Scrubbing In: The Image Of The Professional Nurse

Image. The media diverts the attention of the young adults who may be interested in nursing by focusing on the challenges that nurse’s face rather than the aspects of the career that are rewarding.

The media is known to have immense influences on the public perception from body images to what kind of car people should buy. And the nursing image is not immune to these influences. What Hollywood transmits to the public about nurse’s works much like an advertising industry. Television has represented nurses in varying degrees and not all of them are flattering. We have been portrayed as

The image of nursing is portrayed in several ways with all different types of media. One of the longest-running and most popular medical drama television shows, Grey’s Anatomy, appears to offer an accurate interpretation of the profession of nursing. However, the fictional show, created by Shonda Rimes, actually degrades nursing along unrealistic practices and representations. The show gives an impression to the viewers that doctors do it all, the physicians control nurses, and the word nurse is an insult. This portrayal is not accurate and is extremely damaging to the nursing community.

From Greys Anatomy’s, Dr.McDreamy stealing the spotlight in every surgery to Meet the Parents, Ben Stiller starring a male nurse, there are so many negative remarks coming from movies and TV shows. In “The Negative Images of Nursing portrayed on Greys Anatomy, House and ER and its Effects on Public Perception and the Contemporary Nursing Shortage” Jacquelyn Bishop expresses a claim using illustration, cause and effect, and process analysis, of how in many shows there is a display of an unfortunate view to Nurses, such as making awful remarks towards male nurses, giving the audience the belief that nurses are a background prop behind the heroic Physician, and lastly how medical procedures are fulfilled and dealt with. Bishop uses movies and

I believe that nursing is like a platform of servanthood. Nursing is “the diagnosis and treatment of human responses to health and illness and the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, facilitation of healing, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations” (American Nurses Association, 2018). Florence Nightingale defined nursing as an “art” and “differentiated nursing from medicine” (as cited in LeMone, 2011, p. 10). Jean Watson stated that nursing is individualized and it is the “process of nursing based on the assessment of the concepts in the patient model and individualization of nursing based on logical use of the process; assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating. As much as possible, the patient should be involved in each phase of the process” (as cited in McEwen & Wills, 2011, p. 167). I am a professional. It shows by my appearance in scrubs or uniform because my image is important to the patient. My clothing should be clean and my hairstyle intact. Along with practicing hand hygiene, my fingernails should be kept low and only a wristwatch placed upon my wrist. Cohen, Bartholomew, Swihart, and Tomajan (2014) noted research study findings in which nurses identified several actions that they felt shape patient perception of them, such as whether

It is a common fact that nurses are not given the respect they deserve for the high level of knowledge they demonstrate to patients (Hoeve, Jansen & Roodbol, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to show how the negative portrayals of nurses in the media can result in a distorted image from the public. The components of this paper talk about the negative image of the nurse due to the lack of consistency in the media that the public is viewing, as well as the shortened staff and the public’s poor judgement on the profession.

Media has an immense effect on societal views, and cultural norms. It is not surprising then, that media influences the public view of the nursing profession (McHugh, 2012). Negative portrayal of nursing in media is detrimental, these stereotypes undermine the profession which leads to less resources and a negative image of nursing among nursing students (Anonymous, 2010). For these reasons the image of nursing in media is something that needs to be explored, to understand how the nursing image in media affects both public and personal perception of the profession (Anonymous, 2010). Nurse Jackie is a controversial television show about an Emergency room nurse named Jackie (Hudis & Zisk, 2009). In this series Jackie is middle aged, married, mother of two, and while she is depicted as being loving with her family, she is having an affair with the pharmacist for her department. As a nurse Jackie is caring, and compassionate towards her patients, while also exhibiting unethical and inappropriate behaviours both within and outside of her working environment (Sorrell, 2009). Jackie is a complex character who exhibits both positive and negative nursing behaviours.

Professionalism is a very important key in the nursing profession. It is what paints a good image for a business or, in this case, an organization, people will most likely choose the professional organization over the unprofessional, because with the nurses that are professional they have great quality in customer service. Examples being, nurses that are professional aren’t rude or disruptive, they handle business in a kindly manner, following directions and policies etc. Unprofessionalism in nursing practice continues to hinder the expansion of the field. There are many things that nurses do that are highly unprofessional at the workplace. A few major unprofessional mistakes nurses tend to do is, bullying, breaking HIPPA, and behavior. To me, these are the biggest mistakes that really pop out at me.

When people think about nurses, many ideas come to mind. They think of the hideous old starched, white uniforms, a doctor’s handmaiden, the sexy or naughty nurse, or a torturer. The media and society have manipulated the identity and role of nurses. None of these ideas truly portray nurses and what they do. Nurses are with the patients more than the doctors. People do not realize how little they will encounter the doctor in the hospital until they are actually in the hospital. People quickly realize how important nurses are. Because nurses interact with their patients constantly, nurses are the ones who know the patients best.

Frequently, nurses are considered the foundation of the healthcare industry and the stakes are high when certain qualities must be possessed when working with patients and providing quality care. Nurses have a profound ability to apply strong skill-based knowledge with a caring and compassionate attitude that can improve patient outcomes. They also play an important role that can positively or negatively affect the way patients and family members view healthcare as a whole. Professional nursing practice is an art and science when both elements are integrated together to form a unique way of practice, but what does that really mean? The purpose of this paper is to define nursing as an art and science and explain how these two concepts come together to form an extraordinary way to perform professional nursing practice that contributes to the well-being of the patient.

Throughout time the world’s image on Nursing has evolved rapidly. Nurses work in an extremely stressful environment and must carry out their duties in a professional manner to ensure proper procedures are followed throughout their routines. They also have a considerable amount of responsibility that comes with their career. For those reasons nurses must present themselves in a professional and structured manner at all times. The Image of Nursing describes how people in and out of the profession see nurses. Nurses must protect and continuously improve their image by fully applying themselves to their profession every day. Nurses complete rigorous course studies to obtain the ability to manage themselves and lead others towards a common

The image of all professionals in the workplace is determined by how others perceive them. The uniforms that nurses wear is just one way people coming into the workplace judge these helpful professionals. Additionally the media contributes to the image of professionals. The media influences people’s impression of these hard working individuals in different ways, both positive and negative. Some shows that we watch and enjoy aren’t always the best. These shows gives out a wrong perception of these workers. Not all of these shows that we enjoy are terrible. From watching the news in the mornings we can hear the good of one individual. Having a good image of nurses is a very important thing in my mind because I want to pursue a job in this career

I agree with you that we can change the image the society have about nursing. Unfortunately, television series such as “ER” or “House” have contributed to form a wrong image of our profession in the general population. The media is constantly portraying physicians doing tasks that are part of the nursing job while the nurse acts as a “helper”.

Nursing is universal in the sense that nurses can be found almost in all countries around the world (Henderson, 1978). They are in the hospitals, in school clinics, in the community centres, residential homes and even play major roles in some of the popular soap operas in television. There are even television shows that mainly revolve around nurses and which chronicles what they do at work - both the positive and the negative. It is one of the most visible and easily identifiable occupations as compared for example to other occupations such as engineers, managers or even pharmacists, medical technologists and other health related occupations. This is partly because of what nurses do and most especially how nurses look - with some still

As nurses, we need to have confidence, good viewpoints, strong beliefs spiritual understandings and moral values in developing a powerful image. “I have always believed you are what you think you are.” (Coelho, n.d). If you’re honest, have self-confidence, reliable, sound principles, and respect; you can acquire the capability to be successful. (Posner, n.d.).