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!!

Maybe with all our incredible minds out there we should be putting together a script for a show about Nursing students, or Rn's etc....

Sounds like a plan to me, Belle!!

what shall we title it? "True Calling," "Nuthouse," or "Perfect Veins"?

Take care,

Tanya

Specializes in Medical.
I just don't understand the immediate uprise.

Not having seen the program, I can't comment on it specifically. However, I can explain why so many nurses here have responded so vehemently and so quickly.

Nursing is generally portrayed through stereotype - the slut, the battle-axe, the airhead, the saint, the lazy slattern, the 'born nurse', the hand maiden, and the husband-seeker. On the rare occasions that men are portrayed they are gay. (Off the top of my head - i'm sure there are others).

Certainly there are nurses who (at least partly) meet these stereotypes, and stereotyping certainly occurs with other professions and groups.

However, nurses are almost never portrayed in any other way[/] than these stereotypes. Nursing itself, as portrayed in the media, looks undesirable

Viewers of TV programming could not be blamed for thinking that nurses work subordinate to doctors, blindly follow medical 'orders', and are part of medical administration (doctors are seen firing or threatening to fire nurses, making hiring decisions etc).

They could understandably think that the real work is done solely by doctors - on 'ER' the nurse:doctor ration is 1:10, in real life it is 2:1 or higher. Doctors are often portrayed performing some nursing duties, and nurses are often portrayed performing clerical duties.

From watching popular culture, lay people may well believe that studying to be a nurse is vocational, takes a short amount of time, does not really require science or higher thinking or independant decision making. Nurses who chose further study are almost without exception shown transfering to medicine.

Tthere is no portrayal of clincial specialisation, nurse practitioners, an autonomous career path or management heirarchy. There is no recognition of the role experienced nurse play in developing good doctors. And there is no reflection of the fact that nurses are the backbone of every health care system in the world.

It could be argued that these programs are entertainment, not documentary, and that networks have no obligation to accurately portray nurses. But they are happy to take credit for increasing public awareness on other fronts. 'Will & Grace', for example, takes credit for providing relief from the stereotypical image of gay men - Will isn't campy, promiscuous, or shallow, he's respected in his (respected) career, and he's three dimensional.

We are all agreed that there is a serious nursing shortage looming, and an ever-increasing demand for skilled nursing care. Nurses around the globe are seeking recognition for the demands and results of qualified nurses - reduced patient stays, improved outcomes, more efficient use of resources. Without a more accurate picture of who nurses are and what nursing is, the stereotype will predominate. Hand maidens who follow orders can be replaced by unskilled labour; promiscuous bimbos aren't worth improved pay and conditions; born nurses and saints don't have valuable professional skills.

Wonderfully said!

Not having seen the program, I can't comment on it specifically. However, I can explain why so many nurses here have responded so vehemently and so quickly.

Nursing is generally portrayed through stereotype - the slut, the battle-axe, the airhead, the saint, the lazy slattern, the 'born nurse', the hand maiden, and the husband-seeker. On the rare occasions that men are portrayed they are gay. (Off the top of my head - i'm sure there are others).

Certainly there are nurses who (at least partly) meet these stereotypes, and stereotyping certainly occurs with other professions and groups.

However, nurses are almost never portrayed in any other way[/] than these stereotypes. Nursing itself, as portrayed in the media, looks undesirable

Viewers of TV programming could not be blamed for thinking that nurses work subordinate to doctors, blindly follow medical 'orders', and are part of medical administration (doctors are seen firing or threatening to fire nurses, making hiring decisions etc).

They could understandably think that the real work is done solely by doctors - on 'ER' the nurse:doctor ration is 1:10, in real life it is 2:1 or higher. Doctors are often portrayed performing some nursing duties, and nurses are often portrayed performing clerical duties.

From watching popular culture, lay people may well believe that studying to be a nurse is vocational, takes a short amount of time, does not really require science or higher thinking or independant decision making. Nurses who chose further study are almost without exception shown transfering to medicine.

Tthere is no portrayal of clincial specialisation, nurse practitioners, an autonomous career path or management heirarchy. There is no recognition of the role experienced nurse play in developing good doctors. And there is no reflection of the fact that nurses are the backbone of every health care system in the world.

It could be argued that these programs are entertainment, not documentary, and that networks have no obligation to accurately portray nurses. But they are happy to take credit for increasing public awareness on other fronts. 'Will & Grace', for example, takes credit for providing relief from the stereotypical image of gay men - Will isn't campy, promiscuous, or shallow, he's respected in his (respected) career, and he's three dimensional.

We are all agreed that there is a serious nursing shortage looming, and an ever-increasing demand for skilled nursing care. Nurses around the globe are seeking recognition for the demands and results of qualified nurses - reduced patient stays, improved outcomes, more efficient use of resources. Without a more accurate picture of who nurses are and what nursing is, the stereotype will predominate. Hand maidens who follow orders can be replaced by unskilled labour; promiscuous bimbos aren't worth improved pay and conditions; born nurses and saints don't have valuable professional skills.

Don't forget the comment by the teenaged patient implying nurses are clueless (when the intern was lost) or the idea that the nurse would page the doctor 911 because the patient was bored.

I bet the Center for Nursing Advocacy will be all over this one with a letter writing campaign. YOu can bet your booty I'll be participating in that one. HOw disgusting!

:( :(

I've already emailed nursingadvocacy.org about this. They immediately responded that they have taped the show and will be viewing it. I think we all should write a letter/email to ABC as well. We cannot let this slide.

Specializes in Medical.
Wonderfully said!

Thank you, thank you :chuckle

BTW, this wasn't meant to be directed at anyone - although I loathe how the nurses are present mostly in their absence, and are almost wholly portrayed as bimbo/hand maiden hybrids, I nevertheless love ER!

And now that I'm all awareness-heightened, I draw your collective attention to the thread on accountability for medication errors:https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99867

Specializes in Neuro Critical Care.

I was excited when I saw the commercial for this show. I haven't watched it yet but my TIVO is saving it for me...now I can't wait! I have the feeling there will be one more email heading to ABC when I get done watching it.

I didn't have high expectations so I wasn't let down. At least they made the residents correctly look like they didn't know which way was up. During the orientation their director told them something to the effect that the nurses would be calling them to each task and that their current, new status made them the bottom of the food chain.

To me it wasn't quite as bad as Fox's House tv show where nurses are only seen bunched together talking at the nurse's station.

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

Only 1 episode of this show has aired. I'll give it 3 or 4 more episodes before i draw my own conclusion on how it protrays nurses.

I didn't see the show but I decided to see if maybe ABC had responded to any of this on their webpage. They made a nursing blog from one of the nurses at the SG hosp. Nobody I saw had mention this so here is the web site

http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/blog.html

Your message

To: ABC Audience Relations

Subject: Grey's Anatomy Premier

Sent: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 08:43:17 -0800

was deleted without being read on Mon, 28 Mar 2005 15:06:03 -0800

This was the message I received after I emailed them a 'nasty-gram' about their portrayal (betrayal?) of nurses.

Nice to know that ABC values the opinions of its viewers!

Your message

To: ABC Audience Relations

Subject: Grey's Anatomy Premier

Sent: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 08:43:17 -0800

was deleted without being read on Mon, 28 Mar 2005 15:06:03 -0800

This was the message I received after I emailed them a 'nasty-gram' about their portrayal (betrayal?) of nurses.

Nice to know that ABC values the opinions of its viewers!

What a bunch of @##^&$@$@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......*ahem.....meanies........ :angryfire :angryfire

I am sooooooo writing too!!!!!!

I also was offended by the comments made about nurses. Right after the intern said "Did you just call me a nurse?'" , my hubby looked at me and said, "Holy S##t, did you hear what she just said?". So, thanks for the email link, I just sent them my thoughts on the episode. :angryfire

I swear my mouth dropped open.....my Cheeto fell out......and that's exactly what I said to myself! :eek: *like that......... It was a Kodak moment. :chuckle

I just had a thought. What if this is exactly what they wanted to happen? What if the poducers asked the writers to purposely write those flaming lines into the script to get this response becasue what did many people say when they heard another ER type show was coming out? (I know many were hyped) But what if the show is targeting those who didn't watch but sure will NOW when they get wind from all who DID watch that it was offensive to nurses?

That would certainly explain why a member's email was deleted without being read. They expected it and dont want to read them all!

What do you think? Too off the wall?

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