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
Nurses Fired After Patient Death: Justice or Retaliation?
We explore the troubling case of 15 nurses fired after a 12-year-old patient's death at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, where a child was placed in an inadequate general pediatric unit instead of a proper psychiatric facility. The Washington State Nurses Association suggests these firings were retaliatory after nurses raised concerns about patient treatment.
• Hospital closed dedicated adolescent psychiatric unit despite warnings from healthcare professionals
• Child was placed in a general pediatric unit without proper safety features or specially trained staff
• Decision appears financially motivated at the expense of patient safety
• Nurses allegedly fired for accessing patient records, though union claims this was retaliation
• Popular nursing educator "Nurse Sarah" (Registered Nurse RN) hospitalized with meningitis
• Case study of a nurse disciplined for medication administration without proper assessment or documentation
• Board of Nursing reportedly asking mental health questions during license renewals in 30+ states
• Google DeepMind CEO believes AI could replace doctors' diagnostic skills but not nurses' empathy
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Welcome in, welcome in, come to the friend with your Wakanda RN. I got a lot on my mind, but let's not waste your time, let's get into it. So, right off the bat, there was 15 nurses fired. 15 nurses fired for the unaliving of a 12-year-old girl. Is this necessarily the case? We're going to find out, man, because sometimes not everything's black and white, but we're going to jump right into it. So let's get to this article here, man Woo, because that that is serious right off the bat. All right, so here we go, we got Washington's largest nurses union. Union is accusing Providence, sacred Heart Medical Center and SpokesPain of retaliating against staff following the unaliving of a 12-year-old patient on hospital grounds earlier this year. The hospital recently fired 12, excuse me, 15 nurses and disciplined at least one more, alleging they accessed the patient's medical records without being directly involved in her care. But the Washington State Nurses Association says determinations came after the staff raised concerns about the child's treatment and followed public criticism of the hospital's psychiatric care system. All right. So on April 13th, sarah, the patient who had been receiving intermittent psychiatric care at Sacred Heart for self-harm and suicidal behavior over the period of eight months, slipped out of her room onto the pediatric floor around 5.30 pm. Her exit reportedly did not trigger an alarm. Alone and unsupervised, she walked about a quarter mile to the top level of a hospital parking garage and jumped. She passed away two hours later in the emergency room.
Speaker 1:At the time Sarah was being housed in a general pediatric unit instead of a dedicated psychiatric facility. Sacred Heart had closed its adolescent psychiatric unit just months earlier, a decision that drew warnings from nurses, doctors and community advocates. We said this was going to happen, said a former nurse in the children's psychiatric unit Said temporarily. We said their plan was not an adequate plan. You can't just put these kids in a medical room and expect everything to be okay. The psychiatric unit had been designed for safety, with multiple locked doors and staff trained in behavioral health. In its place. Two rooms in the pediatric unit were repurposed for psychiatric use, but pediatric nurses said those spaces lacked essential safety features, including secure doors, and that they received no specialized training for treating children with mental health crises. So WSNA expressed concern about a decision that was based upon the financial bottom line at the expense of the community's needs, said WSNA director David Keepnews. I don't know why nobody has regular names. This is amazing.
Speaker 1:Staff described Sarah's care as isolating and limited, with little therapeutic support or social engagement. Most of her time was spent alone in her room when she was previously assigned to sitters, including one monitor her via camera. The camera was removed weeks before her passing and the in-person sitter discontinued in early April. Days later she left her room undetected and eventually passed away. So nurses says, says that the firings were retaliatory. Providence says the nurses who were terminated or disciplined violated HIPAA by assessing Sarah's chart without being part of her assigned care team. But Washington State Nurses Association says many of those nurses were fulfilling their clinical responsibilities and that Sacred Heart's actions came amidst heightened internal scrutiny following media coverage of the passing away.
Speaker 1:And so you can kind of see and read the rest of that there, and it goes on. So, man, let's talk about this, let's talk about this, okay, okay, quite a bit to unpack here, quite a bit. So, basically, it seems as though that the 15 nurses it seems to be retaliatory. Just based upon the information that was shared there, you're able to make your own decision, but there seems to be some things that are kind of hard to disagree with, to be some things that are kind of hard to disagree with.
Speaker 1:So for one, if you're going to have a psychiatric patient, you need to put them in the proper psychiatric facility. You can't just make shift. So, for example, you can't just say I'm going to clear out two rooms and then I'm just going to make do with what we got. You can't do that because, I'll tell you something you can't just not treat psychiatric patients and mental health patients with the proper respect that they deserve. You got to have the proper resources. You got to have people that are trained and, according to the resource that I just read in a document I just read, the staff who were over her didn't even have the proper training to take care of her. So why would you put a patient in that situation when the staff themselves did not have proper training? Okay, and then they try to make do with sitters, so people that can just watch you for a period of time, and then somebody else takes their spot, and this is off and on as it's continuous. So it sounds like over time they lost access to the two-person sitter system that they had, and then it looks like one sitter was discontinued, or whatever the case may be, and then this person, who was pretty dedicated, it sounds like and pretty determined that they were going to unlive themselves. So you can't just make shift, you can't just make do. Either you have the proper staff and facility and the measures in place or you don't need to have that patient there, because that is what happened. That is what happened Because it sounds as though when this was when the proper systems were in place, the proper measures were in place. It sounds like she was taken care of, and we obviously see what happens when it's not. And so some of you will see if you watch the whole video.
Speaker 1:I made a certain face when it came down to some of the look like the union was accusing the hospital of trying to save the bottom dollar. And of course, you can't just save the bottom dollar when it comes to patients lives. You can try to save the bottom dollar when it comes to you are on McDonald's, you want to run a Burger King, you want to run a dollar general or whatever. You can try to save a bottom dollar, but you don't try to save a bottom dollar when it comes to lives. You can't do that. You need to do everything that you can in place to make sure that lives are not lost and unfortunately, this is a common trend that we see within the hospital system. But definitely know, let me know what do you think, let me know your thoughts, let me know how you feel. I know that's a sensitive topic. That is a sensitive subject but it needed to be discussed because if the hospital and also community activists as well, who expressed their concerns about losing the psychiatric facility within the hospital and with the makeshift, so crazy absolutely positively crazy, but we need more heightened awareness on this.
Speaker 1:Ok, next subject Nurse Sarah. So some of you you hear the name Nurse Sarah, or maybe some of you know her as Registered Nurse RN, very popular, at least I know her from YouTube. Some of you may see her on other social media platforms that she was recently hospitalized with meningitis and the situation itself seemed to be pretty severe because you had somebody on her page that was asking for thoughts and prayers, because it seemed to be pretty severe. So let's talk about this man. What is meningitis? Just real quick. Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, also known as the meninges, and meningitis can be caused by viral or bacterial. Viral seems to be the more deadly of the two and also I apologize. It is more common and it is less severe than bacterial meningitis, which can be life-threatening. So common symptoms you can have headaches, stiff neck, light sensitivity, vomiting, confusion. If it gets too severe it can cause seizures and can lead to brain damage, etc. So she had all this going on.
Speaker 1:I know myself personally. I have used Nurse Sarah for quite a bit. I know when I was in RN school I used her for EKGs, I used her for ABGs, I used a lot of her material and shout out to her for just seeing a need and doing her best to meet that need. And there's many nursing students who are probably forever and eternally thankful for her and her content because she helped them get them through nursing school. So, as of this recording, she was discharged recently and I wish her nothing but the best and speedy recovery and hope that she does well. But nurse Sarah was recently discharged from the hospital for meningitis.
Speaker 1:Ok, so let's shift gears again. So have you ever wondered? Have you ever wondered about the Board of Nursing? So some of you may be listening to this. Maybe you're new grads, maybe you're year one through three of your nursing journey, or maybe you're year three through six of your nursing journey. Or maybe you're just a senior nurse and you've never have anything to do with the Board of Nursing. You've never have anything to do with the board of nursing. You have never been associated with it in terms of being called up there or being involved in any disciplinary action, and that is a blessing. That is a blessing within its own self. But have you ever wondered, have you ever, like, clicked on a link or clicked on an article when it comes to the board of nursing and kind of wonder, like, ok, what, what is that about? So, if you're listening to this depending on if you listen to this or you're watching this visually I do got something for you. I do have something for you.
Speaker 1:So I wanted to talk to you guys about a particular case. So this is your Wakanda and we're going to talk about the board of nursings do's and don'ts, do's and don'ts, and just pulling up a for one from the Texas Board of Nursing and we'll just. We'll just talk about it just real quick. Just real quick. Ok, so this individual was a registered nurse at UT Health Jacksonville in Jacksonville, texas, and he had been in a particular position for four months.
Speaker 1:Ok, so it looks that looks as though, on July 16, 2023, while employed as a registered nurse, he failed to assess and or document the behavior symptoms of patient MRN before or after he administered Haldol, an antipsychotic, intramuscularly at 1904 Benadryl. So we know if this is a psychotic patient. Sometimes it's going to help with agitation. Oh, you know Benadryl. You know know has like that. We know what Benadryl does. I go into detail about Benadryl and then Ativan two milligram intravenously. Also, it's given to antipsychotic patients. It's anti-anxiety as well. He gave these, so he gave his medications and then he did not have a complete assessment. He had an incomplete medical record, so he didn't document. He didn't document and he did not have an assessment. So we'll start, we'll stop right there. We'll stop right there before I go on, cause there's more. There's definitely more.
Speaker 1:So anytime when you you have to do anything that has to do with any anti-anxiety, anti-psychotics, anything like that, you need to document your reasons, their behavior, your reasons for giving that particular medication, particular medication, you need to document, document, document, document, document their behavior before, the behavior during administration, the behavior after administration. You need to have your basis covered. Ok, so this person, this individual, did not do that. He didn't have an assessment, he didn't have any documentation. He didn't have anything. Okay, so always, always, always, always, document. Let's keep going. So around this same time period, might I add? Enough time did not go by around the same time period, so we're talking about lesson number two.
Speaker 1:In addition, the respondent that failed to assess and or document the skin condition, he applied physical restraints. So physical restraints were applied to the same patient and he failed to assess and or document the skin condition and circulation of the patient while the patient was restrained Insane. So just you have to so anytime. Oh, but this person also did not have an order from the physician. Insane, so just you have to so any time. Oh, but this person also did not have an order from the physician.
Speaker 1:So let's break this down. So restraints were applied to a patient without an order. There was no order, no order that was put in place for this particular patient. So there was no order. He just put the restraints on. There was no documentation whatsoever after this individual put restraints on. So there was no assessment. There was no, there was no documentation on the patient's skin condition, circulation, nothing. So big, no, no, big, no, no.
Speaker 1:Please, if you're listening to this, please do not ever put restraints on a patient without a doctor's order. Please do not do that. And if you do put on restraints with a doctor's order, with the physician's order, please document according to your facilities, policy and procedure. Please document, please see why. Please cover yourself, please, because you will be turned in and ended up at the Board of nursing and I do not want that for you.
Speaker 1:Ok, so what typically happens whenever you get you, you get in trouble. The first thing you do you're going to try to blame somebody. Instead of taking accountability, you normally try to blame someone. So listen to this. So the respondent so this nurse who did all this states that the off-going nurse gave report to the charge nurse and the charge nurse's only assistance to the respondent was to scan the Haldol out of Van and Benadryl for him. Therefore, the resident states that the charge nurse should have documented on the patient because the charge nurse received the report.
Speaker 1:The respondent states that the physician gave a verbal order for the application of the physical restraints after the medications were ineffective, but the respondent was not able to document on the restraints, according to company policy, because the order was never entered by the physician. So when you get in trouble, that's the first thing you do, you try to blame somebody else. So he blames the charge nurse for not documenting you know, not documenting on the medications, right? He blames the doctor for not putting in the order, okay, so, so you should first off you, when you I don't know like you need to you need to scan your own medications, scan your own medications, document on your own medications. Ok, you need to do that yourself. So don't blame your charge nurse. You should have done that. And then the physician. So if there's an order, if there's a question about why didn't you check to see if there's an order in place? So you're blaming the physician you clarify with that physician OK, you gave me the verbal order.
Speaker 1:Do you need me to document that? Do you need me to put that order in for you, or are you going to put in that order for the restraints? That's what you should do. So don't be like this person and don't do anything and then, when you get called by the board of nursing, you just play the blame game. What you should do is check with your physician, check with your charge nurse, whatever. Just have great communication, but absurd, absurd. So don't do that, okay.
Speaker 1:Ok, please do not do that guys, guys, you can avoid so many things. You can avoid a lot of problems. You just you learn how to see why. You learn how to document and you're conscious about it. You're intentional, you're conscious about documenting and that saves you a lot. That saves you a lot of problems. If you are intentional about your documentation, you're going to be active with your documentation and you're always thinking I don't want to be in trouble.
Speaker 1:It's amazing when you have that mindset, you tend to do things to cover yourself, because many of us went through school. Many of us remember how difficult it was to get through school. Maybe some of you wasn't difficult, but you remember the problems, the difficulties, the trials, the tribulations. You remember your why. You remember why you wanted to be a nurse in the first place. You finally became a nurse and the last thing you want to do is to give your license to the board of nursing. That is the last thing you want to do. So many of us are already motivated because we're scared to death. We don't want to lose what we worked so hard for. So don't do it Okay. Don't do it Okay. If you like that, let me know. Let me know in the comments below. You listen to this, let me know if you like that. I can talk more about other cases. I can talk more about other things that are coming up that you're going to see regarding board of nursing, things like that, let me know. Let me know. So, if you like that type of stuff, let me know. I'll do more of that.
Speaker 1:Of nursing content creators, as we already talked about a little bit earlier in the podcast, here or wherever you listen to this, wherever you see this, let's talk about something the nurse Erica brought up about the board of nursing. That I found interesting. The nurse Erica, who does a lot of nursing news, a lot of nursing news, she recently talked about how the board of nursing is looking to get you in terms of your mental health. She talked about around 30-ish states that when you go to renew your application, ask questions about your mental health and, depending on if you answer appropriately, then the board of nursing will send you extra training or have you do drug tests or have you do extra things because you chose to answer accurately regarding your mental health.
Speaker 1:Now I must say I don't know if I just live in a state that's just not one of those 30 states that she mentioned, or the fact that maybe because I'm just such in a hurry to get through with my renewal process that I haven't paid attention. I will now. For sure I'm in a good headspace mentally. I mean, I've had some mental health stuff in the past, but I'm in a good headspace. So I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I'm just sitting there thinking about the renewal process. I don't know, I don't know, I'm just sitting there thinking about the renewal process. I don't remember seeing this. However, if you have been through this, please let me know, because I have not seen this. So I guess, for example, if you have had problems with drug use I think she said something about drug use which that's kind of interesting, because if you've had any problems with drug use, typically you're turned in to the Board of Nursing or typically they already know about it, and then you're already kind of doing your, you know your education and you got to do tests and stuff anyway. So I don't, I'm not really sure, but she talked about like I guess, somehow if you didn't already turn it into the Board of Nursing and then they find out, then they have you do random drug tests and all this other stuff.
Speaker 1:You know what a nursing? If you're a member of the board of nursing, you're listening to this. Um, nurses already have a lot going on sorry, a lot. I know a lot of you on that board of nursing. You're not doing bedside. You're not doing bedside, and you know. You know maybe for you you're kind of doing a soft nurse everything.
Speaker 1:However, if you would talk to some of your peers, a lot of them are struggling and there's a lot going on in the world of 2025 and beyond, and the last thing I need is for you, board of nursing, to make that harder, to make that more difficult than life already is. So, if somebody is honest with their mental health, give them resources. That's going to actually help them, not harm them, not make it harder to help them. You know nurses need help. We need help with their mental health, and the last thing they need is you, the board of nursing, to make that any worse, because, trust me, so far, you guys do not do anything to make the mental health of nurses any better. So, if you're a nurse, you're listening to this and you've been through this particular renewal process and you have seen the questions regarding mental health, let me know, because I have not seen that. I'm very, very curious. Please let me know, because I have not seen that and that is terrible. That is terrible. So please let me know.
Speaker 1:Ok, so I think I saw something about Elon Musk. Talked about how, you know, robots could replace nurses in the future, and so the Google DeepMind CEO talked about why AI could replace doctors but not nurses, how AI could replace doctors but not necessarily nurses, and I'm curious to know how you guys feel about that. And I know we've seen things about, you know, tesla, robots and stuff like that. Maybe some of you haven't, I know I have, and we're going to always have this kind of gray area in terms of that. So, just real quick, I'm gonna read some of this, some of this article. Um, so you know, he talks about how the future work of the age of AI.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I give this example of doctors and nurses maybe a doctor and maybe what the doctor does, like diagnosis, one can imagine being helped by an AI tool, or even having an AI kind of doctor. On the other hand, like nursing, you know, I don't think you want a robot to do that. I think there's something about the human empathy aspect of that and the care and so on. That's particularly humanistic. Habesis believes that the real strength of AI is processing and pattern recognition, particularly in diagnostics and the treatment planning. These advances could see AI assisting and even performing some core doctor duties in data-intensive areas.
Speaker 1:When it comes to nursing, hacibis maybe sorry for saying that wrong emphasizes that the essence of nursing goes far beyond the task and procedures. It's the emotional support, compassionate care, empathy that nurses bring to their patients. While AI and robotics are extremely capable when it comes to information processing and technical assistance, they lack the human touch that is integral to effective caregiving. This perspective isn't just about what current technology can or cannot do, but a recognition of some aspects of patient care. Such genuine human connection are irreplaceable and should remain firmly within the domain of human professionals. So to I don't really have much piggyback on that. I mean I completely agree. I mean we, you know, recognizing pattern recognition. That's why I could definitely see ai taking a big step in terms of, you know, especially the diagnostic test, the diagnostic process. I can definitely see that. I mean we're already seeing AI robotics in the use of the pharmaceutical industry when it comes to pharmacy technicians and stuff like that. So we're seeing already increasing that. So I can definitely, and I know China has already been creating like an AI, like a VR health care reality model, so we're going to see it. It's just not if it's when, so that is happening.
Speaker 1:But it's hard for, just like what he talked about, it's hard to replace that empathy aspect when it comes to nurses. That's why nurses, to me, are so invaluable. You can't put a value on nurses because what they truly bring not only from the treatment side or just bringing you know, it's not just medications or providing a treatment that empathy aspect that actually does the healing process for a lot of people. People, how many people will tell you, man, if it wasn't for this particular nurse or if I didn't have a great nursing staff, I don't know how I would have got through it. Or a healthcare staff engineer. You hear things about physical therapists or occupational therapists, or you hear things about nursing, like the nursing team, the interdisciplinary team, but I just feel as though that empathy aspect goes so far in terms of that healing process that we need. So it's very hard to see AI taking the nurse's spots Very, very difficult, very, very difficult, very difficult. So let me know in the comments what you think about that For sure, because I love to hear that.
Speaker 1:All right, so this is what I got for you guys today. I mean, a lot of stuff, man. We're talking about nurses fired, but was it justified or was it just? Was this retaliatory? You know we're talking about, you know, nurse Sarah, registered nurse RN, everything that she has done within a nursing space and her having meningitis. We talked about, you know, the board of nursing and just that little crazy example, and we could talk about a lot of many others as well. We talked about the Board of Nursing and how, apparently, it's taking advantage of people that have mental health problems, which is absurd. And we also talked about how you know, google deep, my CEO, and why I can replace doctors but not nurses.
Speaker 1:If you enjoyed any of this type of content, please give me a follow, like subscribe. Um, if you're listening to this or seeing this anywhere, I mean you could pretty much find the full episode to this podcast anywhere, especially on the audio side, especially whether you listen to spotify, apple, etc. Whatever, I mean you could pretty much find this podcast anywhere. If you're watching this on, please get that like comment and subscribe, because it definitely goes a long way for sure. I love to hear suggestions. Let me know what you guys want to see me talk about. Let me know what issues are out there. I mean I would love to address whatever that you guys you know hear or see. Address whatever that you guys you know hear or see. But thank you guys for tuning in what's your Wakanda are in. I had a lot on my mind so I try not to waste your time. So much love until next time. Love you guys. Peace.
