To further improve the image of nursing, please note that nurses are educated, not trained.

Don't watch hospital dramas, so not up on their depiction of nurses. BUT, I know one thing, I ain't never goin in ANY hospital in PA unless I get a notarized copy of names of nursing staff and it does NOT have the name of that GRATE AKTERIS, Kate Gosselin on it. Now there is the one on tv who can give nursing a bad name! I know this wasn't the actual purpose of this thread, but I thought if the shoe fits, I'd wear it!

I have been an RN, BSN for 18 years. To date, I have never seen nurses portrayed accurately, or even close to it in any movie or Television program. It is a serious, hard, often gritty job, with no glamor at all. A narc addiction and her other problems, no where I have ever worked or heard about would retain Edie Falco's Nurse Jackie for very long.

I have always been offended by the way nurses are portrayed in film and on tv. I graduated in 1968 and have worked continuously for the last 41 years. I must say inspite of all my standard bearing most of the members of my family do not really know what it is that I really do. It is very unfortunate because it seems to me that the producers could easily get professional input. Some of the newer shows have glaring faults as well.....Trauma comes to mind. Based in San Francisco, it showcases a medical helicopter service of which the City does not allow any such service within it's area. I had a good laugh about that one.

It sickens me, and I see no value in, the way TV or movies portray the nursing profession. I don't understand why our nursing organizations don't speak out against this negative image more. No, we are not saints, but the majority of us are educated, caring professionals who work like mules to take care of our patients. We don't get paid for all the services we provide and we have no time for funny business with the doctors, which the majority of are arrogant asses. They would be lost without our insight into what is going on with the patient. They see them for 5 minutes. We are there 24/7.

I concur with Linda's comments on nurses being accurately portrayed on television or movies. It is career where you face life's harsh realities every moment of your shift.
There's no glamour and no glory. But, I have met and made some of the best friends of my life in this career.
Vonne, BSN, RN
ONU GRAD 1977

I graduated from Nursing School in 1973 and have worked as an RN all these years. Unfortunately, it seems to me that schools of nursing do not now expect their students to have the high moral standards that were expected of us years ago. Not all schools are like this but when I see student nurses with tatoos, multiple piercings, fake nails I wonder if they will be taking care of me someday and I HOPE NOT!I agree with Linda, above, that nurse Jackie would get fired pronto for a drug addiction.

As both a practicing nurse and nurse educator, I was shocked to see the positive remarks made about "Nurse Jackie." The only scene that I remember from the one time I saw it was the big seduction that took place in what I think was the Pharmacy; I recall thinking: "it figures". I agree with a previous post in that I have not seen a TV series where nurses are depicted for who most are: caring professionals with moral integrity. Yes, she does demonstrate patient advocacy, but her behaviors of popping pills and engaging in sexual activity in the work setting does not reflect behaviors of most nurses. Give the profession and science of nursing a break, and get real about nursing in the media!

Let's remember these are fictional characters. The soaps have been protraying nurses and many professions, I might add, negatively so why are we now making such a big deal about it. I have better things to worry about. And by the way, I love "House".

One thing I'd like to point out that drives me crazy is that ALL MALE NURSES ARE NOT GAY! I have no problem with gay nurses, male or female, but my husband is a nurse, and TV shows never seem to show male nurses who are heterosexual.

I am a nurse 51 years...no such behavior of any of the TV nurses would be tolerated in any of the areas in which I worked: Hospital, Home Health, Health Insurance Company and Public Health If any nurse person developed these challenges/problems they were dealt with properly and the patient care generally was not adversely impacted for long...if at all!
I am embarrassed to be a nurse the few times I viewed any of these TV programs.

With the media portrayal of nurses and nursing you might not think the role is very important. However, know this! You do not want to be a patient in a hospital without a good nurse to manage your care. The nurse is the one who keeps all the doc's talking to each other and makes sure details of the needed care don't get missed!!

I have been an RN for 39 years, was a Navy nurse (ICU) during Vietnam and spent the bulk of my career as an OR nurse. I have never seen a realistic, truthful portrayal of the scope and practice of nursing on television and therefore do not watch medically based programs.
Also they get so many things wrong it's irritating.
I would like to say, however, that I have seen 2 episodes of House and since JCAHO has deemed such bullying, inappropriate behavior as a sentinal event and a danger to patients the series would be wise to change it's ways as well.

I have enjoyed "Hawthore,RN" more from the fact that she appears interested in her staff and very supportive of them and the patients. She does what is best for them...not necessarily what has "always been done".

I had the pleasure of hearing Sandy while at the SD State ANA convention, I could have kept listening for hours but my neck would have been sore from nodding yes, yes to all the negative repesentations of nursing and the effect is has on our profession and those who might be interested in becoming educated for a nursing career. I think Nurse Jackie is marginal as a positive role model... and Grey's.... well I wish I had recorded all the times I saved an intern or resident from making huge mistakes in orders. they "Grey's"
could definitely have nurses interacting with the doctors whowing how it "really is"....which would be positive for our profession and entertaining....

Sad to say I watch far too much TV at night . As a child Psych clinical specialist I am happy to be away from hospital drama. It is true that some young pretty things even in the hospital today think they live in a movie and want the young doc or nurse or med tech to notice them and they live on the edge. The stress of the job can be a great excuse, but one reason we have a nursing shortage is because we are so careful as a profession in our expectations and selection process. I agree. Tv makes it dangerous for nursing.

The few times I have viewed any "hospital dramas" I found the depection of nurses as too embarassing for the profession to watch. Have worked in hospitals and taught in school of nursing for 50 years.
coco PhD, RN, CNS

Yes,hilma, nurses are NOT trained. One of my instructors way back in the early 60's was emphatic in stating "Animals are trained;nurses are educated." I never forgot. We need to view ourselves likewise.

Barbee, we won't miss you at the hospital. You have no right to a list of all the nurses' names. If you have a legitimate problem with a nurse, you will no doubt have little trouble getting whatever information you need. However, you, as a potential patient, have no right to employee lists anymore than I have a right to a notarized list of the all the employees where you work.

What interesting comments. So glad to her from nurses in the trenches. I hope my mother weighs in (She, too, is a nurse). I wonder, since so many of you disapprove with the depictions of nurses on TV, what would be your ideal nurse character? Explain. Thanks for sharing!

I am thoroughly disgusted with all of the TV programs that portray nurses as less than totally competent professionals at a time in history when nurses have so much at stake in the future of health care. I want nurses to be depicted as leaders, sane and sensible, qualified for advanced practice!! I am through with seeing nurses on the defensive, rather than on the offensive, aggressive, advocacy, visionary, educated edge!! No more Betty Nurse image, or servant of the MD's, but colleagues putting their best effort into health care for the sake of our patients! With 51 years of experience as a nurse, 34 of them as a Nurse Practitioner, I know what I'm talking about.

In my practice as a RN manager I see very few RNs that are anything other than what the media projects them to be: handmaidens/men of the physicians. It is a rare RN who truly advocates for the unit & patient, implements patient-specific interventions and actively works with physicians, case managers & social workers to achieve the best patent outcome. The holistic, individual care plans appear to end when nursing school ends. Nurses have great power but most choose not to take a leap of faith in their own abilities.

The ideal nurse character would most likely be a female (statistically) who is also a mother. She balances the demands of a high stress job that is selfless and sometimes a risk to her own health with contagious infections or physicially abusive patients. Constantly this nurse has to place the patient's needs and wants above her own as this is her duty and she does this like second nature. This nurse will monitor and mentor younger nurses, aides, and medical students. She will teach medical residents how to do an accurate patient assessment. She will rarely have a lunch break and often the only time she sits down is in the restroom. She is well educated and has high technical training to handle the numerous devices that sustains the patient's life. She is understanding and supportive of family decisions even if they are at complete opposite of her personal values or religious beliefs. She will deal with demands from adminstrative politics and regulatory requirements and redundant tasks without camplaint. And at the end of the day she will come home to tend to her family as she is a mother too. This is the average nurse in America.

I agree with Christie. All male nurses are not gay. Being a male nurse myself, we are compassionate and caring. We bend over backwards for our patients. I'm tired of the media potraying male nurses as gay. I have nothing against gays and lesbian. I chose to become a nurse because I wanted to help people. That's what needs to be portrayed.

Nurse Jackie a positive model? I don't think so. Besides her "issues", she's also abusive to others, which creates a hostile work environment. I agree that there really hasn't been an accurate portrayal of a "real nurse" in the media. The soap operas are really the worst..I've been a nurse for 35 years..the role has a lot of routine work with a few crises mixed in to it..If someone is looking for a glamorous job, Nursing is certainly not glamorous...But if you like the human interaction, being an advocate for someone that needs help (which is the one positive aspect of Nurse Jackie), and sincere gratitude for really helping someone, then it's for you. Routine care delivered in an efficient and caring manner is not "sexy" enough for tv or movies..But that's what it is..and I wouldn't want to do anything else..well, maybe to be a consultant on a tv show or movie to set the record straight!!

i have to say. I enjoy a good medical drama. I can remember in nursing school counting the mistakes while watching ER. I don't think of these shows as medical documentaries but as soaps. Are all physicians balding middle age men with a God complex? No. I think that as nurses we need to continue to speak out about those inaccurate betrayals. I use them as teaching moments with friends and family. I think many police officers also feel that way about watching cop dramas but I do enjoy Bones and Law and Order. If we are nurses want better television, maybe we should start writing the scripts. There was one show on nurses that I only saw once and could never figure out when it would come again but it showed real nurses working in their environment. I would appreciate shows like that. That is my ideal of reality tv. We live in a world where patients surf the net to identify their symptoms and to self diagnose even before they see the health care provider. I had a patient in the nursing home demand to get a testerone test because he saw the talk show "the Doctors" which suggested men his age should get testoterone shots (by the way he was in his 40s and the nursing home for rehab). I think we change the world one person at a time.

Great question, Kelly! : )

An ideal nurse character would be one who carries herself in a professional manner - at all times. She would be ethical, compassionate, persevering, knowledgeable, wise, and articulate (in speech and writing). The ideal nurse would need to possess a good sense of humor (but not the crass or double entendre-filled humor so often seen and heard on television). A good sense of humor is great for a nurse's self-esteem! It also helps the nurse and our patients (individuals, groups, or communities) to enjoy life and keep things in proper perspective. Moreover, humor is great for the whole person and keeps one healthy ("A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, but when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken" (Proverbs 15:13.) Next, an ideal nurse would dress appropriately for the nurse's specialty. This includes hair, makeup, clothes, shoes, jewelry, scents (cologne/perfume). The nurse's hygiene would be impeccable! How can we teach our patients/clients about hygiene if we model poor hygiene? In addition, the ideal nurse should be one who values lifelong learning (continuing nursing education contact hours; further college/university education [in nursing or another area]; etc.). Finally, an ideal nurse is one that values our Creator God (who called us to be nurses!); herself/himself; the nursing profession and fellow nurses; other health care providers, patients/clients, et al. The ideal nurse also respects our environment/creation, and sees and protects its beauty.

I watch medical shows when I can; I have watched Grey's for as long as it has been on. 1st it is a show about medical residents not NURSES the staff are becoming DR's not nurses. Second Nurse Jackie is disgusting, I WATCHED A COUPLE OF THE SHOWS BECAUSE everyone was saying what a GOOD portrayal of nursing it was, NOT even close. The other shows mention House he’s a DR not a nurse. Trauma is about medics not nurses. You want a good nurse show too watch HawthoRNe that is a show to watch and should be the best for nursing. Christina Hawthorne not only fights for her patients but also her staff. We need more nurses like her.

Excuse me Alleen but just because some one has tattoos and a few piercings does not mean that they have low morals. I have 9 tattoos only one of which can be seen and it is flowers. Why would you think I have low morals?? I am a highly educated RN in behavioral health and I work very hard for my patients.

Viewing truthful portrayals of what a nurse is could be painful for the medical establishment and reassuring for current and future patients. She/he uses their education to create and evaluate a safe environment that stimulates well-being. The nurse builds respectful relationships with patients and colleagues with every interaction and manages systems that can lean toward chaos even on a good day--whether the system is a specific patient assignment with high tech interventions or management of a whole healthcare organization. All the nuances of how the principles of safety, respect, dignity, and whole person care are carried out can vary on a tremendously wide scale. What I have experienced in my 37 year nursing career is that in nursing's essence is a strong motivation to care for fellow human beings along life's continuum before, during and after challenges of illness and injury. When that essence is absent, all the superfluous aspects of a nurse's human condition becomes distracting and easily used to misrepresent us. When the drive to care for patients is expressed through nursing in its many forms, healing and life transforming moments occur on a regular basis. The values of compassion and kindness expressed through the practice of nursing are some of the human race's most valuable gifts. See "The Nightingale Tribute" for more on what a nurse can mean to others.

If oyu think about it the multiple piercings & tatoos arepart of the social times just like long hair, short skirts & beehive hairdos. Those people were all looked at differently. I have been a nurse for 36 yrs - ADN, BSN and MSN. I had to wear skirts or dresses to pick up assignments - pants were considered unprofessional. Did that change my style of nursing? No. I have seen good and bad at both extremes. What I am concerned for in the future is as we teach more of the science of nursing, what is happening to the art of nursing. Will it be lost forever?

I have been trying to Netflix both Hawthorne and Nurse Jackie, so can only go by reviews and comments. Jackie would hopefully go into a good professional monitoring/rehab situation (I used to coordinate such a program for nurses, docs, etc). She would not be fired but suspended and treated! Addiction is a disease, after all. I have had a great career as an advanced practice nurse (educator, private practice, clinician, supervisor) and I watch it all go up and down. I get frustrated when I still have to explain what we do...especially when I have to explain it to other nurses! We used to call it "Conciousness Raising" in the 70's...I guess that will always be part of the job. TV is not helping right now!

Nurse Jackie *is* a naughty nurse, the difference is merely she is less a pornographic one. Addiction and affairs and a somewhat abusive personality. Shade of nurse Rached?

On the other hand, she's probably the best we're going to get, in a sexist hostile media enviroment. Sad.

I don't watch any of the shows since the early days of ER. I individually wrote to the publishers and to the Emergency Nurses Association. My professional association the Oregon Nurses Association also wrote letters regarding the inaccurate and insulting portrayl of nurses on that show. No response. Rather than wasting my time on communicating with those whose motives are far distant from mine, I just vote by not providing an audience. If enough of us would do that, the advertisers will deliver a message in a way that it might be heard.

SK

Get real, y'all. I've worked in various nursing positions, both military and civilian since 2004 and have found nurses are some of the most mean-spirited, nastiest human beings alive, mostly to each other. Go Nurse Jackie.

First of all we are not watching a documentary, it is called drama for a reason!!! Why don't those of you complaining about the image of nursing go ahead and make a documentary about the true image of nursing. The reason no one does this is because the public would be SHOCKED at the way nurses are...backstabbing, thieving, mean-spirited, out for themselves, resentful...towards each other. Not to mention the way they treat "trouble" pts, i.e. dementia, drug seekers, complainers, needies, incontinent, nonverbal, confused, etc., etc. We've all heard the way they are talked about and seen the way they are treated (Poseyed, restrained, drugged, etc.). The majority of nurses I have come across are NOT nice people.The + image of nursing only exists in the textbooks.

Nurses are not the only professionals who get portrayed as less than desirable people. Teachers, lawyers, waitresses, have all been portrayed in less than a positive light. If I were a physician I would not take kindly to House. Then there is Nip-Tuck.
It seems to me there aren't that many stories written about nurses and nursing to begin with. So the fact that nurses have a prominent role at all is progress. We need more shows with nurses doing nursing so people will have something for comparison. Maybe a nursing version of Welcome Back Mr. Cotter, where a nurse really makes a difference in a small community hospital?

I'm so glad my daughter opened up this topic. Yes, I'm Kelly's mother and I've been an RN BSN 30+ years. Her father is a doctor but only became one when I finished college. Trust me, he has a great respect for us. I've spent 20+ years in the Army Reserves. I've done prison, hospital and school nursing and I've seen the best, good, bad and ugly part of this profession that has truly evolved over the years. The media's goal is to increase their viewers and to make money and they do not care how we look. It's our job to make sure the public - our patients/clients - know that we are professional, educated and caring individuals. Their lives are in our hands.

We can complain about the TV shows and movies but to quote a retired Army Nurse, General Adams-Ender, "visibility is viability". WE have to let the public know who we are and what we really do. Unfortunetly, no one is as hard on a nurse as another nurse. We are known to "eat our young". I personally stay away from the hospital shows, I see enough madness at work.

The fact that nursing has NEVER been portrayed correctly and/or accurately on TV or in movies is because it would make for REALLY boring watching!! Watching a nurse run around for 12 hours, having to take care of a ton of patients because the hospital is so grossly understaffed, washing hands and putting gloves on and taking them off constantly, signing out medications from a machine, and sitting down to finally do the charting is not an interesting program at all!! And this is a BIG reason why people have NO IDEA how hard nurses work and what they do, and the HUGE responsibilities that they carry every day on the job. People look at a TV show about nurses and think that they have lots of time to screw the doctors in the stairwell, or carry on with their personal life during work hours or figure out what they are going to do after their shift is over. NEWS FLASH!! Nurses have no time to carry on their personal life, or screw doctors in the stairwells, because for 12 hours, all the nurses are doing is running around like crazy, trying to give their patients the best care possible and get out the hospital after their 12 hour shift is done because they aren't going to be paid overtime if they do stay after their 12 hours! A television show depicting how understaffed hospitals are and how unsafe medical care is would be detrimental for the hospitals in America---they are all screaming about the "nursing shortage", especially is something goes wrong. There is no nursing shortage, people!! This is just another excuse for hospitals to use to justify the poor care given to their patients---do you think they'd actually admit that they have a hiring freeze going on so that the administrators could take home a bigger salary and bonus? OF COURSE NOT!! They would just rather tell lies about "nursing shortages" to cover their own asses. No---people would not want to see a program about REAL nurses because it would bore them to tears!! It is much more fun to portray them as cheap sluts who will screw any doctor that walks down the corridor;as drug addict; as mean and rude people; and as irresponsible nitwits, instead of the highly educated, mature, responsible and competent people that they are----that would be TOOO BORING!!

The few times I have watched these kind of shows it does imitate nursing as much less compitent then doctors. Like there is not much to it. It gave me the impression that pretty much anyone can do it. I just got accepted into a nursing program in my area (MD)and was amazed by how much goes into being a nurse and how serious it is to be taken. The actually of being a nurse, what you do, and what you must learn is soooo off from what is seen on TV. I hope this changes in the future.

I would like to make mention of the disapproval of nurses thoughts about the way nurses are depicted on tv. I have been a nurse for 8 years now in a Trauma/ Burns ICU/CCU/Med/Surg. I happen to think if nurses were really depicted the correct way, public be very afraid and never leave your love ones again. The typical nurse is lazy, unhealthy, fat, penniless, detached,unkept, devoid of any concerns needs, negilgent at best, grossly unresponsive during lunch or smoking breaks and it make hardworking nurses like me nausated.

How about you people get over it? Surely you should be busy complaining about low wages or long hours or whatever else it is you want to whine about this week.