Editor’s Letter
I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far. Here in the northeast we have had a higher than usual amount of rain, but in recent weeks have been blessed finally with summer-like temperatures and sun. It's amazing how a little sunshine can pick your mood right up (especially when it follows weeks of rain!) Since last month's issue, we heard from Bernadette Bailey, RN who was very grateful to have been picked as our winner for her submission to our Nurses on the Go feature. She received a $50 check and wrote in to say "Wow what a blessing!! Thanks". If you would like to submit a story for our feature about your life as a nurse, please send your story which should be between 500 and 800 words, to info@nurse-recruiter.com and include the subject line Nurses On The Go story submission. We look forward to hearing from you!
Also, last month's issue included an article regarding how nurses are portrayed on television and detailed two new shows, specifically “Nurse Jackie” and “HawthoRNe”. Apparently this is a subject which sparked a lot of interest and we received many great comments in response to our article. If you recall, Nurse Jackie is portrayed as a pill popping, rule breaking firecracker and garnered so much initial criticism that the New York State Nurses Association had requested that a disclaimer be added to the show stating that Nurse Jackie is an aberration (the request was denied). Initially Showtime executives had screened "Nurse Jackie" for a group of emergency room nurses at New York's Roosevelt Hospital and they found that more than four in five said they enjoyed it and would recommend it to a friend. Still, there has been an outpouring of resentment from many nurses against the way the main character is portrayed.
Kathy Moran, RN wrote in to say "I agree..Nurse Jackie is awful. Never accountable, always involved in activities unbecoming to a woman much less a nurse, the character is so flawed it is nearly comical. NJ does nothing to address...the nursing shortage, concerns for the direction the future of nursing will take in the wake of health care reform or administrative and day to day challenges. The show Nurse Jackie is simply another fictional drama. designed to entertain but in no way imitates the reality of nursing. Perhaps NJ is the 'bad girl' who keeps getting away with the unthinkable because that's how some of us feel about constant bureaucratic regulation, micromanagement, sharp criticism, stress, corporate meddling, insurance greed and budget cuts..."
"Nurse Jackie" is quite a bit different from the other new show recently premiered on TNT, "HawthoRNe", which stars Jada Pinkett Smith as Nurse Christina Hawthorne. This character is portrayed as a selfless champion for her patients and her overworked, underappreciated nursing staff. She also goes against rules and regulations in favor of reaching her goals although perhaps not as voraciously as Nurse Jackie.
Elna Hughes R.N. wrote in with this response to how nurses are portrayed on television. "TV has NOT tarnished the nursing profession - not any more tarnished than it was 30 years ago and nurses did that to themselves." After graduating as an R.N. in 1966, Nurse Hughes said she heard how "easy" nurses were and that the nurses were "quite proud of their affairs - quite a few nurses wanted to marry a doctor and they went out of their way to get their man no matter what they had to do to get him." She goes on to say she has seen both the good and bad side of nursing and that she is "quite sure that TV writers use information that they trust to be honest - and that is a shame but it's reality. As a nurse myself I don't like nurses to be negatively portrayed on TV" and "a good nurse does not let a TV show bother her so tell those nurses who are worrying about their reputations being tarnished by a TV show to forget about TV - actions speak louder than words so if you are a good nurse it will show and people will love you..."
Should these two shows survive, they'll be joined by the CBS show, "Three Rivers" planned for this fall as well as a mid-season show on the same network, "Miami Trauma". This is in addition to the similarly titled NBC fall addition named "Trauma" plus, another NBC show scheduled for early 2010 called "Mercy". Only time will tell if the viewing public is ready to embrace such an influx of new shows centered around hospitals, medical staff and emergencies.
Kathy Myers had an interesting response to the Nurse Jackie/Nurse Hawthorne issue. She wrote to say "...why not look for some REAL nurses who can act?! I have done many acting roles in the past for high school and post high school and have been told that I am quite good. It's a thought. Besides, actresses today already have enough money and exposure." I think she may be onto something.
If you would like to share an amusing or heartfelt story or just give our readers some insight into your life as a nurse, we would like to here from you. Its always nice for those who may work in a completely different nursing capacity to hear from others what their job entails. Who knows, you may entice someone to finally make that job switch into a different area of nursing expertise because they read your story. All submittals should be between 500 and 800 words. To submit a story, send an email with the subject line Nurses On The Go story submission to info@nurse-recruiter.com.
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