Members are discussing various TV shows that depict nurses and healthcare professionals, with a focus on the accuracy and portrayal of the profession. Some members mention negative perceptions of nurses in media and society, while others share positive experiences and interactions with patients. The conversation also touches on the dynamics between nurses and doctors, as well as personal anecdotes related to nursing and healthcare settings.
I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like nurses get a bad wrap sometimes. For example, on Grey's Anatomy the nurses are looked down on completely, and one of the nurses even gave syphilis to a doctor. Also, the nurses on the show are generally grumpy and in one episode they go on strike and refuse to work.
I also feel like nurses have a reputation for sleeping around. My dad who is 85 and is a retired general surgeon says that back when he practiced, nurses were known to sleep around a lot. He said it's because nurses are around life and death so much that they get careless in the sexual promiscuity sense. I just think that all of these stereotypes portrayed through TV are really rude and not realistic.
I just started nursing school a little over a month ago and this has been bothering me. Does this bother anybody else? I just was curious to see different opinions on the subject.
I mentioned to a friend who was considering investing in rental properties that there is a whole market out there for renting furnished apartments to travel nurses and what good renters they generally would be - quiet, working professionals, often (but not always) without pets or kids.
I was surprised how hesitant he seemed.....then he told me that he would be nervous to rent to nurses because so many of them were drug addicts.
I didnt even know how to respond to that so I just said "yes but they are quiet, well mannered addicts."
That actually is a fantastic idea (cornering the market on traveling nurses). The companies are always excellent to work with, prompt when you need them to be, and I never got a single complaint on the nurses we rented to. (I was a manager of apartments.) They always left the apartments in the good shape they got them. The staffing companies didn't mind paying extra for good quality, either. They knew they had competition and wanted to keep their nurses. If we did a good job on our part, and the facilities they worked at were good to them, they'd renew multiple times. I loved our nurses! And oddly enough, pretty sure not one of them was a drug addict. lol
I agree, television shows make nurses seem uneducated and like they do nothing, so annoying. Wish they portrayed reality.
Agreed. For example I believe on Scrubs, there was an episode where Nurse Carla stated she never went to college to achieve an education. I don't care if she even has a diploma in nursing. It's something. And for that episode to be made in modern day and the writers really didn't think through that loopwhole. Nursing school ADN was much more difficult 10 fold than my computer science degree.
Agreed. For example I believe on Scrubs, there was an episode where Nurse Carla stated she never went to college to achieve an education. I don't care if she even has a diploma in nursing. It's something. And for that episode to be made in modern day and the writers really didn't think through that loopwhole. Nursing school ADN was much more difficult 10 fold than my computer science degree.
She didn't have a college degree. She had a diploma from a hospital program, which, in some areas, actually do still exist. That show was what - early 2000? I believe more of the diploma programs existed still then, PLUS she was in her 30s, which means she may have finished her program in the 90s. Totally feasible.
The shows that try to focus on nurses do not last. Anybody remember Mercy?
I know it wasn't realistic but I loved ER.
Mercy was terrible. As was Hawthorne. Nurse Jackie isn't even about nursing.
E.R was the most accurate portrayal of nurses on TV in my opinion... They actually did things and were shown to be educated and integral members of the team. They never just said "yes doctor" in the background.
Greys Anatomy is a medical documentary that depicts entirely factual events that take place in a magical hospital.
A hospital where attending surgeons accept their patients from the Ambulance, perform vitals, administer meds, X-ray their patients and perform surgery.
All nurses do is say "yes doctor!"
And don't forget that they stay all night in a chair at the patient's bedside, waiting for them to wake.
And don't forget that they stay all night in a chair at the patient's bedside, waiting for them to wake.
Seriously?
I've actually done that. Back in the day when there was paper charting and relaxed HIPAA laws I would chart in one of my really sick patient's rooms just so I could watch over them all night.
I've actually done that. Back in the day when there was paper charting and relaxed HIPAA laws I would chart in one of my really sick patient's rooms just so I could watch over them all night.
Ah yes, one of the invisible nurses. I've done it, too. :)
But would you expect a world-renowned surgeon to be doing it, as happens frequently on Grey's? I think not!
ixchel
4,547 Posts
That actually is a fantastic idea (cornering the market on traveling nurses). The companies are always excellent to work with, prompt when you need them to be, and I never got a single complaint on the nurses we rented to. (I was a manager of apartments.) They always left the apartments in the good shape they got them. The staffing companies didn't mind paying extra for good quality, either. They knew they had competition and wanted to keep their nurses. If we did a good job on our part, and the facilities they worked at were good to them, they'd renew multiple times. I loved our nurses! And oddly enough, pretty sure not one of them was a drug addict. lol