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The Show: Glee

Like any other classic tale of geeks banding together in the face of adversity, the outcast characters of Fox’s Glee made drama and singing cool again. An aspiring Broadway starlet, the captain of the football team, the head cheerleader, and the lowest of social misfits on the school hierarchy made up McKinley High School’s Glee club and survived numerous attempts of sabotage. Despite the spying, cheating, betrayal, and even more drama, the Glee club went on to win sectionals. Go team!

The Lesson:

Your life at the hospital can sometimes feel like you never left high school. The cliques, the posturing, the in-crowd – it’s enough to make you call in sick everyday!

Maybe a rendition of the feel-good “Don’t Stop Believin’” by the Glee club is just what you need. Often times, in your nursing career, you’ll feel like the minority – unheard, unseen, uncared for. It’s okay. Don’t let it get you down and prevent you from getting what you want. Look for opportunities to be innovative and set yourself apart from the crowd, by taking care of patients with dedication and helping out fellow nurses any way you can. Most importantly, don’t let haters get you down. There will always be competition trying to get that promotion, or naysayers who want to psych you out. Believe in yourself, and stay strong.

Be a Visionary –>

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Image: Warner Bros.

Daytime talk show host and funnywoman Ellen DeGeneres recently donned a nurses’ cap and white shoes to play a nurse in the Broadway musical Promises, Promises.

DeGeneres, a former American Idol judge and passionate music lover, made a cameo appearance in the Tony-nominated show on Tuesday, September 7th. She appeared in a scene with Broadway dynamo Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes. Chenoweth expressed admiration for DeGeneres’ work.

Want to see a clip of DeGeneres in action? According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Ellen DeGeneres Show will run a clip of her performance on Tuesday September 21.

Can you name any other famous nurse performances? Who’s your favorite actor or actress to don a nurses’ uniform?

Image: PRPhotos.com

Falco previously won three Emmys for her work as Carmela Soprano on The Sopranos. Sunday night’s win marks the first time she’s been recognized for her comedic work, a recognition that she herself finds hilarious. On stage, she quipped, “This is just the most ridiculous thing that has ever happened in the history of this awards show. I’m not funny.”

Falco’s humor was not enough to earn the show a Best Comedy Series Emmy. Nurse Jackie, which was nominated for 8 Emmy awards, lost that honor to Modern Family.

So, what do you think? Is Nurse Jackie a comedy? And is Edie Falco “funny?”

The Truth About Nursing, an advocacy group, made waves recently when it waged campaign against Mariah Carey’s “sexy nurse” video.

Now Laura Stokowski, RN, MS, an editor at Medscape and a staff nurse at Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children, is attracting attention with A Letter to Hollywood: Nurses Are Not Handmaidens (download the PDF here).

Nurses, Ms. Stokowski says, are tired of being depicted as “brainless bimbos.”  Contrary to media depictions, nurses are not physician subordinates who couldn’t hack medical school.   And while many people argue that nursing image has little effect on public opinion — after all, nursing is still the most trusted profession in the United States- the research suggests that the constant barrage of inaccurate and negative images causes many young people to automatically reject nursing as a career.

Her top 10 portrayals?

1. Nurse Jackie
2. Mercy
3. Critical Care: The Making of an ICU Nurse
4. The Rookies
5. Angels in America
6. Media by Diana Mason
7. HawthoRNe
8. Media by Theresa Brown
9. Media by Suzanne Gordon
10. California and Massachusetts Nursing Associations

Her opinion on the 10 WORST portrayals?

1. Grey’s Anatomy
2. House
3. Private Practice
4. The Naughty Nurse
5. The Today Show
6. ER (2000-2005)
7. Passions
8. Hopkins 24/7 & Hopkins
9. Media by the American Medical Association
10. The robot nurse

You can see her reasoning why by downloading the article here.

Still think it’s not an issue?  Google “nurse image.”  At the top of the page, you’ll see three cutesy cartoons — including one of Smurfette .

Image: Showtime

In its debut season Nurse Jackie ruffled many a feathers in the nursing community with the title character’s pill popping, adulterous antics. So what’s the latest controversy? There might just be a real Nurse Jackie! Or at least we’re convinced there is!

Whether you think Nurse Jackie should have her license revoked or you’ve been doing a little dance around your TiVo, you’ll agree that this bitingly witty and sarcastic list from Showtime’s Nurse Jackie message boards could have been written by Nurse Jackie herself! Enjoy (if you dare!).

YOU might be a nurse if ………

1. The front of your scrubs reads ‘Nurses… here to save your ass, not kiss it!’
2. You occasionally park in the space with the “physicians only” sign… and knock it over.
3. You believe some patients are alive only because it’s illegal to kill them.
4. You recognize that you can’t cure stupid.
5. You own at least three pens with the names of prescription medications on them.
6. You believe there’s a special place in hell for the inventor of the call light.
7. You believe that saying ‘it can’t get any worse’ causes it to get worse just to show you it can.
8. You wash your hands BEFORE you go to the bathroom.
9. You believe that any job where you can drive to work in your pajamas is a cool one.
10. You consider a tongue depressor an eating utensil.
11. Eating microwave popcorn out of a clean bedpan is perfectly natural.
12. You’ve been exposed to so many x-rays that you consider it a form of birth control.
13. You’ve ever heard a patient with a nose ring, a brow ring, and twelve earrings say “I’m afraid of shots.”
14. You’ve ever placed a bet on someone’s blood alcohol level.
15. You’ve told a confused patient that your name is that of a coworker and to call if they need help.
16. Your bladder can expand to the size of a Winnebago’s water tank.
17. You have seen more penises than any prostitute could dream of.
18. You believe that not all patients are annoying… some are unconscious.
19. Your family and friends refuse to watch medical sitcoms with you because you spend the whole time correcting everyone and pointing out upside down x-rays.
20. You don’t get excited about blood, unless it’s your own.
21. You’ve sworn to have “do not resuscitate” tattooed on your chest. Soon.
22. Discussing dismemberment over a gourmet meal is perfectly normal to you.
23. Your idea of fine dining is anywhere you can sit down to eat.
24. Your idea of a good time is a cardiac arrest at shift change.
25. You believe in the aerial spraying of Prozac.
26. You believe that ‘shallow gene pool’ should be a recognized diagnosis.
27. You believe that the government should require permits to reproduce.
28. You believe that unspeakable evils will befall anyone who utters the phrase “Wow, it’s really quiet, isn’t it?”
29. You have ever wanted to write a book entitled “Suicide: getting it right the first time.”
30. You have ever had a patient look you straight in the eye and say “I have no idea how that got stuck in there.”
31. You’ve had to leave a patient’s room before you begin to laugh uncontrollably.

Interesting…but surely not exhaustive! There must be more! C’mon fellow nurses, do you have any to add?

Posted by caliokieboi in Showtime’s Nurse Jackie message boards.

Previews exhibit some familiar TV hospital plot points (affairs with doctors, sassy gay nurses and bumbling first years), yet the show swears it will provide a more empowering view of the nursing profession than we’ve seen on television before.

While we’re all for supporting nurse-driven drama, is this just NBC’s way of cashing in on the nurse trend? We want to be hopeful, but we’re not the only ones who are worried….

“Well, it seems like 2009 is the year for nurse-centric television. Coming this fall to NBC is Mercy, another drama surrounding the lives of modern-day nurses, with the lead nurse character being outspoken and taking part in unorthodox activities while on the clock. Oh no, say it ain’t so! Nurses taking part in questionable activities? How original…” —Travelnursingblogs.com

The show follows Nurse Veronica Callahan (newcomer Taylor Schilling), who has just returned to Mercy Hospital from a military tour in Iraq. Together with sidekicks Sonia Jimenez (Jamie Lee Kirchner, Rescue Me) and Chloe Payne (Michelle Trachtenberg, Gossip Girl), the three nurses navigate “the daily traumas and social landmines of life and love, both inside the hospital and out in the real world.”

Like its predecessor Nurse Jackie, Mercy seems to agree that nurses don’t always have to be likable characters. Previews show that Nurse Callahan has had a steamy affair in Iraq with Dr. Chris Sands (James Tupper, Men in Trees), only to find out that he is the new doctor at Mercy. When they are reunited at the hospital, it’s just as hot and heavy, despite the fact that she’s still married to her husband. Callahan also isn’t afraid to speak her mind, often delivering terse statements to doctors like “I know more than all your residents combined” and “I need for you to be a better doctor,” and to patients, “I’m protecting you from getting killed by the doctors.” Surely these lines are attention-grabbing, but with all the heat associated with healthcare at the moment, is NBC just pandering? Nurses have taken to the Internet to show their concern:

FORUMS

NBC:

“This show, in the few little clips they have shown on TV, is completely ridiculous. No nurse would tell a patient that “We try to save you from the doctors” or sit at a patient’s bedside and unload all of his or her personal problems…. I understand that the writers are trying to build up the drama, but believe me, the real world of nursing has plenty of drama (although, contrary to what you see on TV, very little sex!). I will probably tune in for the first episode, but I don’t have a lot of hope for this show.” —FazoolRN

“I am currently an RN/BSN ER/Floor nurse. I am also a clinical instructor for a private four-year college. My husband is also an RN and works in an ICU. Needless to say, I was not at all impressed with the commercials regarding Mercy. This is not reality when it comes to nursing. I feel it was very unrealistic and degrading. I love NBC; however, if this station really wants to know what a day in the life of a nurse is, I challenge them to ask a real nurse.” —IowaNurse_BSN

“I saw all the previews and am horribly turned off by all the doctor-bashing that’s going on by the nurses…. Where is this hospital where the doctors are so horrible? I’m sure they exist, but usually hospitals with horrible doctors have horrible nurses, too…. This is so cheesy and over the top, and I certainly will go out of my way not to watch it.” —colagrl

“I am a straight, 32-year-old Jewish male, college-educated Registered Nurse…. If NBC thinks it can make this show and stick to preconceived notions and utterly absurd situations, people are going to smell it out for what it really is: bunk. Nursing itself has been brutally misrepresented in the media for so long as a profession of sexy ladies/sweet guardian angels/evil control freaks and loserish, perverted men. The premise of Mercy rocks and is a welcome change. Just follow through!” —justin1000

Allnurses-central.com:

“I was excited when I first heard about this show! But then I saw a few previews… When she does an emergency trach… ick… kind of ruins it for me. I don’t really know any nurse who would do that, and then she was just so nonchalant about it. Yes, she “learned” it in Iraq, but… I don’t think that’s in her scope of practice here in the U.S. I have friends who have been to Iraq and they rolled their eyes at that, too. And then, when she’s yelling at the doctor… It just annoyed me. And the “new nurse” with the morphine? Really?” —lovepink

“Another TV show to set back the nursing career. It was about a minute before they started the standard ‘necking in the storeroom.’ Thanks, television.” —dannyc12

TWITTER

weirdnursingtales: “I get a sense of witty dialogue, but as with every medical drama, there is more drama than there is medical.”

Jerkub: “NBC’s Mercy is trying so hard to be Nurse Jackie, I could barely make it through the promo.”

EireannRae: “Not quite sure how I feel about NBC’s new show Mercy…I’ll be interested in seeing how they portray this nurse.”

Hbknprincess: “I am boycotting the show Mercy… there is nothing funny about nurses ignoring sick people… why is this their sales pitch?”

Tvtimepodcast: “NBC’s Mercy promo: nurse to dr: I JUST WANT U TO B BETTER! hhmmmm, what ppl will be saying AFTER watching Mercy?”

While we’re sure that nurse controversy will bring initial viewership, we think the only way Mercy will make it past the first season is if it takes the plunge and dares to show hospital drama without all the usual gimmicks. Maybe it will. Our fingers are crossed…but will you be watching?

Mercy debuts this Wednesday, September 23, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Leave a comment here or write to us at hello@scrubsmag.com.

Melinda Dobbs, R.N. and Manager of Radiology
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
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Shannon Luetkemeyer RN, BSN
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Kidney Transplant Department
Altanta, Georgia
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