Shelby Zomick, BSN, RN, has gone viral — at least on the nurse internet — after she shared a passionate poem tackling the struggles faced by nurses, traumatic workplace situations and heartbreaking moments.
“I know one poem can’t change our healthcare system, and I truly do love being a nurse, but I get anxious walking in the doors every day of my job, wondering if this is the day I get killed. And it should not be this way,” Zomick said.
In a poem titled “My Abuser - Slam Poem,” Zomick describes what it was like becoming a nurse eight years ago, saying she was “ready to save the world,” until spending more time in the field. Zomick’s tunnel vision was widened by experiencing abuse, navigating the pandemic, the neglect of healthcare administrators, and watching a fellow nurse be taken hostage with a scalpel.
“I managed to save my friend, with a beating heart and shaking hands, and the one can of pepper spray we had. The rest of that night, we took turns using the emergency eye wash station to clean the scattered maize out of our eyes and the bathroom to cry,” she said in the poem.
The 5-minute 53-second poetry slam video addresses the stressful situations a nurse goes through, particularly nurse abuse and the lack of protection for nurses in the field.
“It seems that the only thing COVID has changed is that you…you, the healthcare administrators, the chief nursing officers, the floor managers, the hospital CEOs, YOU got millions of dollars, and I… I got PTSD,” she said.
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