Dos & Don’ts as a Healthcare Professional

I’m aspiring to be a nurse one day. I’ve done a couple of healthcare courses and have a passion for the medical field, which is why I was so disturbed by a Facebook post I saw early this morning. This post was over an article called “Naval nurses booted over disturbing pics, posts on ‘mini Satan’ newborns.” I was very disturbed by this article for several reasons. As a mother I was horrified that these nurses, that are suppose to be trusted healthcare individuals that you should be able put your trust in to help care for you and your newborn, did the things they did. It’s one thing that anyone does this to a child but another to have a trusted healthcare professional act in such an unethical and unprofessional way.

Surprisingly these nurses aren’t just any nurses, but are naval nurses in a hospital in Florida. They snapchatted pictures of a newborn that was under their care, in the pictures they are flipping the innocent newborn baby off and made comment, “How I currently feel about these mini Satans”. THEY ARE VIOLATING SO MANY LAWS WITH THIS! Imagine if this was your newborn? How would you feel? As a parent I was outraged at their behavior and it wasn't my child that they did this to. I can’t start to think what else these nurses were capable of doing or did with out posting pictures of it!

As a healthcare professional myself, I was disgusted at their behavior.  A healthcare professional must acquire some skills. Among these skills, ethics should be on top of the list.  Ethics is doing what is right always even when no one is looking. Being compassionate, helping others, respecting patients wishes even though you don't agree with them doing good for others, and treating all patients fairly with equality are among ethics. These nurses failed miserably at them all. To be acting so irresponsibly with a baby that is not able to fight for itself is so wrong in every which way.

I personally have experienced some malicious acts with health care professionals. The most shocking to me was during my clinicals as a nurse’s aide in a nursing home. A nurse’s aide was helping a patient with wiping her bottom after using the bathroom, this nurse aide wiped the patients bottom with germicidal wipes. These wipes have chemicals that are meant to kill bacteria and viruses but are harmful if absorbed through the skin. The warning label on the container of these germicidal wipes says to avoid contact with skin because it may cause. This nurse assistant was aware and still chose to use and hurt the patient with them. I was shocked, angry, and immediately reported this incident. Unfortunately in the medical field there are some healthcare professionals like these naval nurses that lack ethics. That is both sad and frightening! I’m glad that the hospital in Florida where these naval nurses were employed took the proper measures of firing them. In my opinion these nurses should not be able to work as nurses again. No parent, person, nor child should have to be mistreated by anyone, especially  a healthcare professional in which trust is put into.