The Center for Nursing Advocacy

Nurses and the profession of nursing are particularly subject to poor portrayal in the media. The unfavorable stereotypes range from the hypersexual servant of patients and physicians to the handmaiden, to the malevolent, with extremely rare recognition of intelligent, educated professionalism.

Since 2001, the Center for Nursing Advocacy has worked to improve the portrayal of nursing in the media. The organization, located in Baltimore, was founded by a group of Johns Hopkins graduate students who felt that the nursing shortage might be, in part, alleviated by a more realistic portrayal of the nursing profession on television and in the movies. They work by reviewing portrayals of the nursing profession in the movies and on television and, through letters, telephone calls, and when possible personal discussions, advising the producers of these programs how they can improve their products. They also give the annual Golden Lamp awards for the best and worst portrayal of nurses in the media.

One of the 2005 Best awards went to Suzanne Gordon, journalist and nursing advocate for her book: Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost-Cutting, Media Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nursing and Patient Care. One of the "worst" awards went to the ABC series Grey's Anatomy with the note "this huge prime time hit has perhaps shown more express contempt for nursing than any other show in U.S. television history." Another award for most improved media portrayal went to the United States Department of Health and Human Services for agreeing to change HHS's annual "Take a Loved One to the Doctor Day campaign" to "Take a Loved One for a Checkup Day campaign" to reflect the fact that for many people, advanced practice nurses are the main providers of primary care.

But the Center goes beyond the "that's not funny" approach. They don't demand that every nurse be given a favorable portrayal – they just want a realistic one. Their ratings of movies, for example, are divided into two sections, a nursing rating, for the portrayal of nurses, and an artistic rating for the quality of the work itself. For example, the classic 1975 movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, for which Louise Fletcher won an Oscar for her portrayal of Nurse Mildred Ratched, got a nursing rating of only one-half star (very poor), but an artistic rating of four stars (excellent). The movie won four other Oscars, including best actor in a leading roll for Jack Nicholson, and best picture.

Similarly, the 2004 Oscar winner, Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby rated only one star for nursing, but three-and-a-half stars for artistic merit. Alternately, some movies, such as the 2005 production 14 Hours got a high nursing rating, but only a middling review for its artistic quality.

How does the Center's executive director, Sandy Summers, MSN, MPH, RN, see its role? "Media depictions of health workers are largely inaccurate. And so career-seekers should consider this when deciding which health field to enter. There is plenty of room in nursing for the best and the brightest to work on the cutting edge of healthcare research, clinical practice, and education – at the doctoral level. Nursing is a profession second to none. Just because the media hasn't figured that out yet doesn't mean it's not true. Nurses save lives and improve health outcomes every day with innovative nursing interventions – designed and implemented autonomously by nurses. Nursing is much more vital than society has been led to believe that it is. Come join us."

Discuss This Article

Have something you'd like to say? Tell us what you think! Read and post comments for this article.

Find a Job

Choose your career:

MedHunters is the world's biggest healthcare job board. Our job directory has 16,633 jobs with 2,439 hospitals and other direct employers.

We want you to find your next job on MedHunters. Need Help? Call us at 1-888-884-8242, email us at info@medhunters.com or sign up now.