Nurse Shortage Tragedies: When Healthcare Systems Fail

Two tragic healthcare stories highlight how staffing shortages directly compromise patient safety in American healthcare institutions. We take a deep dive into these cases to expose the real-world consequences of inadequate staffing ratios and lack of appropriate supervision in hospitals and nursing homes.

• A 35-year-old man with bipolar disorder died by suicide in a Savannah emergency room after being left inadequately supervised during a psychiatric hold
• The hospital's psychiatric unit was closed due to staffing shortages, forcing placement in a general ER with insufficient monitoring
• A federal court recently blocked a nursing home staffing mandate that would have required 24/7 RN coverage and minimum nursing hours for residents
• Nebraska officials celebrated this decision despite the dangerous current ratios where one nurse may care for 30-60 residents
• Current staffing ratios in long-term care facilities are unsafe and contribute to numerous incidents of neglect and preventable harm
• Nurses must protect themselves by researching facilities' staffing practices before accepting positions
• My journey to nursing started with plans to become a physical therapist until two nurse grandparents influenced my career path

Let me know your thoughts on these critical healthcare issues in the comments below. Share your experiences with staffing ratios or career changes, and help me get to know you better as we build this community together.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to the Weird World of Healthcare
• 0:51 Tragedy in Savannah ER
• 5:25 Nebraska's Nursing Home Staffing Battle
• 15:11 ICE Jacket Controversy on Superhero Day
• 18:14 Story Time: My Path to Nursing
• 21:25 Call to Action and Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome in, welcome in with your Wakanda RN. I'm not here to waste your time. Ladies and gentlemen, let's go ahead and get started with today's episode. And, oh, man, I try to tell you guys, at the end of this podcast, we were here with the weird yet wonderful world of healthcare, and so we're starting off hot, hot. So let's go ahead and get started. Man, we got a crazy situation that happened in Atlanta, Georgia, and let me go ahead and get y'all set up here, man, because we we need to talk about this. Man Crazy situation happened in Atlanta, georgia. So, basically, we got a family that blames nurses, shortage for an aliving and a Georgia ER. Can you believe that? Let's talk about it.

Speaker 1: 0:51

So a Georgia hospital is facing a lawsuit after Michael Chardin passed away by his own hands in an emergency room. So, my bad, savannah, georgia. Let's see, a Georgia hospital is facing a lawsuit alleging it failed to prevent the unaliving of a 35-year-old man who sought emergency psychiatric care and blames the lack of staff and oversight for his health. The lack of staff and oversight for his health. The suit filed by the family of Michael Sardine claims that the Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah and its staff did not provide the supervision required for the patients experiencing a mental health crisis. The wrongful death and medical malpractice complaint named several nurses, a physician, a psychiatric nurse practitioner and the hospital's parent companies as defendants. Chardane, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, called 911 from a Savannah hotel on January 12, 2024, saying he's having a nervous breakdown and needed help. Ems transferred him to a Memorial Health Emergency Department where he was placed on involuntary psychiatric hold known as 1013. I'm having a nervous breakdown, chardain said in a 911 recording, having bad thoughts. I don't know what I'm doing. Please help me. According to the lawsuit, the police body cam footage reviewed by Atlanta News First investigates the hospital psychiatric unit, known as D-Pod, was closed that day due to staffing shortages. Instead, chardin was placed on general general ER room and designated for line-of-sight observation, a level of monitoring that plaintiffs argue was never properly implemented.

Speaker 1: 2:54

A short time later, chardin was found hanging in a bathroom handicap rail using a hospital gown. According to a police report, staff had seen him earlier in the bathroom with multiple gowns. But allow him to supervise. The suit claims it took nearly 30 minutes before security was called to break in the locked door. According to a security guard interviewed by police the day the incident happened. He was placed on. He was reviewed and placed on life support, but never regained consciousness and passed away four days later after his mother decided to withdraw care.

Speaker 1: 3:33

Carol asked a doctor how could this happen? He said to me I don't know. She recalled, recalled. So, man, this is crazy, this is crazy. So, man, I don't know this. This is crazy.

Speaker 1: 3:51

I'm laughing because this situation is delicate, but it's it's nerve wracking to to read because it is a delicate and sensitive situation, because it is a delicate and sensitive situation regardless. This is the type of things that is happening throughout the country. So let me talk to the general public here. So I know a lot of people. People may be listening to this and they are confused about a lot. Initially, you're listening to this and you're literally asking the question how could this have happened? And you're literally asking the question how could this have happened? And literally, from basically the first two sentences within the article that I read, it was a staffing shortage. This is what happens when you have unsafe staffing. This is literally what happened. This is why we need your support as the public, because things like this are going to continue to happen as long as we have shortages within health care across our nation and I'm sorry that this poor man did not get the help that he needed.

Speaker 1: 4:55

Now some of you may be saying OK, well, the psychiatric unit, unit D, was closed, but he was placed in line of sight. As you can clearly read by the article, just because you're in line of sight does not mean the proper protocols were put into place. So when somebody is quote unquote line of sight, typically that person is placed across or directly in front of the nurse's station, so nurses can literally keep an eye on them in a line of sight. Mind you, this is an emergency department. Mind you, there's other emergency that's going on, so somebody could be in there needing a blood transfusion. Somebody could be in there you know what I'm saying because they had a motor vehicle accident and are needing emergency care. Somebody might be in there with a broken femur and they need immediate attention. Somebody may be in there and their blood sugar is extremely low, they're hypoglycemic and they're needing immediate intervention.

Speaker 1: 5:54

I'm just saying there's all kinds of situations and things that go on that require your attention and it's terrible. It's like you have to pick the most dire patients in that time to take care of and, honestly, that patient, if possible, should have been transferred to another facility that was better suited to take care of him. I don't know how long that would have been. I don't know how many miles out the next psychiatric facility was, but unfortunately the system failed this young man. The system ultimately failed this young man to where you had a breakdown all the way around. There was breakdown all the way around and unfortunately, because you had the breakdown in all these systems, this young man is not with us. So very sad, very terrible. That's to the general public, to my nurses.

Speaker 1: 6:47

Listen to me very carefully. This is why we need to pay attention whenever we sign up for facilities. Nurses, when you pick up shifts, that's in terms of staff, listen, you need to do your research on facilities. You need to do your research on the nurse to patient ratio. You need to do the research so you can protect yourself, because you don't want to end up in a lawsuit because your facility decided to take a patient. Your facility decides to take a patient. You're already short staffed and you're doing the best that you can.

Speaker 1: 7:28

Let me tell you something you may have saved multiple lives that day. You may have discharged multiple people that day. You may have improved the quality of life of somebody that day, but nobody's going to remember that. The only thing you're going to remember is that negative publicity that came right then and there. And if you were the nurse or nurses assigned to this patient, they are going to hold you accountable, no matter what good that you have done. All that good that you did that day is now gone out of the window. So all my nurses that are listening to this right now, please, please, please, do your due diligence and protect yourself, because you work too hard for your license to be working in a facility that's extremely short staff, so had to get it out and get that because it is. It is terrible and the sad thing is normally you see changes when extreme things like this happen. You know, instead of being proactive, typically facilities are reactive. Rest in peace. That situation is extremely, extremely terrible. Ok, so I recently talked about this on my TikTok, but let's talk about it some more here on the podcast.

Speaker 1: 8:45

Nebraska official celebrate judge blockingate. So some of you are probably aware of this that are listening right now. It's pretty self-explanatory, honestly, but let's go ahead and review. Let's go ahead and talk about it. Nebraska officials celebrate courts blocking a big government nursing home staffing mandate. Lincoln, nebraska. A federal court on Wednesday blocked a proposal proposed nursing home staffing mandate. Lincoln, nebraska. A federal court on Wednesday blocked a proposal proposed nursing home staffing mandate. The rule, which came from the Centers of Medicaid, medicare and Medicaid Services in 2023, would have required a registered nurse to be available 24-7 at nursing homes. It would also have mandated that residents of long-term care facilities receive a minimum of nursing daily, daily nursing hours. The decision was celebrated by nebraska government jim pillen and attorney general mike uh hilgers, who said that the order would have put nursing homes out of business. Big, the big government, one size fits all rule by the obama administration excuse me, by the administration would have threatened the viability of nursing homes doing their best to provide excellent care to those who need it, said Hilgers in a press release. He said 97% of nursing homes would have been out of compliance with the proposed nursing staff ratio. So and then, of course, you got. Nebraska joined 19 other states in a lawsuit urging that the agency overstepped its authority with the rule. So, so let's just break this down a little bit. So when I talked about it initially, I originally said that, you know, god forbid. We have 24-7 nursing coverage. Rn coverage, god forbid, because it would have kept nursing homes accountable. They would have to be more accountable. I had said it all comes down to money because, salary wise, the medium average salary in the United States for a registered nurse is around $90,000. So, instead of the typical eight hours that's required for RN coverage throughout nursing homes, you would have 24-7 coverage. So basically, you have to time a nurse's salary times three because typically within a nursing home you have three shifts. So you have to triple their salary, right, triple, you know. You know what I'm saying. Three staff members, whatever, and that just that's just too much money for a lot of nursing homes. So what I'm here to talk about? Because I had people saying in my comments talking about how, oh, the judge just interpreted the reading and you need to get on to your lawmakers. Nobody's talking about that. I never blamed a judge for interpreting the law. The problem is when I know people lack reading comprehension. I know people lack, I know people lack. The problem is literally, literally. People would have been held accountable. That's the problem. But the biggest problem is the people that allowed these absurd nursing home numbers to begin with. I don't care if somebody says that they have chronic disease processes that can't be managed by minimum staff. That is absurd. I hope that person who came up with these ratios is really right with God because I really wonder else is really right with God because I really wonder. Because one person to 30 is absurd. One person to 40 is absurd. One person to 50 is absurd. One person to 60. These are not exaggerations, these are real numbers. You don't believe me? Go talk to nurses who work in long term care. They can tell you. These are not made up numbers, these are legit numbers. One person is not properly able to take care of 60 individuals by themselves. It is completely absurd. That is the problem. Long term care facilities have got away with it for a long time. Problem Long-term care facilities have got away with it for a long time. You wonder why you see all the crazy stuff you do every single year regarding crazy stories Like, for example, within the past year I've seen stories about there was an unknown visitor that was under a resident's bed for so many amount of hours and nobody knows how they got there or how many residents that you hear about elope or leave facilities and they're found unalive many hours later. Why do you think you hear these stories all the time? Why do you think you hear them? It's because of the absurd and unnecessary staffing ratios that that is the problem. And for people that has been in my comment sections saying that this would really shut down nursing homes, they would weed out LPNs. That is absurd. Have we seen hospitals weeded out that require just RNs? No, lpns are still valuable. Lpns are able to work in many different areas. Let's not be closed minded and think LPNs can only work in long term care facilities. The thing is, it would have kept them accountable, and that's what they need. They need accountability. Do you not want your mamaw, your pawpaw, your whatever you call them Do you not want them to have the most educated staff there at all times? Is that not what you want? I know I do, I know I do, I know I do, I know I do. So why would, why would you not want? It's not unrealistic. It's only unrealistic because reality hasn't happened yet. It's only impossible till it's possible. The fact of the matter is we have such a closed way of thinking. We think it's impossible, we think that it can't happen. It can happen, it definitely can happen. So we need to change our way of thinking. That's number one. So there's that. I have a lot. I could have my own podcast just on nursing home. We're just going to keep it short, right there, okay. So back to this weird yet wonderful world of healthcare, as I've been claiming. So the next topic is Long Island nurse wears jacket on ice jacket on superhero day. You heard me, you heard me, you heard me. So let's, let's talk about this, let's talk about this, okay. So let's go back up. We're going to go back up to this article. So a Long Island elementary school nurse wore an ice jacket on superhero day. Gotta love ads man On superhero day. So this was at Northwest, inappropriate. Oh, I know this is going to. I know this is definitely going to be controversial, for sure, but that doesn't matter. I mean, we're going to talk about things, whether it's controversial or not. I feel as though so far, if you listen to this podcast, up to this point, everything so far has been controversial. So let's just keep rolling. So so you know, we're talking about an element. To me it doesn't even matter, but we're talking about an elementary school in long island where you have a minority is the majority. And on superhero day, on superhero day, you didn't you just, like I, you know forget superman, wonder, wonder Woman, batman, green Lantern I mean you can go on Spider-Man, I mean those are typically like Black Panther, you know, those are typically superheroes that come to mind. Where on earth did you thought it was OK to wear an ice jacket on Superhero Day and why did you think he was going to get away with it? So you know, 2025, politically, is a weird, really weird time. I don't know. I feel like I feel like people just want to do stuff because they feel like they can. I don't know. It's, it's really, really strange. And if it wasn't for nursing or if it wasn't healthcare, I wouldn't be talking about this. But well, opportunities there, so be it. I don't know, man, I don't know. I don't think that that has any place whatsoever to where, within healthcare at all, and especially amongst children. Amongst children is really, really crazy. I don't know that. To me, it's absurd to even it's embarrassing to even talk about. It's embarrassing to even mention it, because why on earth would you do that? So I mean, if you feel that way, if you really want to support ICE, I mean there's more appropriate ways if you want to do that, but just to wear that at school to think he's going to get away with it because it was superhero day, I have never in the history of mankind I have never heard of anybody saying that ice is their superhero. I have never in the history of human humankind and I have never heard somebody say that man, it's crazy, man, it's absolutely crazy. So, yeah, I'm sure if you got something to say about it you're going to let me know, but I think that's completely absurd. I'm going to introduce something called story time. I'm going to introduce segments here and there where I just kind of share some personal stories about myself. So, and the reason I brought this up? Because somebody asked me at work recently what would I do if I were not a nurse, and my answer was a physical therapist. It was my first major in college was to be a physical therapist. I made this decision when I was a senior in high school and I really thought that that's what I was going to be school, and I really thought that that's what I was going to be was a physical therapist. I really, really thought that. But life took a turn. Life took a turn for me, life changed very, very quickly. The reason that that changed for me is because of my grandparents. I had, for a short period of time in my life I lived with two grandparents my second semester of college. One is a retired licensed practical nurse, the other is a retired registered nurse. And you know, if you live with two nurses, I mean eventually they're going to talk to you, talk to you, talk to you and then eventually change your mind about what you're doing. So it was because of them that made me change my major. But physical therapy was my first. Physical therapy was my first, and typically the next question that comes after that is do I have regrets? Do I wish I would have went back? I mean, there's been periods of time where I'm like why did they convince me to do something different? I mean I's been periods of time where I'm like why did they take, why did they convince me to do something different? I mean I I've had those thoughts over the years because, if you know anything about nursing, nursing is very, very challenging, very, very challenging. But because of the relationships and the amount of people that I've ran into, I mean sure, there's people you could run into physical therapy, depending on what route you take, but I've ran into some pretty amazing people in terms of staff and patients, that that I have those memories and with me forever Relationships that I've built, and so those are precious to me and I'm glad that I have them. I feel like nursing has opened up doors for me that I'm not sure physical therapy would have. So I'm very thankful to be in a position that I am currently in as a nurse. I'm proud to be a nurse and here to use my voice and my gifts to make nursing better. So that was my first major. So, if you listen to this, I mean, what? What was your first major? What are you currently doing? Do you wish you had done something different? I mean, definitely, let me know, because I like to hear people's stories. I like to hear their journeys, where they're going, how they're doing, to hear their journeys where they're going, how they're doing. I love hearing about those type things because I believe that human interaction matters, people's lives. They matter, and so I enjoy hearing about people's progress and their journeys and everything like that. All right, so definitely let me know your thoughts on this particular episode. Definitely let me know. Please comment, share your thoughts on everything we talked about. Let me know how you feel about short staffing. Let me know how you feel about the mandate that's being blocked. Blocked, let me know about. I can't believe somebody wore an ice jacket to an elementary school. That was a nurse. Just let me know, man, let me know in the comments below. Don't be shy, don't be a stranger. I know some of you are pretty avid listeners of the show, of the podcast. Help me to get to know you better. Help me to build that connection, that relationship with you. You know, just let me know, let me know, man. It goes a long way. So I definitely appreciate the love, the support and things that I've been getting so far and, because of you guys, I'm excited to bring you guys more episodes, more material, everything like that. So definitely let me know below and thank you for stepping in and joining in with your Wakanda RN. I love you guys and I'm out.