Doctors offended by TV show about nurses

[FullGlass]

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.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

On its surface, I can see why doctors got butt-hurt about the trailer for the new show. Most of the physicians I know don't fit the stereotype, they just do a tough job every day and earn pretty good money for their time and trouble.

But I can't help but like the idea of a show that focuses on nurses and what we do. All the medical shows, like Grey's and Chicago Med, tend to showcase doctors and portray them as uber competitive, arrogant, and willing to throw nurses under the bus for any or no reason. Either that, or they are saintly, idealistic figures who sit with their patients all night, start IVs, and perform hygiene. They even answer the phone!?

[Red Shirt 6, CNA]

1 hour ago, VivaLasViejas said:

But I can't help but like the idea of a show that focuses on nurses and what we do.

On 12/31/2019 at 10:29 AM, FullGlass said:

I think a show could focus more on the caring aspects of the nurse-patient relationship, as well as interactions between nurses themselves and nurses and doctors.

These are the shows that I believe have Nurses are the main focus and or protagonist.

1. Nurses (2019-?)

2. Angles in White AKA Itsumademo Shiroi Hane (2018) (Technically this one is about nursing students)

3. Charite' (2017)

4. Trust Me (2017-2019) Season 1

5. Morocco Love In A Time Of War (2017)

6. Mercy Street (2016 -2017)

7. The Crimson Field (2015)

8. The Delivery Man (2015)

9. Outlander (2014-?)

10. ANZAC Girls (2013)

11. Call the Midwife (2012-?) Inspired on the Midwife Trilogy by Jennifer Worth [First published 2002]

12. HawthoRNe (2009-2011)

13. Mercy (2009)

14. Nurse Jackie (2009-2015)

15. Nurses (1991-1994)

16. China Beach (1988 – 1991) Based on the memoir Home Before Morning: The Story of an Army Nurse in Vietnam by Nurse Lynda Van Devanter [First Published in 1983]

17. Nurse (1981-1982) Based on the book Nurse by Peggy Anderson [First Published in 1978]

[FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP]

On 1/5/2020 at 12:06 AM, Red Shirt 6 said:

These are the shows that I believe have Nurses are the main focus and or protagonist.

Thank you for this list. For anyone who is interested, there are 2 old movies that are very interesting and are about nurses:

1. Night Nurse with Barbary Stanwyck and Cary Grant. Movie takes place in the 1920s and features a new nurse grad from a diploma program who saves 2 children from being murdered.

2. Sister Kinney with Rosalind Russell. This is really fascinating true story. The movie starts in pre WWI Australia. Kinney is not a nun, but "Sister" is a term used by Australians for military nurses (she served in WWI). She is the equivalent of an LVN or RN working in outback Australia, covering vast distances to provide care, with a horse and buggy. Using the telephone or a radio, she can consult with doctors. The movie depicts the scourge of polio and is about Kinney's development of a successful treatment that met with fierce opposition by many doctors. Rosalind Russell became friends with Kinney during the making of this movie.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

Just watched the first episode.

There was no doctor bashing. The show just focused on the role of the nurse. A little unrealistic at times, but that is to be expected with TV.

The premise was it was the first day at work for 5 nurse on the day of deliberate act in downtown Toronto (based on real events) which results in a large number or victims. One nurse learns that the patient she saved and was taking care of was the perpetrator of the attack. I think they dealt very well with her realizing that he was the guilty one but at the same time she was obligated to take care of him and keep him alive was very well done.

Overall, I will tune in for more episodes.

[Albertanurse13]

9 minutes ago, Pepper The Cat said:

Just watched the first episode.

There was no doctor bashing. The show just focused on the role of the nurse. A little unrealistic at times, but that is to be expected with TV.

The premise was it was the first day at work for 5 nurse on the day of deliberate act in downtown Toronto (based on real events) which results in a large number or victims. One nurse learns that the patient she saved and was taking care of was the perpetrator of the attack. I think they dealt very well with her realizing that he was the guilty one but at the same time she was obligated to take care of him and keep him alive was very well done.

Overall, I will tune in for more episodes.

I haven't tuned in yet...its PVR'd...but sounds like what I would expect...nurses don't have to doctor bash and tv can portray real life nursing duties without bashing doc's...which really makes me wonder why some doc's are getting so defensive about the show. Perhaps they ought to watch before making such negative comments....we all know what they say about assumptions.

[popopopo]

5 minutes ago, Albertanurse13 said:

I haven't tuned in yet...its PVR'd...but sounds like what I would expect...nurses don't have to doctor bash and tv can portray real life nursing duties without bashing doc's...which really makes me wonder why some doc's are getting so defensive about the show. Perhaps they ought to watch before making such negative comments....we all know what they say about assumptions.

I'm getting mixed messages about this post. Are doctors asses or not?

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

I'm surprised nobody thought to mention Bob "hearts" Abishola. The nurse is definitely a major character there. It's kind of a cute show despite the main premise being a patient, Bob falls for his nurse. He then courts her using compression socks. You just can't make this stuff up!

[Hani, BSN, RN, EMT-I]

Hjem med Jul (Home for Christmas) is a pretty cute show with a nurse as the main character. It's Norwegian but it's on Netflix with subtitles.

[mr_nurse_drew, ADN, BSN, RN]

The Resident has a NP as one of its main characters. It also addresses the huge problem of short-staffing in nursing when one of the main character nurses has an accident from falling asleep due to working double shifts.

[catstks, BSN, RN]

Doctors complaining about this is absolutely absurd. I didn't see anything that trash-talked them. Most medical TVs are about doctors, not nurses, the complaining doctor should be more opposed to those shows for presenting negative attributes of physicians. Sound like jealousy that nurses are actually being seen, instead of us just being part of the background.

[Albertanurse13]

13 minutes ago, catstks said:

Doctors complaining about this is absolutely absurd. I didn't see anything that trash-talked them. Most medical TVs are about doctors, not nurses, the complaining doctor should be more opposed to those shows for presenting negative attributes of physicians. Sound like jealousy that nurses are actually being seen, instead of us just being part of the background.

I absolutely agree....they need to get over themselves.

There have been some negative comments from doc's about the show because they felt the trailer depicted doc's in a lesser light than nurses. There is another site where a physician commented poorly about the showed prior to it being aired...some docs just getting defensive about a show spotlighting nurses...some doc's didnt like the comment..."we aren't doctors...we are nurses"

[catstks, BSN, RN]

15 minutes ago, Albertanurse13 said:

I absolutely agree....they need to get over themselves.

There have been some negative comments from doc's about the show because they felt the trailer depicted doc's in a lesser light than nurses. There is another site where a physician commented poorly about the showed prior to it being aired...some docs just getting defensive about a show spotlighting nurses...some doc's didnt like the comment..."we aren't doctors...we are nurses"

Yet heads would roll if we did not identify that we were not a doctor... smh.