Nurses: ‘We’re not bimbos and we’re not handmaidens
Nurses: ‘We’re not bimbos and we’re not handmaidens
23.08.2006
BY ROS BROWN
SENIOR Wairarapa Hospital staff have added their experienced voices to the chorus of condemnation about the way popular television shows portray nurses as "bimbos".
Anita Bamford, a member of the United States-based Centre for Nursing Advocacy, and a former director of nursing at Capital and Coast District Health Board, said the nurses in the Monday night TV2 series Grey's Anatomy, were nothing more than a "pathetic foil to the god-like doctor heroes".
"It presents an inaccurate and damaging portrayal of nursing … mostly, the nursing characters are restricted to menial tasks.
"Wairarapa Hospital's clinical nurse educator Shirley McGirr, emergency department nurse Conrad McCaffrey and pre-admission clinic nurse Jan Struthers agree, saying the TV drama is "silly, stupid and absolutely nothing like the real thing".
They say while nurses have to have a keen sense of humour, "we've' come a long way from the bimbo/handmaiden stereotype".
"Programmes like Grey"s Anatomy and Shortland Street are made for drama and entertainment," Mr McCaffrey said. "They are about as true to life as Dr Who."
"It's often hard to explain what professional nursing is all about – people who've been patients, or who have a nurse in the family have a good idea. I don't think doctors these days think of nurses as stereotypes, either.
"We work as a team here – we often have areas of expertise that are different from the doctors, that they rely on."
Shirley McGirr agrees. "It's hard work to present nursing as the demanding, extending, exciting profession that it is when the public get fed a diet of drama portrayed as real life.
"All I can say is the real thing is much more intelligent and satisfying."
Jan Struthers, who is currently studying towards her masters degree in nursing is living proof of this.
"Not everyone can be a nurse – it's as much about brains as it is about hands on.
"Caring is still the bedrock of a good nurse – but there's nothing fluffy about the decisions we have to make on a daily basis.
None of them have watched the offending programme and Ms Struthers said she generally steers clear of any medical programmes on television, because they are "so unrealistic that they annoy and frustrate me – but I think my husband watches them".
Grey's Anatomy which had its season finale this week, revolves around the lives of a group of junior doctors at a fictitious Seattle hospital, and is up for 11 Emmy awards this year, including best drama.
The Centre for Nursing Advocacy, which ran campaigns against hit medical shows House and ER, monitors the depiction of nurses in the news and entertainment, and had kept an eye on Grey's Anatomy since it first aired in 2005.
But not every television show is bad, Ms Bamford said, citing the New Zealand-made drama Shortland Street, for its "realistic portrayal" of the profession.
FROM: http://www.times-age.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3697974&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=
23.08.2006
BY ROS BROWN
SENIOR Wairarapa Hospital staff have added their experienced voices to the chorus of condemnation about the way popular television shows portray nurses as "bimbos".
Anita Bamford, a member of the United States-based Centre for Nursing Advocacy, and a former director of nursing at Capital and Coast District Health Board, said the nurses in the Monday night TV2 series Grey's Anatomy, were nothing more than a "pathetic foil to the god-like doctor heroes".
"It presents an inaccurate and damaging portrayal of nursing … mostly, the nursing characters are restricted to menial tasks.
"Wairarapa Hospital's clinical nurse educator Shirley McGirr, emergency department nurse Conrad McCaffrey and pre-admission clinic nurse Jan Struthers agree, saying the TV drama is "silly, stupid and absolutely nothing like the real thing".
They say while nurses have to have a keen sense of humour, "we've' come a long way from the bimbo/handmaiden stereotype".
"Programmes like Grey"s Anatomy and Shortland Street are made for drama and entertainment," Mr McCaffrey said. "They are about as true to life as Dr Who."
"It's often hard to explain what professional nursing is all about – people who've been patients, or who have a nurse in the family have a good idea. I don't think doctors these days think of nurses as stereotypes, either.
"We work as a team here – we often have areas of expertise that are different from the doctors, that they rely on."
Shirley McGirr agrees. "It's hard work to present nursing as the demanding, extending, exciting profession that it is when the public get fed a diet of drama portrayed as real life.
"All I can say is the real thing is much more intelligent and satisfying."
Jan Struthers, who is currently studying towards her masters degree in nursing is living proof of this.
"Not everyone can be a nurse – it's as much about brains as it is about hands on.
"Caring is still the bedrock of a good nurse – but there's nothing fluffy about the decisions we have to make on a daily basis.
None of them have watched the offending programme and Ms Struthers said she generally steers clear of any medical programmes on television, because they are "so unrealistic that they annoy and frustrate me – but I think my husband watches them".
Grey's Anatomy which had its season finale this week, revolves around the lives of a group of junior doctors at a fictitious Seattle hospital, and is up for 11 Emmy awards this year, including best drama.
The Centre for Nursing Advocacy, which ran campaigns against hit medical shows House and ER, monitors the depiction of nurses in the news and entertainment, and had kept an eye on Grey's Anatomy since it first aired in 2005.
But not every television show is bad, Ms Bamford said, citing the New Zealand-made drama Shortland Street, for its "realistic portrayal" of the profession.
FROM: http://www.times-age.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3697974&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=
