In this solo episode of the Club Nurse Podcast, host Colton Lord delivers a roundup of recent nursing news and personal reflections. He begins by promoting nurse appreciation events with discounted tickets to sports games. He then delves into the viral courtroom testimony of ICU nurse Megan Collins, highlighting how her meticulous charting served as a model for legal documentation and underscoring the principle that a nurse’s chart is a legal document. Next, Lord discusses the bipartisan Nurse Overtime and Patient Safety Act, which would cap weekly hours and consecutive shift length for Medicare‑participating facilities, add whistleblower protections, and impose civil penalties. He notes the bill’s broad endorsement but also that it remains in committee. The episode moves to a national blood‑supply crisis declared by the American Red Cross, explaining the “perfect storm” of heat, air‑quality issues, and seasonal donor drop‑off that has driven type O positive supplies below a one‑day reserve, and offers practical guidance for nurses on massive transfusion protocols and blood conservation. Lord then reviews an article on non‑clinical nurse burnout, describing how metric‑driven administrative roles create a different strain than bedside work. He announces the American Nurses Association’s recognition of patient blood management (PBM) as a new nursing specialty, summarizing its scope, the upcoming certification, and the prevalence of pre‑operative anemia and avoidable transfusions. Finally, Lord shares his own struggle with night‑shift work, his recent trauma nursing certification renewal, and offers encouragement to listeners. Throughout, he provides links to nurse.org for deeper coverage and includes brief promotional spots for discounts.
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Welcome to Club Nurse. I'm Colton Lord, your host. By you being here today, it shows me that you are someone who wants to learn, Grow, laugh, connect, and just let your emotions flow. We are here to share real stories and hear real life experiences from real people. You are not alone in this, and Club Nurse is here to show you that. Don't forget to follow the show and share today's episode with someone you love. Now let's dive into today's conversation.
Welcome back to the Club Nurse Podcast. My name is Colton Lord, your host, and we are going to get into some news this week. Um, if you've been following along for any time, you know that we cover nurse News, anything happening in nursing, healthcare, anything that we feel here at nurse.org or that I feel is going to be beneficial information for you to hear, as well as sometimes having guests on. I don't know if you caught the conversation last week. If you did not, I do highly suggest that you go listen to that episode that I did with Redonda Vought. That was the last episode. If any of you remember Redonda Vought, she was the nurse who was—I don't remember—I don't remember the year, but it was at a Vanderbilt University. Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. She had given— accidentally given vecuronium instead of Versed to a patient who was going to MRI, and the patient did die because of that medication error. And listening to Radhanda Vought talk about that situation the way that she does, and just the way that she wants to give back to the nursing community and educate and use the tragedy that she went through as a teaching point, is really remarkable. And I really think that everybody should go listen to that conversation. It was Really awesome. Again, that was the last episode here. So you can you can find these episodes on Spotify. You can find them on Apple Podcasts, or you can just find them on nurse.org on the website. You can literally just go to nurse.org, and if you just searched Radon Devaughn in the search bar, you would find the the latest episode there. Highly recommend. But today, let's dive into some news. I know that you've been following along with the trial with Lindsay Clancy, who was a former labor and delivery nurse who. has now been charged with the murder of her 3 children, um, in January of 2023. This happened in Boston. And the reason I'm talking about that right now is because of the testimony that ICU nurse Megan Collins gave. Uh, Megan Collins is an ICU nurse at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and she testified in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, not really to be on like the defense or the prosecution side. She was just there to provide facts. And her testimony, it went viral. It was something to behold. It was a masterclass is what they're calling it in how to document and how to stand, take the stand of a trial. Because she was not there to recall any new information. She literally went off of like her documentation to recall the events when what she documented was used in court. And she did such an amazing job. She was on the stand for about 20 minutes and she was just so calm, cool, collected. Even if she wasn't on the inside, she showed it on the outside that she was calm, cool, collected, professional, and really leaned heavy into her documentation, which is what you're supposed to do. And thankfully, her documentation was ten out of ten pristine, amazing, literally like no notes on the documentation side. So I would recommend you go listen to her clip. So many other, so many nurse creators, people on the internet were talking about her testimony just because it was like wow, you know there were so many people taking the stand, and she really represented the nursing. Community well. She represented how, uh, you know, what it means to document correctly, why we document. I think, uh, from the very beginning, then when we're all in school, we all are hearing constantly to chart like you're going to go to court. And this is why, because you may never, and hopefully you never have to, but if you do, Megan Collins is showing you exactly why you need to document and why it's so important. So in this article in nurse.org, says your chart is a legal document. This is what that means in practice. And these bullet points Go through document behavior, not conclusions. So Collins could testify to agitation, delirium, and specific patient requests because those were charted as observations. Objective language such as patient pulling at lines, reoriented times 3, survives cross-examination. Interpretive language often does not. Chart the requests, not just the vitals. One of the most consequential details in her testimony, the healthcare proxy change request, was in the record because someone documented a patient's stated wishes. Uh, patient statements about proxies, co-status, and care preferences belong in the chart every time. Uh, you testify to your documentation, not your memory. It's what I was just saying. Um, more than 3 years passed between Colin's care of the patient and her testimony. No nurse remembers a shift from 2023, which multiple years ago. The chart remembers it for you, which is the strongest argument there is for charting in real time completely every shift, which, uh, we try our best to chart in real time. It's not always realistic, uh, especially when you have multiple patients. But it is important to obviously do that to the best of your ability. And if you're ever called, precision is protection. So answering exactly the questions asked, confirming what is in the record, and declining to speculate is not evasiveness on the stand. It is professionalism. It is what made Collins' testimony as a nurse a model. Seriously, it really is a masterclass. I don't know how else to put it. I recommend going on TikTok or wherever and just searching her name, and it'll, it'll really, I think, just, just put into perspective why it's so important that we document. I think sometimes we lose track of that just because we take care of so many people every day. It's our Day in and day out, but this is a great reminder to every nurse out there to document like you may go to court one day. On to the next story. A new bill would ban forced nurse overtime nationwide. The Nurse Overtime and Patient Safety Act, a bipartisan bill reintroduced August 6th, 2026 by Senator Jeff Merkley, uh, and Representatives Doris Matsui and Jen Kiggins, would bar Medicare-participating facilities from forcing nurses to work past a scheduled shift more than 48 hours a week or more than 12 consecutive hours. The bill would add whistleblower and anti-retaliation protection for nurses who refuse mandated overtime, plus civil penalties of up to $10,000 per known violation, filling a gap for the roughly 32 states and no mandatory overtime restrictions. More than 50 organizations have endorsed the bill, including the American Nurses Association, which announced its support August 12th. Both bills sit in the committee and an earlier version died in the 118th Congress. So nothing changes at the bedside unless Congress acts. And honestly, I was a little bit surprised reading this. I guess maybe not surprised, but I've never—I don't know—I've never been in a situation where I was forced to work mandatory overtime. I've never worked for a facility who did that. So I guess I was surprised that facilities do this. But the article really is just talking about how you know there the professions such as like pilots or truck drivers—they hit a certain point and they time out, and they're legally not allowed to continue working because they're putting people's lives and safety at risk. And it's like hello, medical professionals should also be in that. Category as well because of the nature of our work. So I guess, I guess I was surprised for 2 reasons. Surprised, one, that there wasn't already something that addressed mandatory overtime. And then 2, I was surprised that mandatory overtime was a thing because I've just never, I have never come across this in my career. Um, so I'm curious if any of you listening have, um, but that is something to keep an eye out for. Um, like I said, more than 50 organizations have endorsed this, including the American Nurses Association, the National Nurses United, Oregon Nurses Association. And more. So that is definitely something to follow. What nurses need to know about this is that nothing has changed at your facility yet. Both bills were just recently introduced in early August. Neither, neither chamber has voted. So we will keep an eye on that. And hopefully we can update with some good news. There are 5.2 million registered nurses and nearly 1 million LPNs and LVNs the sponsor says the bill would cover. The 48-hour weekly cap and the 10-hour rest requirement after a 12-hour shift would directly affect the back-to-back scheduling patterns. Many nurses know well, and the retaliation language is aimed squarely at the fear of being written up, reported to the board, or labeled a patient abandonment risk for saying no. So that just is another protection for nurses, which I think is like totally appropriate and necessary.
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This one is a little bit scary. The Red Cross declares rare national blood crisis and what nurses need to know. So the American Red Cross, which I didn't know this, but supplies roughly 40% of the nation's blood to more than 2,500 hospitals and transfusion centers. So the shortage is not good, but this is only the second ever national blood supply crisis, and they declared this on July 27th of '26. Donations fell to a 4-year summer low, and a national supply of type O positive blood dropped below 1 day. Distributions of type O to hospitals are now being limited. The crisis will stay active in mid-August, which is what it now— while with local chapters reporting continued shortfalls, the Red Cross says just 3 additional donors at each blood drive would stabilize the supply and is offering a $20 Amazon gift card to donors who give August 31st, 2026. So yeah, if you can go donate blood— I actually— some facilities, I would look into where you work, but they will actually pay you to go donate blood. They will I have recently found this out that yes, certain facilities will pay their nurses to go donate blood. So see if you can get paid. And if not, I think if you are able to, if you have the, uh, you know, you don't have any health risks and whatever, you're able to go donate blood. I think it's a good thing. I think we all know as nurses, our patients need blood. And this is something that's very, very important. Uh, type O is the pressure point. It accounts about 60% of Red Cross distributions. Type O positive can be safely transfused to roughly 80% of patients and Type O negative remains the universal product reached for when there is no time to type and cross-match. So that is a huge concern. So this is talking about, I guess, why several forces— and this is information I'm getting from nurse.org/news. If you ever want to know more about these articles, get more details, more in-depth of these stories, headlines with links, you can literally go to nurse.org/news, look for the story that I'm talking about, and there's always so many hyperlinks and just more information and sources cited. That's where I'm getting my information from. So several forces converged at once. The Red Cross has pointed to extreme heat, poor quality, poor air quality, and foodborne illness keeping donors away alongside the usual summer pattern of vacations and paused school blood drives. Utah Public Radio reported that Phoenix and Las Vegas pushed past 115 degrees, with wildfires and monsoon flooding compounding the problem in the West. Every day that we don't have enough blood on the shelves, it's a crisis, says Rachel Flanagan of the Red Cross Southern Nevada chapter. Blood But cannot be stockpiled ahead of a bad season. Red cells expire after about 42 days. So yeah, these, I guess, just a bunch of things kind of just happened at once, the perfect storm, if you will. And that has led to this shortage. And what nurses need to know, know your unit's massive transfusion protocol and your facility's current conservation guidance, because both may have changed in the past few weeks. Expect more scrutiny on waste units that leave the blood bank and time out unused are gone for good, given the 42-day shelf life. So just important just to be aware, you know, when you request your blood, make sure you're giving it in a timely manner. Make sure that you are ready to give the blood before you request it if you're able to. Just things to look out for so we're not wasting any blood. Just being more mindful than usual with our blood transfusions. Alrighty, on to the next story. We have a couple more things to chat about here. Nurse burnout doesn't end at the bedside. My life in non-clinical nursing. So this was written by Christine Fryatt, and she really just talked about how like leaving the bedside and getting into more administrative roles came with its own kind of burnout. You know, being in a situation where you're really driven by metrics and data and, um, it, it really, I can attest to this because I've done a more administrative role as well. And you are burnt out from a different perspective. You know, there are insurance things that, you know, and she talks about this in the article of, you know, things getting denied for patients that, you know, that they need. Um, and that puts a strain on you. Plus just like being data-driven is hard. When you are supposed to be, you know, looking at data and metrics, and you're supposed to be hitting these numbers and yada yada yada, it's just overwhelming. It's you do get burnt out because you're just constantly trying to chase these things and make sure that you're hitting the numbers that that the healthcare facility is wanting you to hit. And it I agree with this this article. I think it's it's a really interesting one to read. She just talks about how she transitioned out of out of her bedside role into administrative, and however yeah, just came with. You know, its own issues and own reasons that led to burnout and how things like numbers were measuring the success and metrics, metrics, metrics, metrics. I can't say it enough. It's hard when you're trying to hit those. It could become overwhelming for sure. So if you want to dive deeper into this, I really recommend reading the article by Christine. I just think it really gives a good perspective on nurses who are not even at the bedside, that it still comes with challenges. The burnout is real. This career is just— it takes a lot from us. It's demanding. And I've learned that No matter what specialty you're in, you're going to feel some kind of burnout. You're going to feel some kind of strain. It's stressful. So you just got to pick your poison, what you feel you can handle the most. All right. And we can round this out. I found this interesting. So the ANA just made a new nurse specialty and a certification is coming. So I didn't even know this existed. So on the topic of blood, the American Nurses Association Board of Directors recognized patient blood management nursing as a nursing specialty, approved its scope of practice statement, and acknowledged its standards and competency. It's the 5th specialty that ANA has recognized since 2020 and a second this year in '26. Again, I've never heard of this. I found this interesting and now I'm thinking I might look for a job doing this. But apparently this has been 18 years in the making. Certification exam is next. The recognition was not fast. A workgroup of SABM nurses entered a partnership with the ANA in 2021 to articulate what makes the specialty distinct. And SABM Credits founder Sherry Ozawa, with inspiring the effort almost 18 years ago and championing it since. So again, this role was really unfamiliar to me for sure, but this is what patient blood management nurses do. They screen and treat anemia, coordinate care across surgical and hematology teams, serving as the liaison between patients, families, and providers, contribute to transfusion policies and guidelines, and teach patients and staff how to protect blood health and work to minimize blood loss. So it's interesting. I literally didn't ever know this existed. And I, yeah, I'm interested. So 30.1% of adult elective inpatient surgery patients across 27 countries had preoperative anemia, a condition linked to more transfusions, more complications, and longer hospital stays. A health data company that sells blood management analytics to hospitals estimates that 30 to 40% of transfusions remain unnecessary or avoidable, and that fewer than 100 US hospitals run formal anemia management programs. That's probably why I never heard of it because there's like hardly any. So yeah, anyway, I found that interesting. Just another example of how nursing is so diverse. There's so many things that you can do. And if you're not happy, I'm talking to myself, you can find so many other jobs out there. That's really all I've got this week. For me personally, you know, I am still, I am working in the ER. I am struggling. I actually work nights. Tonight's my first night in years. And you know what? I'm just, I'm having, I'm having some regrets. I'm just gonna go out there and say it. I am having some regrets.
I'm having some regrets.
Don't know that I'm really cut out for this whole night shift thing. I already knew that actually when I accepted this job. I knew I wasn't cut out for it, and I'm just chugging along anyway. I did just finish my TNCC, so I have my trauma nurse certification again. That was good for four years. It had expired, so I got that secured. But anyway, nurses out there, I'm sending you love. It's tough. It's tough out here. I hope that you're loving your job. I hope that this you know your career. Is going well for you, uh, because some of us are out here struggling and that's okay. You know what? Admitting it to yourself is the first step. Uh, but anyway, I hope that you all have a wonderful rest of your day, wonderful week. And if you want any more information on these stories that I covered, nurse.org/news, and you can find all the details there. All right. We'll catch up with you guys later. Bye.
From the bottom of my heart, I wanted to thank you for being here at Club Nurse. I hope you gained something valuable. From today's episode, and if you did, remember to share this episode with someone that you love. Follow me on socials at Nurse Daddies or Colton Lord 17, and be sure to follow nurse.org to stay informed with all of the hottest healthcare topics. Until next time, take care of yourself the way you take care of everyone else. Love ya. Bye.
