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 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 auscultate 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, junior nurses and junior doctors on disease states, prognoses and treatment plans, and yet I am just a nurse.
I have been a lecturer in a school of medicine, teaching medical students how to perform a systematic physical examination of a patient, 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 understand the anatomical, physiological, and psychological differences in every age group of children, and the relevance this has on how we care for them and treat them, 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 provide comfort, compassion, emotional and social support to patients and their families in their darkest times, and yet I am just a nurse.
I have worked 12-hour shifts without a toilet break or a cup of coffee, to ensure that the best possible care is given to my patient, and yet I am just a nurse.
I have been screamed at, vomited on and urinated on, but I will still come to work and do my job, and yet I am just a nurse.
I have the experience, knowledge and competence that has saved and will continue to save people's lives, and yet I am just a nurse.
So yes, lovely acquaintance in the corner store, if I am "just a nurse", then I am ridiculously proud to be one!
Author Passionate Paediatric and Child Health Nurse Caitlin Brassington
Information & Image Source www.abc.net.au
