Real nurse vs. TV nurse.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Aug 24, 2005

i'm sure that there's a thread -- probably several -- on this topic already, but it never hurts to start a new discussion!

er supposedly takes place at cook county hospital, a large teaching institution in chiciago. in a place like that, nurses would be very much a part of the health care team, and not a subservient handmaiden. in fact, did you ever see carol, abby or sam acting subservient? or stupid? what little we see of the nursing staff on er, they're portrayed as smart, savvy and hardworking. it's a place where the residents know they can learn from the nursing staff, and they do. most large teaching hospitals (at least the ones i've worked in) are that way.

i've worked in three community hospitals, and in all three some of the physicians see themselves more as gods than as team players. that's tolerated more in community hospitals for some reason. in any case, a professional (but not subservient) demeanor will serve you well.

good luck in your education.

ruby

bellehill, RN · Aug 24, 2005

I always figure those are TV shows and not real life...take it with a grain of salt. Ruby Vee is right, most large teaching facilities have more autonomy for the nurses and more respect from the doctors. Just remember respect is something you earn and you have to give it to get it.

There is a nursing advocacy website you might want to check out if you feel real strongly about how nurses are portrayed, check out http://www.nursingadvocacy.org. Personally, I know what I do and I am proud of it, I don't care how it is portrayed on TV.

General E. Speaking, RN, RN · Aug 24, 2005

Do you ever get annoyed or discouraged from what a nurse really is as opposed to what you see on TV?

yes. bothers me to see:

*side rails down

*bright green hospital sheets

*CPR w/ bent wobbley elbows

*O2 via n/c AND a trach

*the episode on ER when the nurse misplaces a vial of Morphine. She asks if anyone had seen it. When no one had, she shrugged her shoulders and went about her business...later on a visitor OD'd in the bathroom.

enfermeria · Aug 24, 2005

I still remember the episode where Carol Hathawy burned out with nursing and desired to go to med school.... One of the male doctor console Carol that " nurses did not do many things that doctors do." When the young female doctor told her to clean up "code brown", she said " Yeah! You are right. I wipe butts and take order from 25-years-old doctor".

The younger female doctor also told carol that " I was kicked out from nursing school before.. I am not good at taking order"..

This kind of scence in TV may devalue nursing....

But you can't help it...That's the way they think.

If the public image is too good and if everybody want to be a nurse, we will be competing for jobs right now.. :chuckle We may lose public value because of this but businesswise we still have "market value"..Thanks god... there is still a shortage.. That's why we can still find the job we want ...

rogramjet · Aug 24, 2005

I watched ER the other day, Doc Benton was over at his girlfriends house and she has gestational diabetes, he checks her BG it was 210, but the home health nurse hadn't brought the insulin yet and wouldn't be there for an hour and he said that she would be alright. We don't want our gestationals over 120, let alone 210, too hard on the baby. Then in the next scene he is serving her dinner, PASTA AND GARLIC BREAD!!! Her BG is over 200 and you serve a big plate of pasta and garlic bread for her dinner???? I hope none of my patients saw that...

jsteine1 · Aug 24, 2005

Hi my name is Joe and I'm a nursing student about to begin my second year. I just have a question for current nurses. Do you ever get annoyed or discouraged from what a nurse really is as opposed to what you see on TV? Everytime I watch TV whether it would be ER, House, Scrubs, or any medical show the nurse is always portrayed as the one doing the dirty work. I even remember one episode of the show House where there was a shortage of nurses and the doctor said that "they shouldn't be doing what nurses do" in a rather disgusted way... and also the nurses is always the typical white female (or male...very rarely male) who is always subordinate to a higher power and answers to a doctor like a slave would to his/her owner. Please tell me this is not how doctors really are?! My father is a doctor and he always gives the most respect to nurses but he tells me that always isn't the case...
Sometimes seeing this stuff discourages me from continuing nursing school.
(sorry if there was a thread about this)

Joe, after 30 years as an RN, I admit that Im amused by how innacurately the profession is portrayed. If you think about it, almost all professions are very innacurately portrayed. My friends who are educators just scream with laughter at shows about teachers. The only saving grace in recent years is Discovery health channel; they have done some outstanding documentaries on nursing in various specialties. dont be discouraged by what is designed to be drama and generate advertising revenue. Like anywhere you go and anything you do, there are great people and there are pompous idiots. Apparently, rude physicians generate ratings. For me, these shows are fun, I watch everything they do to see if I can catch innacuracies. and as other posters have indicated, there are a lot of them. AS for the show. House, well, his character is a study of a brilliant but pompous ass and it makes for good television.. He is so not typical of physicians you will work with. Most of them are great!

ICRN2008, BSN, RN · Aug 24, 2005

It's not just nurses who are portrayed badly, take a look at med techs. The lab tech from Scrubs is a typical "nerdy guy with glasses" type. Then there are the lab techs from CSI always getting pushed around and teased.

The thing that gets me the most is that they assume that all nurses, pharmacists, PTs, med techs, etc. would become doctors if they could. In my experience this is most often not the case.

MissJoRN, RN · Aug 25, 2005

Do you ever get annoyed or discouraged from what a nurse really is as opposed to what you see on TV? 
yes. bothers me to see:
*side rails down
*bright green hospital sheets
*CPR w/ bent wobbley elbows
*O2 via n/c AND a trach
*the episode on ER when the nurse misplaces a vial of Morphine. She asks if anyone had seen it. When no one had, she shrugged her shoulders and went about her business...later on a visitor OD'd in the bathroom.

LOL! Got started watching some show on TLC the other day- "ER...something" Supposedly true stories, narrated by the staff (read- doctors) or pt/ family and acted out ala "unsolved mysteries" (but the acting was much worse. It was horrible but so funny I couldn't stop watching. Little things that made me laugh:

The drama over the kid in the post op/ post TBI/ICP injury coma... maybe a little O2, here? At least NC if you don't want to vent him??

Yes, litter rails down all over the place.

My very favourite- The scrubbed and gowned surgeon in the OR to a scrubbed and gowned nurse. "OK! Let's shave his head!" (in a STAT! kind of voice) Umm, maybe ya'll should have thought of that before you prepped and draped him??? Besides, does this room have no circulator? 6 people in the room and everyone is scrubbed? Several other bloopers in the OR, wish I remembered... But by this time my hubby is starting to get annoyed at how funny I'm finding this life threatening story!

Thunderwolf, MSN, RN · Aug 25, 2005

Remember, TV shows are for drama, not for accuracy.

The unfortunate thing is that the general public often confuse the two.

jmgrn65, RN · Aug 25, 2005

Hi my name is Joe and I'm a nursing student about to begin my second year. I just have a question for current nurses. Do you ever get annoyed or discouraged from what a nurse really is as opposed to what you see on TV? Everytime I watch TV whether it would be ER, House, Scrubs, or any medical show the nurse is always portrayed as the one doing the dirty work. I even remember one episode of the show House where there was a shortage of nurses and the doctor said that "they shouldn't be doing what nurses do" in a rather disgusted way... and also the nurses is always the typical white female (or male...very rarely male) who is always subordinate to a higher power and answers to a doctor like a slave would to his/her owner. Please tell me this is not how doctors really are?! My father is a doctor and he always gives the most respect to nurses but he tells me that always isn't the case...
Sometimes seeing this stuff discourages me from continuing nursing school.
(sorry if there was a thread about this)

I think ER for the most part is fairly accurate, they have real nurse on staff, But House is totally inaccurate they have doctors transporting patients to ct scan, and going to patients homes, I have seen 2 episodes and refuse to watch anymore it is too inaccurate. IMHO Scrubs doesn't bother because it is a comedy I don't expect it to be accurate (excuse my spelling i don't think I am awake)

Some Doctors can be jerks but if you respectfully don't take thier crap they usually don't dish it out. I have never taken any crap from them and don't usually have much of a problem. But it is difficult when you are new. I also think they don't give male's as much problem again imho.

mugwump · Aug 27, 2005

Shows in general bother me when they are not acurate. Not necessarily the way they portrey nurses. For instance I was watchin ER the other day and they were "working on" aka coding a 7 month pregnant women. After a while they "called the code" both mom and baby pronounced dead. In the nursing school I learned from as I'm sure all doctors alike "Alive in 5" mom is coded for 4 minutes then it is the responsiblity of the nurse to inform the code team she's been "down 4 minutes" and a perimortem C/section is done. I was litterally shouting at the TV "What about alive in 5"

I know of two actual cases around where I work, One woman for some reason coded somewhere off campass CPR was done until she reached the hospital ( not where I work) an OB doc met them in the ER and Did a C/section on the 24 week gestation baby.

Also a full term mom coded at out hospital the code I hear went on for an hour before they "called it" but the baby was out in 5.