‘I am not an angel, I am a nurse, I am human’

My editorial for this issue of the BJN, the International Nurses Day issue, is handed over to you, the nursing profession. Every time a healthcare worker dies from COVID-19 our hearts break a little bit more.

I'll start with a posting on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic from a Nurse, a British Army Officer, Captain JR Potter:

‘Night shift done and it is the small things I think I'd care about.

Combing your hair, brushing your teeth, applying lip balm, holding your hand and telling you I am there. You are safe, do not be scared.

Nursing is more than a just a job and I love it’

This could have been said by any nurse anywhere in the world.

The following comments have been taken from various social media postings:

‘Stand down, return to base, Rest in Peace’

‘I hope his daughter knows that someone else's daughter saw her father just as that, someone's dad who was cared for, sick, hurting and alone and if she wonders—I squeezed his hand, told him I was sorry’