Did you know that the reason for the nursing shortage is the media? That nurses quit their jobs and leave the profession because they find medically related movies and TV shows offensive and unbecoming to the nursing profession? That the average nurse says, “I am quitting this job because of that television program! It makes me look like a fool, and doesn’t show what a noble experience nursing is, and therefore, I QUIT!!”
Isn’t this the case? Isn’t that the reason for the nursing shortage? Can’t we blame it on Hollywood?
Sorry, but no, we can’t. And yet, this is just one of those “safe” areas to attack. By putting blame on the movie and television industry, once again, the real reasons for the woes of nursing are avoided. Never mind working conditions, pay (yes, in some places it is quite good but then there are areas of the country and nursing where new grads are making the same money as a supermarket checker), lack of respect, verbal and physical abuse, lack of security and safety on the job, and in general, being treated like a hospital service or piece of equipment. And to say nothing about outdated and out of touch nursing programs, and psychotic, egotistical and incompetent teachers who grace many of the schools of nursing.
But according to some of our experts, that has little or nothing to do with it. Hollywood is responsible for killing the nursing profession, and unless they clean up their act, as opposed to healthcare facilities cleaning up theirs, nursing will vanish as a profession.
An article by Suzanne Gordon, which appeared in the San Jose Mercury News is mind numbing in its simplicity, about how Hollywood is in large part, responsible for the nursing shortage. There is one sentence in the entire article, devoted to poor working conditions, but then is quickly brushed aside by the REAL CAUSE–Hollywood stereotypes of nurses!
The contemporary nursing shortage is influenced not only by poor hospital pay and working conditions. It’s also a result of traditional stereotypes of the profession. Which is where Hollywood comes in.
Is this woman playing with a full deck or what? The problem is not people wanting to go to nursing school. Despite these terrible depictions of nurses on the silver screen, we now have record numbers of people clamoring to get into nursing programs. The problem lies in the fact that people are dropping out of both nursing school and the profession. And sorry Suzanne, but Hollywood does not influence that. Students who have entered nursing, perhaps lured by the flurry of glossy advertising (Hollywoodish, to say the least), are fleeing nursing programs once they get a taste of the reality. And it is poor working conditions that are driving nurses away from hospitals and from the professions completely. Not Hollywood stereotypes.
Suzanne Gordon, who is not a nurse, has become a self-appointed zealot for nurses. And while it is good for nurses to get positive exposure, what I find disturbing about Gordon is her attitude about nurses. In her writings, she seems to blame all of the problems concerning nursing on external forces, and that the cure for all of nursing’s woes has to come from outside the profession. Nurses, according to Gordon, are helpless little victims, at the mercy of the big bad healthcare system. And the nursing profession will only be saved if Prince Charming comes and bails them out.
Gordon never writes about the problems within nursing, ie, lack of leadership, apathy, gender issues, lack of organization and unions, and so on. She never writes about why working conditions remain so poor, considering that nurses are now in the driver’s seat, and should be commanding and demanding, not whimpering and whining, or telling their co-workers to “put up and shut up.” I find Gordon’s writings more harmful than helpful. If she thinks Hollywood has a problem, she should take a look at her own stereotypes–that nurses are as helpless and clueless as kindergarten children, and can do nothing in and of themselves to alter the conditions in healthcare.
In this particular article, Gordon was blasting the show Grey’s Anatomy. I’ve never watched it, and never plan to, so I can’t comment. I will say that of the hospital themed TV shows that I have watched over the past few decades, they have been mostly stupid and inaccurate, in how they portray not only nurses but physicians as well. The same goes for several of the movies.
But has the stupidity of these shows influenced the nursing profession? Maybe a little bit, but not to any great extent. I don’t think that it has been the “cause” of women deciding not to be nurses. There were a multitude of reasons why women began to flee from nursing in the 1960s, and men stayed away from it. Here’s a hint–secretaries made more money than nurses in the 1960s, for jobs that were generally less stressful, had better working hours, and where they got more respect. Those reasons have largely remained the same.
Yet how many of the millions of viewers watching the show understand the link between this — and other Hollywood doctor shows and movies — and one of the worst nursing shortages the country has ever experienced?
Please tell us about this link, Suzanne. I’m curious to know how Grey’s Anatomy is convincing nurses to quit the profession. Or is influencing students currently in nursing programs to switch their major. Please do tell us, Suzanne, how Grey’s Anatomy has any influence on a nurse who’s just been ordered to work mandatory overtime, has 10 patients to care for, and has just been told there’s a freeze on raises. Oh, and that her benefits are being adjusted, and who has just been disciplined for reporting an infraction that endangered a patient.
America’s 2 million nurses rarely, if ever, make it into the picture in a way that does justice to the life-saving role they play in real-life hospitals. To make matters worse, when RN characters do appear, they are routinely portrayed as mere handmaidens of physicians — and often ones lacking in self-confidence, competence or professionalism.
I won’t argue with Gordon that hospital shows are not the epitome of accuracy. However, let’s take a look at another profession–lawyers. How often are lawyers depicted as scummy, sleazy, greedy, dishonest hustlers, who specialize in backroom deals? Compare that to the number of movies and TV shows that show lawyers as brave, honest, compassionate and trustworthy. I would say that lawyers are probably the most maligned profession, as far as the media goes. And yet, there is no shortage of people trying to get into law school.
Let’s see, another profession. Accountants. How often are accountants depicted as mousy, dull, ugly, shabbily dressed little nebishes? Has there ever been an accountant on the silver screen who didn’t wear glasses? Has there ever been an accountant depicted as a good looking macho-ish guy, who is well dressed? Or a stylish woman who doesn’t have the personality of a dead fish?
And yet, there is no shortage of people entering the accounting profession.
Does any of this matter? Do people really believe what they see on TV doctor shows, or at the cineplex? Unfortunately, it does and they do. As a 2002 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation documented, when it comes to health care, a lot of TV viewers tend to confuse fact and fiction.
As long as Hollywood continues to perpetuate these anti-nurse images, it will be hard to recruit enough RNs to care for the growing number of Americans whose lives depends on quality nursing care. Indeed, with role models like those on TV and in film, it’s a miracle anyone wants to become a nurse.
Now I really love when writers through in statistics, and try to adjust them to prove a point. I totally believe that the Kaiser Foundation study found that the public does confuse fiction with reality. Some people think that the movies they’re watching are documentaries. I’m sure that based on what they see in movies, a lot of people think that working nights in a hospital means screwing in the on-call room.
But what Gordon has cleverly omitted is any real connection to the study and nurses. Did the Kaiser Foundation study find that the media has discouraged teenagers from considering nursing as a career? Has the media’s portrayal of nurses been a major factor when planning career goals? Well, I don’t know. If they actually did, I’m sure that Suzanne would have mentioned it.
And her closing paragraph is about as idiotic as it gets. As long as the healthcare industry continues to treat nurses like yesterday’s trash, and as long as nurses remain disorganized and refuse to stand up for themselves and their profession, and demand improvments, it will be difficult to keep RNs on the job. And to keep future RNs in school.
Reading articles like this just makes you want to sit down and cry.
