurses are at the forefront of medical innovations because of proximity and professional intimacy shared with patients. 
  • Innovation, entrepreneurship, and many other possible roles were not introduced in nursing school.
  • Nurses don’t necessarily have to be by the bedside. 
  • If every nurse invents a product, we would be able to reach the patient from a holistic standpoint. 
  • When you are looking at medical devices or bringing new products to market in health care, nurses are going to give you a perspective from the patient, the safety, practicality, usability, and feasibility of adoption of a product that most with just straight backgrounds in business would never, ever be aware of.
  • Nurses have a unique vantage point because we see and hear what patients are going through more than the others. 
  • For those in the business world, nurses think the opposite from what you think. 
  • Make spaces for nurses to innovate. Bring them to the table. 
  • The goal post is always moving. 
  • Our accolades are not what’s going to define us.
  • The more transparent you are, the more effective you are going to be. 
  • Everybody can identify with failure. 
  • Nurses need to have a no-quit mentality. 

 

Resources

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-o-mohika-bsn-rn-956ab587/

Twitter: @BrianMohika

IG: https://www.instagram.com/ballin_with_jesus/

FB : @CathWearOfficial

Website: https://cathwear.com/

Book: Let It Flow: One Nurse’s Entrepreneurial Journey

Visit US HERE