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In too many hospitals, nurses already know the answer before they ask the question. Nothing will change. And if anything does, it will be directed at them, not at the doctor.
There is a name for what that does to a person. Doctors and nurses call it moral injury: the grinding down of people who entered the profession to help others and were instead asked to stay quiet about things they knew were wrong.
When the highest-producing physicians hold the most power, and hospital administrators protect revenue over nurses, speaking up becomes a career risk.
Kay Van Wey sits down with Kalee Pair to pull the most important clips from her recent conversations with Melanie Hampton, RN, APN, and employment attorney Amy Carter, and to expand on what they mean for nurses and for patients.
FOR NURSES:
If you do not know how to invoke Safe Harbor, the information is on vanweylaw.com and available by searching "Texas Safe Harbor Law" in any search engine.
WHAT YOU'LL UNDERSTAND BY THE END
- What moral injury is and why nurses and doctors who entered the profession for the right reasons are experiencing it at such high rates
- Why the physicians who generate the most revenue hold the most power in hospitals, and why that is a direct threat to patient safety
- What hospital administrators actually say when a nurse reports that a high-producing surgeon is abusing staff
- What an unsafe assignment actually looks like, including two patients on life support at once, or being sent to set up dialysis on a machine you have never operated
- What the Texas Safe Harbor Act protects nurses from, and the one thing it does not protect them from
- What the 60-day presumption is and why it shifts the burden of proof to the hospital when retaliation follows a Safe Harbor report
- How any nurse can find out how to invoke Safe Harbor in under five minutes
Kay is also honest about something most people in her position will not say on record: not every nurse is competent, and she is not giving anyone a pass. But she believes the vast majority came in well trained and with the right intentions, and the system ground them down until they became unsafe for patients.
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CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
0:15 Why Kalee Is Putting Kay in the Hot Seat
1:09 Clip: Melanie Hampton on the Nurse's Most Important Job
1:43 Moral Injury: What It Is and Why It's Happening
3:29 "We've Got to Save the Nurses"
5:21 Clip: When a Hospital Chooses a Surgeon Over a Nurse
6:00 "Follow the Money": Why the Biggest Producers Have the Most Power
8:07 Clip: Amy Carter on the 60-Day Presumption
8:44 "They Should Have Called It the Nurse Empowerment Act"
9:04 What the Texas Safe Harbor Act Actually Is
10:47 How Every Nurse Can Find This Information in Under Five Minutes
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If you are a nurse, have you experienced moral injury or been afraid to speak up about a patient safety concern? Tell us in the comments. We read every one.
LAST WEEK: Amy Carter on the Texas Safe Harbor anti-retaliation statute and why nurses can't find a lawyer
https://youtu.be/G_F8AOwlNXY ALSO FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE: Episode 16: Melanie Hampton on what nurses are up against inside hospitals https://youtu.be/34ExykbEhbI
At Van Wey & Metzler Law Firm in Dallas, Texas, Kay Van Wey and her team advocate for families affected by medical malpractice, hospital negligence, birth injuries, surgical errors, preventable medical harm, and unsafe healthcare systems.
AdvoKAYte Podcast:
https://www.vanweylaw.com/advokayte-podcasts/ Van Wey & Metzler: https://www.vanweylaw.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vanweylaw/ Instagram: @vanweymetzlerlaw and @advokaytepodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/advokaytepodcast/
