Grey's Anatomy Premier!!! + How to Contact Show Creators

Nurses General Nursing

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Oh my god! I haven't posted in a long time, but I just had to post again. I'm watching the premier of Grey's Anatomy -- any of you see this?? (new show on ABC)

The Doctor, after being questioned by a nurse says, "I'm just a resident, but you take 4 years of medical school, and let me know if I'm right." (Did I quote it right?)

Then, as he walks away he says, "I hate nurses."

Then, he walks up to a female resident and mistakenly calls her a nurse and she responds, with anger and indignation, "Did you just call me a nurse?" As though it were a racial slur!

I mean, nurses have historically been marginalized in many mass media outlets, but this is amazing!!

Good point. After this thread, I watched the show (although they didn't have any anti-nurse stuff in that particular episode) ...

The show isn't very good. And some of the cast members are just plain difficult to watch.

It will probably get cancelled, IMHO.

:coollook:

I doubt it will get canceled when there are 17 million viewers, and I believe it is taking over Bosten Legals slot.

Just because a few people have to pick apart every aspect of the show doesn't mean the show stinks. I happen to like it, and will continue watching. It is a TV show. If you don't like it, change the channel...

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:barf02:

And that's all I have to say about this show.

Except for my man Patrick D. Then it's... :kiss

Like I said before, put that thing on mute when you're watching this show.

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Specializes in ED.

I watched the show again on Sunday; this time I was a little more critical. Unlike ER, I don't think this show has a single medical professional on its staff. Did any of you pick up on the multiple things they did wrong? I think they even have a part in the beginning credits where a surgeon is tying the back on another surgeons gown with sterile gloves on, well not sterile anymore. I know it's just a show, but at least other shows like ER make an effort to do things right.

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Specializes in OB.
I doubt it will get canceled when there are 17 million viewers, and I believe it is taking over Bosten Legals slot.

Just because a few people have to pick apart every aspect of the show doesn't mean the show stinks. I happen to like it, and will continue watching. It is a TV show. If you don't like it, change the channel...

Well said, BELLE0924. There are millions of non-health care workers that probably love the show already. If someone is going to be that critical of a show or if they just want to watch something "more real", they shouldn't watch Gray's Anatomy. They'll find themselves just looking for all of the inaccuracies throughout the show in every show. If you're going to do that, just don't watch it...

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Well said, BELLE0924. There are millions of non-health care workers that probably love the show already. If someone is going to be that critical of a show or if they just want to watch something "more real", they shouldn't watch Gray's Anatomy. They'll find themselves just looking for all of the inaccuracies throughout the show in every show. If you're going to do that, just don't watch it...

I've been watching ER since forever and yeah it fueled my interest in medicine/nursing. I longed for the day I could understand what the heck they were talking about. Well now I do and half the fun is being able to pick out all the stuff they do wrong or say. :chuckle

The people around me at the time hate it but I love it.

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I watched the show again on Sunday; this time I was a little more critical. Unlike ER, I don't think this show has a single medical professional on its staff. Did any of you pick up on the multiple things they did wrong? I think they even have a part in the beginning credits where a surgeon is tying the back on another surgeons gown with sterile gloves on, well not sterile anymore. I know it's just a show, but at least other shows like ER make an effort to do things right.

I noticed the gown being tied with sterile gloves too! :)

steph

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Specializes in OB.
I've been watching ER since forever and yeah it fueled my interest in medicine/nursing. I longed for the day I could understand what the heck they were talking about. Well now I do and half the fun is being able to pick out all the stuff they do wrong or say. :chuckle

The people around me at the time hate it but I love it.

Well, at least your criticizing the show for the fun of it... I do that sometimes, too. :chuckle

Everyone else here seems so angry about it. As I've said before, it's just a television show and if you don't like it, don't watch it.

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I saw the show, liked it except for that. It's kind of sad in a way, because it not only makes the nursing community look bad, it says that ALL doctors still feel that way about nurses. The hospital I work at has some pretty great doctors. They respect us and our opinions and usually the first words out of their mouth when they come in the door are, "Who has Mr./Mrs./Ms. so-and-so? How is he/she doing? What do you think? " I'm proud to say that most (I say most, not all. There are a few left from the stone-age) of our doctors have broken the stereotype of stereotyping nurses. I think that statement reflected terribly on people who have done nothing but help my career grow to this point.

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Specializes in Obstetrics, M/S, Psych.
I saw the show, liked it except for that. It's kind of sad in a way, because it not only makes the nursing community look bad, it says that ALL doctors still feel that way about nurses. The hospital I work at has some pretty great doctors. They respect us and our opinions and usually the first words out of their mouth when they come in the door are, "Who has Mr./Mrs./Ms. so-and-so? How is he/she doing? What do you think? " I'm proud to say that most (I say most, not all. There are a few left from the stone-age) of our doctors have broken the stereotype of stereotyping nurses. I think that statement reflected terribly on people who have done nothing but help my career grow to this point.

I've found that to be true about most docs today as well. The relationships are much better between nurses and doctors the past 15 years or so I'd say. Perhaps it is that they are finally seeing they do need nurses in order to practice. Nursing has become more technical and complex. Could be the HMO's have humbled them a bit. Merely being in the profession doesn't place physicians on a pedestal the way it once did, respect has to be earned. The old sterotype is changing for them, as it is for us. Takes time.

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I've found that to be true about most docs today as well. The relationships are much better between nurses and doctors the past 15 years or so I'd say. Perhaps it is that they are finally seeing they do need nurses in order to practice. Nursing has become more technical and complex. Could be the HMO's have humbled them a bit. Merely being in the profession doesn't place physicians on a pedestal the way it once did, respect has to be earned. The old sterotype is changing for them, as it is for us. Takes time.

This is my letter to ABC and friends:

Dear Ms. Rhimes, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Parriott, Ms. Beers, Dr. Klein, Ms. Tobin and Mr. Thompson:

I am deeply disturbed and disheartened by the absence and abuse of nurses on your show, Grey's Anatomy. I am a Puerto Rican male completing a bachelor of science in nursing at the University of San Francisco. From what I take from the show, nurses are to be regarded as mere handmaidens that should be put in their respective places when questioning (what we call "advocating for our patient") the orders of a physician.

Are you not aware that most, if not all of the vital work physicians perform for patients each day rides on the backs of nurses? There is a nursing shortage and your portrayal of nursing as a servant's job is sad and is a negative message to send out to the public.

Just as you, Shonda Rhimes, feel that "the way people look at people on television is the way they perceive the world" and that "we can change the assumptions that people have simply by the images they see in the background of the show," as you pointedly explained on March 25, 2005, on an NPR broadcast, so too should you have concern over the public image of a health profession seriously on the decline due to perpetuated stereotypes about the value of work historically provided by females.

Please paint nurses in a brighter light as we are also valuable members of the surgical team and the overall healthcare of this and every country in the world.

Thank you.

_________________________________________________________________

Go to The Center for Nursing Advocacy wesite to send one! :wink2:

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It's a television show, for goodness sake! Either you like it or you don't. And if you don't, don't watch it! Simple as that. If more people don't watch it, ratings will fall and that will be the end of Gray's Anatomy.

If you don't want to get upset about it don't, but please don't minimize the concerns of others who are trying to better our profession. Public perception is shaped largely by media influences... who continue to portray professional nurses as bimbos, idiots, or simply nonexistant in the healthcare arena.

Many of us feel this plays heavily into the general lack of respect encountered by nurses today. If we say nothing, the general public is likely to assume the TV portrayals are correct, and the cycle of misinformation and sterotyping continues.

JMHO.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
If you don't want to get upset about it don't, but please don't minimize the concerns of others who are trying to better our profession. Public perception is shaped largely by media influences... who continue to portray professional nurses as bimbos, idiots, or simply nonexistant in the healthcare arena.

Many of us feel this plays heavily into the general lack of respect encountered by nurses today. If we say nothing, the general public is likely to assume the TV portrayals are correct, and the cycle of misinformation and sterotyping continues.

JMHO.

I agree. The media repeatedly "misses the boat" in portraying nursing as it is, a PROFESSION worthy of some measure of respect. It's time to change that, as the shortage in some areas deepens to critical levels. Whether we like it or not, our young people, in particular, DO watch a LOT of TV and it's shown media influence is a major factor in how nurses/nursing is perceived. I have to agree 100% with mattsmom here.
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