WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist officials are assuring the community they will never let something like this happen again.
“What has alleged to have taken place certainly does not represent the very high standards of safety and integrity that our dedicated teammates take pride in and display each and every day,” Denise Potter with Wake Forest Baptist said.
Potter says they are conducting an in-depth analysis on the incident.
“When we first learned of these disturbing events, we immediately reached out to offer our condolences, our apologies and our support to the patients’ families,” Potter said.
Other members of the nursing community echo this sentiment.
Dr. Dennis Taylor who is the former president of the North Carolina nurses' association said it broke his heart when he heard the news.
“You know it doesn't make you feel good about your profession when unfortunately, you have someone who may have not followed the appropriate steps in the rules that they should've been,” Dr. Taylor said.
Dr. Taylor remembers the exact moment he decided he wanted to become a nurse. He was just 12 years old when he witnessed a car hit three students getting off the school bus.
“To this day I can still remember the feeling of feeling so helpless like I didn't know what to do and I knew from that point forward that I wanted to prepare myself to take care of patients who were injured,” Dr. Taylor explained.
He started as floor nurse and worked his way up to becoming a flight nurse. He received a PHD in nursing and pharmacogenomics.
“So nursing is something that really is a career of lifetime learning and then it's something that I’ve always really enjoyed,” Dr. Taylor said.
Dr. Taylor says during his time in nursing school his professors always stressed the importance of being the patient's advocate.
“It's a noble profession and certainly 99.999% of us are in it for the right reasons and that's to take care of patients and certainly I would not judge one whole profession by the acts of one person,” Dr. Taylor said.
Dr. Taylor said he hopes after this incident healthcare professionals will take more time to screen candidates before they are hired.
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