Wakanda's Wrld
This channel is primarily informative within the weird and wonderful world of healthcare. I discuss how to improve the wide world of healthcare along with up to date information. I love to have different guest from different walks of life within healthcare. For podcast guest inquires reach me at shanklindj@yahoo.com
Wakanda's Wrld
Trumps bombing impact, Floor Segregation, Crocs over staffing: A nurses perspective.
Ever noticed how some people on social media will say absolutely anything to grab attention? When someone compared nurses' roles during COVID to what might happen if conflict with Iran reached American soil, I had to speak up. This harmful fear-mongering ignores the reality of our emergency response systems – FEMA, Red Cross, Salvation Army – all specifically designed to handle disasters without drafting every healthcare worker in the country.
The healthcare landscape continues to expose its troubling priorities. BlackRock is suing UnitedHealth Group because the company backed away from "aggressive anti-consumer tactics" following their CEO's death. Think about that – investors are literally upset that an insurance company isn't being ruthless enough in denying patient claims. The lawsuit explicitly states they're unhappy UnitedHealth can't pursue the earnings goals they'd promised because they're not being as predatory. This raw display of greed perfectly illustrates what's broken in our healthcare system.
Meanwhile, nurses face daily challenges from discrimination to misplaced priorities. "Floor segregation" happens when minority nurses get systematically assigned to understaffed units with fewer resources. I've experienced workplace politics firsthand, where relationships with management determined who had to float between units. And rather than addressing critical staffing shortages, some administrators obsess over whether nurses wear Crocs or have the "wrong" hairstyles. These superficial concerns about "professionalism" reveal how disconnected leadership has become from frontline realities.
What healthcare stories have you experienced? Have you faced discrimination in your workplace? Share your experiences in the comments, and if you value these conversations, consider following Wakanda RN across all podcast platforms or supporting the show with just $3 monthly. Together, we can bring attention to what really matters in healthcare.
https://linktr.ee/WakandaRN
Welcome in, welcome in, come tell a friend about your Wakanda RN. So for me, man, it's Sunday and it's still Juneteenth weekend. I hope everybody had a healthy and celebratory Juneteenth. So I'm happy to announce that and happy to be here today. And I got a few subjects for you guys today. Man, I'm not here to waste your time. So, man, let's get into it. So we got a few subjects. My first subject is someone on social media talked about how COVID and the situation in Iran they're compatible. So maybe, if you're not ready to know, maybe on a social media retreat, I don't know. But so recently the United States, led by President Trump, announced that that Iran was bombed. There was three nuclear sites that were bombed and of course there's you have the Israel Iran conflict that's been going on, and so United States got involved and decided to bomb Iran.
Speaker 1:Now I'm not going to pretend like I'm some political major. I'm not going to sit here and do that. I speak on things from a nurse slash, healthcare perspective on things. So there's people who are already given their business perspective, their financial perspective. I mean, you got all this stuff going on and I get it, man, it's a hot topic. So people are just saying pretty much whatever comes to their mind. And so I'm here today to kind of bring my own little perspective in the small context, because you know you're going to see people on social media that are going to just try to hop on a hot topic. So one particular individual decided to get on social media and literally talk about how, comparing covid to iran and the reason he compared the two, the situation I ran in a covid. He talked about how nurses are essential health care workers and because nurses are essential health care workers, if anything were to happen here then we're going to be part of that. Essential workers, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Our response to that is simple.
Speaker 1:Have you lost your mind? Like, have you lost it? Because that is the furthest thing from the truth. Yes, we had COVID, which was an actual pandemic. Yes, we were deemed essential workers. Why? Because we were needed in the particular areas where services were absolutely necessary. Ok, so you can't, just because of pandemics going on, you can't just leave, you know, your granny in a nursing home, you can't just not take care of people in the hospital. We were deemed essential to our society, right? So you're talking about an actual pandemic.
Speaker 1:Comparing to if a situation happened here in the united states, which I suggest you do your research, because the chances of that of actually happening are pretty low. It's cool to talk about fear mongering. It's cool to talk about you know what could happen and all this and that, and is there a possibility? Sure, but is it slim? Absolutely Like. The chances of that really happening are really really slim and I suggest you do your research. I did mine, so I need you to do yours, okay, so if you're listening to this, so you're listening as your health care worker. It's not even close to comparable. It's not even close. So let me give you so those who are listening, if you do not know. I know tensions get high and I know we can forget when we get stressed, but let me give you at least a list of some resources that we have here If a disaster like that were to happen.
Speaker 1:Let me give you a list of resources, okay, so first we have FEMA. We have FEMA. So maybe you're new, maybe you never heard of FEMA. Okay, it is the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They provide all kinds of government assistance during a disaster. So that's first and foremost. Second off, we have the American Red Cross. They provide emergency shelter, food, health services and disaster cleanup. So we got the American Red Cross. We have Salvation Army. That does mass feedings. They do mobile food canteens, emotional spiritual care. We got Team Rubicon veteran-led disaster response and rebuilding. And then it's not excluding your local and state emergency agencies. So unless you are a health care worker that is a part of that it's not like you're going to be called. It's like, ok, well, we had a, a, a bombing that happened in North Carolina, god forbid, and so we know all nurses go to North Carolina. It's like, no, if you're part of the disaster emergency response and you're part of the Red Cross or something, sure you may be called to go there. Maybe you feel like maybe you want to go help, right, so you can do that. But it's not like nurses all over the country have to go to this spot if a war broke out, have to go to this spot if a war broke out.
Speaker 1:So stop the fear-mongering, stop listening to people on the internet, because that that is absurd, bro. That is, that is absolutely absurd. Because somebody literally on the internet compared covid to the situation how iran can affect here in the united states. That is absolutely absurd. That is absurd. So let's debunk that and get that out the way. Now, if you happen to be stationed over there on the military bases or whatever, I don't know what's going on with that situation, but so far as of this recording, none of the military bases that are near Iran have been affected. So that may be a totally different situation if you're stationed over there, but here in the United States, that's it's just not, it's not happening, it's just not happening. So let's just get that out the way, because I kid is crazy the stuff I see, I'm just like I got to say something, because that that is absolutely absurd. So let's start there, ok.
Speaker 1:So another subject I would like to talk about is BlackRock suing UnitedHealth. I've been seeing this on the internet, so the main credible source that I was seeing was I think it's by CNBC is the one that I saw. It's the one that I saw. Let's see here. All right, it's the one that I saw. Let's see here. All right, it's kind of small, all right. So let's go back here. So what I could see here is UnitedHealthcare sued by shareholders over reaction to the CEO. Ceos on a living this was published on May 8th 2025. Ceo's unaliving this was published on May 8th 2025.
Speaker 1:So there's a group of investors suing United Healthcare Group, accusing the company of misleading them after the unaliving of its CEO, brian Thompson. The class action lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York accuses the health insurance company of not initially adjusting their 2025 net earning outlook to favor how the Thompsons' unaliving would affect their operations. On December 3rd, a day before Thompson was fatally shot, the company issued guidance that included net earnings of $28.15 to $28.65 per share and adjusted net earnings of $29.50 to $30 per share. The suit notes and on January 26th excuse me, 16th the company announced that it was sticking with this old forecast. The investors describe this as materially false and misleading, pointing to the immense public scrutiny the company and the broader health insurance industry experienced in the wake of the unaliving. The group, which is seeking unspecified damages, argued the public backlash prevented the company from pursuing the aggressive anti-consumer tactics. It would need to choose its earning goals tactics. It would need to choose its earning goals. As such, the company was deliberately reckless in dumbing down on its previously issued guidance.
Speaker 1:The suit reads Hmm, well, so let's go back here. Man, like it is absolutely. It is insane to me. It is insane to me. So I mean there's a lot to a little bit to break down there. But if you think about, in the wake of the previous CEO is not pursuing the anti consumer politics and tactics. Can you believe that? Basically, the suit is mad. It's like OK, so we invested in y'all and because we want to make money, right, we invested in y'all and you guys were pretty much ruthless before and now that you've backed off and you're losing money, that's not what we signed up for.
Speaker 1:I know this is popular, but people say this is the type of greed that you hear about in the Bible. You see about in the Bible. I mean investing in an insurance company for the money or health insurance company for the money is absurd. Just for the money is absurd. I mean, my suggestion is you can do, you can make, you can make money and investing in other projects, but just because somebody had to change their philosophy in wake of their previous CEO, and I'm like did people forget, you shareholder, did you forget of why the unaliving Brian Thompson happened in the first place? Now I'm not sitting here saying that the act itself was correct, but really this is in wake of. You saw the public reaction. Really this is a wake of.
Speaker 1:People are tired of dealing with high insurance prices and tired. They're tired of jumping through hoops. They're tired of having to go through all these steps, all these hoops, just to get services. There's people that just want basic services and or sometimes they really need certain medications, but it requires a prior authorization. That requires another prior authorization or another prior authorization just to get the medication, and a lot of times they don't even get that Because their insurance companies the lot is denying their claims and then so therefore the insurance company is making more of a buck.
Speaker 1:So you got this going on and but, but this I'm telling you, it's a crazy, evil world that we live in. The fact that you got people that are mad literally mad at United Health because they're not using their anti-consumer tactics beforehand, it's crazy. Just how immoral can you be? I mean, the love of money is the root of all of evil. Earning some money is not evil, but I mean just you can earn money without the expense of destroying lives. That is. That is absurd to me, but y'all definitely got to let me know what you think about that, because that to me, it's absolutely positively absurd.
Speaker 1:Something else I wanted to talk with you guys about today is, um, there's a nurse who talked about floor segregation and some of you probably like what the heck is floor segregation? Right, and we're gonna, we're gonna bring that up, man, because up until I really saw this, to be honest with you, I was kind of like, bro, you know what I'm saying. I wasn't 100% sure, but at the same time it's like, hey, man, if it's happened, it's happened. So we're going to take a listen to some of this. Hey y'all, good morning.
Speaker 2:So last night I was on a cardiac step down unit. A couple of the new nurses on the unit were trying to pick my brain about being a pool nurse and what that means and all those kinds of things. Something unexpected that people never expect me to say about being a pool nurse is that as a pool nurse, first of all a pool nurse is somebody that goes to a different unit every day. You can work per diem, which means kind of like on call. You usually have to give like four shifts in six weeks and that's your minimum. You can work as much as you want or as little as you want. You get no benefits. Or you can work as a pool nurse and you could be a full-time staff member. You work three 12-hour shifts a week but you still go to a different unit every day. Either way is considered pool. Depending on your specialty whether you're message, tele, ICU, ER, whatever you go to a different unit every single time that you work usually right and depending on how big your hospital is, you see a lot of different units and something that I think that people don't be thinking about when they think about pool is that I see the uneven treatment between different units that other people don't see. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:For instance, I used to work at this one hospital where they had a whole unit that was mostly Black nurses. That unit was a med-surg unit. That unit had the highest ratios. That unit had the least resources. They never had no techs, because if another unit needed a tech they would pull from that unit first. That unit had the least equipment. The most broke down old equipment and they somehow also would get cleaned the less that unit looked older. It was never as kept as the other units, Right.
Speaker 2:And when I started talking to some of the black nurses about, like, how they ended up here, because it was such a vast difference, right, they would say to me, like, oh, I applied to this unit, this other unit, but they said I will be better fit here. Now, how you better fit from an interview? How you better fit from an interview from a manager that don't manage that unit? If you manage the ER and I apply for the ER, why would you send me to a message and tell me that I'll be better fit there? If you don't manage that unit, how do you know I'm better fit there, or is it? Is it because I'm black, that's what it's looking like. Or a nurse that works on a specific unit. Only they.
Speaker 1:Okay. So I mean that she was discriminated against and you know, when it comes to moving floors, so as somebody that has had to go to float to different floors as a ER nurse or as a med surge nurse, I I mean I've had the float to ICU step down, um, and it's within like I can manage those type of patients and all that. So I mean I've had to do that and, of course, me working for a veteran center, um, that had seven units and I've had to float from unit to unit, different things like that. And so I've experienced that and honestly, I have been a subject of, I wouldn't say, but for me it wasn't because I was black I've had some of the floor segregation because of politics. I've been moved because there was fraternizing going on between the manager and a woman who both, at the time, were married, and so I got moved and cause, cause. Here's what the thing was right. This is story time with Wakanda.
Speaker 1:So at the time, you know, at that time I had a manager and this particular woman. They were having romantic relationships and they were cheating on each other, right them individually, asked my thoughts, you know, on divorce and remarriage, and I gave you like my biblical interpretation of divorce and remarriage and I didn't like, like what I said and I was, like you know, sharing my thoughts towards it. And so you know, this particular nurse, like we had a rule, like you, like you rotated shifts or, excuse me, you rotated months on how you float. So, like in january might be my time to float, like, if I'm housed on, let's say, unit two, for the month of january I don't have to float, but in february I'm gonna have to float, and when and when it's your float month, you can literally float anywhere, any of the seven, any of the seven units that you can float. Well, this particular nurse particular nurse, because she was messing with this type of manager got to a point where she didn't have to float anymore. She didn't float, she stopped floating.
Speaker 1:Maybe some people can say it's coincidence. I've pointed it out to people who were above me at the time and they brushed it off like it was nothing. I got told I just need to mind my business. I'm not joking. So I've seen floor discrimination happen on on my end, to where it wasn't because I was black, it was because you know, they didn't like what was said, and then you had a fraternizing going on. So I mean I got moved. I got. I got moved because you know of the situation that happened. So, but that was with me personally. Um, but I've had the flow in other areas and I've never been discriminated because I'm black.
Speaker 1:But, however, if you go to the comments, there's people that share in the same story. So I want to know so if you're listening to this, you're hearing this have you ever been discriminated against? And your workforce, especially within health care? So it doesn't matter if you are black, white, asian, if you're part LGBTQ, whatever, whatever. Maybe you're tall, maybe you're short, maybe you're strong, maybe you're weak, whatever. Have you ever been discriminated against? Please let me know. Wherever you see this comment, let me know.
Speaker 1:I want to hear your show, hear your story and just kind of talk about it a little bit, maybe share it, bring some awareness to others, because, at the end of the day, people will use whatever position of power to try to get whatever they want. So if they want the particular unit to look a certain way, they'll do it. If they want their particular floor to look a certain way and have the position of position of power to do it, they're going to do it. So which I know, not everything is black and white but if you have had a similar story or similar experience, I would definitely like to know. So please let me know in the comments below. So that situation is crazy. I like hearing perspective. I like hearing people talk about things on the internet. That's the powerful thing, because I think about it before.
Speaker 1:Like you may have just reported it to a manager, right, and it gets nowhere, and you may lose confidence right then and there. Like I try to report it to the manager but it just stopped. You know what I'm saying. Or you try to report higher up it's gonna go up the chain of command, but let's say, it just stopped right then and there. So it's kind of cool that now people have platforms to be like okay, I'm gonna share my story, I'm gonna share my side and, for better or for worse, you didn't have a voice. So I'm glad people have these platforms to be able to do so.
Speaker 1:Okay, so yo um, I saw a video recently, um, with uh, lindsay scrub hacks, who um talked about. Basically, she did a skit about management, the unrealistic expectations there. You know how out of touch management can be. And so you have a charge nurse who is running the shift, and she's already talked about, she's shorthanded. You have, you know, your new grad and you know you may have another seasoned nurse and they're doing the best that they can with the resources and materials that they have and they're struggling, they're having a hard time, and yet you have management CEO whoever comes up in there, happy to get out, and she's trying to talk to a staff member and say hey, you need to gather up everybody. I have some very important news I need to share. And then so you have different nurses, different health care workers in different settings. You got one lady that's on the toilet, you got. You got the charge nurse that's knee deep in a cold brown, if you know. You know, you know I'm saying the new grad is just there, you know, just you know.
Speaker 1:You got different scenarios. That's going on. I think that's pretty cool because that's pretty much what's going on Right In a hospital setting or anywhere really. And then you have this one person, you have literally one person who is wanting to just disrupt the whole thing. And what do you think? What do you think? Some of you probably don't even know what I'm talking about, but what do you think this management person is going to say Do you think it's going to be increase in pay? Do you think it's going to be increase in pay? Do you think it's going to be more staff members? Do you think, like, they're going to bring the best food in town to try to show their appreciation?
Speaker 1:What do you guys think happened in this scenario here? And it's supposed to be a skit, but it's. It's so close, it is so close. It actually no, it is the truth, whether you want to accept or not, it is the truth If you've worked in those settings, right? Well, she finally gathers everybody up, everybody finally has a brief second, right, because they're so busy, they have a brief second and she decides to tell them today we're going to stop wearing Crocs. Stop wearing Crocs, hold the press right, just stop everything. We're going to stop wearing Crocs. Stop wearing Crocs. Hold the press right, Just stop everything. We're going to stop wearing Crocs because they're unprofessional and the giblets on those Crocs are so unprofessional. They have to go. They have to go. And some of you are probably this this can't, this can't happen. I know a nurse personally this has happened to that a policy was put in place that they no longer want them wearing Crocs because it looks unprofessional.
Speaker 1:So I don't like hearing arguments on professionalism from a lot of people that manage health care. To be completely honest with you, because they're so out of touch with reality. I would like to have fully staffed units, fully staffed floors, before we talk about professionalism. Can we do that first? That would be fantastic. You know what I'm saying. But when you're already undermanned, you're already understaffed. And here you are preaching about professionalism. That's the least of our concerns right now.
Speaker 1:Yes, we want to maintain professionalism. Yes, we want people to look the part and sound the part. Yes, we want people to agree with the company vision and mission and statement and blah, blah, blah, blah. Yes, all that is important, but we need staff. We have to have staff, we need to retain staff. It's really really that simple Cause once you get staff, you can kind of focus on the other stuff. You got to get staff, you got to retain staff and that is important Retaining staff members.
Speaker 1:But unfortunately this is true this has happened in multiple facilities around the country to where they're obsessed over crocs and giblets and accessories and and hair and nails and yada, yada, yada. I've heard stuff over the last few months. I'm just like we are focused on the wrong thing. I even saw you can look it up, you can look at the video I even saw a video I think some nurses are trying to have fun with it now, which they always do to take a negative situation and make it fun To where there's a viral video of a pastor that's saying something about can't have horse hair in the hospital, it can't have horse hair in a hospital. What are we talking about? Like I don't know man, it it's, it's weird, it's really weird. Right now, we live in a weird, weird time. I was about to go on, I was about to go on a tangent, but I'm not gonna do it. Not yet, not yet, not yet.
Speaker 1:Everybody has something to say about health care workers. Everybody has something to say and the sad thing is it's like but there's certain stereotypes. I'm not, I'm just calling what I see, I'm a referee, I call like I see it, there's been people, especially the last few months, have been taking shots at certain stereotypes. When you think of horse hair, there's a certain ethnic group that pops in your mind, but it's like, I don't care if they have horse hair. Most of the time that the people have horse hair. They have their hair in a professional manner anyway, who cares what kind of hair they have? But this dude was like they have horse hair, they have horse hair. You just look it up, just look it up. So look, man, what y'all gotta let me know what y'all think about all this mess. All this mess and it's kind of funny because I know people sometimes they'll get on, they'll watch shows or get on podcasts or like, well, how do you find stuff to talk about? There's always people talking about healthcare. I don't know. You know there's always something weird going on within healthcare. There's always something going on, but anyway.
Speaker 1:So if you enjoyed this video, give me a follow. You know what I'm saying. Subscribe, please, donate to the channel. It goes a long, long way. Consider becoming a a subscriber on my bus sprout because you can just say man, just support your boy. Three, three dollars a month. It goes a long way. Just give me a like, give me a follow. You can follow me on all platforms. Wakanda are in on YouTube, konda's World, anywhere that there's a podcast. So some of you may be listening to this for the first time and you may have found me on Amazon. Maybe you found me on Apple. Just give your boy a follow, man. Give your boy a follow, subscribe. It really really goes a long way. So, yeah, man, thank y'all for tuning in with your Wakanda RM man. I love you guys. Hope you guys have a blessed start to your week and until next time.
