image credit: Michaela Callahan via Facebook
A "nurse" in Jacksonville, FL thinks it’s hilarious to use newborns like puppets for her own amusement.
Allyson Thompson, a Navy corpsman, was fired after posting photos and videos of herself and the newborn infants that were presumably her patients, in various states of what she must think of as humorous situations.
Including this photo, in which she refers to HUMAN BABIES as “mini-satans.”
(ALSO, those fingernails are a serious infection risk.)
Thankfully Jacksonville Naval Hospital responded swiftly and with appropriate outrage.
This comes just a few days after Baby Rabies shared a poignant photo and story that had many moms (including me) in tears.
As an RN, I wrote my own personal story of birth and of being at the bedside of so many other womens' births. I take the care of patients very seriously; their lives are literally in my hands. But nurses aren’t just part of their patients lives; we share their hopes and dreams, their loves and losses.
And as an RN, I am outraged that she would abuse her power in this way. But even more than outrage, I feel a deep sorrow for the families who trusted Allyson with their babies.
This woman should never have accepted the responsibility of caring for babies if she couldn't do it with respect and love.
The summer before I graduated, I was given the opportunity to work in the NICU. As a student RN only weeks from being licensed, being entrusted with these infants was both an honor, and a humbling experience. To care for a child at their most vulnerable, to have the parents of that child go home for much deserved rest and trust that you will treat that baby as they would, this is a responsibility that is not meant to be mocked.
From the first baby I wrapped to my chest, to the last baby, so small she could almost fit in one hand, every baby was the most precious. And every nurse I know felt the same way. Any nurse who is given the awesome responsibility of caring for human life, any human life, should be performing that duty with a sound and sharp mind, and a full heart.
This woman is not a Registered Nurse, in the Navy the "corpsman" designation is more akin to an assistant (can do assessments and give injections). She doesn't get to be called a "nurse". Nurses don't behave this way. Regardless of her title, she has clearly forgotten every fundamental patient care practice medical attendants are taught.
First and foremost, to treat our patients with the utmost care and respect.
As one of my nursing instructors said, “Treat them like you’d want them to treat your mother.”
