Nurses Storyline on "ER"??

pickledpepperRN · Nov 2, 2003

Please!

If you watched tell us about it.

-jt · Nov 13, 2003

dont watch the show but just got this press release in the mail. A very long email. Heres an excerpt. Sheds some light:

Nurses say NBC's "ER" contributes to nursing shortage

November 10, 2003 -- Baltimore, MD -- The Center for Nursing Advocacy has kicked off a major campaign to convince NBC's popular television drama "ER" to portray the nursing profession accurately, in response to long-standing misrepresentations that the Center believes are contributing to the nursing shortage, one of the nation's most critical public health problems.

The Center began its campaign with an October 12 letter to "ER" producers, along with top executives at NBC and AOL-Time-Warner, parent of Warner Bros. Television, which produces the show._ The Center has also encouraged nurses to write their own letters of protest._ Already, scores of nurses in the United States and abroad, including many nursing leaders, have written powerful and unique letters explaining how the show's presentation of nursing does a disservice to their profession._ Excerpts from many of these letters are available on the Center's web site.

The "ER" episode "Dear Abby," first aired on October 9, 2003, was the last straw for the Center._ In that episode, seen by over 20 million viewers in the U.S., physicians were shown firing a number of nurses for staging a walk-out mid-shift to protest hospital plans to replace senior staff nurses with new nursing graduates willing to work for "minimum wage."_ "That would almost be funny if the shortage weren't a matter of life and death," said Summers._ "Hospitals today are desperate for nurses, because the short-staffing is literally killing patients._ Nurses report to nurse managers, not physicians._ And as educated professionals who hold lives in their hands, nurses don't work for minimum wage."_

The Center was further incensed by the October 30 "ER" episode, "Out of Africa" in which the show's lone major nurse character abandoned nursing for medical school._ A new character was immediately introduced, filling the show's one-major-nurse-character quota._ But nursing, not medicine, is the overwhelming choice of nurses who seek graduate education._ Recent data suggest that nurses are at least 50 times more likely to pursue graduate education in nursing than in medicine, and there are currently over 200,000 Advanced Practice Nurses in the U.S._ Summers says the show has virtually ignored these nurses, and argues that "showing nurses advance only through medicine suggests--wrongly--that nursing is a subset of medicine, and that you can't really make a difference in health care unless you become a physician."

Studies have shown that "ER"'s apparent realism has a strong impact on how viewers see health care, and Summers argues that this lends dangerous credibility to the show's distortions of nursing._ "Negative media images of nurses have been a key factor in the nursing shortage," she said, "because what people see affects what they think and do, in everything from decisions about what career to choose to how to allocate health care funding._ We can't wait any longer for this influential show to stop misrepresenting our profession._ We believe the show must have nursing advisors review its scripts--in addition to the physicians who do now--to avoid further damage."...............>

complete text at http://www.nursingadvocacy.org

read copies of nurses letters sent to ER producers: http://nursingadvocacy.org/action/letters/er/er.html

-jt · Nov 13, 2003

and ER says this:

Reel RNs:

Nurse extras keep it real on the set of television's 'ER' to ensure authenticity and to help cast and crew give it their best shot

http://www.nurseweek.com/news/features/03-06/er.asp

juji fruit · Nov 13, 2003

I guess I'm just in an onery mood tonight, but I just have to say it; It's a TV show, for goodness sake!!! Lets all take responsibility for ourselves and quit trying to blame the "state of affair" of the moment on TV and the media. If somebody truly feels so strongly about this, then they should just quit watching the show (or reading the newspaper, tabloids, "tell all" books, etc.). Nursing is a job just like any other that holds stereotypes.

Court

bellehill, RN · Nov 13, 2003

I'm with Jujifruit, it is just a TV show. I would rather see the ANA and Nursing Advocate spend time improving my working conditions and educating the public than chasing after a TV show to do it for them. The American public watches to be entertained, not educated. If they believe the topics depicted in these shows that is their choice; after one trip to the hospital they will realize the truth.

imenid37 · Nov 13, 2003

You're right it's just a show, but a lot of people watch it. If they wanted (they are under no obligation, of course to do so) they could portray nurses more accurately. The physicians get all the glory in this show, although they too, are not always depicted in the most positive light. Many of the procedures you see the docs doing are done in real life by nurses. The amount of patient contact of nurses vs. doctors is greatly exagerrated on this show. If that was more true to life, it might make nursing seem more exciting to the general public. (until they saw their paycheck-LOL) I'd love to see a show about nurses where the physicians were peripheral characters (more like real life, eh?). I can't tell you how much tv influences what some of our patients think. I often hear people say "look just like ER" or "just like the dreaded (I do OB) A Baby Story!" when they see some of our equipment like the warmer or isolettes. I thought Hopkins 24/7 which was on a few years ago was really neat, but I'd have liked to seen the segments about nursing which played on cable to have been shown on ABC like the segments on medicine. PBS also had a program back in the early 1990's or late 1980's called Real Nurses which was just a one episode airing which was very good.

-jt · Nov 13, 2003

Well, that IS the whole idea behind the campaign. I just dont understand the resistance to innovative ideas for tackling a problem that everybody agrees needs to be tackled. Sometimes it sounds like we're chasing our own tails. Heres a massive media opportunity with a top TV show to help get the word out, add pressure to the powers that be to make legislative changs that will improve those conditions and still its not good enough? :)

yes its just a show, but if you looked at the links, youd see that its THE highest rated, MOST watched show on TV and what the organziations are trying to do with their campaign is to get that show on board to collaborate with them in efforts to help reverse the nursing shortage - not "do it for them". The ideas included educating the public about nurses & the shortage, holding public services announcements about it during the shows commercials or at the end, like some of their actors do for other healthcare issues already. The organziations are asking that the show support nurses, give a true dipiction of nurses, what they do, and the work environment, bringing out the issues to the forefront, getting attention focused on them with storylines that will make the public and legislators more aware and subsequently will help to get legislation passed that will improve workplace conditions, staffing, etc. etc. etc. Legislators and tens of millions of others watch that show too.

The organizations arent just "complaining" about how nurses are being portrayed. They are saying that the show can do a lot of good and have an impact on helping to solve the shortage if it changed the way it dealt with the nurses in its stories, focused on them & their issues more & showed reality. The organizations had some good suggestions & are asking ER to work with them and use their show to help in the effort to resolve the nursing shortage and working conditions. Its another form of media coverage and political pressure for the legislators to do something about the problem.

gotta see the forest through the trees, guys.

juji fruit · Nov 13, 2003

I honestly do see the point of how nursing is depicted on ER and in the media in general. It is not realistic, but it makes for good entertainment. But, like you say, aren't we just chasing our tails? I personally got into nursing so I could do something fufilling and make good money. I hear alot of people complaining about salaries and I am actually shocked at how little some make in most parts of the country, but we chose to do what we do. In the NW I will start out as a new grad at atleast $21/hour and can make up to $30/ hour, w/o shift differential. Anyway, I digress...

I guess all we can do is do the best we can do. I am just not an activist at heart :0(

Court

sbic56, BSN, RN · Nov 13, 2003

The image of nursing. Interesting topic. The first nurses were slaves or prostitutes. Midwives were nurses who were also sometimes considered witches. Do a quick Google under "images" and many of the pics will be mildly Mediaographic. :eek: I can't blame TV execs for making nurses the center of a controversial story line. We have been making tongues wag and libidos rise for centuries! Nothing new under the sun as far as I can see!!

-jt · Nov 13, 2003

Shhhhhhhhh......... dont say that toooo loud.......

Youll have Lillian, Lavinia, and friends spinning in their graves!

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16018&highlight=lavinia+dock

CVnurse08 · Nov 13, 2003

I do watch this show regularly and I did see both those episodes referred to and I agree the first one was "anti-nurse" and sometimes the whole show can be but I don't know ~ I guess I am not quite the proper activist because I am not a nurse yet.

I believe the new nurse that replaced Abby is more realistic than Abby was ~ she discusses more nursing issues and is more up- to-date on current nursing topics. I understand that people watch this show and get a view of nurses but I think it should not be the writers of the show's job to give the completely accurate representation because look at all the shows who do paint people in a bad light and are still on the air. Just my uneducated opinion.