News on Nursing in the Media from the Center for Nursing Advocacy

JibJab refuses to remove naughty nurse images from its products--PLEASE CALL 310-586-1576 NOW

February 10, 2005 -- February 10, 2005 -- Thank you to all who called JibJab to request that the company discuss with the Center its many products featuring an image of President Clinton and two "naughty nurses." The Center has now spoken with Gregg Spiridellis, one of the two brothers who run JibJab. Mr. Spiridellis expressed support for our campaign to improve nursing's image, acknowledging that fictional media products like NBC's "ER" affect the way people think about nursing. However, he does not agree that JibJab's more light-hearted media could have any effect on the way people think about nursing. Accordingly, JibJab has refused to remove any naughty nurse images from its media or merchandise products. However, research has shown that even less "serious" media products such as sitcoms and soap operas have a significant effect on the public's health-related views and actions [link]. The Center believes that, given the historic association of nursing and sex in the public mind, JibJab's naughty nurse images do in fact damage the nursing image at a time of global crisis, and we strongly urge the company to reconsider. See our original JibJab campaign.

Please flood JibJab with phone calls, send our instant letter and protest the use of nursing images in their products. Please call
1-310-586-1576 and voice your concerns. Thank you!

Can any idiot be a nurse? Don't forget the sponge baths and happy endings!

February 8, 2005 -- Tonight's episode of NBC's "Scrubs," entitled "My Quarantine" and written by Tad Quill, is a good example of the "just trying to help" school of inaccurate and harmful television nursing depictions, a school epitomized by an October 2003 "ER" episode. Such shows often involve nurse characters confronting difficult situations or negative attitudes in a way that show creators may think is promoting respect for nursing, but which in fact sends even more powerful damaging messages because of the sympathetic intent. In this "Scrubs" episode, the most striking example is a surgeon character's affirmation that "any idiot can be a nurse." We see that the nurse to whom this surgeon is married strongly disagrees--but we never see why. The obvious conclusion: he's rude, but maybe he's right. more...

Please call Scrubs and ask them to schedule a call between Bill Lawrence and the Center. Call 1-818-623-1880, ext. 104. (Pacific time.)

Then please email us at nursing@truthaboutnursing.org to let us know that you called so we can keep track of how many calls went out. Thank you very much!

Nurses for newborns

February 3, 2005 -- Today The Tennessean ran Larry Bivins' Gannett New Service piece about the St. Louis-based Nurses for Newborns program, which provides vital home care to low-income, at-risk mothers and newborn infants. The medium-length piece provides a generally good look at this program, with quotes from a local patient, a physician who co-directs the local program, supportive Member of Congress Jim Cooper (D-Nashville), and two of the program's key local patrons, Tennessee Titans football player Fred Miller and his wife Kim. Can you guess the one relevant category not represented with a quote in this otherwise commendable piece about "Nurses for Newborns?" We thought so. more...

Undercover angels!

January 30, 2005 -- Today the Guardian (U.K.) web site posted a balanced piece by Jamie Doward, "Row erupts over secret filming of hospital filth," about a Channel 4 documentary based on the work of two nurses with hidden cameras who captured "appalling conditions" at two British hospitals, including poor sanitation and infection control practices in the care of elderly patients. Key issues raised by the documentary, "Dispatches: Undercover Angels," include the responsibility of nurses and other staff for the poor conditions, the appropriateness of the use of undercover cameras by caregivers on duty, and when the mass media will stop calling nurses "angels." more...

Please remember our letter-writing campaigns. If you agree with them, please join them!

JibJab; "Scrubs"; Smart Money; Bras 'n Things; "ER"; 3 Wishes Lingerie; "Passions"

Please help us make this work. Thank you!

Sandy Summers, RN, MSN, MPH
Executive Director
The Center for Nursing Advocacy
203 Churchwardens Rd.
Baltimore, MD 21212-2937
office 410-323-1100
fax 410-510-1790
ssummers@truthaboutnursing.org
www.truthaboutnursing.org

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