The viral nurse news of 2016 have taken the online community by storm. The timely issues in the nursing practice nowadays got the attention of everyone, even those who are not in the medical field.
If you haven’t had time to read or watch news in the past months, let’s review the viral news about nurses back then. Are you aware with any of these?
1. Woman Told She Was “Just a Nurse”
Caitlin Brassington, a nurse from Australia, bumped into her friend at a local grocery. Caitlin was still in her scrubs as she just dropped by the grocery to buy some milk. When her friend saw her, still in her uniform, she was surprised. She told Caitlin that she didn’t know she was “just a nurse”.
Caitlin was deeply hurt with the comment. In her entire 18-year nursing career, she heard that phrase for many times but this time it really got her. She vented out her frustrations by writing an open letter in Facebook. Her post became viral, gaining worldwide support from strangers and from her fellow nurses.
Below is a full transcript:
‘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?
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.
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
2. Student Nurse Reveals Realities of Career
A student nurse from Ireland wrote an open letter about her hardships and posted it in the Facebook page of ‘Support for Nurses, Midwives and Frontline Staff in Ireland’. The post quickly became viral, earning more than 7,000 likes and 4,000 shares.
The student nurse from the open letter is a single mom. She first wrote about how broke she was as she struggled to raise her daughter and finish her internship at the same time. She was a fourth-year mental health nurse student on her last supernumerary placement. She was not feeling well but she still complied with her clinical duty since her assigned hospital was already short of staff.
Soon, she received a call that the day nurse would not make it and she would have to manage the unit alone with 20+ patients suffering from different mental illnesses. As a student nurse, she would not receive any compensation in return. With her own problems to handle, along with the disappointments in the career she chose, she felt like she was on the brink of giving up.
Many people sympathized with the student nurse’s struggle and attacked the loopholes in the health care system of Ireland. Her story represents the sad reality of unfavorable nursing situations in other countries.
3. Nurse Used Taylor Swift Song to Teach Handwashing
Ross Mawhinney is the lead nurse of the Clinic Training and Education Department of a nursing training firm. Instead of teaching the steps of handwashing in a traditional way, he used the tune of Taylor Swift’s song “Shake It Off”.
Mawhinney’s video demonstrating his handwashing and coordination skills became viral. It was viewed for more than 600,000 times online. Who would have thought that hand washing will be easier to learn through other tunes?
See Also: 7 More Viral Nursing Videos You Can’t Miss
4. Nursing Assistant’s Version of Adele Song for Hospice Care Patients
Emma Young is a 21 year old nursing assistant who works at St. Helena Hospice. She was filmed playing the piano and singing “Make You Feel My Love” while on duty. Her video became viral as her version of the song is soulful and filled with love for her patients.
Emma sings for her patients whenever she can. Their patients commonly tease her to sing a song using the piano in the common room. One day, a staff from the fundraising team asked if she could video her and she agreed. Her video was posted online and became viral.
The video became appealing to the online community as “Make You Feel My Love” is a suitable song for hospice care. It reflected the holistic care approach nurses use in hospice care facilities.
5. Iconic Nurse Kissed in VJ Day Photo Dies at 92
The iconic photo of a nurse being kissed by a sailor became the symbol of World War II’s end in 1945. The photo was taken by the legendary photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt and published in Life magazine. But it wasn’t until 1980 when the identity of the couple in the picture was identified. The nurse in the picture was Greta Friedman.
Friedman died this September in an assisted living home in Virginia. She was 92 years old. Throughout the years, she shared many of her stories to her children and grandchildren. One of her favorites is the story behind her iconic photo.
When the iconic photo was taken, she was actually working as a dental assistant. When the end of World War II was announced on a billboard, she went out to the street with the rejoicing crowd and she was kissed by a sailor.
The sailor was so overwhelmed with the news and because he was very grateful to the nurses’ who took care of wounded soldiers, he grabbed somebody dressed like a nurse and kissed her.
See Also: 50 Vintage Photos of Nurses Being Awesome
6. Wounded Aleppo Boy Refused to Let Go of His Nurse
Last September, a video showing a wounded Aleppo boy refusing to let go of his nurse became viral online. It became the subject of news worldwide as the horrors of the Syrian War were seen through the pleas of a wounded child.
Below is the video taken from YouTube. This is NOT the original post.
The Syrian boy in the video was soaked in blood after their house was hit by an airstrike. He looked so traumatized that he refused to let go of the nurse attending to his wounds. The video was posted by the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) to expose what Syrian children has to endure every day during the war.
The news about the traumatized Aleppo boy became viral worldwide. It fueled the ongoing fight to stop the Syrian War as casualties are mostly innocent women and children.
Reading newsworthy stories about nurses opens our eyes about the other sides of nursing unknown to the public. The world of nurses is truly diversified. It’s astonishing to see that a nurse’s story can take the interest of the whole world in just a click.
See Also: 11 Viral Nursing Videos That Will Inspire You
Do you know more viral nurse news not included in this list? Share with us in the comments.
