[URO-RN]

http://www.nursingadvocacy.org/news/2005dec/mattel.html

December 2005 -- Mattel, the world's leading toy maker, has just released as part of its Furryville Collections (Series 2) a small doll called the "Nurse Quacktitioner."

Selling a doll called "Nurse Quacktitioner" would seem to reflect little regard for nurses or public health. That's because the name suggests that nurse practitioners (NPs) are "quacks," a term that has long been understood to refer to untrained persons who pretend to be physicians and dispense medical treatment.

What do ya'll think?

[URO-RN]

[traumaRUs]

Disgusting!

[Nurse Ratched]

It's a duck lol.

[sirI]

MRDUCKSMRNOTMR2DUCKSCMQUACKMRDUCKS

I sent an email to Mattel today. Hope to hear back from them.....

[gauge14iv]

There has been a LONG diatribe on another list I am on about this - what came out of it was this -

Lots of puns, lots of jokes, some angry comments, the point that sexy nurse barbie did more damage to the profession than a duck ever will and the eventual determination that there are a lot worse things to get riled up about.

Frankly - Im just happy somebody at Mattel had actually HEARD OF a nurse practitioner! There are Doctors in Dallas who still don't know what they are! LOL

[whiskeygirl]

It is funny. However, I totally understand where you are coming from.

But really, the toy was intended to be a play on words, not to be offensive to NPs. And its a toy for kids. They won't make that kind of connection.

[ayndim]

At first I was offended. Then I thought that I, as an adult, was reading too much into it. It is simply a nurse practioner that is a duck who quacks. How many kids, who would want to play with it, know what the slang "quack" is anyway?

[Marie_LPN]

It's a TOY. I wonder how many real children are going to get offended by this?

It's a DUCK in a white nurse outfit.

(yet another reason why NA is not where i'd turn to for support.)

[Balder_LPN]

I really dont see how a Barbie or a Duck can "hurt the profession" its a toy after all. If anyone is really thinks a toy effects how their pt's view/interact with them, then I suggest they should explore some self esteem issues with a qualified therapist. Please, dont anyone take that personal.

I have actually prefered to have a NP for primary care since I was a teenager.

Now, if I show up for an appt and S/He is a DUCK, I'll be outta there, regardless of how my perceptions may or may not have been effected by a toy.