TV lineups go through phases -- a rash of mafia dramas gives way to a new crop of dating shows, which are replaced mid-season by supernatural crime procedurals. The Next Big Thing? Nurses.Witness three new series --TNT's "HawthoRNe," starring Jada Pinkett Smith; NBC's upcoming fall show "Mercy," with Michelle Trachtenberg; and Showtime's "Nurse Jackie," which marks the return of everyone's favorite, Edie Falco.
What's behind Tinseltown's new interest in this pink-collar profession? Here, some sociological theories.
1. We're scared.
Folks often don't have insurance. Those who do routinely get screwed by the faceless corporations in charge. Doctors, rushed for time and pressured to see a kajillion patients a day, can be jerks. Plus, we're depersonalized as a society, spending more time online and less with actual people.
What's missing from the health-care system is what's missing from our lives: being heard, being helped, a personal touch. Nurses can save us, right?
Sure, our RN fixation is misplaced and far-fetched, but unlikely alternate realities are a prime-time staple -- just look at sci-fi sensations like "Lost," "Battlestar Galactica" and "Sex and the City."
Click here to read more reasons after the jump.
2. Nursing is our new dream job.
Not because it's glamorous, mind you, but because in a crap economy, the fantasy of working in a growth industry becomes our escapist go-to.
3. We don't have to feel bad about it anymore.
Women used to be steered into "ladylike" jobs, such as teaching and nursing. Feminism taught us that girls can do anything -- and led to a generation that actively avoided those jobs (hence the nursing shortage as baby boomers get set to retire). Now that we're past that, women feel more liberated to become -- or watch -- anything they want: astronaut, president ... even, yes, nurse.
"We've processed those stereotypes for good and can now return to what's actually interesting about the job -- the work of healing rather than treating -- without feeling like we have to apologize for it," says Jacob Clifton, who recaps "Nurse Jackie" for Television Without Pity. "Contrast, for example, how oddly dated 'Ally McBeal' seems today: a woman lawyer? In a short skirt?!" adds Clifton.
4. There are already too many "Law & Orders."
"The nurse-TV trend is simply a new direction on an old theme. The cop/lawyer ideas are running thin, so they're heading to the hospital for entertainment," says MonkeyGirl, an ER nurse and the hilarious (and temporarily-on-hiatus) scribe at Musings of a Highly Trained Monkey. "And if it manages to get rid of the 'reality' shows, then I'm all for it."
5. Some of our best moms are nurses.
Comments:
Add a comment
Saturday 27 June
By Donna Wilk Cardillo RN
TV is finally catching up with the hottest profession on the planet – nursing. And that reality started long before the slumped economy. Contrary to what the above article implies, and what many people outside of healthcare think, the current shortage does not exist because no one previously wanted to be a nurse. On the contrary, schools of nursing in the US have had 2-3 year waiting lists for admission going on 6-7 years now. Why? Let me tell you what really happened.
Back in the 1990’s hospitals started to downsize and merge like all of corporate America. That included laying nurses off from their jobs and initiating hiring freezes. Some hospitals, in an effort to save money, started to replace licensed nurses with unlicensed personnel who had minimal training. But what happened as a result is that death and complication rates started to soar and it wasn’t long before hard research proved that the more registered nurses at the bedside, the better the patient outcomes. So hospitals started to try to bring nurses back. But in the interim, some of those who had been laid off left the profession and because new graduate nurses couldn’t find jobs in hospitals during that time (mid-late 1990’s), folks stopped going to nursing school.
The turn of the century brings the aging of the baby boomers. And even though we’re all living longer and more active lives, the older we get, the more healthcare services we need. Thus a new strain on the healthcare system further increasing the demand for nurses. But now the new nurses coming out of schools is diminished (as previously stated) and thus the current shortage begins. Demand now exceeds supply. The Department of Labor names nursing the #1 career for job growth and opportunities in the foreseeable future. The media gloms on to this and it becomes highly publicized.
The 9/11 tragedy hits (2001) and Americans begin to shift their priorities. Many of those who had been on the fast track in business – sales, technology, banking, stock market, corporate work – get frustrated with the corporate greed and corruption and want to do something more meaningful with their lives and careers. They turn to nursing as a way to make a valuable contribution to humankind, to have a positive impact and to make a good living. Additionally, nursing is a career that is both intellectually stimulating and challenging and emotionally satisfying. People of both genders begin to flock to schools of nursing. The schools had downsized because of previously stated drops in numbers of enrollees. Now they are suddenly overwhelmed and must find more classroom space, qualified instructors, and clinical training space. No easy feat and a change that cannot happen over night. Thus, the waiting lists begin to form.
The Department of Labor and nursing and healthcare researchers continue to show that the need for nurses will only increase over the next decade and beyond and that the shortage will continue to grow. This attracts even more people to the profession.
One last note: Nursing is so much more than the average person realizes. Rather than our being medical automatons who follow orders and fill water pitchers and offer a kind word, nurses are skilled clinicians with an enormous body of specialized science, research and practice standards behind them. What nurses actually know and do may not always be apparent to the average healthcare consumer, but everyday nurses save lives, promote the health and wellness of the planet, counsel, coach, nurture, teach, and advocate fiercely for patients. Please read my article “I Save Lives. You?” for more on this http://www.dcardillo.com/articles/isavelives.html
And with healthcare on the forefront of our national agenda, nurses will take on an even larger and more significant role as we move forward. Our time has come – and it is high time it did.
Donna Wilk Cardillo, RN
35 years in nursing and loving every minute of it
www.dcardillo.com
www.nurse-power.com
Reply
Sunday 28 June
By Ellen Lehmann Miller R.N.
Bravo!!! You have made all fellow R.N.'s proud! For too many years, nurses have been considered the Doctors handmaiden's. I have spent many years working bedside in the ICU and ED. Much of that time, I was expected to follow all Doctor's orders...even if they came from an in-experienced, rude and egotistical resident. The truly smart physicians learned early on in their careers to listen and LEARN from the experienced Nurses caring for the very patients they see only for few minutes (as opposed to the many hours we spend caring for our patients)! A good nurse can make a big difference in the outcome of a patients condition. What we need is more qualified dedicated Nursing Teachers to educate and mentor students. Perhaps Mr. Obama could evaluate and subsequently provide financial assistance to all nursing professionals who wish to complete , and expand upon their education in order to instruct others in their efforts to enter our field!!!
Sunday 28 June
By Jay
As a male, nurse and the husband of a nurse, I appreciate the new feelings that people have toward nurses but I can't help but ask why in this article, it only mentions women and women rights/activist? Why is it that men cannot be portrayed as a nurse and why is there such taboo to think of a man being caring and compassionate towards other people?
Reply
Sunday 28 June
By indenturedtech
nurses are hot, there is nothing more stimulating than a competent, strong, educated woman, especially the cute white ones
Reply
Monday 29 June
By Gina
Both my hasband and I have been nurses for over 30 years. My brother is a nurse anesthetist. My husband's mom is a nurse. Things got so bad for nurses for a while -- major shortage, poor working conditions, long hours, low pay (for what we have to do and put up with), disrespect from management and physicians -- that when our daughter decided she wanted to be a nurse, we discouraged her BIG TIME! She got our attention and changed our tunes by asking " Mom, if you discourage everybody from going into nursing, who's gonna take care of you when you get old and sick?" Kids do say the darndest things, don't they? 'Nuff said.
Reply
Monday 29 June
By chief0104
There is a comment in the 1st article that states Feminism is responsible for the nursing shortage. That's just bull; 1000's of nursing students are turned away every yr. due to a LACK OF TEACHERS, due most likely to lousy pay, approx. 1/2 of what nurses that have pt. contact in any realm, make. So get your stuff right, dummy.
Reply
Monday 29 June
By Legsdiamond
I think the recent media interest in nursing dramas is showing that nurses are not one demensional characters. The stereotypical thought or portrayal of nurses has been the same for many years. We now have a few programs that step outside of the nursing box and show some different sides of nurses on duty and their private lives, and well, I guess that's interesting entertainment! I am a new nurse and am glad there are some new shows to watch. But, we real nurses have a much harder time watching, and keeping our opinions to ourselves because we see the inacurate goof ups these TV nurses do.
Reply
Monday 29 June
By GeoffP
Why are we suddenly so obsessed with nurses?
Answer: we're not.
The obsession, rather, is of the TV networks with nurses. Reason 4 above is a perfect example of how this works: "too many 'Law and Orders' " - yet another TV show produced by those who market it in titillating 10-second spots crammed into the schedule of the channel carrying it. Before that, it was lawyers. Before that, idiots on 'reality shows' languishing and whining on tropical islands. (And how can a show actually bill itself as "Survivor" when there are, in fact, no actual casualties in the entire run? Minus the idiot who fell in the fire.) The recent slew of programs about nurses is the same trend: one TV exec notes that a nurse program, or a lawyer program, or a cop program - and have we mentioned doctors here? Just a passing thought - is doing reasonably well on some other network and decides that if the other guy can, he can too. And so it goes. Then of course there's the whole rack of intellectually challenged "let's see just how immoral we can get and how many taboos we can touch on" items that not only smear feces over the "medium is the message" of television (and the medium is not the bloody message, for crying out loud, unless the message is pointless societal navel-gazing) but then roll in it and eat it like a demented YouTube video.
So this season it's nurses. Last season, polygamists and serial killers. Great. Whatever. But don't expect me to turn on your programming "just because", and don't attribute your own manias to me. Nurses, doctors and lawyers be damned.
Geoff
Reply
Monday 29 June
By Jennifer R.
As a nurse for the past 13 years, I would love to see a show that is what nursing is really about. I have never screamed out in the ER "YOUR NOT GOING TO DIE ON ME" like on Hawthorne although I have known many drug addicted nurses like on Nurse Jackie. I am sure that these shows will glamorize the profession just to have stunned new nurses saying oh my I did not know about the hours of paperwork, getting yelled at by family members for not being fast enough, cleaning up poop,urine and vomit, and the utter lack of respect from administration. Doctors have come a long way and generally respect smart nurses. So as my niece tries to get into nursing @ MU I say good luck, it changes constantly and atleast it pays well now.
Reply
Monday 29 June
By Barbara Roberts
I just graduated from nursing school at a ripe old age I might add. I spent 12 years as a writer/editor and 20 years as a teacher. I am hoping to enter another proud profession and concentrate on helping others. Of course now that I've just about achieved my personal Holy Grail I'm told that despite the need for nurses there's a hiring freeze due to the economy. Oh, well, what are you gonna do? Meanwhile, folks, don't believe everything you see on TV. Nursing isn't a glamorous profession where you look for a doctor to marry. It's hard work making sick people feel a little better and hopefully get well. That's what it's all about.
Reply
Tuesday 30 June
By Me
Nothing glamorous about cleaning body fluids...
Reply
Wednesday 01 July
By Felix Chesterfield
It's certainly a somewhat recession proof field right now. Sites like http://www.unitedanesthesia.com/ show evidence that every state is still looking for qualified CRNAs (and willing to pay for them too). Hardly something that every industry can claim right now.
Reply
Sunday 12 July
By marie angel
Nursing is not glamerous, but it is the best feeling ever when you can actually care for the patients. I love spending time just listening to them talk and sometimes I am too busy to do that. Cleaning body fluids is not glamerous and if that is all you do, then something is not right. Change your job or just get a different perspective on what you are doing.
Reply
Saturday 15 August
By Missy Keei
My mummy used to say to me (jokingly) that nursing is being a professional servant.
Reply
Wednesday 19 August
By Nancy Ruiz
The United States needs to begin formulating a long-term strategy to increase its pool of available nurses. Hospitals are trying to recruit and retain more nurses in order to prevent incidents which could compromise patients care/health and sometimes their lives.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services projects the current shortage of a few hundred thousand RNs could hit 750,000 by 2020 as aging Baby Boomers need more care and the nursing workforce gets older. More people are leaving the nursing field
while not enough are entering to counteract the loss. There is also a lack of nurse educators in both the classroom and in hospitals. Most baccalaureate and higher degree nursing programs across the country are experiencing a lack of well-prepared nurse educators. The faculty is aging and educational programs are in fierce competition with industry for nurses who hold advanced degrees. The nursing shortage is resulting in an increased risk of patient deaths because there are simply not enough nurses present to safely care for all the patients. Many complications or medical errors could be prevented
by an increased staff of nurses.
However; when recruiting nurses, hospitals and the US Department of Health must consider that it requires skills, knowledge, passion and commitment to become a competent nurse and the role is not easy to fill. There has never been a better time to become a nurse, which is due in large part to the nursing shortage. Men and women who enter this field will be joining the nursing work force. But, is there a real vocation and not necessarily because the pay is good? You can be a very caring person, but you still need a great deal of education and a true calling to be a good nurse. On the other hand, all
the education in the world will not make you a caring or nurturing person. A good nurse must be compassionate, conscientious, competent and interact positively with patients. He/she teaches, supports, listens, and, most importantly, show them they care. Nurses that are passionate about taking care of people are usually good nurses. They offer excellent care because they love taking care of people and are always willing to go over and beyond their call of duty. Nurses that are money driven are usually not efficient nurses
and most of the time they are not willing to go that extra mile when needed. Should the system become infiltrated by these types of nurses, there is a great danger of lowered standards of care and damaging the reputation of what a true image of the nursing profession is.
Our hospitals and Nursing Schools Nation wide must handle with care both the shortage and the recruitment of nurses. By doing this, we can assure patients receive the quality and compassionate care they are entitled to. Wouldn’t anyone prefer a compassionate professional in their time of illness at their bedside? A person not only with the knowledge and skills but a truly caring professional. Only time will tell during the next decades if we maintain our nursing code of ethics and keep in our hearts the nurses pledge inspired by our mentor Florence Nightingale; “I solemnly pledge myself before
God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.”
Reply