Unfortunately, it’s the smallest things people say to us that annoy us the most.
It’s fair to say that nurses must be one of the most underappreciated workers in our society.
Only last week, we heard the heartbreaking account of one student nurse who was finding it extremely hard to carry on in her final year.
Another nurse who has also detailed her feelings of being underappreciated is Caitlin Brassington in the US.
A mother to three girls and a full time paediatric and child health nurse, Caitlin detailed her disappointment at meeting a friend on the street who insulted her profession.
In a Facebook post, Caitlin spoke of how understandably upset and annoyed she was when she was deemed ‘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 realise I was ‘just a nurse’. Wow! Over my 18 year career I have heard this phrase many, many time, but today it got to me. Am I just a nurse?”
Caitlin then listed all the amazing and wonderful things she has achieved while working at her job in hospitals.
“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 counselled 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 officers eyes, ears and hands with the ability to assess, treat and manage your illness, and yet I am just a nurse.
I can ascultate 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 patients advocate in a health system that does not always put my patients best interest first, and yet I am just a nurse.”
She lists all the important events and dates she has missed and will miss because of her dedication to nursing and all the medical procedures she is capable of.
“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 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!”
Let’s hear it for Caitlin, and our incredibly hard-working nurses everywhere.
