In this episode of the Club Nurse Podcast, host Colton Lord delivers a roundup of recent nursing‑related news and highlights resources from Nurse.org. He begins by announcing California’s new law that requires automated weapons‑detection systems at three key hospital entrances, noting the exemption for clinical staff and the training requirements for non‑clinical checkpoint operators. He then shares the inspiring story of Margie, a 63‑year‑old Michigan nursing student who returned to school after decades of caregiving, supported by the state’s Futures for Frontliners scholarship. The discussion moves to a study revealing that night‑shift nurses perceive significantly lower safety support than day‑shift peers, with higher rates of assault and reduced trust in organizational safety culture. Next, Colton outlines the bipartisan Healthcare Is Human Act, backed by the apparel brand FIGS, which would create a federal tax credit of up to $6,000 per year for eligible healthcare workers in shortage areas, and he raises questions about eligibility and implementation. Throughout the episode, he promotes Nurse.org’s discount programs, award recognitions, and upcoming NurseCon events, encouraging listeners to submit story ideas, follow the podcast on social media, and stay informed via nurse.org/news.
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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, everybody. My name is Colton Lord, your host. Welcome back. We're going to cover some nurse news this week, talk about what is happening in healthcare and nursing. And just keep you updated. I appreciate you so much for being here today. Let's dive into some of the news that is going on this week. And if you would like to learn or read more about these stories or topics that I am covering, please go to nurse.org/news where you can get all of the updates, most breaking news in article form. And if you are a nurse out there, healthcare worker, and you want— there are stories that you wanna pitch that you don't want your name attached to, or that you just think the story needs to get out there, things that have happened that you've witnessed or things that the media is not covering, I want to encourage you to go to nurse.org/articles and you can find the article that has been written. There's a link to it. We can also put it in the show notes, I'm pretty sure. How to anonymously pitch stories to nurse.org editors so that these stories can be seen. Because what we are noticing are there are stories out there that the media is not covering and it needs to be covered. These things need to be talked about. These things need to be known.
Yeah.
So if you would like to highlight or put a spotlight on very important news stories that are not being covered out there, let us know. Your voice really does matter. There's so many nurses out there, so many nurses who read and listen to the content through nurse.org. So if you have something to say, please submit it. And again, it can remain anonymous. And I think that's the most important to people, especially nurses. A lot of us don't want our names floating around. For professional reasons. So yeah, go submit your stories if you have any. All right, let's dive into the news. Uh, this one is exciting to me. I don't know if we've already talked about this before. I can't really remember, but weapon detectors are coming to every hospital in California under new law. This is super exciting. So this is a new bill that requires every licensed hospital to install automated weapons detection at 3 key entrances, the main entrance, the emergency department, and labor and delivery. Like, hello, this should have been done years ago with how mass shootings and just, oh my God, like, come on. Hospitals are a major target. They, there's so much violence against healthcare workers. There are plenty of published stories out there of people being harmed, being killed, being injured by patients, by family members, friends, anything like that. So this is really amazing. I am here for this. Let's go California. Nurses and other healthcare providers wearing a hospital ID badge are exempt from screening, but non-clinical staff operating the checkpoints must complete a minimum of 8 hours of training. Uh, with over 400 California hospitals facing the same deadline, experts warn the compliance window is tighter than it looks. Hospitals that haven't started planning yet may be running out of time. And this is— these are supposed to be in by early 2027. So we're already into 2026, girl. It is March. I cannot believe it. So Sounds like these gotta be in within the next year or so. Yeah, compliance standards by March 1st, 2027. There are some stipulations to this. Uh, so yeah, handheld wands will still be used as a secondary tool. You know, kind of like when you're at the airport and you go through the security and they're like, oh, there's like a hotspot or something and they like wand you down and get all up in there. Uh, sounds like that will also still be used in the hospitals. A critical point to make, the law does specify that weapons screening must be staffed by non-clinical personnel, not nurses or doctors. Also, let's talk about this. During the pandemic, and I think a lot of hospitals do this anyway, I remember in the ER there was a role like that you'd be assigned to where you were like the screener. So you would go stand at the front door and it was mostly for obviously like screening for COVID symptoms and ensuring masks and all that. But you realize that you're putting somebody out in the front at the front entrance, like you're so vulnerable, so exposed. A nurse, a CNA, a tech, an EMT, whatever, a paramedic, And you are the first person that is coming into contact with every single person coming into the ER. And it actually is scary. You have no idea what, what people have on them, what people's intentions are. Weapons aside, like you're just so exposed out there, at least at triage in the hospitals that I've been to. Actually, there has been some that are not the safest. You're not behind any, like you're behind a table for triage, you know, you're kind of behind it. A lot of them have like the plastic or glass, the barrier between you and the patient and the family or whoever. Again, I have worked at rural community hospitals that you just do what you can. They don't have as much space and not as much security. And those are, I feel like, even scarier. But yeah, so it's not going to be the nurse's job. And it's not— I love that they included this in the law because we already know hospitals will be like, yeah, send, send the ER nurses out there to run security at the front. Like, oh my gosh, girl, it's crazy. But I love this. I think this is a great— Peace of mind security measure hospitals need. to have higher security and to protect the staff that are in those walls working. People don't realize how exposed we are every single day, and it can be pretty scary. And people are vulnerable, people are upset, emotions are high, people are dying, people are sick, people are unhappy with the care they're getting, and people retaliate. And I'm telling you, I have been in some situations where I've been like, oh my gosh, something bad is about to happen, and it's scary. So I'm here for this. Thank you, California, for always blazing the trail for the rest of the country in these types Oh, this story really warmed my heart. Oh my God, I want to talk about this. At 63, this Michigan nursing student is proving it's never too late to chase your dream. Girl, yes.
Oh my God.
In my nursing class, I remember there was this amazing woman named Caroline. I love her so much. She was so sweet. And I think she was in her 50s, but girl, she was the smartest in our class. She was so smart. And I guarantee you, she is such a good nurse. It is never too late. And I think this is a reminder for all of us. Not even just for nursing, for just anything in your life. If you have something on your heart, something you really want to do, girl, you are not too old. You are not too young to chase those dreams, to do these things. And I know I'm getting all like inspirational, motivational up in here, but it's just the truth. She's 63 years old. I believe it's Margie pursuing her bachelor's degree in nursing after enrolling in school at the age of 58. She spent decades caring for family members before returning to school to fulfill a promise to her mother. With encouragement from her family and help from Michigan's Futures for Frontliners program, she's now on track to graduate in 2027. I love this. I love this. The Nurse.org article was written by Angelina Walker, and she states that, you know, for most people, their early 60s might mean they're thinking about retirement, but for Margie, it means studying for exams, attending lectures, and working towards her dreams of becoming a registered nurse. She's a nursing student at Davenport University's Midland campus in Michigan. And again, she's pursuing her bachelor's degree. This is amazing.
It's so amazing.
That's just amazing. Margie said, age is only a number. It doesn't matter how old you are. You have to live out your dreams and you have to be happy. Girl, oh my gosh, I love this. She graduated high school in 1981, and at the time she remembers wanting to become either a nurse or a lawyer. But life, life happened, girl. Life happened. It took Margie down a different path. And you know what? She came back. She course corrected. She's here. She's doing the dang thing. And that is just a reminder for all of us. We just, we need this. If you wanna know more about Futures for Frontliners, there is a link in the article on nurse.org/news about this, which is a program. It's a state scholarship that provides tuition-free community college to frontline workers who served during the state's 2020 shutdown. So that's if you worked during the pandemic. I believe if I read this correctly, Margie was a CNA during the pandemic. So Margie married at 21, second child was born prematurely. So her college plans had to wait to support her family while staying Connected to patient care, Margie became a CNA. Over the years, caring for others became a constant theme in her life. She helped care for her husband's father after he suffered a stroke and later supported her mother through Alzheimer's disease. Her son faced 6 orthopedic surgeries within 5 months, including a month-long hospital stay for bilateral leg reconstruction, and Margie was there through every step of his recovery. Later, when her own mother experienced a brain bleed, Margie once again stepped into a caregiving role. She cared for her mother for 3 years and even paused her own education so her sister could finish nursing school first. Oh my God. And before her mom passed away, Margie made a promise that she would return to school and earn her degree. I just—
I—
oh my God, this story is so heartwarming. I can't even. I'm so happy for you, Margie. You're, you're a queen. You're showing us all that it's never too late, and you're setting such an example for your children, for your family who is cheering her on. She said that her husband retired a year ago and he's taking over all the household stuff for her so she could just focus on school. Like, I'm here for this. This whole story is just amazing. So go check it out, nurse.org/news, and look for the title. You'll see it. I promise.
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Okay. So the next one, let's talk about this. Night shift nurses have lower safety support than day shift colleagues, studies Fine. Well, hello. You know what? Here's my thing about night shift. They don't feel like anybody cares about them. They don't feel— they just feel like they're kind of like the neglected stepchild of the hospital. And I think that that's for good reason because you think about night shift, really, they run the entire hospital without any administration there for the most part. And then the people come in during the day and they act like, you know, they've got to take everything over and bark all these orders. And the night shift is like, dude, like we've been running this. We've been running this circus all night without you. I noticed this a lot in the ER. Working mid shifts, I would work 3 to 3, 3 PM to 3 AM. And girl, that energy when that night shift came on was so, you could feel it. It was palpable. You could feel the difference, the shift in like the day shift kind of like tense energy into the night shift of just like, chill, we got this. Like we're used to just running the show. They're usually more short-staffed, less resources, and they're just more adaptable. And so this, this article is saying that nearly half of all healthcare workers report low perceptions of safety culture despite national improvement trends. Night shift Workers report systemically lower safety perceptions across every measured dimension. They are 17, that's 1-7, 17% less likely to believe their organization cares about their safety compared to day shift peers. Reported assaults on nurses remain elevated above pre-pandemic levels. Of course they do. And have continued to inch higher with night shift nurses bearing the brunt. Organizations with high trust, high teamwork cultures are 50 to 80% more likely to outperform on key safety outcomes according to a report. So yeah, that's, that's what this article is talking about is that they're, they are night Night shift nurses just have lower safety support than day shift. That's from a study that was done. So that's really it. That's all I wanted to cover on that article. Night shift nurses, we see you, we hear you. It's tough out there. And this is all— I totally understand why this is a thing. Oh, let's talk about this. So this article states how FIGS' new Healthcare Is Human Act would create a new $6,000 tax credit for nurses. The bipartisan Healthcare Is Human Act would create a federal tax credit of up to $6,000 per year for eligible healthcare workers in shortage areas. The bill developed with FIGS targets clinicians who work a minimum number of hours in HPSAs and VA facilities and meet income limits. Hello, this is great. This is good news this week, guys. I think this is a more positive news week than we've had in a while. I mean, there were some negative stories. I think maybe my— I naturally just kind of picked I think I cherry-picked some of the, the better feeling stories this week. It's not officially passed yet, but what this could mean for nurses if this is passed, it could provide thousands of dollars in annual tax relief for nurses and other healthcare professionals working in shortage areas. For bedside nurses, key questions will be whether all license types— RN, LPN, LVN, APRNs, and others— are clearly included in the final statutory language. How eligibility will work for nurses who split time between qualifying and non-qualifying facilities, and whether employers treat this as a true supplement to better pay and safer staffing, or quietly lean on credit instead of raising wages. It's in early stages of the legislative process. Supporters say it represents one step towards addressing workforce shortages and recognizing the essential contributions of healthcare workers across the country. So we will stay tuned and keep getting updates on that. That's kind of it, guys. That's what I wanted to cover this week on Club Nurse Podcast, on nurse news. Oh, I just wanted to shout out all of the nurse.org award winners. That's super exciting. If you go to the nurse.org, um, socials, you'll be able to see all the winners for all of the different categories. I think that's super cool. Congrats and shout out to everybody out there. These are hardworking nurses. These are people out there who are creating platforms and being creative and doing things that are outside the norm, outside the box to just make better, do better. And I just think it's amazing that they're being recognized. So shout out to nurse.org for doing these awards for these nurses. I think it's super amazing. And yeah, I know NurseCon's coming up in a few weeks, maybe a month or so. If you're going on that, have so much fun. I've been before. Nurse Blake provides such a great environment, super fun. I know he just announced that Turks and Caicos is the next destination for next year, which is so exciting for everybody. So if you need your continuing education credits, I highly recommend going. Looking into NurseCon at Sea. It's a super, super fun event. That's it this week on the Nurse Club Nurse Podcast. My name is Colton. Again, you can find all these stories at nurse.org/news. There are more details, links to other news sources. And if you want more details and to stay the most up to date on the breaking news, make sure you go to that, follow nurse_org. That's the nurse.org social media on Instagram. You can find me at Nurse Colton on Instagram as well. Uh, and that's it for this week. Uh, we will see you guys later. I hope you have a wonderful week. 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 @NurseDaddies or @ColtonLord17, 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.
