News on Nursing in the Media
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Sounds and silence

NPR on nursing innovations

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Counting the Dead

Dr. asdfas spouses

The bedpan ceiling (done already?)

Scholar Linda Shields explains nursing on ABC
http://blog.truthaboutnursing.org/2014/02/bedpan-ceiling/

All the costumes (done already)

Subway's naughty nurse Halloween ad is not so fresh
http://blog.truthaboutnursing.org/2014/10/all-the-costumes/

You can do it another day

CBS's 60 Minutes on the Health Wagon!
http://blog.truthaboutnursing.org/2014/04/you-can-do-it-another-day/

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Planning your curriculum for the upcoming semester?

We can help with our faculty curriculum planning page

Speaking engagements

See Sandy Summers live in Baltimore, Atlantic City, Riyadh and Decorah!

Disruptive innovation

Create street art with Truth posters!

Saving Lives

Order a copy of our updated second edition today!

Planning speakers?

Strengthen your nurses! Sandy Summers just got back from empowering nurses in Atlantic City, Riyadh and Decorah. Book Sandy to empower your nurses and nursing students today!

Sounds and silence

NPR on nursing innovations

September 25, 2014 -- In recent months, reports on National Public Radio's Morning Edition have highlighted the important roles that nurses can play in improving hospital care through new clinical initiatives. On January 27, 2014, the radio network aired Richard Knox's piece on the efforts of Boston Medical Center to combat "alarm fatigue," the well-documented threat to patient safety that occurs when hospital staff confronted with a cacophony of health monitoring alarms have trouble distinguishing those that matter most. The report mainly quoted nurses, including a nurse manager, as well as highlighting the fact that the hospital's successful effort to address the problem had been detailed in the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. And today, NPR aired a piece by Sarah McCammon about the recent efforts of nurse "care coordinators" at the Savannah, Georgia health system Memorial Health to reduce costly hospital re-admissions by working closely with patients--talking to them--to manage chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease. This report relied mainly on quotes from one of the care coordinators, who described his work in helping patients make lifestyle changes and navigate the health care system in some detail. The piece also included success stories. It did seem to reflect some surprise that these nurses were not providing fairly routine bedside care. And it quoted the health system CEO on the program's goals. So some might assume that the nurses' care was being directed by others, when it is actually well within nurses' own holistic practice model. Still, both pieces offer portraits of skilled nurses improving hospital care, and we thank those responsible. more...

The altar of murdered men

Middle schooler's National History Day documentary highlights Nightingale's innovations

This strong documentary examines a vital but little known achievement of the legendary Florence Nightingale:  her innovative use of health statistics to drive hospital reform. Wisconsin middle schooler Lexie Van Den Heuvel's 2012 National History Day entry focuses on Nightingale's invention of the polar area graph, which helped her show the terrible toll of preventable diseases on British soldiers during the Crimean War and on wider populations after the war. Nightingale's painstaking research and statistical graphing, combined with her fierce advocacy, sparked critical reforms in hospital design and sanitation practice. Of course, almost anything that promotes understanding of Nightingale's work is likely to help nursing, since she is so widely recognized as the founder of the modern profession. The video includes a few references to her leadership in what anyone would recognize as nursing, caring for the soldiers in Crimea as well as providing care to patients and education to nurses back in the U.K. There is even a short interview clip from University of Wisconsin nursing professor Laurie Glass, who is identified as "PhD, RN, FAAN." And the video counters the still-common image of Nightingale as a cuddly, deferential saint. Unfortunately, viewers could come away with the idea that her statistical and hospital reform efforts were not "nursing." However, despite the common assumption that nursing is limited to bedside custodial tasks, the profession--as embodied by Nightingale and the many nursing pioneers who came after her--encompasses health advocacy and policy reform on the widest scale. Indeed, the video makes clear that Nightingale had to overcome strong resistance from physicians to effect positive change, and in fact that remains part of the nursing experience for many today. In any case, the documentary uses compelling images of Nightingale's world and her innovations, along with concise and persuasive narration, to convey valuable information about her work to an important audience. read more and see the documentary...

Rescued by an angel

Nurse Zina Lowery appears to have deployed real nursing skill with the tourniquet and that's great, the piece does say she saved a life, but is really being portrayed as an unskilled angel, with the emphasis on emotion and even the term "angel." And of course, she "didn't think about being a nurse" - would any physician ever say such a thing? Nurses--show yourselves respect when you talk to the media (or anyone else)!

Nursing professors, in need of curriculum ideas?

Many nursing professors rely on the extensive and varied materials on the Truth's website to help their students engage with critical issues nurses will face in the future, from their public image to key aspects of nursing education, practice, and advocacy. Since 2001, we have explored and analyzed how the global media and society in general has seen the nursing profession. Join your colleagues and use this material to help plan your curriculum! See the full list...

See Sandy Summers live!

Disruptive Innovation

Create some street art with Truth posters! It's better than Banksy!

March 2015 -- The Truth has some new posters! They mix positive photo images of nurses with common stereotypes, along with short explanations, to help people reconsider their views of nurses. Consider deploying these posters in your clinical setting, on your college campus, around your city or town, or anywhere you think they might create cognitive dissonance. You might even take and post photos of the posters in these settings. For instance, consider placing the monkey poster near something with a biology or science theme, the battle-axe near some conflict-related location, and the naughty nurse near some appropriate venue, like a bar that advertises "penny shots for naughty nurses" (an actual promotion at a Pittsburgh bar in 2008, according to a correspondent).

Please download the posters free of charge by clicking on the links here or to the right. If you wish, send us photos showing where you've hung them at letters@truthaboutnursing.org Thank you!!

Get a copy of Saving Lives with every $30 donation!

Donate $30 to the Truth now, and we will send you a copy of our leaders' newly released book Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nursing Puts Us All at Risk. The first edition of Saving Lives won an American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award and an award from the international nursing honor society, Sigma Theta Tau. The book was written for nurses, the media, and members of the public around the world. Many nursing professors use it as a text to discuss nursing in society. The authors donate all royalties to the Truth About Nursing. Order today--paperback or digital--and we will send a copy out to you!

Planning speakers?

Support the Truth by inviting Sandy Summers to empower your nurses!

Media images of health care--like the ones on ABC's popular Grey's Anatomy-- have an important effect on the nursing profession. Many nurses and nursing students feel frustrated when influential media products undervalue nurses. But how can we change what the media tells the public about nursing? Sandy Summers has led high-profile efforts to promote more accurate and robust depictions of nursing since 2001. She has shared her insights in dynamic presentations to groups across North America. She empowers nurses and teaches them how to shape their image into one that reflects the profession's true value. When nurses get the respect they deserve, they will attract more resources for nursing practice, education, and research, so we can resolve the nursing shortage. Sign Sandy up for your next conference, nurses' week celebration, or gala event! Click here for more details.

Get involved!

Get involved in helping us change how the world thinks about nursing. Check out our action page or start a chapter of the Truth in your home town. Or join us on Facebook!

Please support The Truth About Nursing

We need your help so we can pursue this mission together. We would be very grateful if you could make a donation--even if it is $5, $10 or $25. Any amount would be so helpful. Please click here to donate. Thank you!

The Truth About Nursing is an international non-profit organization based in Baltimore that seeks to help the public understand the central role nurses play in health care. The Truth promotes more accurate media portrayals of nurses and greater use of nurses as expert sources. The group is led by Sandy Summers, co-author of Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nurses Puts Us All At Risk.

Thank you for supporting the Truth About Nursing's work!

The Truth About Nursing
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