What do you think about the media portrayal of nursing?

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Nov 5, 2012

I don't usually watch "medical" programs on US TV - they make me mad because they are just too weird and unrealistic in the way that they either underplay the role of nursing or attempt to eroticize nurse characters.

However, I can enthusiastically endorse a (British) series I stumbled across on PBS - "Call the Midwife". So far, It's wonderful. Of course, centering on a group of new midwives in the early 1950's - working in a poor London neighborhood. Very realistic, doesn't gloss over social problems and ongoing development of the nurses (warts and all). It is based on the autobiographical books by Jennifer Worth. Just Wonderful.

Soliloquy, MSN, APRN, NP · Nov 5, 2012

I never cared much for medical shows so I was often unaware of what went on there. My peers watch it and talk about it and stuff but when I watched it just seemed fake. The nurses there just seem either unable to think on their own, sexually explicit, or just plain mean, belittling, and abusive (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?) and I feel that partly contributes to the negative image patients have of us and the harsh reactions they give us when they come in because they're watching the shows, that's all they know, and they buy into it.

That being said. I'm sure they tried with shows like Nurse Jackie and Hawthorne but it's hard to change an image that's been prevalent for so long.

AgentBeast, MSN, RN · Nov 5, 2012

Scrubs actually portrayed nurses in a good light and fairly realistic manner for being what it was.

Most of the other shows you listed are just unrealistic all around.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Nov 6, 2012

Welcome to AN! The largest online nursing community!

We are happy to help with homework.....but I am curious to what you think about them from a standpoint of just entering nursing? I find many programs on TV are NOT what nursing really is. HawthoRN was the furthest stretch of the imagination.....Chief nurses do not so CPR on patients....they are NOT involved in direct patient care.

I agree....scrubs is a pretty good depiction of nursing even with the satirical humor. ER.....pretty good....some of the time. In teaching facilities the doctors/residents/interns/fellows do do a lot of the procedure....they are the ones learning.

The only "medical programs" I watch are documentaries like Trauma Life in the ER for all the rest are annoying.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Nov 6, 2012

ER: The Physician:Nurse ratio is about 7:1. Nurses all have sex with the doctor's in the on-call room. The nurse is only important when a patient has a code brown in the waiting room or is covered in maggots and needs a bath. The only way for a nurse to advance in her career is to go to medical school. The nurses walk around looking for interns to "push some ketorolac" or administer IV ativan.

There are many more problems with this show other than its portrayal of nursing, however: everyone puts their stethoscopes in backwards, the Chief of Surgery is qualified to be Chief of Emergency Medicine, sterile technique is a myth, it's ok to beat up your patient/or your patient's parent, etc. I'm sure there are more that I could pick up on if I turned on an episode, it's been a while. I loved that show when I was in middle/high school but I stopped watching it when they made Abby (who was the only nurse on the show after Julianna Margulies left) become a doctor.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Nov 7, 2012

it is all fantasy. If the public really understood what our job entails we would lose their confidence. Too much truth can be a burden.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Nov 8, 2012

Sandy Summers has written an excellent book on this topic called Saving Lives: Why Media's Portrayal of Nurses Puts Us All at Risk. See if your school library has it and give it a look. You'll learn a lot about how the public's perceptions of nurses is skewed by pop culture and maybe see some ways you can change that.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Nov 8, 2012

Um, yeah, we noticed. :)

Ms. Summers also maintains a very informative website called TruthAboutNursing.com. It is largely, though not entirely, concerned with media presentations, including reviews, links to video clips, and opportunities to comment. I'd make it required reading for all students if I were Queen.

DawnCaprice · Nov 9, 2012

I just went the Truthaboutnursing.com website and I have to be honest that I think that I have never thought that much about how nurses are being protrayed in tv shows or commercials. I am not at all offended by the 'naughty nurse' costumes or the tv shows or commercials. I really think that we need to just relax and lighten up. Laugh a little.

I think just about every profession out their can be made fun of or down played or belittled or whatever term you want to put on it. I for one love to look at a HOT fireman. Does that mean that I think they spend all their time working out and posing for calendars or only saving the hot damsel in distress absolutely not. In fact, I am not a fireman and I can't honestly tell you what they do at their jobs as I am not doing their job. Same goes for Librarians, teachers, police officers, pilots just to name a few.

I am learning everyday what the truth about nursing is and it is not about joining a writing campaign or bashing television/ad campaigns to demand people to think that my chosen profession is more respectable than they think it is. The important thing is is are you happy in your career choice? Are you all you can be and are you respecting yourself and others?

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Nov 12, 2012

You might not think about it, but think about this: If people only see images of nurses as bimbos, thoughtless drones who can only "follow doctor's orders," or nonentities with little to do with actual healthcare, whose opinions are meaningless, and certainly not worth paying much for, how do you think they see YOU in your professional role? Or if you don't care how they see you, how about considering that many of us don't like them looking at US like that? Huh?

"Being happy in your career choice" is a personal goal, and fine as far as it goes. And it doesn't go very far.

Me, I want to think a little more about my peers and my profession. Not just for us, but for the benefit of our patients as individuals, families, and communities.