The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Burned-Out Nurses Reach Their Breaking Point

Episode Date: September 26, 2021

A growing number of nurses in the U.S. have become overwhelmed and fed up by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, leading to staffing shortages in intensive care units. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17th.

The coronavirus pandemic. It's the second war America is losing in 2021. This pandemic has been making life really hard on a lot of people. Restaurant owners, students, horses who just have to get used to being full of worms now. But perhaps nobody has been hit harder than nurses. I mean, you all remember early in the pandemic, whenever 7 p.m. rolled around, we all stopped what we were doing. We would go out to our windows and we would clap for the nurses. I mean, I did it every night, unless I was in the middle of a really good show or something, like Tiger King.

Like Tiger King? Whoa, you guys remember Tiger King? Oh man. Damn, that got us through some of the tough times. Yeah, give it up a Tiger King, baby. I love it. But the point is, we'll stop clapping. But nurses never stopped sacrificing. And right now, things are as bad as ever. A grim picture as the Delta variant grips the nation. Hospitals across the country overwhelmed by the unvaccinated. Right now, 97% of the people in the

hospital with COVID and nearly all the COVID deaths being reported are among the unvaccinated. Exhaustion turning into outright anger for some health care workers treating unvaccinated COVID patients. We're frustrated, we're aggravated. This could have been prevented. We could have avoided this whole wave if more people in our country had gone and just gotten two shots. When they're all these people who are dying who didn't get vaccinated are wishing they got the vaccination, it's wearing. And it makes us angry.

Yeah, people. I don't blame these health care workers one bit for feeling fed up. They're being forced to deal with a completely preventable crisis. That's not what they signed up for. They signed up to treat people for things that we don't have vaccines for and to pretend not to judge you when you got weird things stuck up your butt. Like nurses don't have a problem treating people that were rescued from a burning building, but I think what

would annoy nurses though would be treating people who intentionally ran into the building because they saw a Tick-Tock that said said th.. th. th. th. th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, their, their, their, their, te, te.e, the te, the. the thee. their, and their, to pretend to pretend to to thethey saw a Tick-Tock that said fire can't burn you if you're in your 30s. I mean, think about how frustrating this has got to be. This pandemic could be under control by now, and it should be under control. But now they have to fight it all over again. It's like if when World War II ended, everybody said, Hitler's dead, let's go home. And then one guy was like, no wait, I fixed him, guys. Now he's angrier than ever. Woohoo! So nurses are understandably pissed off right now. And no matter how dedicated you are to a profession,

everyone has a breaking point. And nearly two years into serving on the front lines of this war, a lot of them are starting to update their LinkedIn's. Some hospitals experiencing critical staffing shortages, as frontline workers say they feel like they're underwater. Survey during the pandemic found that 62% of intensive care nurses are burned out. Burnout stress, grueling hours. There are multiple reasons career nurses are choosing to leave. Mississippi has at least 2,000 fewer nurses than it did at

the beginning of the year. In Kentucky, more than 20 hospitals report critical staffing shortages. In hard hit New York, there was a 400% increase in nurses looking for new jobs. People just still honestly do not understand how severe this is, how bad staffing for nursing is. When tombs are tough and things are getting rough, they'll have a pizza party. You know, you guys are spread really, really thin and we can't get new nurses, but here's pizza. Okay, no, people?

No. You cannot solve a nurse shortage with a pizza party. In fact, it's probably going to make the problem worse. Because it's the last food you want to feed th, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th, to to the to their, to to their, their, their, to to their, their going to make the problem worse. Because it's the last food you want to feed someone who needs to stay awake for a double shift. I mean, how many times have you had a pizza and then gone on to run a marathon? Never. That's how many times.

You fell asleep on the couch, covered in pepperoni grease, using the empty box But obviously nurses quitting is a huge problem. Because it's not like you're filling most of those positions. I mean, who would want to become a nurse now in the middle of a pandemic? So, why do you want to be a nurse? I get to hold the bags of pee. Well, you're the only person who applied, so congrats. You got the job. Look, man, nobody can blame nurses who decide that they just can't take this anymore because people quit jobs for way less, like way less.

I once quit a job because I forgot my computer password and I was not in the mood for another wedgie from IT. But for those who do remain, the dwindling number of nurses means that their job is only getting harder. And as an extra insult, some of their colleagues their colleagues their colleagues their colioliolioliolioli colthat their job is only getting harder. And as an extra insult, some of their colleagues are abandoning ship for a much stupider reason. At a time when they're already staffing shortages, some nurses are threatening to quit if forced to get the COVID vaccine. One hospital in upstate New York will stop delivering babies after workers resigned over vaccine mandates.

Houston hospital system has fired or accepted the resignations of more than 150 nurses and other staff members who refused mandatory COVID vaccinations. Show of hands. How many of you have gotten a COVID vaccine? These are four health care workers from different hospitals in North Carolina. Why not? We don't know what the long-term side effects are. It also hasn't been proven to be effective. The CDC and many public health experts say that it's more than 90% effective. I have the right to question anybody in this country. I want a question.

You're entitled to your opinion, but these are facts. Are they tha facts? Wow. these are facts. Are they though? Are they facts? Wow! Yo, this nurse is a genius, yo! She knows in order to stop an unvaccinated person, you must first think like an unvaccinated person. In order to kill COVID you must first die of COVID. It's so obvious now. For real, guys, how are you going to be a nurse and not believe in medicine? It's like working at Home Depot and not believing that you should hide from customers. Hello? Can anybody tell me what the letters are?

Hello? And you know, what blows my mind about this whole thing is that these are health care professionals who are falling for this stuff. Like it's one thing when I'm getting medical advice from a random website, but I don't want my nurse to also be like, I'm gonna give you these pills that I heard about on Reddit. Yeah, they got a ton of upvotes. So, in large parts, thanks to unvaccinated people,

the burden that has been placed on nurses is almost unimaginable. And maybe for whatever reason you don't any sympathy for the nurses, you know? Maybe you're like, I don't know, an asshole. Well guess what? When they aren't enough nurses to go around and the ones who are there are are burnt out, well you might be the one who ends up paying the price. Across the United States, nursing shortages are causing delays in care and they increase the risk of medical error. Normally critical care nurses are one to one or one to two, so one nurse for every two patients. Right now they're seeing one to three, one to four, one to five. Nurses in some hospitals caring for as many as 10 patients. Every patient added to a nurse's workload is

associated with a 7% increase in the odds of patient will die just after common surgical procedures. Healthcare advocates warn nurse burnout can lead to life or death medical mistakes, including chart errors, administering incorrect doses of medication, even applying medical treatments to the wrong patient. A burned out nurse is a dangerous nurse. An exhausted nurse is not a safe nurse. Yeah, guys, this should be obvious, but nurses are the last people you want making mistakes on the job. If someone working at Taco Bell is burnt out and distracted, the worst thing that happens is

you walk out of there with a tortilla instead of cheese wrapped in a torti but the mistakes that nurses can make are much more serious. And this is something that should scare even the antivaxes out there. You might think you'll never get sick from COVID, but don't forget, selfish pricks can end up in the hospital for lots of reasons. I mean, what if you bust your larynx from screaming at a waiter? Now you're in the hospital, and your voice is too hoarse to tell the burnt-out nurse that they accidentally hooked up your IV to a bag of pee? No, wait.

That's my pee. I know. Now, look, the good news is, whether you're someone who cares about nurses, or you're just someone who doesn't want to die from a bad paper cut. There is something that you can do to show your gratitude to the nurses and make their lives less miserable. Take a look. Nurses need our help now more than ever,

and it's time for us all to do our part. I agree. That's why I'm going to start clapping again every night at 7. No, nurses don't want that. They want you to get vaccinated. Oh, I'm still gathering research. Shut up! And go get vaccinated. Okay, all right. I'm supporting our nurses with Facebook posts. Did you get the vaccine?

Yeah, I will. I've just been too busy to schedule it, you know. Why not schedule it now? Sure. Okay. Go ahead. I'll watch. NURT. Nurses need muffins.

Get vaccinated. Okay. Okay. Drop the damn muffins. Go off the door. Let's go. Okay. I'm going.

So come on America. Let's do our part. Do our part means get vaccinated. Watch the Daily Show, week nights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. When 60 Minutes premiered in September, the th. Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television.

Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at, that's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News, listen to 60 Minutes, a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17th. This has been a Comedy Central Podcast.