She Did It Again! Nurse Erica Named Most Influential Nurse of the Year — Twice!

For being named Nurse.org's Best of Nursing Awards 2025 Most Influential Nurse of the Year, advocate and podcast co-host Nurse Erica (@the.nurse.erica) is incredibly down-to-earth.

Don't get us wrong: she shares that she's "thrilled" to have received the award. But it appears that the nurse advocate approaches the recognition in the same way she does her work: as a sign to dig in and keep advocating for the nurses who are working so hard every day, wondering if they are the problem, unaware the systematic issues within the healthcare system towards nurses. 

If you ever have the opportunity to talk to Nurse Erica, you'll experience what we did: downright respect for a woman who is willing to talk about the hard stuff in nursing, for the benefit of all of us, which is exactly why she deserves the award of the Most Influential Nurse of the Year.

Doing the Work

The award of "Most Influential" may evoke a nurse influencer hawking scrubs and accessories on social media. However, the work that Nurse Erica does on social media and through her podcast, Nurses Uncorked, is much deeper. As a first clue, she refers to herself as a nurse advocate, not an influencer. Instead of influencing her followers to buy items, Erica focuses her influence on bringing awareness to crucial issues for nurses and the healthcare system as a whole. 

Nurse Erica tells Nurse.org that her work is consistently focused on three main things:

• Nurse-patient staffing ratios
• Violence against healthcare workers
• The abilities and/or challenges surrounding nurse unionization

A quick trip to Nurse Erica's TikTok page immediately reveals videos she has made on these key topics, including a nurse who was assaulted at 8 months pregnant, nurses advocating as a strong union, and even sharing some positive stories of what nurses speaking up can accomplish. 

While Erica will always focus on her core issues, she also adds that this year, she is looking to bring awareness to two more key issues: Removing stigmatizing mental illness screening questions on nurse licensure applications and transitioning nursing services to billable care.

1. Removing Screening Questions

Nurse Erica points out that many states have mandatory mental health screening questions that nurses applying for or renewing their RN or APRN licenses must answer. "The problem is, when nurses answer those honestly, it triggers often mandated recovery programs that are really just like predatory and punitive in nature," she explains. "They're nothing more than a money grab, oftentimes for a board of nursing. So we're penalized by the very boards that are supposed to represent us."

Even more problematic, she adds that in states that do require those mandatory mental health screening questions, nurses will end up not seeking the mental health support that they need because they know that there is a very high probability that it could negatively impact their licensure and ability to work. 

"And the end result of that is untreated mental health issues in your frontline healthcare workers, and that correlates to increased medical errors and all sorts of problems," she summarizes. "So, you know, that's really kind of a problem."

2. Making Nursing Services Billable

It's hard to believe, but another of Nurse Erica's core issues for the year is addressing why nursing is not a billable service.

"We have this archaic billing structure that still puts nurses in with the pillows and the water pitcher the daily room charges," she points out. "We need to address that because that would be a huge game changer. If nurses generated revenue overnight, we would be respected and valued."

Why It Matters

Although one could argue that the online advocacy Nurse Erica does is certainly a full-time venture, it's not a full-time income-earning job for her. She works a full-time nursing job and does her online work "on the side" to very little financial gain.

But she does the work—even at great personal risk ("Who is ever going to want to hire Nurse Erica?" she laughs, but in an also-it's-not-really-that-funny way) because she sees its direct outcome. She shares that she hears daily from nurses who tell her that she is the reason they chose not to take their lives.

"It's a lot to take in when I hear those things," Nurse Erica admits. Still, she fully believes in the power of empowering nurses "so that they know it's not them." Her work has resulted in change on both small and large scales. For example, Texas made healthcare worker assaults a third degree felony after Erica's relentless coverage and pressure following a double homicide of an L & D nurse and social worker. 

In light of her influence, Nurse Erica maintains that helping nurses see their worth keeps her going. "You know, when they're being gaslit and manipulated at work by the organizations, it's about empowering them to know it's not them," she continues. "It makes a difference in individual nurses…the individual nurse stories are what I'm really proud of."

Advice From an Activist

Along with following her on all of her platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, Nurse Erica wants to leave three final pieces of parting advice for any current or aspiring nurses to help empower them:

1. Know Your State Labor Laws

Nurse Erica is a big proponent of nurses knowing their state labor laws, which you can look up online federally or by state.

"What you don't want to do is be in a position where they're saying, 'Oh no, you have to work the next 24 hours,' and you don't know your rights," she explains. "Everyone should be familiar with the basic labor laws in their state."

She also encourages every nurse to have a copy of the Nurse Practice Act for their state.

2. Understand the Role of Boards of Nursing

Although it’s hard to hear, Nurse Erica also wants nurses to understand that Boards of Nursing have no oversight. 

"They exist to protect the public from nurses, not to protect nurses," she says bluntly. "That's a big one that nurses don't understand. They're not there to advocate for it. They are there to root out who they perceive to be dangerous nurses, and they have no oversight. They can do anything they want, and there is no governmental agency overlooking them that you can report a corrupt Board of Nursing to. They answer to no one." 

What does that mean? Well, according to Nurse Erica, if you were ever reported to the Board of Nursing, get yourself a lawyer ASAP. 

3. Judge Management by Their Actions, Not Their Words

Last but not least, no matter what issue you're trying to address as a nurse on the frontlines, Nurse Erica urges you to consider what your management is actually doing, as opposed to their plans or intentions.

"They will stall and lie and say, 'we're addressing it,' or 'we formed a committee,' or 'we're looking at putting that in the budget for next year,'" she says. "All these things just stall tactics. It's breadcrumbing. Judge them by their actions, not their words. If they wanted to, they would."

End the Martydom

Nurse Erica has accomplished a tremendous amount in the six-plus years she has been in the online advocacy space, and there's undoubtedly much more to come. Still, in the end, she has a straightforward mission: to educate and empower nurses to change nursing from the inside-out. 

"I want to change the nursing profession broadly, but more specifically, I want to end the martyrdom mentality in the nursing profession because it's so damaging," she says. "We are indoctrinated from day one of nursing school to sacrifice everything for our patients, and that's frankly, killing nurses." She points to tragic cases such as as Tristan Kate Smith, the nurse who died from suicide and left a letter to her "abuser" and Joyce Grayson, a homecare nurse who was mudered while caring for her patient, as examples of what can happen when nurses are discouraged from speaking up for basic protections and rights on the job. 

"We need to be empowered to know that we don't have to sacrifice everything to be a nurse and for patients," she summarizes. "We just don't have to."

🤔Nurses, what do you think about Nurse Erica, her platforms, and her advocacy? Share your comments below!