I'm confident they found people to do it. Use the late shifts who get some down time. Use the mid-level managers to come in and do the dances while the floor nurses are busy. Pull the chart auditors and other paper jockeys to do it. I am very confident those were real nurses at US hospitals and probably the very well-paid ones, not the ones making $20-25/hr straight out of nursing school.

As you said, the thirst for vengeance needs to be focused at the top. That was source of lie and the source of the tyrannical demands for compliance. Whether was the top of the FDA and the CDC, or the top of your local health system, this was implemented top down.