Queensland mother pens online retort after being labelled 'just a nurse'
A Toowoomba woman has penned a brilliant online retort after being labelled "just a nurse" by an acquaintance.
Caitlin Brassington stopped at a corner store for milk on October 7 wearing her work clothes when she saw an old acquaintance, who had never seen her in her uniform before.
The acquaintance told Ms Brassington that said she didn't realise she was "just a nurse".
"Maybe it got to me because I am exhausted - emotionally and physically - from what is actually just a normal day at work for me," Ms Brassington said in her Facebook post.
Later that day, the mother-of-three wrote an open letter on social media stating she has heard “many, many times” in the past 18 years that she was "just a nurse" but claimed this time, it got to her.
"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?" Ms Brassington wrote.
"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 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, 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."
Ms Brassington also pointed out that she misses Christmas and her children’s birthdays to care for people.
"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!"
Ms Brassington has since received an avalanche of support from thousands who back the mother who was labelled "just a nurse".
"Nurses are worth their weight in gold, most over-worked under-paid job," one man wrote.
Another person wrote: "There is no 'just' about it, nurses are the MOST amazing people and are the ones that really know what’s going on.
"After a fair bit of time in hospital over the last 2 years I know firsthand that there is never ‘just’ a nurse, you all rock!"
