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News on Nursing in the Media
August 2, 2010 -- This week The New Yorker ran "Letting Go," a 12,000-word article about end-of-life care by surgeon and health writer Atul Gawande. This "Annals of Medicine" piece is physician-centric, quoting seven physicians and repeatedly implying that physicians are the only health providers whose views and actions really matter on this issue, and more broadly, that physicians direct health care. But the article also includes a surprisingly substantial look at the skilled work of Boston hospice nurse Sarah Creed, as Gawande accompanies her on patient visits and actually relies on some of her account of hospice care, providing a far more substantial look at the nursing role in palliative care than did a long December 2009 New York Times story about sedation of the dying. Gawande's New Yorker piece offers a fairly candid and progressive view of end-of-life care, arguing that people in the U.S. too often approach the final days of life with an expensive heroic treatment model that can needlessly increase suffering and even shorten life. He stresses that careful discussion of patients' end-of-life priorities, though very difficult, seems to be the key to improving this situation (though he notes that recent U.S. health reform efforts to provide funding for such discussions were doomed by claims that they were "death panels"). Gawande does not seem to be aware that nurses, who have a holistic practice model and who have long spent far more time with the dying than any other health professionals, have been pushing just this perspective on end-of-life care for decades. And he consults no nurse as a stand-alone expert on end-of-life care, as he does several physicians; we guess that would be asking too much. But by including Creed, the piece does give nursing serious, sustained attention that is unusual in an elite magazine like this. We commend Gawande and the New Yorker for that. more...
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June 14, 2010 -- Tonight the actress Helen Mirren appeared on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman to promote her new film Love Ranch, which is about a brothel in Reno. In describing a real brothel that she visited to do research, Mirren said that the prostitutes there were very sweet and welcoming. Letterman noted that some people argue that prostitutes are the victims of something that has led them to do this work. Mirren agreed that many of them are "damaged" and "come from dysfunctional backgrounds," but she also observed that "a lot of girls who work in that industry actually come from the nursing industry, which kind of makes sense, because they're used to naked bodies, it's not intimidating to them, you know, the body and the bodily functions, if you like." Letterman responded that that must mean a "guy like" him could visit the brothel for a "check-up." We assume that there is some basis in Mirren's personal experience for her comments, but we're not aware of any data showing that a disproportionate number of prostitutes first became nurses. Suggesting as much reinforces the naughty nurse stereotype that has undermined nursing for decades, not least because of the activities of the "film industry."
And it's not helpful to have a celebrity compare nursing care directly to acts of prostitution. We'll resist analyzing whether prostitution has more in common with nursing or acting, and just note that our understanding is that what prostitutes do tend to have in common is a history of serious abuse and few other skills. It seems unlikely, to say the least, that many "girls" with valuable nursing skills would become prostitutes. Of course, nurses do use those advanced skills to help prostitutes cope with the consequences of their dangerous work. We urge the famously candid Dame Helen to think more carefully before making statements that damage nursing. more... and please join our letter-writing campaign and see the film clip...
Pregnancy Pact: A movie review
2010 -- Lifetime's The Pregnancy Pact portrays several high school girls who intentionally get pregnant, apparently seduced by fantasies of loving, carefree motherhoods. The movie was "inspired by a true story" and it's a competent made-for-TV issue melodrama, engaging enough if somewhat schematic and bland. Some might also see in the movie a "ripped from the headlines" exploitation of a serious and complex problem, particularly since the film references some events that really happened in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 2008, but it reportedly invents key story elements. The movie does make a fairly serious effort to explore some basic aspects of teen pregnancy, showing young females who see little future beyond child-rearing. It seems like almost everyone involved here--teens, parents, and community leaders--is lying to someone. The film presents the school nurse as a forceful advocate for better pregnancy prevention, a compassionate professional who takes on the school administration and a "family values" group to try to stem the school's teen pregnancy "epidemic." The nurse might have done some direct counseling of the pregnant students, as a real nurse would. And the character is limited. She never gets at the deeper issues involved in the pregnancies, and she resigns in protest roughly a quarter of the way through the movie, never to reappear. The main force for a more progressive approach to teen pregnancy in the film is actually a relentless young New York video blogger who bonds with the teens and does far more to get to the bottom of the epidemic. Still, the portrayal of the nurse as an articulate professional who is willing to make a big personal sacrifice to advance public health debunks the popular notion that school nurses are just about aspirin and band-aids. And that's especially helpful at a time when U.S. school districts face extraordinary pressure to cut costs. more...
The Truth receives 501(c)(3) status
August 4, 2010 -- Today The Truth About Nursing was notified that it qualifies as a charitable non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code. That means donations to the Truth made since its inception at the end of 2008 are tax-deductible as allowed by law. See our 501(c)(3) status letter here. Please make a tax-deductible donation to support our work to improve understanding of nursing today. Thank you!
Disabling the off switch: Wall Street Journal and Boston Globe on hospital errors
March 16, 2010 -- Recent reports in The Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe discuss efforts to address potentially lethal hospital errors, with each piece using as its main example a case in which nurses did not spot a problem until it was too late and a patient died. It is very helpful for the public to hear that nursing (just like medicine) is so important to patient care that such problems can mean the difference between life and death. And we commend the journalists responsible for both of these pieces, which provide serious, thoughtful discussion of some important issues, including systemic factors beyond the nurses' control. But neither piece consults nurses to the extent it should, considering that the problems addressed are primarily nursing ones, and the effect is to undervalue nursing expertise and possibly to suggest that nurses report to physicians in providing the relevant care. Liz Kowalczyk's February 21 Globe report describes events surrounding the tragic death of a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) patient whose heart monitor alarm had been left off. The reporter includes a few helpful quotes from MGH's chief nurse, but none from national nurse experts or direct care nurses who deal with such monitors constantly, instead relying on physician safety experts and engineers involved in improving the safety of such technologies. And Laura Landro's piece in today's Journal discusses efforts to treat the health workers involved in errors fairly, focusing on the well-known case of Wisconsin nurse Julie Thao, who mistakenly gave a pregnant patient a fatal dose of a painkiller and actually faced criminal charges, but who has since worked to improve hospital safety. The story includes a little indirect commentary from Thao, but all the expert quotes are from physicians and other non-nurse safety experts, rather than the nurses who know more directly how and why such medication errors can occur. Perhaps as a result of inadequate input from nurses, neither piece mentions the extent to which nurse-related errors are due to inadequate staffing or other factors in the practice environment, which nursing scholars have shown remains a threat to U.S. patient safety. Nor does either piece discuss nurses' relatively low level of power, which discourages nurses from speaking up about problems, an issue on which Johns Hopkins physician Peter Pronovost has rightly focused in his efforts to improve safety. more...
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August 2010 -- Five episodes from the sixth season of ABC's Grey's Anatomy (2009-2010) illustrate the two main stereotypes that the hit show continues to reinforce: that nurses are physician handmaidens, and that they are low-skilled workers worthy only of contempt. As always, the show's 12 main characters--all surgeons--provide all the health care that matters, including vital care that nurses do in real life. In one episode, after senior surgeon Derek Shepherd asks female surgical resident Lexie Grey to monitor his own health during a marathon surgery, a male resident mocks Lexie by telling her that it sounds like she will be Shepherd's "bitch" and urging her to "have fun playing nurse." Lexie will have her revenge on her Seattle Grace colleague, but the show makes no effort to defend nursing. Another episode flashes back to 1982 to show surgical pioneer Ellis Grey (Meredith Grey's mother) as a resident fighting off a male colleague's claim that she is just a "nurse" who has no business defibrillating, though even in 1982, nurses did plenty of defibrillation. Again, there is no defense of nursing. Two other episodes include brief but damaging appearances by nurse Tyler, a bitter lackey who could not care less about patients and views his role as doing as little as possible to help the physicians who actually provide expert care. And still another episode features a rare prime time mention of nurse practitioners. Not surprisingly, it is an insult, as Shepherd suggests that another surgeon is wasting her time doing after-care since a "nurse practitioner can do this." Grey's seems to have made little progress since the anti-nurse insults of its first episodes five long years ago (e.g., "Did you just call me a nurse?"; "You're the pig who called Meredith a nurse!"). As in the early days, the show wants us to feel the pain of brilliant female physicians who must fight to avoid being mistaken for nurses, members of the backwards servant class of health care. We urge the show to consider if it could pursue its apparent mission of deifying physicians without attacking nurses quite so directly. more, please join our letter-writing campaign ... and see the film clips from 5 notable episodes!
July 22, 2010 -- Tonight ABC will air the fifth episode of Boston Med, the eight-part documentary about the work and personal lives of health care workers at Massachusetts General, Brigham and Women's, and Children's hospitals. Overall, Boston Med is almost as physician-centric as producer Terence Wrong's previous "greatest hospitals" efforts Hopkins 24/7 (2000) and Hopkins (2008), focusing overwhelmingly on physicians and generally presenting them as the brilliant providers of all meaningful health care. But the new series has received an amazingly positive reaction from some reviewers and even some nurses because, along with the 16 physicians and surgeons profiled in the four episodes that have aired so far, there is one nurse! In a few scenes, this MGH nurse, Amanda Grabowski, displays technical knowledge and gives viewers some sense of nurses' roles as patient advocates and autonomous practitioners. But as the episodes go on, the show steadily forgets her clinical work, focusing instead on her social life. This approach undermines the sense of her as a serious professional, and even flirts with the stereotype that nurses are mainly about romance. The episodes do portray the personal lives of some of the physicians, but the show also continues to focus on their work as esteemed health experts. The ABC web site suggests that there will be another MGH ED nurse profiled in at least the fifth episode, Mike O'Donnell; perhaps his segment will convey something of what it is to be a man in nursing. But it's unlikely the nurse elements will have much impact alongside what will likely be profiles of some 25 physicians, especially since those profiles utterly ignore the nurses who actually provide most of the skilled care to the patients portrayed. The overall message is that physicians, especially surgeons, are the life-savers who do everything that matters. Boston Med is probably a small step forward for Terence Wrong, since the nurse profiles here may be more substantial than the fleeting nurse appearances in Hopkins two years ago. But the new series could not be compared to a documentary like Richard Khan's Nursing Diaries (2004), or even a drama like Mercy (2009-10), which feature strong, sustained portrayals of nursing skill and care. more...
UPDATE on Cali Nurse campaign!
July 9, 2010 -- We have just had a productive conversation with Eli Holzman, the Executive Vice President of Studio Lambert, the production company that is planning to produce Cali Nurse. Mr. Holzman and his show colleagues received 78 emails (33 original--thank you!) from nurses and others concerned about the show in the two days since we launched our letter-writing campaign. He expressed concern about the stereotypes that plague nurses and vowed to try to avoid them in the show. He said that Cali Nurse is at least a year away from production, but that as work on it proceeds in the coming months, he will keep in mind all of the input he has received from us. He is also interested in reading our book Saving Lives, which explains these stereotypes, and we will send copies to his production team. (Thanks to those who have donated copies of the book so that we can send them to the media!) We also offered to provide advice to the show as it goes forward. Of course it is too soon to say what the ultimate result of all this will be, but we thank you so much for taking the time and effort to speak out about the potential pitfalls of the show. Your voices made the difference!
July 2010 -- Recently MysticArt Pictures issued a casting call for a new "sexy docu-series" called Cali Nurse, to be produced by the prominent production company Studio Lambert. The show is seeking real nurses and nursing students, but the casting material makes clear that it is going to focus on damaging stereotypes. The show wants "gorgeous" young females (ages 21-30 only) who will experience "comedy, romance, and fun" and are all about "big hearts" and "dates with McDreamy." We didn't notice anything in the casting call about being bright, articulate, tough, or skilled, qualities that real nurses need to improve patient outcomes, though the casting call did suggest that the show would "capture the lives of those learning to save lives." The producers seem to be aiming at a reality show version of Nightingales, the bimbotic show from the late 1980's. We could urge the show to pursue a more responsible vision of nursing, though it's pretty hard to imagine a project with this genesis doing no harm to nursing unless it stopped being about nurses completely. Maybe the producers could focus instead on one of the many categories of professionals who have not been plagued for decades by the idea that they are either sexy twits looking to seduce physicians, or else angels with big hearts and small brains. Cali Doc would be too easy; we're thinking Cali Judge, Cali Scientist, or even Cali TV Producer! More realistically, please join us in urging Studio Lambert to at least minimize how much it tells the public that nurses are brainless bimbos and/or angels. more...
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Not staying in Vegas: Truth chapter protests "naughty nurse" contest at the Mirage
May 17, 2010 -- Today members of the Las Vegas chapter of the Truth About Nursing staged a protest outside the Jet Nightclub at the Mirage Hotel, and rather than letting the story stay in Vegas, we're going to tell you about it. The club was holding a contest in which the winner would receive $2,500 for the best "naughty nurse" costume. The event was held on a Monday night from 10:30 p.m. - 4:30 a.m. Determined members of the Truth's Las Vegas chapter, led by chapter co-president Dee Riley, RN, MSN (center), gathered outside the club and greeted patrons of the Jet with signs as they arrived. The chapter members report that they had friendly interactions with patrons, educating them about the value of nurses and the damage caused by the naughty nurse stereotype, which sexualizes the profession and undermines real nurses' claims to the resources and respect they need to save lives. We thank Dee Riley for her leadership, tenacity, and donation of the posters for the protest. We also thank chapter members Juliann Riley, Carla Diaz and Rocky Diaz for speaking out forcefully about stereotypes that harm nursing. We urge all Truth chapters to consider organizing such events to challenge poor images of nursing. With enough of this kind of spirited advocacy, we can beat the house! more...
Nurse Comfort and the Bratz dolls
June 1, 2010 -- In honor of International Children's Day, we present reviews of the nursing portrayals in several recent children's books. A few books have addressed the profession directly, such as Mike Thaler's The School Nurse from the Black Lagoon (1995), part of a series that aims to make kids comfortable with authority figures they will meet at school. The book's narrator has irrational fears about his school nurse, but she turns out to be friendly and helpful, though she does not display any particular skill beyond putting the boy at ease. Another title that aims to demystify an unfamiliar institution is Lucy Cousins's Maisy Goes to the Hospital (2007). That book, for younger readers, offers a typically physician-centric portrayal of hospital care and does not convey that "Nurse Comfort" has much skill or knowledge, though she does at least show Maisy how to walk on crutches. Nursing references in other books are more incidental. Lauren Child's amusing, inventive Clarice Bean: Guess Who's Babysitting? (2000) has a couple brief but good nurse appearances, as competent nurses seem to manage the care of two characters who visit the hospital for unrelated injuries. But Holly Hobbie's Fanny (2008) offers an image of "nurse" dolls as glamorous but vacuous twits who merely assist the smart, assertive female "doctor" doll. It's a regressive "feminist" vision that's meant to show Bratz-era girls that they can do something worthwhile with their lives. No nurse in any of the books is male. And since the better nursing portrayals in this admittedly unscientific little survey are the older ones, it's tempting to say that children's books are making little progress in providing youngsters with more accurate images of nursing, misleading them just when they are starting to form basic impressions of careers that they might later pursue (or influence). Of course, there is J.K. Rowling's great Harry Potter series (1997-2007), which offers older readers the occasional appearances of Madam Pomfrey, the skilled wizarding nurse. Maybe you can help us: Do you know of a good portrayal of nursing in a younger children's book published in the last 10 years? If so, click here and tell us. Thanks! See our full review of each book below. more...
Fanny is a tale of two dolls: the store-bought Connies, who embody superficial glamour, and the homemade Annabelle, who represents substance and merit. The book isn't bad as a critique of celebrity culture for kids of 4-8 years, and as an effort to get girls in particular to consider doing more with their lives than just looking hot. But one key scene sets Annabelle up as a commanding "doctor" operating on stuffed animals, while the vacuous Connies are "nurses" who stand around looking pretty and assisting Annabelle, reinforcing what are arguably the most damaging stereotypes of nursing today--the unskilled physician assistant and the naughty nurse. It would be hard to find a more blatant "feminist" attack on nursing in recent popular culture. more...
Clarice Bean: Guess Who's Babysitting?
This entry in the Clarice Bean series, aimed at kids of perhaps 6-9 years, is the irreverent and amusing story of a family emergency that requires Clarice's Uncle Ted, a rough and tumble firefighter, to baby-sit the independent child and her siblings. The story includes two visits to the hospital, and in the brief look we get at each visit, a seemingly professional, autonomous female nurse helps guide the family through the minor trauma involved. No physicians appear. The book could be seen as a subtle reinforcement of regressive gender roles; even though the males in the story are generally silly or hapless, and Clarice's mother and the nurses must bail them out, it is still the men who hold the traditionally male jobs. Perhaps the women just wield behind-the-scenes influence, as in countless television sitcoms and commercials. Still, the book suggests that nursing is a job for serious problem-solvers, and that puts it far ahead of most children's books. more...
This colorful, well-written entry in the Maisy series for a very young audience (probably 0-4 years) follows the main character on a stay at the hospital after she hurts her leg. There she meets Doctor Duck, who actually talks and clearly takes the lead in her care, as well as Nurse Comfort, a flamingo, who says nothing and seems to be there mostly to assist and bring the basic comfort her name implies. In fairness, Nurse Comfort does show Maisy how to use her crutches. more...
The School Nurse from the Black Lagoon
This fairly entertaining book takes young readers through a long tour of scary, though comical, images of a monstrous school nurse who tortures her patients--not unlike a battleaxe--based on the narrator's recounting of what other kids have said about her. Finally, the boy learns that the real school nurse is kind and helpful. But she displays no real health care skill or knowledge. more...
What's wrong with these people?
A review of the 2009 film Precious
Claireece "Precious" Jones is a 16-year-old with 99 problems. The Harlem resident is trapped in a domestic hell with her violent, undermining mother. She endures abuse from peers for her obesity. And she's pregnant as a result of being raped by her own father. Into this nightmare the film introduces a few rays of light from committed agents of the welfare state: a persistent guidance counselor who arranges for Precious to attend an alternative school, a no-nonsense social worker (whose worn tenacity is ably conveyed by the versatile Mariah Carey), and the beautiful, committed teacher Blu Rain, who patiently cajoles Precious onto a path toward a high school diploma and some control over her life. And there is "Nurse John," a nurse's aide at the hospital where Precious gives birth, who shows her compassion and generosity, and even suggests that she ease up on that McDonald's diet. As played by rock star Lenny Kravitz, John is a somewhat stern but upright and sexy straight man, and this is not lost on the uninhibited females from Precious's class who visit her in the hospital. Hollywood has not offered many strong, straight male nurse characters, and to the extent moviegoers see this portrayal as an indication that it's cool to be a "man in nursing," it is helpful. But "Nurse John" is not a nurse at all, even though he calls himself that. Blurring the distinction between registered nurses and minimally trained nurse's aides makes it harder for nurses to show that they are highly skilled, autonomous health professionals. In addition, the film's portrait of Blu Rain is somewhat idealized, and Precious's voiceover at times over-explains things. Still, with clever direction and some great writing and acting, Precious finds insight, nuance, and humor in what might sound like a hysterical vision of ghetto life. Precious won't give up while there is still some hope, and those who help her are skilled, pragmatic dreamers who see it as their professional obligation to make sure she doesn't. In that way, the film does have something like a nursing perspective. With that and a few years of college-level health science training, John can be a nurse! more...and see the nurse-related film clips!
May 28, 2010 -- Today the Dunedin (New Zealand) Channel 9 web site reported that the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) is urging the public to celebrate World Smokefree Day, May 31, 2010. The short piece quotes NZNO spokesperson Kerri Nuku as noting that health professionals should be involved in the project because they (in the piece's words) "deal with the consequences of tobacco use every day, including the negative effects on patients' physical and mental health, as well as their social, economic and cultural wellbeing." The item notes that smoking kills 5,000 New Zealanders every year. We thank Channel 9 for the report. And we applaud the NZNO for its patient advocacy, which not only improves the health of the community, but also presents nurses as knowledgeable, committed health professionals deserving of resources and respect. more...
M
ay 12, 2010 -- Happy Nurses Day to nurses around the world! Every year around the time of Florence Nightingale's May 12 birthday, nurses are thanked and honored for their work, as they deserve to be. But as we have often noted, these celebrations can seem like little more than lip service, hollow expressions of thanks to a profession that really does not get the respect and resources it needs every day for clinical practice, education, residencies and research. The celebrations often emphasize the enduring "angel" image, suggesting nurses are noble and self-sacrificing, which discounts the advanced skills that the public really needs to know nurses have, and arguably reinforces some nurses' own unfortunate tendency to sacrifice themselves so much that it runs counter to their patients' and their own best interests. This year the American Nurses Association's theme is "Nurses: Caring Today for a Healthier Tomorrow," which rightly suggests that nurses affect patient outcomes, and the International Council of Nurses' theme is "Delivering Quality, Serving Communities: Nurses Leading Chronic Care," which has a great focus on skill and leadership. Both groups also present some helpful ideas to focus the celebrations on nurses' skills, rather than their virtue. Of course, many have also urged that 2010 be considered the International Year of the Nurse. But on April 27, HealthLeaders Media editor Rebecca Hendren posted a thoughtful and provocative piece called "Do We Still Need Nurses Week?" We can imagine the stir resulting from her humorous discussion of the annual rituals, such as the "parade of suits from the C-suite bringing lunch or snacks to the units," as well as her suggestions that nurses celebrate with activities of greater substance, like raising funds for nursing education or promoting nurses' bedside safety concerns. Hendren suggests, correctly, that other serious professions don't get or need special "weeks" or trinkets because they get actual respect. And yesterday, New York Times "Well" blog contributor Teresa Brown published a good op-ed on the CNN site arguing that if hospitals really wanted to honor nurses, they would provide them with the staffing needed to save more lives (and incidentally, give them the time to eat lunch). Still, we can't resist offering a short list of our own suggestions for celebrating Nurses Day, Week, and/or Year.
- Take a tip from the CBS television show Undercover Boss: Give your hospital CEO a special Nurses Week nursing shift on your unit! (Nursing supervision required.)
Letting the Exiles Bleed on Main Street
A
pril 2010 -- The April 2 series premiere of the CBS drama Miami Medical portrays a senior nurse mainly as a skilled and authoritative administrator who helps the brilliant physicians who provide all important care at a level one trauma center. Nurse Tuck Brody is one of the show's five major characters, albeit the least important. He displays some clinical knowledge, sometimes speaks to patients, seems to be part of the show's "Alpha Team" of trauma surgeons, and has some authority over other nurses, perhaps as "charge nurse," as he is once called here, or "head nurse," as the CBS website says. Brody is closer to the evolved handmaiden portrayal of nursing often seen on NBC's ER than the more extreme passive servant depiction that continues to dominate today's most popular network shows, notably Fox's House and ABC's Grey's Anatomy, though it seems unlikely that Brody will ever make the difference in patient outcomes that ER's nurse Sam Taggart sometimes did in that show's final years. In accord with Miami Medical's overall portrayal of hotshot trauma clinicians, Brody may do more swaggering than any television nurse we've seen. But it seems to be largely vicarious, because Brody is also an eager cheerleader for the show's physician glorification. Brody repeatedly presents his trauma surgeon colleagues as intergalactic gods. Think we're exaggerating? Brody calls them "the best and the brightest," "the envy of the known universe," and not just the "rock stars," but the "Rolling Stones" of medicine. CBS promotion has embraced the rock star angle, and by the second episode, the show's main title theme was the Stones' "19th Nervous Breakdown." But oddly, the show seems to have no comment on the skills of the nurses. The minor nurse characters get a few lines (again as on ER), but since Brody is the show's Designated Nurse, it appears that other nurses will rarely play any significant role in patient care, and that in the clinical scenes, only the physicians will really matter. The pilot was written by executive producer and show creator Jeffrey Lieber. more...
Lystra Gretter: Public Health Advocate and Professional Reformer
By David Yates
When Lystra Eggert Gretter was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2004, she was honored for her "tireless" efforts in promoting nursing as a respectable profession in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Gretter made many contributions to nursing. She shifted the model of nursing education from a one-year apprenticeship to a three-year academic pursuit. She created nurse-run hospital wards instead of allowing nursing students to run them. Gretter cut the work day to 8-hour shifts, to afford nurses and students more time to study and recreate. She wrote what is believed to be the first standardized textbook for nursing education and created one of the first professional nursing libraries. And Gretter was a founding member, at the end of the 19th Century, of groups that later became the American Nurses Association and the National League for Nursing Noting that the public perception of nursing was that of "women's work," Gretter lobbied for more political power, including aligning nursing with suffragettes who sought the vote. She established an early visiting nurses association. And Gretter was "the moving spirit behind the creation of the "The Florence Nightingale Pledge," an oath of ethics that many graduating nursing students still make today. Gretter also worked to advance public health generally. She established tuberculosis hospitals, lobbied for in-home nursing care and became a vocal public health advocate for Detroit's burgeoning poor and immigrant population. She also successfully introduced the first state-wide health inspections of school children and a free maternity/infant care clinic in Detroit. more...
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April 7, 2010 -- Perhaps the CBS sitcom Accidentally on Purpose isn't the first place you'd expect to see a complex blend of nursing issues. But tonight's episode is about the decision of the main character, the pregnant Billie, to hire an attractive "baby nurse" (nanny or infant care provider) named Nicole without consulting Zack, the baby's young father. Characters twice refer to Nicole simply as a "nurse." At first she seems nice, skilled, and professional, but she turns out to be a manipulative nymphomaniac, seducing two of Zack's friends for a three-some practically on sight, while she's supposed to be baby-proofing. The show repeatedly focuses on her breasts. Exploiting the naughty nurse stereotype? A little. Then there's the episode's use of the term "baby nurse," a dangerous distortion that implies that such infant care providers actually are nurses, when few if any have the years of college-level health science training real nurses do. In addition to misleading new parents about what their "baby nurses" know, the term suggests that real nurses have as few health skills as the infant care providers do. The show also tells us that Nicole has a "nursing degree from Cal," as if it thinks "baby nurses" really are nurses. This "baby nurse" mess, along with the naughty angle, outweighs any potential benefit from Nicole's apparent knowledge about basic infant care, and the fleeting suggestion that real nurses may have university degrees. But the episode goes further. At one point, Zack's friends fantasize about the hot Nicole squeezing the breast milk out of Billie's breasts. And we get a brief scene showing how that might work, sexualizing real nurses' focus on breastfeeding and subtly reinforcing the enduring practice of considering breastfeeding a type of "nursing," which associates a modern science profession with unskilled female care giving--though the show does not refer to breastfeeding itself as "nursing." Actually, the show really missed an opportunity by not having Nicole offer to "nurse" the infant herself. Maybe that "degree" was in wet nursing! The episode, "Face Off," was written by Kevin Bonani and Jenn Lloyd. more...and please join our letter-writing campaign!
Get the expanded and updated paperback edition of Saving Lives, with a new foreword by Echo Heron!
April 25, 2010 -- Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nurses Puts Us All at Risk will be released in paperback on May 4, with a new foreword by bestselling nurse author Echo Heron! This edition is revised and expanded, discussing Nurse Jackie and the other new nurse shows in detail, and featuring updated information throughout. You can get an author-signed copy of the book when you become a member of the Truth or renew your membership for $30 (click here!). Please help support the Truth's effort to change how the world thinks about nursing today.
This affordably-priced paperback edition (under $11 at Amazon and Barnes & Noble) makes a great Nurses Week gift for colleagues, students, or even to help family and friends understand the value of what nurses do. All royalties for the award-winning book go directly to support non-profit nursing advocacy work. Thank you for your support!
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April 2010 -- It's a naughty nurse smackdown! Recently the press has reported that Arizona's Heart Attack Grill has filed a lawsuit to shut down a new Florida restaurant called Heart Stoppers, which the Grill claims has swiped its intellectual property by featuring similar anti-health themes. Both restaurants include waitresses dressed as naughty nurses, reinforcing a tired stereotype of female sexuality that undermines real nurses' claims to adequate respect and resources. These culinary landmarks also seem to share the view that encouraging people to eat lots of fatty food and become obese makes the restaurant owners the revolutionary equivalent of the nation's Founders. Which ever way the court rules in this important case, we applaud Grill owner "Dr." Jon Basso for his tenacious efforts to close down other restaurants with similar themes, which we hope will at least limit the damage caused by the type of anti-nurse marketing that he has done since 2006. And let's not forget the Delray Beach "nursing director" who explained her Heart Stoppers visit this way to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "I heard they all dressed up as nurses and I wanted to check them out. At my hospital, they never let us wear fishnets." Fight the power! Please write to the owners of both the Heart Attack Grill and Heart Stoppers--one of whom, Iggy Lena, is a real-life paramedic--and tell them that there must be some way to make money without portraying nurses as bimbos. more... and please take action by sending one of our instant letters!
New Truth About Nursing FAQ:
Just how undervalued and underfunded is nursing?
In our new FAQ, we explore a few dramatic comparisons that illustrate how poorly nursing is valued and funded relative to medicine and other professions. See the comparisons...
In our imperfect state of conscience and enlightenment, publicity and the collision resulting from publicity are the best guardians of the interest of the sick.
-- Florence Nightingale
See more news and media analysis on our archives pages:
More sitemap of The Truth About Nursing
VIdLit (Video Literature)
Script for a nurse-centered television drama
HealthStyles radio show with Diana Mason and Barbara Glickstein
Beatrice and Philip Kalisch archives on media images of nurses
Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nurses Puts Us All at Risk
Media, products and merchandise that raises public awareness of the value of nursing
Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nurses Puts Us All at Risk
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