Nurses Fired For Viral TikTok Video

[Nurse Beth]

It's hard to believe nurses would record themselves mocking their own patients and then post it on Tik Tok. It's not hard to believe the video went viral, receiving 100,000 views before it was taken down.

Four L&D nurses at Emory Hospital thought it would be a good idea to create an "Ick" video where they go in front of the camera in scrubs, at work, taking turns mocking patients and complaining about what annoys each of them.
One nurse made fun of a patient refusing pain medication or an epidural but then claiming she had an 8 or 9 pain level. Another nurse mocked patients who come in for an induction and then ask if they can shower and have something to eat.

Some mothers who gave birth at the hospital in Atlanta viewed the video and are shocked. Hopefully the mother who asked "How much does my baby weigh?" before the nurse had a chance to weigh the infant did not see the video of the nurse mocking the new Mom.

All four nurses were swiftly fired by Emory. Some are saying it's heartless to fire them before Christmas.....but I think Emory did the right thing.

How do you feel about this?

[londonflo]

14 minutes ago, Emergent said:

I hope they learn from this incident, and grow, and change.

I hope they are out of health care!

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

2 hours ago, londonflo said:

It is not immaturity.. it is ( I wanted to say idiocy) but realized it is a perfect example of these RNs who do NOT respect the mothers/infants and really do not care about what their role is to provide health care, nor do they care anyway you describe it.  

Well put. Sadly. 

[sleepwalker, MSN, NP]

They absolutely should have been fired. They lacked the presence of maturity to realize that posting such a degrading video in a public forum would be a "problem". That level of maturity and inability to think about the causations and reactions attributed to such actions is worrisome and pathetic at the least. Not the type of individuals I would trust with patient care.

[beachynurse, ASN, BSN]

It's hard to believe the lack of professionalism these nurses had shown. If I had seen that, and was scheduled to deliver a child there, I would rethink my decision. It would also make me very wary of confiding in nurses. I would be thinking, "is this what they do with what I talk to them about? Do they all make fun of me behind my back?" It's very disheartening to see this in the most trusted profession.  

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

18 minutes ago, beachynurse said:

It's hard to believe the lack of professionalism these nurses had shown. If I had seen that, and was scheduled to deliver a child there, I would rethink my decision. It would also make me very wary of confiding in nurses. I would be thinking, "is this what they do with what I talk to them about? Do they all make fun of me behind my back?" It's very disheartening to see this in the most trusted profession.  

We are supposedly the most trusted profession. Those 4 nurses sure took us backwards on the trust issue.

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

Reducing this to a base level, anyone who posts almost ANYTHING while at work, in uniform, with badges displayed for anyone to see will most likely be fired. If you Google "nurses fired over social media" you will see many people that have lost their jobs, even if they weren't posting something directly related to work, because companies do NOT want an association with anything negative. 

Compound that with the fact that these nurses were targeting women who may already be insecure about motherhood, the birth process, their bodies, etc. and it's pretty much a given they would be fired. I don't feel badly for them, everyone these days should know that making fun of patients in any arena isn't going to go well for you. Sure, we get frustrated and vent to our coworkers, but that should never reach a patient, family member, or anyone that might construe the statements as malicious.  Poor judgment in the extreme.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

When are people going to learn about this kind of thing? Do you remember those two nursing home CNAs who jumped on the "feeling cute, might XYZ later" meme bandwagon with "feeling cute, might drop your grandma later"? And who were then shocked by the repercussions as they were fired. The world sure has gotten unkind, especially for the chance to "go viral." It's pretty gross. I am sure those nurses will get hired somewhere, eventually, with the state of staffing being what it is. But it's never wise to post anything about work on social media. Ever. 

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

In my opinion they are dumb, vapid, and no loss to the profession.

[N7NP]

On 12/14/2022 at 6:22 PM, summertx said:

I wouldn't want to work with nurses like that. So immature. I don't see how Emory Hospital would hire that or not notice that.

Um....they had a pulse?  I worked at the #1 "clinic" in the world---and this was rampant.  New grad nurses everywhere, all on their phones, nowhere to be found---yet the patients put up with it (sometimes) because of "where" they were a patient.

The problem isn't why didn't the hospitals "notice" how immature the nurses were----it's that there is no floor anymore for the "quality" other than being licensed.  I know, right now, someone who is a convicted FELON, who diverted patients' meds (and that's worse, in my opinion, than stealing from a pyxis or not wasting after administering the pt meds. Just outright didn't give the patient their meds and then used them herself)---who simply moved away from that state (AZ) and to another---and the new state just bent over backwards to find a way to make it so she could work as a nurse. Yeah....there's a problem here.

Tik Tok and other social media sites---gotta say---it does separate the wheat from the chaff. The scum rises to the top so that people can skim that crap off and dispose of it appropriately---and yeah, that's what I think of these 4 "nurses". They need to go back to working at Hooters where maybe they'll feel a bit more at home in that classy environment.

Take the phones away. Period. The phones must be left at the NMs desk when on shift. Emergency calls can be made to OTHER phones than the staffers' own cell....(a very common lie nurses use to keep their phones with them). If you need your phone, you go and see the NM.

Think this is draconian and treating nurses like children? 

How many times do we have to see this sort of nonsense before we realize that yeah....some people just cannot and will not act like an adult and be responsible/professional in their behavior.

A friend just told me a story about an ICU Nurse at this same "major clinic" that wanted out of the constant hard work of being under the watchful eye of very discriminating patients (some from very wealthy Gulf States)...so she decided to transfer to IV Infusion....first thing she was reprimanded for.....standing in a corner while patients were assigned to her for  IV access....checking her phone for hours on end.

Yes. A rule has to be made that cell phones are to be left with managers. Because we're raising a whole batch of perpetual children who have zero self control.

[N7NP]

Just read an extremely well written POLITICAL commentary on Salon from a guy named Chauncey Vega. 

I am not gonna debate politics. My point to mentioning this opinion piece is the content regarding how 50% of Americans can't read at a 6th grade level, unable to think critically because of.....SOCIAL MEDIA exposure which effects young minds and their basic ability to focus or think critically.

Yes. The article is about politics.  My point is what the author is saying about who we are raising in this age of social media and what effect this has on our society. 

don't care whether you're red or blue. This type of behavior is being cultivated and social media is the main driver. 

Go read it if you like. Critical thinking cap engaged. 

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

Just to interject a moment of levity- the nurses' TikTok video was taken down, but the Wednesday dance videos (throwback to the Adams family) on Tiktok are fun. Just saying.

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

I've gone on facebook  and said something along the lines of 'OMG that was the most mental day', or 'the sky gained another star today, the world shines a lot less brightly' or 'well done team, we made the impossible possible" I also don't have my employer listed in my bio

To do this was just dumb. We all know that there are those patients that do our head in. Thats when you talk it through with your colleages, have a rant, go out and have a drink after work. You don't do this. 

Dear god people, grow a brain. Stop doing dumb *** and then wondering why you have to face consequences for it.