Am I Only one who is irritated by doctors and medical shows?

Nurses Relations

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I am not even a nurse yet, but my short time in the hospital as aide made me see how much nurses do and how smart they are about patient care and how little doctors are even around and sometimes honestly they seem to just not get what is actually going on. Sometimes they actually seem pretty clueless...

Yet somehow medical shows continue to portray the situation unfairly. I actually got into a small disagreement with someone about the show scrubs. They said all in all it was one of the better ones, but one of the nurses makes a comment about never going to college (then she couldn't have been a nurse) and their is a particularly irritating scene where a doctor fires a nurse. you also see the doctors sending the nurses to new assignments?

Any way i know it is just tv, but it upsets me because so many people are just ignorant

to what nursing is all about.

I know I was. I wanted to be a doctor mostly because I wanted to challenge gender sterio types, but one stay in the hospital changed my perspective took a 180. the nurses are the ones taking care of the patients!

Any way I don't want to bash doctors but I think maybe we need a new outlook on the way we view the healthcare team.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
It's television. It's meant to be entertaining not a class on what goes on in real life. I watch every medical show there is....sure I holler at the TV when they give the wrong dose, but it's still just entertainment.[/quote']

^Truth. Most pt's and families are aware we do 95% of their care; however you still run into that run of the mill "the doctor hangs the IV bag" stuff as a PP said. To me, that's just as entertaining as hollering at House, or laughing at Scrubs! :)

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

I think Nurse Jackie, drug addictions included, is the most accurate medical show I have ever seen. That is not to say it's accurate, just compaired to the crap like House & Grey's it is.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

I believe he is a cardiac surgeon and was very surprised that he was still practicing since he is a big shot tv star. A lot of the stuff he recommends has been discredited-like some of the weight loss stuff he talks about.

^ Yeah, but I have incorporated flax seed as a staple in my diet, and will mix sparkling water in my juice to cut down on drinking soda. You can take what is useful, but for the public to take it on and when you appear at the beside and say "Dr. Oz said..." you are going to have a conversation about finding this pt a PCP...

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
I don't even like shows like The Doctors and just can't tolerate Dr Oz with his following every new "brand new study says" stuff. And give me a break he's an expert in ever area of medicine? People, just go to your personal physician please lol[/quote']

^This!!! LOL...

just a couple weeks ago on greys anatomy, dr.yang asked one of the nurses to get her something and the nurse responded "right away doctor!" and scurried away with her head down. iIreally wanted to send a tweet to Shonda Rhimes about that one lol

This whole discussion is pretty hypocritical, don't you think? You're upset because nurses are stereotyped and yet you throw out a very bold and similar blanket statement about physicians? I don't mean to play devil's advocate here, but I get tired when I hear nurses say things along these lines for two reasons:

1) It's time we all stop perpetuating this ongoing battle between doctors and nurses and start to work as an interprofessional, collaborative team. You cannot be critical when comparing the role of a physician to that of a nurse because we have two different jobs that should symbiotically promote the well-being of our patients. Physicians study and train for a very long time to be able to make medical decisions about care and give medical orders. They are not there to spend copious amounts of time with patients at the bedside. Not to say they shouldn't have a good bedside manner, but if they seem "clueless", it may be because they don't have the same interactions that we do as nurses. Rather than criticizing them, try working with them. Use all of the knowledge that you have to fill in the gaps to make it the best experience possible for the patient. Are there rude, irritating and condescending doctors? Of course. Are there rude, irritating condescending nurses (PT's, RRT's, OT's, SW's for that matter)? Of course! The moment we stop stereotyping professions based on a few bad apples is the moment our patients win. Instead, lead by example! Be proud of what you do and do it well, aside from that, nothing else matters.

2) It's television people! Stop investing your time and efforts into caring about dramas portrayed on TV. If you believe that television shows have a true effect on your nursing identity, then you are not doing a good enough job of taking pride in your work and showing others what you truly do. There is a parallel between this issue and the classic playground "Am not!", "Are too"! argument. Did this ever work? I feel that having a proactive approach to combating stereotypes is far more effective. We need to focus our efforts on showcasing the amazing things we do! Write articles! Do presentations! Bring the media to your events!

I don't think anyone here is actually criticizing physicians for not doing the job of a nurse. What they are irritated about is that the media portrays physicians doing what we do, and so leading to many in the general public believing that what we work hard to do each day is accomplished by the doctors.

It doesn't mean that we don't think the doctors have a hard job.

I don't think anyone here is actually criticizing physicians for not doing the job of a nurse. What they are irritated about is that the media portrays physicians doing what we do, and so leading to many in the general public believing that what we work hard to do each day is accomplished by the doctors.

It doesn't mean that we don't think the doctors have a hard job.

Agree!!

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
I think Nurse Jackie drug addictions included, is the most accurate medical show I have ever seen. That is not to say it's accurate, just compaired to the crap like House & Grey's it is.[/quote']

^ I forgot to mention Nurse Jackie. Current best show about healthcare...the good, the bad, the ugly, in an entertaining way.

Specializes in Tele/PCU/ICU/Stepdown/HH Case Management.

Scrubs and Nurse Jackie are the only two worth watching that don't irritate the heck out of me. Nurse Jackie is the most realistic, and even it has unrealistic moments (like going out to eat regularly with her doc friend, or finding the time to have sex with the pharmicist during her shift). However, it is a TV show, so... Scrubs is just so full of comedic goofieness that it's hard to take seriously. Hawthorne is deplorable... Your typical sterotypes with the one nurse in pink being a flirt, the two male nurses, one wanted to be a doc but couldn't get into med school, the other is gay! Then the manager is running the floor with her nurses, and answers to docs like they are her bosses!!! Ugh! House ticked me off years ago when he asked a kid to help him with a LP, and the kid was like "shouldn't a nurse help"? House was like, you'll do a better job than a nurse...... Blah! No nurses, unless they are changing bedpans. Docs doing ALL of the work, and maybe two nurses in the background in most of the shows.

I watched ER a couple of times........why are there more doctors in the ER than nurses? I see like ten of them running around yelling orders and probably about two nurses lol. Severely inaccurate....

I'm glad someone posted this because I haven't been online in quite some time, but I was going to post something along those lines specifically about Grey's Anatomy. I have watched other medical shows(House, Scrubs, ER), but Grey's Anatomy is the WORST in its portrayal of nurses...always putting them down and making them act as complete idiots. I can't stand it! Even though House has doctors completing nursing tasks, at least it doesn't put them down on a regular basis. Scrubs shows Carla and other nurses in a more positive position. Grey's...I started watching it only recently and it is truly awful. I hate to admit it, but I still like watching the show. :/

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