In this solo‑host episode of Club Nurse, Colton Lord delivers a rapid‑fire nursing news roundup. He begins by examining the National Council of State Boards of Nursing’s plan to offer the NCLEX exam as an at‑home, remotely proctored test, outlining the proposed security measures, FAQs, and potential cheating concerns. He then discusses recent research indicating that common over‑the‑counter pain relievers such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen can amplify antibiotic resistance when used alongside antibiotics, highlighting the study’s findings on E. coli mutations and the broader implications for prescribing practices. The episode moves to a criminal case from Albuquerque where an impostor nurse, using a stolen identity, was charged with nearly killing a hospice patient with morphine, underscoring risks of credential fraud. Next, Lord reports on a major workforce realignment at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles that will eliminate 430 positions across management, administrative, and clinical areas, describing it as a strategic restructuring rather than a bedside‑nurse layoff. He then covers a landmark Utah malpractice verdict awarding $951 million for a botched birth, attributing the tragedy to inexperienced nurses administering excessive Pitocin without adequate physician oversight, and reflecting on the personal toll such cases take on nursing staff. Finally, he outlines the recent turmoil at the CDC—including the dismissal of its director, mass resignations, a shooting at its Atlanta headquarters, and an urgent warning from the American Nurses Association—explaining how this instability threatens public‑health guidance that nurses rely on. Throughout, Lord balances factual reporting with personal commentary, urging listeners to stay informed while managing the emotional weight of the news. The episode closes with calls to follow the podcast and related nursing resources.
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Hello, hello, hello! Welcome back to Club Nurse. This is Colton Lord, your host of this podcast. I am going to discuss with you some nursing news. It's our that time of the week. It is nursing news. So let's just really dive right into it. I think that the first story that we're going to kick this off with is going to alarm everybody. Basically, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, also known as the NCSBN, Has officially announced that they will be moving the NCLEX to an at-home option. Allegedly, this is— they are going to have a 360 view using your computer camera. There's gonna be some kind of way that they use your own camera on your phone to basically videotape you and make sure that you don't have headphones in, make sure that you're not cheating. But trust me when I say this, just trust me. The newer generations of humans and technology and just all the things, there is going to be a way For people to get away with this. I know people get away with cheating even in person. So imagine being at home and now having the luxury of taking the NCLEX at home. I think it's a little bit wild. I'm not exactly sure what the reason behind this is and exactly why they feel the need to move this at home. I'm sure it's something to do with being more cost-effective and not having to pay for the testing centers and the staff. I, again, this is all alleged. I'm not exactly sure why, but this is the next step. For the NCLEX. And I will just kind of go through some of the frequently asked questions on the website for the NCLEX. So will international testing candidates be able to take the NCLEX online? The answer is yes. Will I still be able to take the exam at a test center? Yes, candidates will have the option to choose a test center or take the NCLEX online when scheduling their exams. So I guess there are options still there. Will the exam be the same? Yes, the NCLEX is the same no matter where you take it. Will I be able to have my phone with me remotely? Which is hilarious that this is a frequently asked question because hello, why would anyone need their phone? It's because they're gonna want— people are gonna want to cheat. I mean, NCLEX is stressful. It's hard. It's supposed to be hard. And this is just opening doors for, I don't know, like first we have fake nurses coming from fake universities all over the place. People are fraudulently being nurses and doing crazy things with a fake nursing license. And now we're gonna have a testing method that is done at home. There will still be accommodations that are offered whether you're remote or in the testing center. So if you have an accommodation, they say that they are going to still be able to uphold those. As far as security measures that will be in place for remote proctored exams, in addition to existing security measures, advanced AI security measures will be in place for remote proctoring. What if I have tech issues? These will all be explained in your online instructions and how to report issues if this does And that's kind of it. I just find that this is very interesting. I think this has kind of stirred up some debate in the nursing world. I'm kind of interested to see where this takes us, but it is a very interesting take, I think. Some interesting news for nurses. The next thing I wanted to talk about was I had— I kind of dug a little deeper into this, but basically there are some new studies showing That common pain relievers like Tylenol and ibuprofen can actually increase the frequency of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, which is kind of crazy because as you and I both know, on most of our discharge paperwork for patients, especially when we're sending them with antibiotics, you know, if they're not being sent home with like opioid pain medications, we tell them, you know, alternate Tylenol and ibuprofen to cover your pain, given that they are able to take Either Tylenol or ibuprofen, if they don't have kidney issues or liver disease. But yeah, this is kind of interesting study. I did watch a video that was posted with Dr. Mark Siegel who said that it is well known that overuse of antibiotics leads to resistance. And it was very interesting. He really talked about how since he was in medical school, which was quite a while ago by the looks of the video, he's obviously not a new doctor, but he says he can recall all the antibiotics that he learned in school and that basically there's just not the funding to, you know, create new antibiotics because it's not— they're not profitable, basically, is the main reason. And it's expensive to create them and to research them, and they are not profitable medications. So this is a big issue. Antibiotic resistance is a big issue in healthcare, as we know. And like I said, these new studies are saying that Tylenol and ibuprofen are contributing to antibiotic-resistant bugs. And so this says it has been previously shown that the use of common pain relievers such as NSAIDs and antidepressants can lead to antibiotic resistance. In the new research, when E. coli was exposed to ciprofloxacin alongside ibuprofen and paracetamol, both alone and especially when combined, these painkillers significantly increased genetic mutations in bacteria. And I believe when I say paracetamol, I believe that is the generic name for Tylenol in Australia, if I'm not mistaken. So I don't know, found this very fascinating. Again, antibiotic resistance is a huge issue. We already overprescribe antibiotics as a society. We do not need any more bugs that are resistant to antibiotics. So one or two things need to happen. Either we need to have, you know, our government needs to step in and actually take control of this and give some funding to create some more antibiotics to keep up with these resistant bugs that we're seeing, or we as a healthcare society or healthcare field need to be more responsible with the way we prescribe our antibiotics and just staying up to date on the research. Again, with this Tylenol and ibuprofen, I found that very, very, very interesting. Also new this week, here we go. Like I was just talking about with the NCLEX being taken at home and fake nurses, this headline reads, imposter nurse faces charges for nearly killing someone with morphine. Why, why are all these people impersonating nurses. It is insane. A so-called imposter nurse is facing charges Thursday after our state's top prosecutor said she nearly killed someone with morphine. And this comes out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. A grand jury indicted April Guadalupe Hernandez this week for allegedly assuming the identities of nurses and illegally providing care to hospice patients. Attorney General Raul Torres's office says she was operating under a stolen identity. She has been charged with 19 counts of misconduct, including identity thief, Nursing without a license, abuse, and fraud. She could face up to 27 years in prison. You know what? Moral of the story, and I don't think anybody here listening to this podcast will have this issue: do not impersonate a nurse. It's so dangerous, and I don't—I just don't understand it. Like why there are so many other professions to impersonate and act like a fraud. Why would you want to do this with human lives? This is insane, wild. All right. Got some news coming out of Los Angeles Children's Hospital of Los Angeles workforce reductions to affect 430. 39 roles. This is 5.8% of its workforce. Not too sure how many of the, the actual nurses are being affected, but it does sound like this is coming— or about 253 employees will be laid off with affected roles across management, administrative services, and clinical care. Their positions are set to end October 28th, and another 186 employees will have the option to transfer into new Newly reconstructed roles. I've worked at healthcare facilities that have done this before. A big name in Arizona, I'm sure you know, if you just think about it a little bit, they don't have a great reputation. But I do remember when I worked there and we kind of had like layers to our management. We had like senior managers and then we had clinical managers. So the senior manager was kind of top tier, you know, below like CNO. And then you had your clinical manager who was more involved directly with the nurses. And I remember working there and they were dissolving that clinical manager role and basically gave those clinical managers the option to assume just charge nurse and bedside role while kind of keeping their— if I remember correctly, they were able to keep their pay at least for a little bit of time. But, you know, a lot of those, once you move up in management, it's not easy to go back to the bedside, nor do most nurses want to. You know, typically speaking, when you get into a leadership administrative role, It's because you don't wanna work at the bedside anymore. And so I think that it's very common for these systems to kind of start dissolving these leadership roles, especially when they feel like they are not necessary to the system. So it does not sound like these layoffs at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, it doesn't sound like it's really affecting the bedside nurses from what I am reading. I could be wrong, but it sounds like this says it's a strategic realignment. So this really sounds like it's more of an up-the-food-chain administrative issue. Yeah, so that's it for really this week on the topics that I wanted to cover. Let's talk about some of the news stories in the nursing and healthcare world that really took off last week that I did not cover, but I think a lot of people found interesting. So let me just kind of give you a little rundown on these stories. So a $951 million birth injury verdict, nurses in training and sleeping doctors blamed. This is coming out of Utah Yeah. This is after basically— this is really sad. This is after October 14th, 2019, after really a botched delivery of a child, of a baby. So yeah, the magnitude of this verdict becomes clear when compared to typical birth injury settlements across the nation. Most medical malpractice awards for birth injuries, even severe cases involving conditions like cerebral palsy, generally range from $1 million to $15 million. So this makes the Utah verdict approximately 63 times larger than typical maximum settlement settlements similar cases. Uh, and so while the specific details of the negligent care have not been fully disclosed, the severity of the award suggests profound and preventable errors occurred during this baby's birth. Her name is— I don't want to say it wrong, I'm terrible with names, please help me— Aisley McMichael. So the unprecedented $951 million award is the largest medical malpractice verdict in Utah's history. According to reporting by the Salt Lake Tribune, this is just a really big deal. This unfortunate event just shows the gaps and the holes in healthcare and nursing specifically, because when we don't have enough nurses and we don't have experienced nurses to support the new nurses on the unit, unfortunately these things happen. And that is the case here at the— in this Utah case. The nurses were new. They were administering Pitocin that was at levels that were just too high. And unfortunately, again, the doctor was not present. I don't know their protocols. I don't know if they're typically present on L&D units with labor and delivery, 'cause I've never worked there. But I can tell you that without having experienced nurses there to help these new nurses, this is exactly how these things happen. It's very unfortunate. It's very sad that this comes at the expense of somebody's livelihood. And really the trajectory of the parents and the patient has just changed forever. And just imagine being those nurses in this position. Like, obviously they're new, they're excited, and this is not the way that they wanted their careers to go. Uh, this, I mean, this happened back in October of 2019. So this is just coming out because the verdict was settled, uh, with the $951 million settlement, but not sure what they're doing with their lives today, if they remain nursing or if they changed. Because just to be quite honest, like when these things happen, it's traumatizing. And a lot of times, you know, it may cause nurses to be too anxious to work and to have to pivot. You know, it's just very sad after working all this, you know, so hard to get that nursing license, exciting to get that new job and something like this happens. And it just really changes the trajectory of so many people's lives that are involved.
To round out this week of nurse news, let's talk about the chaos that has ensued at the CDC and what nurses really need to know about this. So the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also known as the CDC, has been gripped by unprecedented chaos with the recent firing of its director, mass resignations, a major employee walkout, an armed attack at its Atlanta headquarters, and an urgent warning from the American Nurses Association about the impact on public health and nursing professionals. So basically what happened on August 27th, the White House and HHS officials did announce the dismissal of the CDC director. Dr. Susan Moniz, who had held the position for only under a month following her Senate confirmation at the end of July, July 31st. Moniz allegedly rejected directives to compromise scientific standards and refused to fire key leaders or endorse politically motivated vaccine guidance. Her legal team contends that only the president, not an HHS secretary, can lawfully remove a Senate-confirmed official. Moniz's firing really triggered a wave of outrage throughout the agency and public health community. Former CDC directors sharply criticized recent events, warning that political actions are endangering every American's health. In a widely cited op-ed, nine ex-directors condemned RFK Jr. and HHS for firing Dr. Susan Maneras and disrupting scientific leadership. So basically, what this led to were mass resignations and employee walkouts. At least four senior leaders have resigned since this has happened, and really, I mean, this. Just, this is like the crumbling of the CDC. I mean, imagine if we didn't have the CDC when the global pandemic had, you know, surfaced. We would have been— I mean, we were already doomed, but imagine not having their guidance, not having, you know, the most up-to-date on what to do, how to handle things, precautions. I know that it was chaos for everybody anyway, but imagine that we didn't have that when during that time. This— these are important resources. They are vital to our community and public health. And so it's really, really unfortunate to see these things happening. The ANA did issue an urgent warning. That's the American Nurses Association. In their press statement, they were expressing deep alarm at the number and pace of abrupt CDC leadership changes, warning that the amount of change without transparency and clear communication is whipsawing to healthcare professionals. The press statement said, we are concerned that if a public health crisis were to occur today, i.e., COVID-19 pandemic, our nation would not be positioned to respond effectively. And it's true, um, it's so disheartening and hard to watch these things happen. And I don't know what the chaos is like with the shooting that was at their headquarters at the beginning of August, August 8th, when a gunman also opened fire at the CDC's Atlanta headquarters, killing a police officer and shattering over 150 windows. So really the ramifications for nurses is really just that, you know, the nurses in our profession in general, we rely on CDC guidance for vaccine schedules, exposure protocols, Public health advisories. You know, this really just increases our stress, workplace uncertainty, professional advocacy, and ethical duties. So the ANA public concern reflects nurses' ethical mandate to advocate for evidence-based policy and safe practice conditions. Instability within the CDC may require nurses to take on broader advocacy roles, ensuring their voices influence both policy and implementation. And really, this just leaves the community and our health vulnerable to things that may be happening. So I really hope That things kind of take a turn for the better. Like I said, the CDC just plays such a vital role in our community and our public health, and it's already not great, so we need all the help that we can get. But that's it. That really wraps up this week's nurse news. Thank you so much for being here, for listening. I know a lot of this can be heavy and feel negative to listen to, but it's just so important to just be in the know, to understand what's happening. I'm not asking you to carry this weight, to be stressed about this all day long. I think it's really important to draw a safe boundary with any Any kind of news that you hear and understand that it's not your job to carry it, but it is our job to be informed and to do what we can do to make this a better place for everybody. I mean, we all live together on this earth, and if we all can just do our part, it makes, it really does make a difference, even if that's in your individual community. So really just being informed and being educated is really important. And I know some of this is complicated. Um, even, you know, I'll admit, I don't always understand exactly. Uh, what is going on, but just, you know, hearing things, talking about them, I think is super important. So I appreciate you being here. And again, this is Club Nurse. My name is Colton Lord. Uh, find us on socials @coltonallenlord, @nursecolton. You can follow the podcast at club.nurse on Instagram. Uh, and be sure to go to nurse.org/news for all your nursing news. They post all the articles, everything most up to date. You can find this podcast, um, at nurse.org as well. So thank you so much for being here on Club Nurse, and we will 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 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. Love ya. Bye.
