A nurse from Queensland, Australia, has been praised for a heartfelt open letter she wrote following a meeting with an acquaintance who described her as 'just a nurse'.
Caitlin Brassington was returning home last week from a busy shift at the hospital, where she works as a paediatric nurse, when she bumped into the woman during a stop-off to pick up milk.
The acquaintance had never seen Carrie in uniform, she later wrote for ABC, and told her "she didn't realise I was just a nurse."
"Over my 18-year career, I have heard this phrase many, many times," she later wrote. " But today it got to me.
"Maybe it got to me because I am exhausted — emotionally and physically — from what is actually just a normal day at work for me.
"Maybe it got to me because I have no understanding of how so many people open their mouths without thinking."
Angered by the remark, she wrote an open letter on Facebook that has since been shared hundreds of times. In it she described some of the many challenging and important duties that she, and other nurses, perform on a daily basis – but which many people overlook.
"I have helped babies into the world, many of whom needed assistance to take their first breath, and yet I am just a nurse," she wrote.
"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."
Read the full open letter on Facebook.
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