#MeToo Archives — The Truth About Nursing

Ratched or Wretched?

Posted on January 25, 2018March 25, 2020 by MarySue Heilemann

Netflix Should Support Women, Not Damaging Stereotypes by MarySue Heilemann, RN, PhD, FAAN Dear Nurses and Allies, I’m writing because the Nurse Ratched show in development at Netflix has not been canceled….

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Hundreds of people suffocating to death
In October 2020 CNN reported on a widely-shared TikTok video in which nurse Cristina Hops expressed outrage at a tweet by Donald Trump urging people not to “be afraid of Covid.” Hops argued that the tweet undermined the efforts of health workers to get the public to take the deadly …Read More »
Raising Cain
The fourth season of the hospital drama, which aired in summer 2017, still included the competent emergency nurse Kenny. But as always, every other major character was a physician. And even more than in the past, the show portrayed nurses as mere assistants to the physicians, with limited skills and …Read More »
Nurses may be useful in triage, say non-nurses
A September 2018 piece in the Post says a new program in which nurses triage 911 calls has helped some patients get better access to care, although it has not yet greatly reduced needless ambulance trips. Sadly, despite plenty of commentary from D.C. emergency services personnel, the piece fails to …Read More »
PSYCHOTHERAPY
In October 2020 VICE reported that after a Korean health union complained, YG Entertainment agreed to remove several images in the video for BLACKPINK’s “Lovesick Girls” in which group member Jennie had appeared in a quasi-naughty nurse outfit. The images could have been worse, but as the union rightly noted, …Read More »
Is the truth out there?
Netflix’s School Nurse Files presents a nurse as quirky paranormal protector As part of Netflix’s apparent effort to present nurse characters who are as different from each other as possible, school nurse...Read More »
The old front line
The July 2020 issue honored those on the “new front line.” One cover featured a midwife. And inside, that nurse advocated for more NHS funding. But nurses are not the “new” front line—they have been saving lives for a long time! Yet the editor’s essay did not group them with …Read More »
Nurse beyond borders
Netflix romantic drama Virgin River features skilled advanced practice nurse The new series features APRN Melinda Monroe, who flees L.A. to join the solo practice of a senior physician in northern California....Read More »
“Why are they allowed to do it just because I am a nurse?”
Recent press items highlight the violence U.S. hospital nurses face today The Atlantic posted a piece in December 2016 on the growing threats from nurses’ patients, and the inadequate support from legislators...Read More »
“Save one life, you’re a hero. Save a hundred lives, well then you’re a nurse.”
Nursing will be back to prime time. The big news is Netflix’s release of Ratched, but the streaming giant will also offer more of the actually-pretty-good portrayal of nursing on romantic drama Virgin River. And it seems there will always be the BBC’s Call the Midwife, with its strong portrayals …Read More »
Paging Dr. Zenk
In July 2020 the National Institutes of Health announced that Shannon Zenk, RN, PhD, would assume the role of director of the National Institute of Nursing Research in fall 2020. Since August 2019, NINR has been without a nurse director, with that role being filled on an interim basis by …Read More »
The Action Figures
An engaging Vox video argues that men should overcome regressive gender notions and enter nursing, which it calls the “robot-proof” “job of the future.” But the video itself reinforces the gendered angel stereotype that nursing is all about “caring and empathy,” ignoring the advanced scientific skills and critical judgments that …Read More »
Working nurses to death
Jason Silverstein posted a strong report showing that the widespread understaffing of U.S. nurses costs lives and burns out nurses. Commendably, the piece relied solely on nursing scholars and nursing research to make its points. It might have also explained how nurses save lives and addressed potential solutions to the …Read More »
She’s here
Creator Ryan Murphy describes the new show, about the iconic battle-axe nurse from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, as “an imagining of how this monster was created.” We have long feared the series will reinforce the harmful stereotyping of the original, which linked female nursing authority with malevolence. Will …Read More »
“Looking for empathy in medicine? Start with nurses”
After a June 2020 piece in the Baltimore Sun marvels at medical students providing holistic care to Covid patients, a local nurse explains that this extraordinary care innovation has actually been at the core...Read More »
Hot
NY Post: Covid nurse suspended for wearing little beneath clear gown Post pieces reported that a Russian nurse had been suspended for wearing only her underwear, or maybe it was a swimsuit, under her...Read More »
Nurses: Into the Banksy-verse
U.K. street artist’s Covid-19 tribute presents nurse as superhero A new Banksy work hangs in a hospital in southern England. It pays tribute to NHS staff by showing a boy playing with...Read More »
“Patients die because nurses are too busy”
Press items report deadly nursing shortage on both sides of the Atlantic A study of European hospitals shows that missed care due to nurse understaffing has increased death rates, according to an...Read More »
A very determined nurse practitioner
The Resident features a skilled nurse advocate The Fox hospital drama’s first season highlighted some real problems in the U.S. health care system, including corruption and harmful errors. But the show also...Read More »
Saving us from ourselves
Washington Post report on nursing in Covid era offers unusually deep look at profession A long April 2020 piece in the Post had information from a diverse group of nurses. Of course,...Read More »
Physical taxation without representation
New York City settles benefits case about whether nursing is “physically taxing” The New York Daily News reported that the City had agreed to pay almost $21 million to settle claims that...Read More »
Nevertheless, they persisted
More strong nursing in season 6 of the BBC’s Call the Midwife The sixth season of the BBC’s Call the Midwife, from 2017, featured more portrayals of expert nurse midwives saving lives and improving...Read More »
Making the hospital look bad
April 2020 pieces highlight U.S. nurses advocating for safer practices despite efforts to silence them. Buzzfeed reported that a California hospital had suspended 10 nurses for refusing to care for Covid-19 patients without the N95 masks the physicians got. The nurses later got the masks. And the New York Times …Read More »
Truth denounces racism
The Code of Ethics calls nurses to action The Truth About Nursing denounces the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the many other persons of color who have died as a...Read More »
Young Americans
A May 2017 report addressed how “napping pods” can ease the effects of sleep deprivation on high school students. And an August 2017 piece described research finding that many postpartum nurses are ill-prepared to educate new mothers about risks to their health. Both reports show how nursing research can improve …Read More »
We are not heroes
An April 2020 CBS News piece reported that National Nurses United had held a protest in front of the White House about the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE). The union argues that the CDC has weakened its standards for PPE, that OSHA has likewise failed to act, and that …Read More »

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