Nursing Image

[vemiliob]

Related to thread: why............?

"Why are nurses working conditions bad?

Why is nurses pay so low? especially when comparing it to other professions e.g, police force ,teachers."

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I already gave my personal opinion responding on that thread. Now, I would like to share some observations to everyone, specially related to the "Image" that's being sell through the media related to our profession here, South.

Please take in consideration that this is a huge-complicated social phenomena, related to a long process of human evolution, lengthening from the Ancient Babylon or Ancient Egypt society to nowadays.

Every single human age was characterized by a preponderant figure. The sorcerer, the counselor, the emperor, the general, the alchemist, the wise, the priest and the supreme one, that is, "The Doctor." That means the intellectual authority, the owner of truth and therefore, "The Power".

On that backgrounds society always incorporated terms into everyday language, passing from generation to generation and loosing the conscious link with its origin. So now, we talk about "the incorporation of medical language to the everyday-language", reinforcing the collective imaginary idea people have about that figure.

We can observe the use of medical terms in politician discourse, on newspaper's, magazine's, radio's and TV's propaganda, causing an unconscious impact on publics mind.

Most TV series and movies related to health care subjects, and scientific programs, remark that image, showing "The Hero that save our lives", as a supreme figure, where nurses are only objects, part of the background, also it is shown nurses studying medicine to became doctors. (Letting behind the reading of : "If you aren't intelligent or capable enough to became a doctor, just be a nurse").

Another "meta-message" sent by media it is aspect shown by a Fatty Afro-American opposite to the thin pretty with intellectual aspect female-doctor.

Here we had our Argentinean caricature represented by a famous comic actor and Theatre Director, showing a ridiculous Fatty white nurse as symbol of brutality, ignorance, negligence, and ugliness. Spreading over an already sceptic audience the idea of Nursing as a nasty activity, far from being a respectable profession.

I remember another famous British actor shown in TV doing a similar ridiculous caricature. Another image-degradation is shown when nurse is presented as sex symbol, e.g., strippers using nursing uniforms.

Producers produce what people massively consume, and people consume in that way, what is accepted by tradition.

Don't you think my dear companions-colleagues that we must take the initiative and do something?

"The only nurse I know that did something for us, out of nursing, was Walt Whitman".