When it comes to saving lives and treating patients, it’s quite obvious that doctors take all the credit. Many times, the work that nurses do to ensure the safety and good health of patients at the hospitals, goes unseen. But really, it’s very important to give the credit where it’s due. And that is exactly what Caitlin Brassington is trying to promote with a Facebook post that has gone viral, and that too, for all the right reasons.
Caitlin is a nurse and one day she decided to head to the grocery store while still in her scrubs. She happened to bump into an acquaintance at the store, who happened to be quite surprised at what Caitlin did for a living. She says there was nothing surprising about her reaction, but the acquaintance’s use of the word “just” in the context of “just a nurse” is what set Caitlin off; Caitlin felt that the use of the word “just” lowers the significance of what nurses do on a daily basis.
The nurse took to Facebook to share how she felt about the interaction, and what it’s really like to be a nurse. And this is what the post reads:
“Just a Nurse.” I am just home from a busy shift, looking very ordinary in my scrubs. On the way home today I stopped at the shop for milk and saw an acquaintance. She has never seen me in uniform and said that she didn’t realize I was “just a nurse.”
“Wow! Over my 18 year career I have heard this phrase many, many times, but today it got to me. Am I just a nurse? I have helped babies into the world, many of whom needed assistance to take their first breath, and yet I am just a nurse. I have held patients’ hands and ensured their dignity while they take their last breath, and yet I am just a nurse. I have counseled grieving parents after the loss of a child, and yet I am just a nurse. I have performed CPR on patients and brought them back to life, and yet I am just a nurse.”
“I am the medical officer’s eyes, ears, and hands with the ability to assess, treat and manage your illness, and yet I am just a nurse. I can calculate every lung field on a newborn and assess which field may have a decreased air entry, and yet I am just a nurse. I can educate patients, carers, and junior nurses, and yet I am just a nurse. I am my patient’s advocate in a health system that does not always put my patients best interest first, and yet I am just a nurse.”
“I will miss Christmas Days, my children’s birthdays, and school musicals to come to work to care for your loved one, and yet I am just a nurse. I can take blood, cannulate and suture a wound, and yet I am just a nurse. I can manage a cardiac arrest in a newborn, a child or an adult, and yet I am just a nurse. I can tell you the dosage of adrenaline or amiodarone based on the weight that your child may need to bring them back to life, and yet I am just a nurse. I have the experience and knowledge that has saved people’s lives. So, if I am just a nurse, then I am ridiculously proud to be one!”
Beautifully put! Here’s to all the nurses who sacrifice so much to help others in their times of need.
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Article source: Shareably.
