So, I did a rare thing the other night: I watched Grey's Anatomy.
I generally avoid the show for two main reasons:
1. I work in the ICU, so the last thing I want to see is the ICU (or whatever make-believe "unit" it is where they practice) when I'm not there.
2. It portrays doctors as NURSES and nurses get NO credit!
Three examples: Dr. Meredith turning a patient?? Dr. in OR with concrete-block-boy pushing D50 and Insulin?? "Figuring out" to put a foley in the patient?
In my time as a nurse (albeit short -- life-longers please disagree if you have contrary experience), I have never seen a doctor do any of these things.
ONCE in a while, I'll get a rare, rare doctor (resident, mind you) to help me pull up a patient, but usually that's b/c the patient is in respiratory distress and needs a position change to breath, and I have only seen a doctor push a med ONCE, and it was again, a resident, TPA, and during a code (b/c that's hospital policy).
And the foley?? What nurse would allow a patient to even ENTER the ICU (much less bolus them with excessive fluids) without making sure they have a foley? Has anyone ever seen a physician put one in a routine patient? Ridiculous.
So, this is my question...why no love for nurses? We not only DO these things (most without being asked, mind you), we double check them before we do, know when they're needed and usually are the ones asking doctors for orders for them...so, why, when positive media-attention is needed for nurses MOST...are these super-unrealistic-suave-RESIDENTS getting the credit?
I noticed another thing while suffering through the show...when the young boy fell down and had a seizure, what did Dr. Gray immediately do?
She yelled, "NURSE!" Because, even her distorted, fictional, unrealistic character-self knew that the nurse would be the one who knew exactly what to do.
It's about time that Hollywood woke up to the fact that nurses are the award-winning, exciting, realistic, intelligent, juicy people they need to be spotlighting on prime-time TV. Then, maybe we'll start to see a break in this nursing shortage.
i love grey's... i try not to even pay attention to the medical part of it, because thats why i stopped watching ER (although john stamo's paramedic character was great).... i just follow the drama.
i do think though that shows like grey's anatomy, house and ER, just glorify doctors to the general public and give people with no medical background a false idea of what to expect in the hospital. i had a patient once who demanded the ER doctor get her lobster, because she thought she was dying. hmm... i wonder where she got that idea from.
and the whole thing with rose on grey's. shes classy, and pretty, and smart. but we all know mcdreamy is going to break her heart. of course he is... shes a nurse.
and the whole thing with sloane, how he had sexual relations with like, every single nurse in the OR? please. it just makes nurses look desperate.
who has ever seen an all-MD code team? or an MD looking thru poo for monopoly peices? or an MD sitting at a patients bedside for hours while they died? not me... but i love the drama. i cant stop watching.
Another thought--how about a cast of characters that included more than just doctors and RNs? You could throw in nurse practitioners, LPNs, CNAs, lab techs, nursing and medical students, paramedics, etc...and make them more than background "props." That would be a more realistic picture of everyday hospital life. The possibilities are endless--I don't know why Hollywood limits itself to just one type of medical personnel. Either way though, like flightnurse2be said--it's fun to watch the drama.
I admit I enjoy the medical shows. What I sense as the biggest criticism is that nurses are not portrayed within their role as force multipliers for physicians.
This annoys me too, but I really try not to get my knickers in a twist over something I can't change.
P.S. The only time I've ever seen a doc put a Foley in a patient was when I was in labor w/ my son and the MD put mine in. This MD was really nice and the RN was busy doing something else...so....
If the docs on Grey's weren't performing typical nursing skills would you see them performing much of anything besides assessment and diagnosis and a fake surgery here and there? Probably not.
They have to do something on camera to fill up an hour.
The reason they are not an accurate portrayal of real life is because it is a tv show--its not real. I love Grey's, ER, and House; but I don't watch them for their accurate portrayal of real life! I watch them to escape real life-isn't that why everyone watches tv? The bad thing is though, that many people do believe that this is how it is in real life-i.e. the patients; when in reality it is NOTHING like that! Would you really give a patient prophynal (sp) because they heard they had cancer before you were ready to tell them (on ER a couple of weeks ago)? I DO NOT think so! It would have to be dealt with the way it happened! Although, out of them all I think ER is the most realistic over, especially in regards to nurses-they actually have roles, and good ones!
Not only do I love Greys--I LOVE LOVE LOVE house and I even watch ER.
They are fictional shows--no they may not portray real nurses, but I see enough of that every day...I stil love them.
I also watch Desperate Housewives and have never lived in a nieghborhood like Wisteria Lane!!
That would be my point too - it is a fictional show, just like CSI Miami or Women's Murder Club or Ugly Betty . . .
I don't like Desperate Housewives but I do watch Brothers and Sisters.
I love Greys, ER and House.
The true medical books I've read on interns and residents show them doing all those things . . IV's, foley caths, drawing blood, running things to the lab, etc.
And one of our ER docs always starts the foleys on the guys - he is very careful not to cause pain. He also pushes meds if we are busy. He cleans up after the delivery of a baby.
Have you ever noticed that the "medical consultant" on all these shows is an MD? An MD is telling them what will be medically accurate...so of course docs do all that stuff! (Yeah right!!!)
Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.
i think the greatest role model when it comes to tv nurses is haleh adams (played by yvette freeman) from er. (i don't just like her because the actress was born in delaware.)she's been on the show since the beginning and i remember her setting the residents (especially dr. benton, played by eriq lasalle) straight when it came to nurses. in fact, i love one of her quotes: "i've been doing this job for 17 years, honey. doctors come and go, but nurses make this place run. we don't get much credit or pay. we see a lot of misery, a lot of dying, but we come back every day. i've given up being appreciated, but i sure as hell won't let any of us be taken for granted."
i can't speak for grey's or house because i've seen one episode each of those.
I have worked with many doctors that I look up to. I guess I think that we work along side with Dr.s but we cant discredit them for not putting in foley's. Their duty to the pt IS to think/research and diagnose the patients... do you really think they should take time out to insert foleys... why? We spend much more tie at the patients bedside, so obviously we are able to help the doc to figure things out.
guess I don't really understand why everyone is so down on docs?
as far as TV goes.. .there are so many things everyday on TV that are portrayed ridiculously... like pretty much any family sitcom. I like Greys...I just don't think about it so much.
I think why some people get upset is that doctors are glamorized and nurses are not. Then the public gets the impression that doctors actually DO all the things that tv portrays them as doing....and when it's their turn we hear, "Now, when is the doctor going to start my IV?" or some such thing.
And nurses get portrayed as:
1) ditzy and shallow
2) sex kittens whose goal in life is bedding a doctor
3) handmaidens who follow every order w/o question
4) untrained.
This is just my two cents, and as I said, I really don't get too upset about it because I've got way bigger fish to fry.
I work in LTC one of my duties is to round with the Dr when she visits monthly to see her pts. Many of the pts she has had to see had issues with their coccyx or periarea and we needed to remove the brief. On more then one occasion the pt has had a BM, I have seen this DR put on gloves get wipes and clean up the BM so she could see their skin. She also has helped me change their draw sheet and brief. She is one hell of a Dr. her pts love her! So I guess there are those Dr's out there who will do nursing duties, even CNA duties.
(Yeah right!!!)
flightnurse2b, LPN
1 Article; 1,496 Posts
i love grey's... i try not to even pay attention to the medical part of it, because thats why i stopped watching ER (although john stamo's paramedic character was great).... i just follow the drama.
i do think though that shows like grey's anatomy, house and ER, just glorify doctors to the general public and give people with no medical background a false idea of what to expect in the hospital. i had a patient once who demanded the ER doctor get her lobster, because she thought she was dying. hmm... i wonder where she got that idea from.
and the whole thing with rose on grey's. shes classy, and pretty, and smart. but we all know mcdreamy is going to break her heart. of course he is... shes a nurse.
and the whole thing with sloane, how he had sexual relations with like, every single nurse in the OR? please. it just makes nurses look desperate.
who has ever seen an all-MD code team? or an MD looking thru poo for monopoly peices? or an MD sitting at a patients bedside for hours while they died? not me... but i love the drama. i cant stop watching.