In this August 5, 2025 episode of Club Nurse, host Colton Lord delivers a nurse‑focused news roundup with a trigger warning for heavy mental‑health content. He first reports on Nurse Sarah, a popular nurse educator, who was hospitalized with meningitis in late July, detailing her symptoms, diagnostic work‑up, and the community’s well‑wishes. Next, he discusses a recent interview with the Google DeepMind CEO, who argues that AI may replace doctors but not nurses because nursing relies on human empathy and emotional support. Colton adds his own perspective, urging nurses to embrace AI as a tool rather than fear it. The third story covers a tragic incident at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane where a 12‑year‑old patient died by suicide; the hospital subsequently fired 15 nurses and disciplined another, citing HIPAA violations. The Washington State Nurses Association and the state nurses union claim the terminations are retaliatory for staff raising concerns about the child’s care. Colton reflects on his personal experience with a similar patient suicide, describing the lasting trauma and the hospital’s focus on media control over staff wellbeing. He concludes with a heartfelt message encouraging nurses to prioritize their mental health, offering permission to step back from bedside work if needed, and reminding listeners that they are valued beyond their professional identity. The episode ends with calls to follow the show and related nursing news sources.
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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.
Hi everybody, welcome back to Club Nurse. This is Colton Lord, your host of this podcast. Thank you for stopping by for our nurse news segment. Got some stuff, as always, got some pretty exciting things to talk about. Today's topics are actually a little heavy. Just gonna give you a trigger warning. There are some really serious mental health topics discussed in today's nurse news. So if that is something that you do not want to hear or you feel may be triggering to you, I just wanted to give you that warning, that heads up. It is okay to Skip today's episode and catch us on the next one. Always take care of yourself first and foremost before anything else. And I know that a lot of times when we hear news, these things can be triggering or negative, or we're like, oh my God, this is like too much for me to process. And it's understandable. We're not always in the right mindset to hear things. And I think especially in healthcare and in nursing, if you are already dealing with a lot, then it's okay. Don't listen to today's episode. Um, if you want to be informed, I'm going to deliver that information for you. And keep you up to date on things that are happening. But again, I will tell you, trigger warning, just some really heavy, serious topics today. And after we cover these, at the end, I will be giving just a little insight into my personal life, things that are going on and things that maybe will be able to help you, give you some insight or maybe just a little inspiration that you need in your own life. So let's dive into the nurse news today. The first order of business that I wanted to cover today was talking about Nurse Sarah, who is a widely respected nurse educator and advocate known for her engaging online nursing content. And she has recently been hospitalized since July 29th after being diagnosed with meningitis. According to an update shared on her official TikTok, Nurse Sarah began experiencing serious symptoms as early as July 18th and was admitted to the emergency department following a significant decline in her health. So let's talk about some of her initial symptoms, which were a stiff neck, severe headache, intense head pressure, and nerve pain in her limbs, nausea, night sweats, and persistent fevers, all resistant to any kind of typical pain management. After a thorough workup— LP, CT scans, MRIs, all the blood testing— she was diagnosed with meningitis. Sounds like they are trying to figure out the source of exactly why she has meningitis, awaiting her Lyme disease results and other pathogens. The last update that I saw was that she was doing a little bit better. Super happy to hear. It's always concerning whenever we hear one of our own that are sick in the hospital. It's always a crazy thing to be on the other side as a patient, and especially in Sarah's situation. Meningitis is a very serious thing and can be life-threatening. So we at nurse.org and me send all of our love and well wishes to Nurse Sarah with a quick and speedy recovery, and can't wait to see her back out there. She does really great work. educating the masses with her platform. You can find her on TikTok at registerednursern.com, which is also where you can go to her website and find— she does so many great things educating nurses. And I always have so much respect for people out there who are educators because it's not easy to do. Uh, I don't know if anybody out there has ever tried stepping into an educator role or anything like that. It's not easy because first of all, the content when you're educating Can feel very mundane and repetitive. And so to be able to deliver educational materials in a way that people are actually engaged with and want to hear it, want to read it, want to see it, is not easy to do. And Sarah has a great platform. She's obviously out there caring for nurses, caring for new grad nurses, and even experienced nurses who just need further education. So again, we send our love, our well wishes, and healing energy to Nurse Sarah, and hopefully she can get back to doing what she loves to do. Okay, so this next one is not so heavy, not so deep, but it is about AI again. I think we're gonna be talking about AI from now and until forever, really. But basically, a new article came out on— again, you can find this at nurse.org/news. This is about the Google DeepMind CEO talking about why AI could replace doctors, but not nurses. And this is contrary to what we discussed, I believe it was last week, maybe the week before, About Elon Musk and his Tesla Optimus robots replacing nurses or working as nurses or help aides or whatever he was saying that they could do. So yeah, this CEO of Google DeepMind was basically saying that due to AI's capacity to analyze large amounts of information and come to a diagnosis based on the, the way that they could analyze everything, is more so in a position to replace the way you see how a doctor's role is In the team. As far as the nursing roles go, they are saying, which I have actually thought about this too, and I think my personal take on this, again, this is my, my personal opinion, is with AI as helpful as it is, and I think that there's really some great things coming from AI, I just believe that at the end of the day, you cannot replace the human connection and empathy and that true human interaction. You cannot replace that. You cannot replace a connection with a human being. And that is what the CEO is saying. of Google DeepMind is basically emphasizing the essence of nursing going far beyond tasks and procedures. It's the emotional support, the compassionate care and empathy that nurses bring to their patients. And I think that is some good news for nurses, maybe some peace of mind. I think everybody in this era right now of AI is concerned for how the job market's gonna look. What is this gonna be for us? And I think instead of fearing AI, I really think that if we can just embrace it, it's here, it's not going anywhere. The more that you are defiant against AI and the idea of it being here in our world, the harder it's going to make for your life. If you can just learn to allow this in, allow it to help you the best that you can, use it the way that you want to, and just integrate it into your life the best, the way that you feel best fits your life, I think will ultimately lead to less fear, less stress. Because I think that's, that's the big thing is so many people are just so stressed about Oh my God, what does this look like for me? What's my job gonna, you know, what's gonna happen to my job? And it's, these are things that are understandable. Like your fears are valid. I understand them and they should be acknowledged, but I think that we just have to embrace this and it's going to be used in no matter how much you are defiant against it and pushing back on it. It's, that's only gonna make your life easier versus if you just kind of lean into it, kind of allow it in, figure out how to use it. How can this benefit us? I think that that makes it a much easier process again versus like that friction that I think a lot of people are feeling because I understand it's a little bit scary, but it's here and it's not going anywhere. It's only going to keep, keep increasing, keep improving. Okay. So yeah, I'm only covering 3 stories today. The third one, this is the one that's very heavy. I'm going to give you the trigger warning again. So if you want to skip, just skip right over this. But basically, as the headline reads, 15 nurses were fired after a child's suicide. Union accuses hospital of retaliation. So I am pulling this straight from nurse.org, the article that was posted on nurse.org/news talking about these 15 nurses who were fired. So basically, Washington's largest nurses union is accusing Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington, of retaliating against staff following the suicide of a 12-year-old patient on hospital grounds earlier this year. The hospital recently fired 15 nurses and disciplined at least one more Alleging they accessed the patient's medical records without being directly involved in their care. But the Washington State Nurses Association says the termination came after staff raised concerns about the child's treatment and followed public criticism of the hospital's psychiatric care team. So this death is obviously so tragic. But on April 13th, Sarah June—I don't know how to say the last name—who had been receiving intermittent psychiatric care at Sacred Heart. For self-harm and suicidal behavior over the prior 8 months, slipped out of her room on the pediatric floor around 5:30 p.m. Her exit reportedly did not trigger any alarms. Alone and unsupervised, she walked about a quarter mile to the top level of a hospital parking garage and jumped. She died 2 hours later in the emergency room. The controversy around this is that Sarah was being housed in the general pediatric unit, not in a dedicated psychiatric facility. So Sacred Heart had closed its adolescent psychiatric unit just months earlier. And this was a huge concern to doctors, nurses, and community advocates who were obviously up in arms about this because of something like this happening. And it did. And even quoting one former nurse of the psych— of the children's psychiatric unit, she states, we said this was going to happen. We said their plan was not an adequate plan. You can't just put kids in a medical room and expect everything to be okay. And hello, look what happened. Unfortunately, these things have to happen to get public eyes on the hospital and the system for any kind of change to happen. And it's just terrible. It's such a tragedy that this has to come at the expense of somebody else's life. And it's really hard to— I have very personal feelings about these kinds of situations. It's really hard to, you know, point fingers, say, you know, you can have hearsay, whose fault is it, and analyze these things all day. Sure, maybe it would have happened either way. But from what reading the article, it really sounds like the hospital system dropped the ball on this and are basically retaliating against the nursing staff for accessing the patient's chart afterwards. They were quoting that this was a HIPAA violation and that is why they fired the nurses. So the Washington State Nurses Association responded saying that many of the nurses were fulfilling their clinical responsibilities and that Sacred Heart's actions came amid heightened internal scrutiny following media coverage of the suicide. We reject Providence Sacred Hearts claims that privacy was violated by nurses who were doing their jobs to assist in efforts to save the life of a 12-year-old girl. That was a direct quote by Keep News. Yeah, see, this is a big deal because the— so the union has filed a grievance seeking reinstatement of the fired nurses because under Providence policy, employees terminated for privacy violations are not eligible for rehire. So if these incidents are reported to the licensing boards, nurses could be affected, and this could This could lead to license suspension or even loss. This is a big deal and a reminder to any nurse out there to just obviously be very careful what you're accessing, understanding that what you're doing is being monitored always. There's always a paper trail. Any click that you click in records and charts can be tracked, and people are monitoring that. So just be very, very careful about what you're doing. I don't— I cannot Confirm this, but I have, I have been told that even hovering over certain things, if you work like, you know, on a unit and you're hovering over to read something, can be considered accessing a chart. Again, I don't know. I do not confirm that. These are just things that I have kind of heard working in nursing through the years. So just be very careful, be very mindful of the things that you are accessing. Okay. So yes, that was heavy. Again, those stories were a lot. Kind of to touch on this last one we just talked about, I, you know, I've been in a similar situation. I've talked about this publicly. I too have had a patient who has leapt from a parking garage and ultimately took their own life. It is very traumatizing. It is something that I would obviously never wish upon anybody—the family, the staff involved—it's it's really like bystanders. It is it is a lot to process, and this trauma lives on. So my heart really does go out to anyone involved in this care because I am years removed from the situation that happened with me, and I still remember it like it was yesterday. I remember exactly how I was feeling. I remember exactly where I was taken to after the incident. And really the hospital system was all they were— I don't want to say all they were concerned about, but what they were highly prioritizing was making sure that there was no media coverage around this incident. It was really not about, hey, are you okay? As the staff, I was a new grad nurse sobbing in the corner of this briefing in some big building or big office in, in the hospital where all these big, big people were sitting. Wig people in administration and higher-ups were in there discussing to make sure this was not caught on the media. They didn't care about the, the new grad crying nurse in the corner. But with that being said, I did want to just touch base on something personal this week. I have been working per diem in an emergency department. I have a couple jobs, and I have decided to take a step back from that bedside job for now. I'm not saying this is a forever thing, but But I really just wanted to send the message out to anybody listening that it's okay. And if you feel like you need permission to leave your job or to take a step back or to make a change or just pivot, this is your permission. I know a lot of us feel like we are in a blood contract with our jobs and our profession as nurses and your specialty. A lot of us tie that into our identity. It becomes part of our ego. Like we don't want to— You know, ruffle any feathers or change anything, or we think that we won't be worthy if we're not a certain type of nurse. And I just want to remind you that that is not the case. You are worthy of who you are as a nurse, no matter what you're doing. Even if you decide not to be a nurse anymore, that's okay. You are a human being before anything else. If you feel like your mental health and what is going on in this profession is taking a toll on you, take a step back. It is not your job to carry the weight of this profession on your back. And I have had messages of people just telling me like, thank you for sharing your truth about this. I needed to also step away. And I just want you to know that that's okay. You don't have to stay in what you're doing. And if you do, you know, like what you're doing, then stay. I'm not telling you to leave. I'm just giving you the permission that if you feel like you need to take a step back, it's okay. That job will be there. That ER job, the ICU job, that med-surg job, that Labor and delivery job, whatever it is that you do, that job will be there. If you take the time away and you take care of yourself and you regain yourself and you your feet back on the ground and you feel ready to get back in in there, get back in the ring, then go back. But take the time for yourself. You are a human before anything else, and I just want that message to keep getting pushed forward that if you allow this profession to, it will beat you down. Um, yeah, I think we've all been there and I just want to leave that message with you and just know I see you. I love you. I thank you so much for being here on Club Nurse. Uh, I'm loving this podcast. This has been so fun. Thank you for listening to our Nurse News segment. To find all nurse news, to read more into these articles or to these stories, be sure to go to nurse.org/news. Follow me on Instagram @coltonallenlord. I also created an @club.nurse Instagram page where you can follow along with more podcast content. And then also be sure to check out nurse.org, @nurse_org on Instagram to stay up to date on all of these stories. And as things update, as these stories unfold, um, cause a lot of times the breaking news will be posted and if things unfold or there's updates, uh, we will update those articles and push that out to you so that you can stay up to date on all of the healthcare and nursing news. So with that, I love you guys. I'll see you later. And thanks for being here. 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.
