TV & Nursing

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hey everyone!

I'm a nurse wannabe, attending school next fall.

I'm curious what you "real, live" nurses think of such programs on tv as ER, Real Life Trauma, Maternity Ward, etc.

Are these show a help or hinderance to the profession?

Are they realistic?

Do you think they show a glamorized version of your work?

I'm very curious as to what you - the experts - think about this topic.

Michelle

:cool:

Originally posted by deespoohbear

Mama Val- I really like those foresenic shows too!! FBI Files, The New Detectives, American Justice, Investigative Reports (especially the Cold Case Files). My hubby just rolls his eyes at me. Several times I have seen the same case on different shows. Interesting to see how each of the shows portray the cases.

My now almost 13 year old son was watching "Paramedics" a couple of years ago and decided that he wanted to be a paramedic. Then he saw an episode which involved a lot of blood. He asked me "Mommy, if I become a paramedic will I see a lot of blood?" :roll Couldn't help laughing at the kid, he was serious. When I told him yes, he said he would have to get back to me whether he really wanted to be a paramedic. Still waiting for the answer. :D

HAHAAHAHA, I was actually in a class with a girl that wondered if she was going to actually have to make beds and feed people as part of her CNA class....can't wait 'til she gets to NURSING clinicals!!

Can't watch they hospital shows, they're ridiculous.

Brian

Had to comment on one episode of Maternity Ward that I watched. This nurse was instructing the parents how to give injections to their infant and had the father return demonstrate it for her. He injected his son and then put the needle, uncapped, in the crib with his son. The nurse was standing right there, shouldn't she have said that it goes in the sharps container and the last place it should be is in the infant's crib. But, I still love that show and will keep watching. Totally agree with A Baby Story. The moms go into labor looking perfect, get an epidural at 4 cm (and the nurses or doctor ask them at that point if they want it with a big smile on their faces) and then have a C-section. It is just disgusting....

Yeah- I loved ER until I became a real Nurse! LOL!

Those TV shows kill me. I want a TV show with with REAL nurses doing what we REALLY do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But will that ever happen????Probably not!

I can't stand ER or "scrubs" or those type of shows anymore.It angers me when people have no idea of what we nurses are thinking and doing behind the scenes. TV makes it look like some fun play-acting game. I would love for an RN to make and write and direct one of those hospital shows and show how we nurses see it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:devil:

Even in the stuff I read....

I read the "Left Behind" series and most of it was pretty good, until I got to the one book that describes the hero's facial laceration as being sewn up by a NURSE--a Native American, no less-- with a "running tent stitch" followed by a couple of staples. Oh, and the stitches came out first, of course!! :lol2:

I just WISH they'd consulted someone before they wrote that. :rolleyes:

I just completed ACLS, and a woman who has been a nurse for 9 YEARS was in my small group. They were reviewing asystole, and she said, "Wait. You don't shock for a flat line?," and they said, "no." She said, I kid you not, "BUT THEY DO ON TV!!!!!!!!" :)

I pretty much adore all of the medical shows, regardless of how accurate they are. However, one thing I noticed is that the docs on the shows seem to spend an awful lot of time with patients, just comforting them and sitting with them.And they are such good listeners. Remember when Carter missed his graduation from medical school because he decided to sit with a frightened child about to undego surgery? I think I know ONE doctor like that, out of how many? I still love the shows though. By the way, I thought " A Baby Story" was real.

P.S. And it IS possible for real nurses to be thin and attractive. It's not only in TV.

I do watch scrubs, because it makes me laugh, but definately not the medical content :eek:

I noticed a bunch of new "Doc" shows on this season, but I haven't seen any yet, MD's, one on CBS & another one on PAX. What's new I guess :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I am big CBS daytime fan too Las Vegas and Kevin!

I think Dr. Samuels is the only psych/obgyn Dr on CBS...Isn't it a hoot how the Doctors know the entire family...and greet them by name as they walk in AND already know patient's history? Oh yeah, ER usually EMPTY! when bringing in patient! haha! How about Guiding Light? Michelle Bauer becoming a Physician Assistant at the snap of finger...Gawd! Or better yet..."I am the patients 3rd cousin's sisters daughter...Doctor, you can tell me confidentially..." Meanwhile there are 4 ppl eavesdropping at the door! LOL!:roll

The MDS show was pretty good. And I think that they DO depict nurses in a good light on ER. So what if the technical things aren't 100% accurate? it's only TV. The soaps are funny though. Did you ever notice on Y&R that Olivia seems to be the only doctor in Genoa City?

I was working in a level one trauma center ER when TLC had a film crew in our ER for 12 weeks. The film crew was very nice and really didn't get in the way too much; however, after they did their job and the material was edited in New York and aired on TV. We the Nursing staff, for the most part, were very disappointed, they had managed to edit out most of the nurses in almost every scene. They had the patients surrounded by doctors with maybe a nurse in the background charting something. Instead how it really is, it made it look like the doctors carried out all the medical tteatments and did all the work. I was very disappointed, it was a distortion of reality. Yes, the doctors worked very hard in that ER, but the nurses worked just as hard or harder. Almost all the footage was MD driven to glorify doctors with an after thought concerning the nurses, who as anyone knows who has worked in a hospital , are the backbone of patient care. As long as the this contiues we will never get the recognition or compensation we deserve. And this was suppose to be reality TV, oh please!!!!!

Specializes in ICU, nutrition.
Originally posted by Kristi2377

Some of the staff asked the crew why they didn't focus more on the nurses and were told it was because TLC did a poll and viewers said they weren't interested in what the nurses did, only the doctors. [/b]

I think that's because the general public has no idea how much nurses actually do. They think that the ER is like it is on TV, 5 or 6 doctors and one nurse working on every trauma. Come on! In our ER, we never have more than 2 doctors working, so it's not like that's ever going to happen at our hospital. Or many others, for that matter.

I saw (several months ago) some specials on Discovery Health Channel about nurses. They were an hour long and each one dealt with a particular specialty (OR, L&D, ICU, ER, psyche). They were very interesting. Has anyone else seen them?

+ Add a Comment