Nurse News: Joint Commission Debunks Myth, Netflix’s Lucy Letby Doc, 14 OB Nurses Resign in TN, NYC Strike Deal Reached, Kaiser Walkout Grows, Super Bowl Nurse Wedding, and Rx Savings Showdown

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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 Club Nurse, everybody. My name is Colton Lord, your host of this podcast, and today. Just like every week, we are going to talk about nurse news, things happening in healthcare, and all the things. That's what this podcast is really. We sometimes have guests on to talk about things that they're doing, how amazing people in healthcare and nursing are, and just all the things. But what we are focusing on with the Club Nurse Podcast is nursing news and bringing you the most breaking news in healthcare and nursing, and to keep you up to date on things that are happening. Because as I have said before, it is very important. And I think that Staying informed is something that we should all do. I think that I've talked about this before. I understand not wanting to obsess and every day be looking for news, and we are so inundated with things on social media and news. I mean, there's always so much news, and a lot of it is bad and negative and taxing to our nervous systems. So I do appreciate and acknowledge you needing to take care of yourself and your nervous system and not wanting to constantly infiltrate your brain and nervous system. I just had nervous system a lot with negativity. With that being said, I am here to just bring you the news headlines of the week in the nursing world, in healthcare, and I'm excited to talk to you about it. So we've got some interesting things to talk about this week, some good, some not so good, some exciting, some a little bit of pop culture-y. So yeah, let's dive into it. And as always, if you are somebody who likes to read articles and maybe I didn't give you an in-depth enough explanation or story that you want to know more about, you can find all All of these stories on nurse.org/news. That is where all the breaking news, all the articles are posted, where you can read more in depth. There's so many links that are in these articles that can take you to other websites or other articles with more information. But nurse.org/news—that's where you will find literally everything that you are looking for nurse-related. So let's talk about the first thing. The first headline that I found interesting this week was talking about the Joint Commission and this urban myth of no drinks at the nurses' station. I think we've all heard it when Joint Commission is on the. I know the hospitals crack down and everybody gets crazy about anything at the nurse's station, and we're like forgotten about. We forget about the fact that we're human and we need water, and we're basically just walking plants. So this article talks about how the Joint Commission basically is, you know, not ever saying that you cannot have water or food at the nurse's station. There's a longstanding urban legend among nurses that the Joint Commission will ding units if coffee cups or snacks are left out at the nurse's station. However, the Joint Commission officially addressed exactly where they stand on this issue in a Facebook post. And this response might really surprise people, so let's talk about it. So according to our research, the Joint Commission standards focus on whether organizations comply with applicable laws and regulations, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, bloodborne pathogen standard, not on micromanaging the presence of coffee cups on the unit desks. So the Joint Commission's leadership standards require organizations to follow licensure requirements and regulations and to manage safety risks in the environment of care, but they do not specify no beverages at the nurse's station. I think kind of where the confusion is coming from is the regulation requires employers to prohibit eating and drinking, and these are quotes here, in work areas where there is a reasonable likelihood of occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials. Or where contamination of work surfaces is likely. So there is kind of some, I think, gray area in this. But basically what this article is saying on nurse.org is that you can have these drinks at the nurse's station. If there are strict rules about what you're allowed to have, whether it's lids or straws or whatever, or food, that more kind of falls on your unit leader, your management. And that's kind of what this article is saying is like, if there's an issue and there are strict rules with that you're being faced with, with eating and drinking while you're working, Maybe it needs to be taken up with your management, not necessarily with the Joint Commission, because it doesn't really sound like they're actually as strict as maybe we've always thought. I know it's kind of a funny running joke, like when Joint Commission comes, everybody's like—I don't know if anyone's ever seen like the proposal when Sandra Bullock gets to the office and everybody starts chatting and freaking out and acting like they're working and sitting up straight with their posture. That's kind of what it's like when Joint Commission comes. It's like not realistic to how the hospitals and the units actually run on a day-to-day basis, but it's like they're coming in and giving us like a grade. It's it's kind of funny. I think we all. Have the— this, like, I don't know if we all picked this up in like our childhood and school days, you know, to be proper and pass the test and all these things. It's just really funny. So I found this interesting. It's not actually the Joint Commission that's that strict on our beverages and if we have a straw or if we have a lid or the things that they are requiring is not necessarily coming from a Joint Commission. They're more so just concerned about, you know, any— anywhere where you could be exposed to like bloodborne pathogens or like infectious Things. All right, the next thing is, I don't know if anybody has watched this yet. I did see it come across my Netflix last night, but I have not watched it. I don't know if I will. I've said this so many times when I've covered the pit. I just don't love watching these things. I did watch the movie on the nurse who was basically forcing patients into some kind of cardiac arrest, or I forget. Oh, he was— that's right. He was injecting insulin into their IV bags and all these codes were happening. And his friend, I put that in quotes, that he had met on the unit had started to catch on and That one was interesting, but I don't know. There's just something about these that I just don't love to watch. I'm happy to be informed and under like know like kind of what happened. But anyway, Netflix has this new film out called *The Investigation of Lucy Letby*. I think that's how you say her name. New footage nurses need to see. And so if you don't know, because I actually didn't know who she was, but Lucy Letby is a British former neonatal nurse convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others. She is, like I said, British, worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital between. Between June 2015 to June 2016, was arrested in 2018 and received a whole life sentence in 2023. Wow! It's again that's hard to hard to digest, especially as a nurse. Like it's just something I mean you don't even have to be a nurse just as a human to like try to comprehend and wrap wrap your mind around that. So again that's why probably my brain's like I don't know if I need to watch this. But this documentary does have unseen police body cam of Letby's stunned arrest at home, and there is some weird things in this. Like the film uses AI generated avatars. Stars for anonymity. And I don't know, again, I haven't watched it, so I don't— I can't really like deliver my thoughts on what that is like, but I found that kind of interesting. The documentary spotlights hospital bosses' arrests for ignored warnings and evidence doubts fueling a potential retrial amid unit failures. And that's also interesting because like, like the film I was talking about before with the nurse who was going around forcing people into cardiac arrest by giving them insulin through their IV, those hospital systems were also just like sweeping things under the rug because They don't want to be in the spotlight. Like these hospital systems do not want to be on national news or on the radar. All these cases like that you hear about. I remember with the the doctor, Dr. Death, the neurosurgeon who was doing a lot of crazy things and ruining people's lives. The hospitals—it's like they—it's obviously like they could catch anything, but they kind of just sweep things under the rug and move on and turn their head to what's actually going on. So if you're interested, if you want to learn more about this neonatal nurse who was killing babies and injuring babies, you can watch it on Netflix. Lucy Letby, the investigation of Lucy.

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Okay, onto some more news. 14 OB nurses, which was their entire staff, resigned after a Tennessee hospital announces the labor and delivery floor closure. These nurses are basically just, you know, making a point saying these rural hospitals are closing these labor and delivery units and forcing pregnant women to have to travel further for care, and just how risky and dangerous this can be. Not everybody has access to being able to travel that far for OB care. And so I, I stand with these nurses. I, I get it. I mean, these hospitals are doing this because— why do they cut anything else? Because of funding and financial reasons. Defending their decision, the nurses penned a letter that stated, due to a significant breakdown in trust, we no longer feel we can effectively function as Employees of SHA—that's Sweetwater Hospital Association in Tennessee. So pregnant patients will now be forced to travel significant distances for delivery and higher acuity care. Veteran L&D nurse Sarah Ortiz, who has spent about two decades at the hospital, described the decision as devastating for both caregivers and patients. She and her colleagues warn that longer travel times could translate into preventable risks such as delays in care, unplanned deliveries in emergency departments. As an ED nurse, we do not love that transit. Labor and delivery-related complications, an increase in emergencies like hemorrhage, severe hypertension, or fetal distress. And nurses involved in this walkout are urging the public to understand that their resignation is not abandonment, but a professional and ethical response to conditions they believe jeopardize maternal and newborn safety. And I agree. Again, I stand with these OB nurses. I understand where they're coming from. The Sweetwater Hospital Association maintains that the decision to close labor and delivery services stems from a combination of financial strain And chronic staffing challenges in a small rural unit, which again, I understand that aspect for sure. But I don't know, you know, were there other avenues explored? Is this really the answer for these people in this community? I've not looked on a map exactly where this is in Tennessee and how far they'll have to travel to like another center that has OB care. But man, like what a bummer. And these again, these 14 OB nurses now having to be displaced and find other jobs just sounds like a really a crisis. So yeah, again, huge bummer. I stand with these OB nurses. If you are an OB nurse concerned about rural unit closures or just a nurse concerned about the future of rural and obstetrical nursing, here are concrete steps nurses can take. Raise your voice with lawmakers, contact your state and federal representatives, engage your professional organizations, work through state nurse associations, specialty groups, unions, and adopt policies, adopt policy positions on rural maternity care. Educate your communities, support affected colleagues, and strengthen interprofessional alliances. So this is a huge bummer, and again, my heart goes out to these patients who then have to figure out care. Just another, another gap in our, our wonderful healthcare system. Let's talk about this. I love this. This is some good news. Okay, I know this was kind of a depressing start, but we've got some really good news, and I'm excited to talk about this because I don't know if you watched the Super Bowl, but oh my gosh! I hope you watched the halftime show because the Super Bowl was not very exciting. But Bad Bunny killed it. It was so good. Such a good performance. I think everyone was kind of wondering during it, like, is this wedding real? Like, what's happening? It kind of seemed like it was legit, and I'm happy to report that it is. Nurse gets married during Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show. This is amazing. A registered nurse and his partner were legally married on stage during Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show. The live wedding was part of the performance, complete with a cake, dancing, and Bad Bunny serving as a witness. The moment turned the halftime show into a real-life love story that quickly went viral. The couple is Thomas Tommy Wolter and Alyssa Ellie Aparico, and it was, like I said, their actual wedding. Oh my God, this is so great. The groom is the nurse. I love this. As a registered nurse in March 2021, earned his BSN from California State University Fullerton. Which means somewhere out there, there's a nurse who went from charting and surviving bedside chaos to getting married at the Super Bowl halftime show with Bad Bunny. Oh my God, I'm obsessed with this. I'm obsessed with the whole performance. I have watched on YouTube Bad Bunny's performance like probably 7 times. And the fact that it was a nurse getting— and even a male nurse, hello, shout out— getting married during this was just, it's just so great. Oh, that's such good news. Update on the New York City nurses strike. I wanted to give you that update. Let's talk about it. Video. Victory. So approximately 10,500 New York nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, and I hope I say this right, Montefiore, have reached tentative agreements with their hospitals last Sunday, early Monday. Nurses fought for and won tentative agreements that maintain enforceable safe staffing standards and increase the number of nurses to improve patient care, protect their health benefits That hospitals threaten to drastically cut, protect nurses from workplace violence, protect immigrant and trans patients and nurses, safeguard against artificial intelligence in their contracts for the first time, increase salaries by more than 12% over the life of a 3-year contract to recruit and retain nurses for safe patient care, beat back aggressive takeaways on healthcare and safe staffing enforcement, and return all nurses to work after ratification. This is from the New York Nurses Instagram. That was from their post. Go give them a follow at NY Nurses. So happy for them. They fought hard, man. That was a long battle, and that's not easy. I think they went four weeks, if I'm not mistaken. It's not easy to go that long without pay. These people stood their ground, and these nurses, man, don't don't mess with nurses. They and they deserve so much more. I'm so happy for them. Really, congratulations. Is that what we're going to say? Congratulations to the New York nurses who really stood their ground and and knew their worth. And I am so happy to report that they are coming to an agreement, and that they're going to be able to get back to work, get their paychecks, and hopefully have some better conditions and better pay. Better staffing, just all around. Congrats to the New York nurses. We've all been following the story very closely. Kaiser continues to strike. Sounds like pharmacy and lab workers are set to join the nurses in the walkout. So these 31,000 Kaiser nurses and healthcare professionals across California and Hawaii remain on strike. Very similar to the New York strike. Just looking for all these safe things that they deserve: better pay, better staffing, retirement security, all the things. So we're keeping our eye on Kaiser. Keep fighting the good fight out there. Let New York be an example. To you. And when we fight and when we, when we use our voices and we band together, things happen. So let New York be an example and keep going, Kaiser nurses in California and Hawaii. We see you. We stand with you. Last thing I just wanted to touch on here very briefly is the TrumpRx. I don't even honestly, I don't know. I'm not actually going to get into the details of TrumpRx because I don't know. I just don't want to. And so let's talk about, let's talk about TrumpRx, GoodRx, and Cost Plus Drugs. These are 3 different platforms. The Cost Plus Drugs was created by a physician Alex Ogosz-Mianski and Mark Cuban, entrepreneur. They co-founded this with the goal to remove the middleman that typically drives up drug prices. So when to suggest each of these to your patients: either TrumpRx, GoodRx, or cost-plus drugs. TrumpRx is a good choice when patients are uninsured and need a specific brand-name drug that isn't easy to find cheaper elsewhere. Less helpful if the drug already has a low-cost generic alternative. Cost Plus Drugs is a useful resource for patients who take multiple generics and want predictable, transparent pricing. Best for medications where the cost plus model undercuts traditional retail by removing intermediaries. GoodRx, often the first stop. I think we've all heard of GoodRx, often the first stop when patients ask, where can I get this cheaper? It shows local pharmacy prices and coupons and helpful for people with or without insurance, especially when insurance copays are high. So these are resources that people can use. TrumpRx offers new government portal with with discounted cash prices on selected drugs. CostPlus Drugs focuses on low-cost generic medications through direct pricing. GoodRx remains a broad price comparison tool with coupons that many patients already use. So either way, you know, they help patients hopefully get cheaper medications and I am here for that. I love that. So yeah, that is the nursing news this week. Thank you all for being here. Hope you found something useful, beneficial, entertaining from this. There's always so much news going on, so much to talk about, but these are the things that I found most that I thought were most important or just fun to kind of talk about. So that's it on this week's episode of Nurse News, uh, Club Nurse. My name is Colton Lord, your host. I thank you so, so much for being here. Again, for all your news, go to nurse.org/news, and we'll see you next time. 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 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.

Love ya. Bye.