We need a Nursing TV show

URO-RN · Sep 14, 2005

I think there was a show about nurses about 18-20 years ago. It was very degrading to nurses and nurses lobbied to have it pulled. I think it was called Nightingales? I'm not sure.

Yes, it was quite dumb. :angryfire

I think that was the name. Nightingales...Flo must have rolled in her grave.

hipab4hands · Sep 14, 2005

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that there is NO reason why a quality show could not be produced which not only presents nursing in a positive light, but acknowledges their daily trials and struggles as well.
OK, I'll be quiet now.
Wolfie

Discovery or the Learning Channel have shown a reality show called "Nurses". They occasionally rerun the series.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Sep 14, 2005

A TV show about med/surg nurses would be great!! Only trouble is, nobody who ISN'T a nurse would believe it.

I mean, you can't make this stuff up: the dementia patient who rips out his roommate's Foley because he snores; the 20-year-old with a 'fractured' tallywhacker whose CMS must be checked Q 15 mins. for 12 hours; the 30-something frequent flyer whose abdominal pain and vomiting magically cease when the Demerol comes around; the ETOH withdrawal pt. who weighs 120# sopping wet and takes eight strong staff members to subdue him; the call-light abusers; the families; the managers who haven't worked the floor since God was a boy..........nope, you just can't make this stuff up! :chuckle

Retired R.N. · Sep 14, 2005

Yea, I remember something like that.
If nurses want to get information on what they do to the public, I'm not so sure that even a drama about nurses will tell the real story (let alone a comedy - oh puleeze - that is where the big tatas and lustful interns will come in for sure).
I'm not so sure I want anyone tampering with the stories that we all can tell. We drift in and out of our patients' lives. We are the faces they see from day to day, and the hands they feel. Our eyes meet theirs bringing reassurance and information. They may remember us, or may not, but I'm satisfied with just bringing them the best care and whatever comfort I can.

How about showing some of the results of understaffing? What is it like to be the nurse driving home after working the third consecutive night of mandatory 12-hour shifts -- and she has a serious auto accident because she falls asleep at the wheel? And, of course, the ambulances take all the patients of that wreck back to the same understaffed hospital?

Or what is it like to be a patient who has a nurse who is so tired she can barely push one foot in front of the other? When that nurse makes a mistake in measuring a medication, the patient knows it's wrong because she's also a nurse, but is helpless and unable to speak up in her defense in this life-threatening situation?

Maybe you could get someone like Michael Moore to do the writing? As for discouraging a few prospective nursing students, so what? Better that they know the realities of nursing before they spend all that time and money on a degree that doesn't really prepare them for their first job, and that they'll only use for a few years before they burn out?

DusktilDawn · Sep 14, 2005

How about showing some of the results of understaffing? What is it like to be the nurse driving home after working the third consecutive night of mandatory 12-hour shifts -- and she has a serious auto accident because she falls asleep at the wheel? And, of course, the ambulances take all the patients of that wreck back to the same understaffed hospital?
Or what is it like to be a patient who has a nurse who is so tired she can barely push one foot in front of the other? When that nurse makes a mistake in measuring a medication, the patient knows it's wrong because she's also a nurse, but is helpless and unable to speak up in her defense in this life-threatening situation?
Maybe you could get someone like Michael Moore to do the writing? As for discouraging a few prospective nursing students, so what? Better that they know the realities of nursing before they spend all that time and money on a degree that doesn't really prepare them for their first job, and that they'll only use for a few years before they burn out?

Love to see a show that focused on the issues affecting nurses today. Not only to see how understaffing affects the care we give, and how forced OT impacts care. Let's include it all. How about nurses being fired for patient advocacy especially in regards to safety. How about nurses being reprimanded for ridiculous customer service complaints. How about the intimadation and implied threats from supervisors. How about the unrealistic expectations of our job. Perhaps exposing a few realities to light might bring about a few changes.

Retired R.N. · Sep 14, 2005

Love to see a show that focused on the issues affecting nurses today. Not only to see how understaffing affects the care we give, and how forced OT impacts care. Let's include it all. How about nurses being fired for patient advocacy especially in regards to safety. How about nurses being reprimanded for ridiculous customer service complaints. How about the intimadation and implied threats from supervisors. How about the unrealistic expectations of our job. Perhaps exposing a few realities to light might bring about a few changes.

DusktilDawn,

All of those scenarios are absolutely true! I hate to say it, but I think nursing has gone backwards in many ways over the years, and it seems to have been part of a very clever plan devised by managers, supervisors, and the so-called "leaders" of our professional (?) nursing organizations to increase profits by paying less for nursing care by creating separate levels of nursing. Divide, and conquer!

We need some serious changes in nursing education today. It is absurd hypocrisy to insist that the BSN is the "preferred" basis of nursing because it teaches "critical thinking," when the graduates of those programs are unable (or unwilling?) to exercise that critical thinking when it comes to insisting on healthful work situations for themselves and their fellow staff members.

DusktilDawn · Sep 14, 2005

DusktilDawn,
All of those scenarios are absolutely true! I hate to say it, but I think nursing has gone backwards in many ways over the years, and it seems to have been part of a very clever plan devised by managers, supervisors, and the so-called "leaders" of our professional (?) nursing organizations to increase profits by paying less for nursing care by creating separate levels of nursing. Divide, and conquer!
We need some serious changes in nursing education today. It is absurd hypocrisy to insist that the BSN is the "preferred" basis of nursing because it teaches "critical thinking," when the graduates of those programs are unable (or unwilling?) to exercise that critical thinking when it comes to insisting on healthful work situations for themselves and their fellow staff members.

Also who's at the very top, the CEOs, how many of them have actually been nurses and how many of them know what nurses do, how hard our job is, or the issues that impact the care we give.

I've seen nursing supervisor/managers basically shown the door if they show a propensity for defending the staff and the patients on the units. I've seen managers who have staff at each other's throats and they are still there. Sad but true.

There are so many things nurses receive education on: patient advocacy, advocating for safety, ethics, professional guidelines, etc. How many times have nurses been penalized for adhering to principles they were taught in school.

Lawyers advertise on TV about medical neglect, negligence, abuse in the health care setting and suing. These commercials sometimes give me the impression that these lawyer believe the majority of nursing professionals are incompetent or uncaring. I doubt I'm the only one who thinks these messages give a bad impression of nurses as professionals.

Let's face it, the media appears very reluctant to enlighten the public about what nurses have to deal with. How many news stories on prime time TV have been focused on the nursing perspective about health issues or working conditions.

Retired R.N. · Sep 14, 2005

Also who's at the very top, the CEOs, how many of them have actually been nurses and how many of them know what nurses do, how hard our job is, or the issues that impact the care we give.
I've seen nursing supervisor/managers basically shown the door if they show a propensity for defending the staff and the patients on the units. I've seen managers who have staff at each other's throats and they are still there. Sad but true.
There are so many things nurses receive education on: patient advocacy, advocating for safety, ethics, professional guidelines, etc. How many times have nurses been penalized for adhering to principles they were taught in school.
Lawyers advertise on TV about medical neglect, negligence, abuse in the health care setting and suing. These commercials sometimes give me the impression that these lawyer believe the majority of nursing professionals are incompetent or uncaring. I doubt I'm the only one who thinks these messages give a bad impression of nurses as professionals.
Let's face it, the media appears very reluctant to enlighten the public about what nurses have to deal with. How many news stories on prime time TV have been focused on the nursing perspective about health issues or working conditions.

So, what's all this doubletalk about nursing being an autonomous profession? It might sound good on the position papers drafted in the ivory towers, but doesn't play out worth a darn where the great majority of nurses work. Unless, of course, you define the "professional" nurse as one who has managed to get promoted far above the ranks of those doing direct patient care.

elthia · Sep 14, 2005

Love to see a show that focused on the issues affecting nurses today. Not only to see how understaffing affects the care we give, and how forced OT impacts care. Let's include it all. How about nurses being fired for patient advocacy especially in regards to safety. How about nurses being reprimanded for ridiculous customer service complaints. How about the intimadation and implied threats from supervisors. How about the unrealistic expectations of our job. Perhaps exposing a few realities to light might bring about a few changes.

I'm with you on that. Let's also include the fact that as nurses, we can be threatened with termination of our employment for refusing an assignment, but we face the threat of losing our license to practice if we take an assignment that we can't handle.

Let's also include the fact that violence toward nurses can and does happen, and in most states it's not even a felony...and most nurses are encouraged to not file charges by management.

curlyfries · Sep 14, 2005

What about the Magnet Hosptials? Are those negative stuff happening to nurse in Magnet Hospitals as well?

HuggyPuglet · Sep 14, 2005

DusktilDawn,
All of those scenarios are absolutely true! I hate to say it, but I think nursing has gone backwards in many ways over the years, and it seems to have been part of a very clever plan devised by managers, supervisors, and the so-called "leaders" of our professional (?) nursing organizations to increase profits by paying less for nursing care by creating separate levels of nursing. Divide, and conquer!
We need some serious changes in nursing education today. It is absurd hypocrisy to insist that the BSN is the "preferred" basis of nursing because it teaches "critical thinking," when the graduates of those programs are unable (or unwilling?) to exercise that critical thinking when it comes to insisting on healthful work situations for themselves and their fellow staff members.

I can respond to this post in one easy word..... "AGREE!" And my other response is to thank God that more than just a few people see this for what it is!

Jen2 · Sep 15, 2005

Let's not forget to do an episode about how that person giving your 92-year-old grandmother in a nursing home her Digoxin isn't even a nurse. Let the public really see what is going on with healthcare and it's dangers.