Doctors offended by TV show about nurses

OUxPhys, BSN, RN · Dec 28, 2019

Dont worry, most people see how doctors really are when they have to get admitted to the hospital. My how it is such a reality check for many.

Cowboyardee · Dec 28, 2019

The blog in question took offense to a voiceover that implied nurses do their job not for the country club, the fancy cars, the limelight, or their egos, unlike doctors. It seems the offending voiceover has been removed from the show's ads.

Fwiw, I suppose I'm not enamored of that kind of silly nonsense either. Not just because it is needlessly derogatory toward physicians (I'm sure their professional image will emerge unscathed), but because the show seems primed to portray nurses as saints who sacrifice themselves for the good of humanity. We don't need any more of that nonsense, and I'd rather not have our patients expecting that.

Some nurses like money and cars and country clubs (more power to em). Plenty of nurses have egos (hell, I have my moments). Some nurses are actual doctors, more or less.

I'd be thrilled with any medical show that:

A) let nurses be regular human beings, complicated and flawed, generous and selfish, smart as a whip and/or dumb as a bag of hammers, as the case may be.

And

B) depicted nurses on the front lines of most healthcare environments, doing what we actually do rather than having a team of idiot residents (think house or greys anatomy) do it for us.

The public needs our sweat and our skills more than our saintliness, and someday I hope a medical drama shows that.

Emergent, RN · Dec 28, 2019

So, some opinionated people spouted off online. What else is new in the world? Nothing...

I agree wholeheartedly that it's ridiculous to portray nurses as selfless saints. THAT is certainly fake news!

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Dec 28, 2019

The edited version of the trailer actually didn't give me the impression that nurses are being portrayed as saints who sacrifice themselves for the good of humanity. It's hard to judge a show I haven't even seen but the trailer did play into the "nursing is about caring" narrative which is quite banal and simplistic in my opinion.

My first impression was the nurses look so young and fit but then the premise was that these are "rookie" nurses so I do see that mental image reflected in some of the real life new nurses in our hospital. It also seems to play off the idea that nurses come in to the field with idealistic goals of altruism only to find out the harsh realities of the work involved --- I'm personally, not mad at that depiction.

DowntheRiver · Dec 28, 2019

I'd like to see a show about other areas of nursing, not just the ER. A lot of crazy interesting things happen in other areas of nursing.

KyBeagle, ASN · Dec 28, 2019

4 hours ago, Cowboyardee said:
let nurses be regular human beings, complicated and flawed, generous and selfish, smart as a whip and/or dumb as a bag of hammers, as the case may be.

And one other thing... we don’t have personal hairstylists to fix our hair before going to work. On my 2nd or 3rd night in a row— I’m slapping my hair back in a messy ponytail and dragging myself in to work! TV nurses and MDs don’t have a hair out of place. I’d love to see a REAL portrayal sometime (but that may not be great for ratings ?).

AnaRho · Dec 28, 2019

23 hours ago, juniper222 said:
I think it's about time for a show like this. Putting nurses in the spotlight might help to change some peoples opinions. Anyone who gets all bent out of shape about it has a problem to be sure.
Most of the medical dramas are all doctors and (what's the real nurse to doctor ratio anyway?). Doctor sees pt for 10 mins, nurse sees pt all day.

This is a great point. I wanted to go to med school not nursing school because I don't want to baby people into feeling better. That's just a horrible misconception. Once I was accepted to school and realized I could be the nurse I wanted to be, I gained a since of pride. Nurses are the eyes and ears, they aren't dumb or uneducated and will probably listen better than the doc will.

But, it took me some time to appreciate nurses. They aren't medical babysitters for boo boo's and poo poo's.

murseman24, MSN, CRNA · Dec 29, 2019

Does this surprise you? This is the way they think, especially online. If you are not aware of their incredible insecurities and egos it's because they don't perceive you as a threat. Try being a CRNA/PA/NP and you will become much more aware of how dirty they can play.

zoidberg, BSN, RN · Dec 29, 2019

Dont trust the B@&$? in apartment 23 (great comedy BTW), had a girl who lived in the apartment across the hall from the title character who was a nurse. She was always tired, hair was a mess, eating lots of take out, poor social skills. Very realistic representation in my opinion ?

And I’m glad i wasn’t the only one annoyed that they sent the PA in royal pains off to med school...

popopopo · Dec 29, 2019

13 hours ago, Cowboyardee said:
The blog in question took offense to a voiceover that implied nurses do their job not for the country club, the fancy cars, the limelight, or their egos, unlike doctors. It seems the offending voiceover has been removed from the show's ads.
Fwiw, I suppose I'm not enamored of that kind of silly nonsense either. Not just because it is needlessly derogatory toward physicians (I'm sure their professional image will emerge unscathed), but because the show seems primed to portray nurses as saints who sacrifice themselves for the good of humanity. We don't need any more of that nonsense, and I'd rather not have our patients expecting that.
Some nurses like money and cars and country clubs (more power to em). Plenty of nurses have egos (hell, I have my moments). Some nurses are actual doctors, more or less.
I'd be thrilled with any medical show that:
A) let nurses be regular human beings, complicated and flawed, generous and selfish, smart as a whip and/or dumb as a bag of hammers, as the case may be.
And
B) depicted nurses on the front lines of most healthcare environments, doing what we actually do rather than having a team of idiot residents (think house or greys anatomy) do it for us.
The public needs our sweat and our skills more than our saintliness, and someday I hope a medical drama shows that.

Agree with everything you said, but all the nurses here seem to be glad about the bolded. Isn't nursing one of the most trusted field? Who's going to lobby against the ANA? They'll just look like the bad guy no matter how you cut it. Doctors are already portrayed in a bad light as evidenced even in this thread, so that blogger isn't wrong.

Gmilitar · Dec 29, 2019

On 12/26/2019 at 2:25 PM, FullGlass said:
Interesting post on KevinMD about a trailer for a TV show called Nurses.
https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2019/12/why-a-new-tv-show-offends-physicians.html
Nurses is a Canadian show. I couldn't find the trailer mentioned in the KevinMD post.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm_cWMDtD28
What gets me is how upset doctors are about ONE show that is about nurses, when nurses are misrepresented so often in entertainment. And of course, someone then had to complain about NPs and PAs, which are very seldom depicted in entertainment.
Here is my comment on that post:
I'm a Nurse Practitioner and agree that TV and film would best serve the public, and healthcare, by showing the teamwork necessary to delivery good quality care. However, from a nursing perspective, the media generally portrays doctors positively and nurses are either ignored or debased. There is even a book about this: Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nursing Puts Us All at Risk, by Sandy Summers and Harry Jacobs Summers.
How many TV shows are about nurses? Other than the one discussed by the OP, there currently isn't a single one. In the past, we had Nurse Jackie. There was also a short-lived show about nurses starring Jada Pinkett-Smith, I believe.
How many TV shows are about doctors? Pretty much every medical show on TV now. And in most of these shows, nurses are ignored and the shows have doctors routinely performing nursing functions. Nurses are relegated to the background, usually just there to clean up messes. Gray's Anatomy - all about the doctors. House - he actively disliked and disparaged nurses. New Amsterdam - saintly doctor becomes CMO of large hospital, determined to improve it - but not one episode has focused on the importance of nurses in a large hospital. And so on.
scrubs, Nurse Jackie, and the now gone Code Black, showed doctors and nurses working as a team. But this perspective is all too rare.
At any rate, I am sorry this trailer offended some doctors. But it might be a good thing - now doctors have a chance to experience what nurses feel when watching most medical shows. It would be great if we could all lobby Hollywood together to demand shows that portray the teamwork necessary to delivery good quality healthcare.
And a note: I find it odd that in a discussion about not showing teamwork in healthcare, some commenters are compelled to dump on NPs and PAs. There are no shows no, nor have there ever been, any American TV shows about NPs and PAs. BBC has a great show, "Call the Midwife" about CNMs, which are APRNs. If we are going to advocate for portraying teamwork, then we all need to talk the talk and walk the walk.

I read some part of the article. I agree with him. The thing is that nurses have to stop comparing themselves to doctors. Their role is just as important in healthcare. For example, the other day I saw a post from a DNP on IG captioned “smart enough to become a doctor but chose to become a DNP’’ . These comparisons are unnecessary and looks bad on nurses. It shifts away from her accomplishments of becoming an NP and implicitly gives credit to another profession. Nurses should be proud of themselves and they should not have to feel the need to compare themselves to physicians in order to feel valued. not only does this damage the reputation of physicians, it also damages the reputation of nurses. In the end, the patients are the ones who are mostly affected. On another note, I’m excited that they now have a show centered on nurses.

HomeBound · Dec 29, 2019

So, they should be offended at every single medical show I've ever seen--where when the SHTF--the very first word out of the MDs mouth is.....

NURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep. Binge watch "House" or any other decent medical drama and yeah, it's always the doctor at the bedside, consoling said patient---and when the inevitable crump comes---they yell for the NURSE.

Why? I mean...if we're such dunderheads and do nothing but sling meds and take their orders, why are they calling for one of US? Do it yo damn self, if you're so good at it. I have other things to do.

The show "ER" always portrayed the "smart" and "skilled" nurses as the ones that "should go to medical school". Why?? Seriously. Why would I ever, EVER, want to do that? So I can prescribe? So I can intubate (most can't do this anyway)? I can prescribe as an NP. I can intubate as a paramedic.

The smart ones are nurses. We actually have a chance at a decent work-life balance. Doctors don't. At least, not for the 16 years they're battling through med school, residency, fellowship and then baby years as an attending. Nope. I think that's the dunderhead.

For the most part, the ones I have known are passive aggressive and only marginally competent. I used to love rounds in the ICU when 3rd year residents needed to have me explain how to read an EKG. Or when I had to calmly and carefully lead one of my senior residents through a CF of a central line insertion (the fellow didn't know how to do it properly either, and he was "teaching" the resident. when the pt went into VF, I calmly told the resident to pull the guidewire. Neither of them did one thing right when the pt went into arrhythmia. They just stood there. Dumb as a bag of hammers.) Or the 3rd year ER resident who ordered 10 mg of morphine for an opiate naive elderly gentleman with back pain---when I stopped him---he swore that this is what he wants!!! I strode over to the attending, without a word, showed him the order. Said resident was no longer in the program the following day.

They don't remember these things, and will deny them if you remind them.

There are good doctors and there are bad ones. Just like there are good nurses and there are bad ones. This is the same as it is in any profession. Television tends to glamorise doctors because it's good for business--for the portfolios of the 1% to have people "trust the doctors" and go to them for every tiny teensy ache and pain.

Which is precisely why we're in the mess we're in right now.