PORTRAYAL OF NURSING IN THE MEDIA

1. PORTRAYAL OF NURSING IN THE MEDIA Allison Mentink, Christine Ostendorf, Jessica Gums University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire

2. OUTLINE • Image of Nursing • Nursing in the media 1930-1980 • Nursing in the media 1980-present • The future of Nursing in the media • What is our role? • Conclusion

4. INTRODUCTION • Nursing 1980’s – present • We have all heard stories regarding nurses: killer nurses, incompetent nurses, poorly trained nurses and of course the entertainment media have their “naughty nurses” • Negative/derogatory portrayal of nursing in the media has become more prevalent over the past 50 years. This has heightened with more negative images in the past 20 years. • The medias portrayal of nurses is one of the most difficult to compete with

5. REAL NURSES VS FICTIONAL NURSES

6. EARLY IDEAS ABOUT NURSING • Angels of Mercy until end of WWII • 1920’s to end of WWII – pragmatic, even heroic • A Farewell to Arms (1932)

7. 1930-1960 • 1930’s-1940’s – Dr. Kildare films introduced nurses as love interests • 1940’s-1960’s – series of juvenile novels about Cherry Ames • Adventurous, bright, young nurse crime solver • 1950’s-1960’s – AMA asserted control over network television • Heroic physician characters virtuous, no mistakes

8. 1960-1980 • 1962-1965: The Nurses series • 1960’s brought the naughty nurse, balanced by the senior battle-ax • Quality of nursing portrayal decreased in both film and prime time television • One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

9. 1960-1980 • 1960’s and 1970’s: increase in portrayal of explicit sexual activity • Catch 22 (1970) • M.A.S.H. (1972) • Kalischs of University of Michigan Nursing School published multiple studies in the 1980’s

10. 1980’s – 1990’s • Nurses were shown as peripheral assistants to dominant physicians • St. Elsewhere 1982-88 showed occasional formidable nurse character • China Beach 1988-91 lead character colleen McMurphy was competent, tough army nurse but did not generally display much skill

11. 1980’s – 1990’s • TV sitcom Nurses 1991-94 treated nurses with some respect • Nightingales 1988-89 featured sexy nursing students who spent so much time partially undressed that outraged nurses actually managed to chase the show off the air • ER 1994 One of the most influential health care shows in history. Fairly realistic scenes, some of the best depictions of nursing ever to appear on network TV, occasionally showed serious nursing skill and autonomy, but as a whole depicted nurses as the handmaiden, as a skilled physician assistant who must defer to him.

12. 2000 - Present • 2000-2006 Strong Medicine on Lifetime had a handsome, articulate nurse midwife Peter Riggs, but other nurses were mute handmaidens • 2001-Present Scrubs, present main nurse Carla Espinosa at times shows real skill, but also shows doctors starting iv’s and hanging medications and providing virtually all care • House stated nurses were invented to pick patients up when they fall and to get him coffee • Private Practice only has one nurse/receptionist character-male midwife student

14. WHAT IS OUR ROLE?

15. CONCLUSION

16. “Most people know they can’t get into a hospital without a doctor. What they don’t know is that they won’t get out of one – at least not alive – without a nurse.” - Nursing Historian Joan Lynaugh

17. REFERENCES

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