My Nursing Rant: Nurses On TV--HawthoRNe and Nurse Jackie Show Nurses In Negative Light?

Before I put on my offended nurse cap, I'm going to warn you that I'm irritated. Very irritated. Seriously, what is up with Hollywood and their portrayal of nurses?

I'm not a moral high road kind of person, but I really am aggravated when a supposedly great new medical show comes on and it makes nurses look like idiots, tramps and morally bankrupt drug addicts. I know that Hollywood takes dramatic license and it's about the characters, not their professions, but enough is enough.

Most nurses work very hard and did not go to nursing school so they could have sex with doctors in broom closets, nor did they go to school to become Mrs. Doctor SoAndSo. The vast majority are not drug addicts, they don't take off their wedding rings before they arrive at work and they actually know how to their jobs efficiently, with kindness and empathy. Real nurses don't watch someone choke and argue over who has to help, they are on their feet and moving to help before they even realize what they are doing consciously.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, REAL nurses don't provide manual sexual relief for their patients, as the nurse on Hawthorne does. That one even made my Mom, also a nurse, not a little nauseated and pretty angry.

Surely there is enough drama in the real work of nurses, the daily tragedies they see, the big saves where the patient goes home healthy, the long hours and stress of the job, the troubled and hurting families, the unexpected deaths, etc to make interesting television. Does a nurse have to be promiscuous, or an addict or just plain mean to be interesting? Does anyone really think that providing nursing care is sexy in any way?

Ok, I'm a little better now. Not all better, I'm also irritated by the super short skirt faux leather nurses outfits they sell each year for Halloween, but that's a different rant entirely.

What do you think? Am I just an overly sensitive nurse or is it bad for real nurses when all the nurses on television are a bad example?

Join the discussion in the Surgery Forum and tell me what you think.