What happens when a nurse becomes the patient and catches a medication error at her own bedside? Krista Parsons, a former surgical nurse and author from Grande Prairie, Alberta, joins Dr. David Spiro on HuMed to share what she saw from the other side of the curtain.

Krista became a nurse in her late twenties, raising five young children, after watching her father's long struggle with diabetes and dialysis. A few years into her career, a distracted driver rear-ended her on the way to a shift. Back surgery followed, and her surgeon told her she could no longer return to bedside nursing. Then, recovering on the very floor where she once worked, she watched a colleague about to hang the wrong antibiotic and had to take the syringe out of her hand. Krista talks about how fast patient trust can disappear, waiting years for a chronic pain clinic, an allergy her chart didn't catch, writing her book, When the Healer Breaks, and why patients mostly want to be seen and heard.

In this episode:
– Why she became a nurse: her father's illness
– A rear-end collision, back surgery, and "you can't go back to bedside nursing"
– When your job becomes your identity
– Hours waiting for pain medication after surgery
– Catching the wrong antibiotic: ceftriaxone instead of Ancef
– Why an apology wasn't enough
– Opioids, chronic pain and a two-year wait list
– "Waiting becomes its own form of suffering"
– Healthcare in Canada and the US
– Writing a book and building a community for people after life-altering illness
– Look at the patient, not the screen
– "That human touch"

Chapters
00:00 "You're not giving me that medication"
00:21 Meet Krista Parsons
03:11 Why she became a nurse
03:58 Nursing school with five small children
04:36 The car accident on the way to work
06:05 "I can't clear you to go back to work"
07:01 When nursing is your identity
09:45 "It was a really rough day"
11:12 A medical error, seen as a patient
12:19 The wrong room and no post-op equipment
14:10 Hours waiting for pain medication
15:37 "That is not the right antibiotic"
17:42 "How do I put morphine in a minibag?"
18:28 "As a patient, it is terrifying"
19:15 How quickly trust disappears
19:53 Disclosing errors, and an apology that fell short
21:49 Opioids and treating pain
24:47 Pushed toward narcotics, not answers
25:24 A two-year wait for a chronic pain clinic
26:31 "Waiting becomes its own form of suffering"
29:15 Chronic pain, waiting and addiction
29:45 The other side of the curtain
30:35 Why she wrote her book
31:44 Hashimoto's and thyroid cancer
33:13 Building a community to feel seen and heard
35:18 Advice to her younger self: advocate early
36:34 Advice for clinicians: look at the patient
37:54 Listening to families in the ER
40:16 Technology at the bedside
42:11 Communication is the essence of healthcare
43:49 When the chart missed her contrast allergy
45:58 "That human touch"
46:19 Closing

Krista's book, When the Healer Breaks: https://whenthehealerbreaks.com
The AND STILL… Movement: https://andstillmovement.com

This episode is education and storytelling, not individual medical advice.

HuMed unveils the human side of medicine, hosted by Dr. David Spiro, MD.

New episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube — please follow and leave a rating, it helps other listeners find the show.