Emory Nurses Ick Challenge TikTok Controversy

About

Emory Nurses Ick Challenge TikTok Controversy refers to a viral video on TikTok that was posted by four childbirth nurses at Emory Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, in which they were participating in the "Ick Challenge," stating things that bothered them at their job with each thing being a specific action patients do. The TikTok and resulting controversy led to all four nurses being fired in mid-December 2022 and reuploads of the TikTok being taken down on the social media platform.

Origin

In the since-deleted TikTok video, four nurses are asked to share their "icks" (meaning things they dislike) that patients do while in the hospital. Four women proceed to participate in what's known as the "Ick Challenge," briefly describing various actions or behaviors they find problematic.

While the original TikTok was deleted after being posted prior to December 8th, 2022, reuploads of it started to appear after the firing happened, with one of the earliest reuploads being on December 10th by the YouTube channel arabworld news,^[1] receiving over 40,000 views in two days as the story began to spread (shown below).

According to reports, Emory Healthcare proceeded to fire the four birthing nurses who participated in the video after it attracted backlash online around December 8th, though the exact reason for their dismissal was not provided.^[4] That same day, Emory Healthcare posted on its official Instagram^[5] account with a statement about the controversy and its actions (shown below).

Spread

As the story began to spread in Mid-December 2022, people online started to recognize certain nurses within the video, which led to TikToks being uploaded of life stories involving the nurses and many of them being perceived as bad. For example, on December 11th, 2022, TikToker supacrwnjr^[2] uploaded a video in which they talked about their delivery and need to have a C-section without an epidural, warning everyone on the platform to avoid Emory Hospital at all costs because of the way the nurses treated her (shown below).

On December 11th, 2022, TikToker alxrichy^[3] also uploaded a TikTok in which she accused the nurses of being directly responsible in some form for the death of her newborn son, saying that she is glad two of the nurses are gone but that more should be fired, getting over 308,000 likes in one day (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References