News on Nursing in the Media

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Nurse Practitioners urge drug companies to end media bias

April 9, 2008 -- Today the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners launched a campaign to convince pharmaceutical and other companies to use "provider-neutral language in all direct-to-consumer ads." Advertisers have long created ads that urge patients to "consult your doctor." There are over a quarter million advanced practice nurses (APRNs) in the US alone, yet advertisers and the media as a whole continue to ignore APRN contributions to health care, including their prescribing authority. And of course, the news media commonly refers solely to "doctors" even in discussing practice areas in which APRNs play a major role. Because of such long-standing media bias, few people are aware that a large body of research shows that care provided by advanced practice nurses is equal to or better than that provided by physicians. When the media continues to ignore APRN contributions and act as if only physicians and their care matters, patients may resist care from APRNs and fail to respond to APRN health teaching. It also makes it more difficult for APRNs to gain a fair scope of practice and equal reimbursement for their work. We must break this cycle of ignorance. more... and please sign the petition!

New Center Nursing Pioneer Biography

Florence Wald: Hospice Pioneer

Guest author Cynthia Adams, RN, MSN, EdD, drew on her dissertation on Florence Wald to create another of the Center's biographies on nursing pioneers.

FLORENCE WALD RN, MSN, FAAN, is internationally recognized as a pioneer in improving the care of dying patients in the United States. After World War II, the care of the dying moved from being home-based into the hospital. The increasing number of hospital beds coupled with a more mobile society and women working out of the home led to a shift in the manner of caring for patients at the end-of-life. This transition to institution-based care left the patient in the care of non-family members. But Florence Wald worked with colleagues in New Haven to design a hospice where the patient and family were at the center of care. more...

Please help us by writing a biography on your favorite nursing pioneer. Learn more...

New free database to find master's nursing programs

April 30, 2008 -- After a friend struggled to find a nursing master's degree program, a husband and wife couple put together a resource called MastersinNursing.com. The creators say that the site is comprehensive and consistently updated "with information garnered from Nursing Professors and Schools in the United States." We applaud these two non-nurses for volunteering to create a valuable resource for the nursing profession in a time of great need. Thank you Amanda and John! See the website at mastersinnursing.com.

Board Member Applications

The Center is seeking a few new board members to serve three-year terms. We seek diversity on our board. Nurses and non-nurses of every ethnicity, gender and nation are invited to apply. Applications due by May 25, 2008. see more...

Take Action!
"Wear the miniskirts and just save some lives!"

April 1, 2008 -- Recent reports say a clinic in Spain has told its nurses they will be docked pay if they fail to dress in miniskirts. These reports seem to be partly wrong, as the Clinica San Rafael in Cadiz appears only to be requiring the nurses to wear traditional nursing outfits, with a modest-length skirt and cap. But this would still force female nurses into a regressive outfit that suggests they are not modern professionals. See more on our campaign here. Meanwhile, Greg Gutfeld, the host of Fox News Channel's Redeye, discussed the misreported "miniskirt" policy on his 3:00 a.m. show today. Gutfeld's exchange with his cohorts amounted to a loving, if ironic, celebration of the damaging "naughty nurse" stereotype. more...and please join our letter-writing campaign!

Take Action!
Wear skirts, caps and aprons...or lose 30 Euros

March 28, 2008 -- Recent reports say a clinic in Cadiz, Spain has told its nurses they will be docked pay if they fail to dress in "miniskirts." These reports seem to be partly inaccurate, as the Clinica San Rafael appears only to be requiring the nurses to wear traditional nursing outfits, with a modest-length skirt and cap. Still, this policy would force female nurses into a regressive outfit that suggests they are not modern professionals. We urge supporters to ask the clinic to reconsider its policy. And we thank our Spanish counterparts, the Association for the Recognition of Nurses in Society (ARES), which has investigated the issue for us. read more... or go straight to our letter-writing campaign!

Expert and novice

March 10, 2008 -- One cover story in this week's issue of TIME was John Cloud's "The Science of Experience." Its basic idea is that we should not conclude John McCain or Hillary Clinton would be better presidents than Barack Obama simply on the basis of their longer experience, because research indicates that even far greater experience does not necessarily lead to better results. The piece uses examples from different fields, but by far the most prominent is its account of simulations in which both a new nurse and a veteran nurse failed to save a crashing "patient." Some have faulted the piece for this seemingly negative view of nurses. And it might have been helpful for the report to note whether any nurses would be capable of saving the patient. But the piece's physician example is also impliedly negative, suggesting experienced attendings are "no more accurate" than interns at predicting end-of-life preferences, even when they've known the elderly patients in question far longer. The piece seems to confuse true novices with less experienced experts, and it arguably suggests that experts are no better than novices in such fields generally, which is plainly wrong. However, the piece clearly conveys that experienced nurses are experts, that nursing is a field in which humans can reach high levels of skill. It places nursing alongside medicine, chess, and Nobel-worthy endeavors. Even the description of the simulation the two nurses failed shows how complex, exciting, and consequential nursing is--lives are at stake. more...

Let's "celebrate the ladies who give lollipops and band aids" with a Nurse Nancy bracelet!

March 18, 2008 -- Earlier this month, New York State Nurses Association CEO Tina Gerardi alerted us to an Angela Moore jewelry catalog she received in the mail that featured "Nurse Nancy" bracelets and necklaces. The jewelry is composed of four different types of balls. One ball features a smiling rosy-cheeked nurse in white uniform and cap giving a balloon to a girl (right). A second ball has a ladybug next to a stethoscope. The third ball features a nurse's cap with a thermometer and the fourth ball has a stuffed bear holding flowers next to a lollipop. The text in the catalog asked readers to buy the "Nurse Nancy" jewelry to "celebrate the ladies who give lollipops and band aids a whole new meaning." Ms. Gerardi, an Angela Moore customer, asked the jewelry maker to modify the name, design, and catalog description of the jewelry. The company agreed only to change the description--but they did so right away. more...

Exposing their hands and faces

February 24, 2008 -- Today The Jerusalem Post ran a brief item reporting that the Egyptian government plans to bar nurses from wearing veils on duty, a plan that has drawn opposition from Muslim religious groups. The piece notes that an Egyptian Health Ministry study found that "the vast majority" of patients preferred that nurses not wear the veils. The Ministry reportedly believes the veils interfere with nurse-patient communication. The piece does not mention the potential for infection as nurses with large veils provide care to multiple patients. The item is based on a report in the London-based Asharq Alawsa. We commend the Post for this look at the possible tensions among religious tradition, political interests, and nursing practice. more...

Let's Pretend We're Nurses

March 14, 2008 -- Recent U.K. press articles have highlighted the "naughty nurse" video for pop singer Kavana's comeback single "Automatic." The video stars actress Suranne Jones (from the U.K. soap "Coronation Street") as a half-dressed "nurse" who flirts with Kavana while tying him to a chair with tape. Kavana told one writer that the video was inspired by the film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." The video isn't likely to match the cultural impression that film made, but it still reinforces a damaging stereotype of nurses--as do January press pieces gleefully promoting it in The Daily Star and The Manchester Evening News. more...and please send Kavana a letter...

"We're Bringing Nursing Back"

February 29, 2008 -- In late 2006, some nursing students at Binghamton University's Decker School of Nursing posted this 5-minute video on YouTube. As of early 2008, the video had been viewed more than 180,000 times. The video features the nursing students dancing and extolling the virtues of the profession in an adapted version of Justin Timberlake's recent electrofunk hit "SexyBack." The students don't make as many missteps as they might have in adapting a song about dirty sex in order to promote nursing. The video sends some helpful basic messages about key nursing roles, and the students emphasize diversity (though all are female). Unfortunately, too much of what the video conveys is problematic or inadequate. It includes a few echoes of the naughty nurse stereotype, and it fails to get across that nurses use advanced skills to save lives, instead suggesting that nursing history and theory are boring. We do give the students credit for attracting so much attention to this audacious, innovative effort to reach young career-seekers--like JT and his producer Timbaland, they get an "A" for energy and ambition, if not the final result. more...

Q: Should we create a Museum of Modern Nursing to show the world how vital, exciting, and technologically advanced nursing really is?

A: Why, yes, what a great idea!

We should establish an International Museum of Modern Nursing where people from all over the world can come to learn about what nurses today do to save lives and improve outcomes. Public understanding of nursing is abysmally poor. This is a major factor underlying many of the more immediate causes of the deadly global nursing shortage. By increasing understanding of the profession, nursing can attract the new members and resources it needs to meet the health care challenges of the 21st century. A landmark, high-tech science museum devoted to nursing could be a powerful tool in these efforts. more...

Victoria nurses' labor action

By guest authors Suzanne Gordon, John Buchanan and Tanya Bretherton

February 12, 2008 -- As the month of October 2007 came to a close, nurses in the state of Victoria in Australia scored a major victory not only for nurses and patients in Victoria, but all across the globe. On October 24, after a bruising months' long battle with the state Labour Party government, the Victorian nurses managed not only to maintain the most impressive experiment in safe nurse-to-patient ratios in the world but also to win pay raises and improvements in nurse staffing in their public health care system. more...

The Aging Nurse Project

August 15, 2007 -- Today The Boston Herald ran a generally good piece by Paul Restuccia about issues presented by the aging Massachusetts nursing workforce. "Nursing comes of age: Project helps older practitioners" focuses on efforts like the Aging Nurse Project at Massachusetts General Hospital. That project looks for ways to help older nurses work longer and more effectively. The piece explores some of the challenges older nurses may face, given the extraordinary physical demands of nursing. It also discusses innovations that may help nurses to cope with those demands while passing on the benefit of their expertise to younger colleagues. It focuses particularly on the ideas and innovations of senior MGH nurse Ed Coakley, who founded the Project, and also includes some good quotes from nursing scholars and advocates. We thank Mr. Restuccia and the Herald for this helpful article. more...

And in the end, is the love nurses take equal to the love they make?

January 18, 2008 -- HealthStyles is a weekly radio show hosted by Diana Mason, RN, PhD, and Barbara Glickstein, RN, MPH, MS on WBAI-NY, 99.5 FM, www.wbai.org. In the first part of today’s program, producer and moderator Mason interviews Karen Ballard, RN, MA, on how exposure to health facility chemicals, medications, and radiation affects patients and nurses. Some nurses recommend sustainablehospitals.org, which describes how we can reduce the risks from potential hazards like mercury in the ways we buy, use, and clean equipment in health facilities. In part 2 of the show, Nancy Kaleda, RN, and Anne Bove, RN, discuss why nurses employed by New York City’s public hospitals don’t receive the same benefits as other city employees who are classified as doing "physically taxing work," such as firefighters and police. In part 3 of the show, Pamela Mitchell, RN, PhD, president of the American Academy of Nursing, discusses a campaign to increase the visibility, financing, and adoption of nurses’ health care innovations, which have not received their due even though clinical and financial data show them to be cost-effective. Click here to listen to the archive or if you would like a weekly reminder to listen to HealthStyles every Friday, please email us with a subject line "subscribe HealthStyles alert."

State of Tomorrow

November 26, 2007 -- Today the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) announced the four winners of its 2007 Media Awards. The awards went to: "State of Tomorrow...Rising Challenges. Higher Education Solutions," a documentary about the nursing shortage shown on Texas PBS stations, by the University of Texas, Alphaeus Media, and Texas Tech University's School of Nursing; "Vietnam Nurses with Dana Delany," a documentary about U.S. nurses during the Vietnam War shown on Women's Entertainment Television, by Creative Street Entertainment by director David H. Smith, and producers Steven Katzenberger and Dan Meadows; "Charting Nursing's Future," a series of policy briefs about the nursing shortage posted on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation web site and distributed to a "target audience" by mail, by Susan B. Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, Michelle A. Larkin, and Jeri Spann; and "Mommy's Light Lives On: Education for and about Bereaved Children," a multi-media project by Margaret "Mimi" Mahon, PhD, RN, FAAN (honorable mention). The Center congratulates all the winners and thanks the AAN for continuing to recognize the importance of media about nursing. more...

Atonement

January 14, 2008 -- The beautiful film adaptation of Atonement follows novelist Ian McEwan's characters into the carnage of World War II. But like McEwan, the filmmakers are less concerned with bombs than with the deceptive power of words, especially in the act of telling stories--stories like the book, or the movie, which adds a level of artifice in being a story based on a story. Scripted by Christopher Hampton, the film shares the novel's slightly implausible central premise. But with Joe Wright's focused direction and intense performances by the leads, the film is a compelling account of our efforts to cope with what we say to each other. Atonement also includes a limited look at the wartime nursing of aristocratic character Briony Tallis. The movie adds visuals to the book's nurse-centered account of hospital care, showing the courage required of nurses in mass casualty events and the formidable authority of senior nurses. Wright's movie does not match the force of McEwan's vision of the trauma the nurses face, the full rigor of their training, or Briony's growing skill. The film, like the book, also conveys little of the technical expertise nursing requires, and may suggest that nursing is more a vehicle for atonement than a modern scientific profession. Still, few feature films (let alone major Oscar contenders) include a nurse-centered vision of care, or convey any of the real challenges of nursing. This movie stars James McAvoy, Keira Knightly, Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai, Vanessa Redgrave. Atonement won a Golden Globe award for best drama yesterday. more...

The Business of Being Born

January 14, 2007 -- In a 2007 episode of ABC's drama "Private Practice," an elite obstetrician asked whether "midwifery" was even a word. The Business of Being Born responds with a compelling argument that the United States return to a midwifery-driven home birth model. The film presents our OB care as a dysfunctional business that has consigned midwives to the periphery, so that physicians who don't understand natural birth can perform dangerous, unnecessary interventions. Meanwhile, the film contends, the rest of the developed world achieves better outcomes for less money using midwives for most births. Abby Epstein's documentary is not the explanation of nursing expertise and obstetric care that it might have been. The film largely ignores the work of nurse midwives and obstetric nurses in hospitals, and it never explains how nurse midwives differ from other midwives. The movie also could have been more balanced and focused. The momentum flags in some scenes focusing on Epstein's own pregnancy and the thoughts of executive producer Ricki Lake. But the film is a powerful call for women to reclaim what we might call their "ancient properties" (following Toni Morrison's idea of black womanhood)--in this case, women's ability to birth their own children, to embrace fully the transformative experience of giving life. more... and click to see this film in theaters!

Cashmere Mafia Nurses in Bondage

November 16, 2007 -- Department store chain Bloomingdale's recently began running a radio commercial that reportedly featured a sultry nurse seducing a physician with a cashmere sweater. The Center's Long Island chapter president alerted us to the ad. We contacted Bloomingdale's and explained how ads like this, no matter how luxuriously soft and enticing, reinforce the stereotype of nurses as brainless workplace sluts. The company decided to pull the ad just hours later. more...

Golden Lamp Awards 2007

January 9, 2007 -- The Center for Nursing Advocacy is announcing its 5th Golden Lamp Awards, the annual list of the best and worst media portrayals of nurses we've seen in the past year. The 2007 list includes influential media from Hollywood shows to reports on the nursing crisis in Africa. Most of the best depictions of nursing continued to appear in the print media. Among the best were pieces in The Wall Street Journal and The Star-Ledger (Newark), and on WBUR, a Boston NPR affilliate. Among the "worst" award recipients were "Grey's Anatomy," "Private Practice," "House," Kelly Ripa, New York Times puzzle master Will Shortz, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, and Members of the U.K. Parliament. The Center also recognizes nursing scholars and advocates who have made a positive impact in the general media. See our full press release on the awards. or the full list of awards.

Naughty but Nurse calendar

December 29, 2007 -- The Sun (U.K.) published an article and online multimedia presentation of the 2008 Babes and Boys calendar that features real nurses dressed in lingerie. A year ago, The Sun published a similar article and online presentation for the 2007 edition of the calendar.

"Is That Even a Word--Midwifery?"

October 24, 2007 -- ABC's "Private Practice," the only new health drama of the 2007-08 TV season, is another prime time soap about smart, pretty physicians from "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes. But in addition to the seven physician characters who dominate here, the show's LA "wellness clinic" also has cute surfing receptionist Dell Parker. The earnest Dell just got his "nursing degree" and is studying to be a midwife. He seems to be a young, network version of "Strong Medicine"'s Peter Riggs--except Dell uses his nursing skills to be a receptionist. Despite good intentions and an intense interest in the clinic's patients, Dell seems to be the least knowledgeable major nurse character in the last decade of prime time US television. The show's early episodes suggest that his clinical studies consist of whatever ad hoc assistance he can give to clinic physicians. The episodes also rely heavily on juvenile mockery of Dell's midwifery studies as lightweight New Age kookiness. Show anchor and superstar physician Addison repeatedly utters the word "midwif" as if she had never heard of such an outlandish pursuit. Alert viewers can also catch glimpses of wallpaper nurses in the background once in a while, but it's not clear if any of them will ever display the ability to speak, much less think. On the whole, "Private Practice" either ignores or grossly undervalues nursing care, as the show pursues its tired "heroic physician" narrative. more, including our 5 new film clips...

"Is that even a word?"

The September 26 premiere features Addison mocking the very idea of midwifery. We're meant to assume that bemused contempt for midwives would probably be the attitude of any true childbirth expert. more...

"I love talking to midwifs"

Early in the October 3 episode we see Dell asking fertility specialist Naomi to speak to his midwife class. Naomi can't teach the class, so Addison tells Dell: "I'll do it. I love talking to midwifs." more...

"Commit to the cake, man"

The show manages to get through the entire October 10 episode, without mocking the word "midwifery." However, the episode does nothing to counter its overall presentation of Dell as an office assistant with little to no health care expertise. more...

"Vulva! Labia Majus!"

In the October 17 episode it's back to mockery of "midwif" school and of Dell's role as office naïf. more...

"Don't mock the midwife"

The October 24 episode is notable for a minor plotline built around Dell's first pap smears. But on the whole the episode presents Dell as a nurse without significant skill or experience with patients. more...

RATTLE's Winter 2007 Tribute to Nurses

December 2007 -- The Winter 2007 issue of the LA-based poetry magazine RATTLE, published this month, includes a "Tribute to Nurses." This special 45-page section includes poems by 24 nurses, and three short prose pieces in which nurses describe their work in the two fields. The online version of the issue also includes a piece by Center staff, "Nursing Our Beer Back to Health," which discusses how language affects nursing practice. We thank RATTLE for giving nurses an opportunity to speak about their work and their lives, and we salute all the nurses whose work appears. We intend to review "Tribute to Nurses" soon. more...

Nurse, fetch me the ball.

November 15, 2007 -- Today, nurses persuaded Seattle's Group Health to withdraw ads for its "Ask the Doc" service that included the tag line: "Nurse, hand me my laptop." The ads, posted on websites such as MSN.com, promoted Group Health's program of having patients communicate with advanced practitioners by e-mail, instead of having to come in to the office for simple follow-ups or questions. We commend Group Health for using such a cost-effective care delivery system, and we get the "joke"--laptops are the new stethoscopes. But the ads' regressive text and imagery suggest that: (1) nurses are nameless handmaidens who fetch and carry items for physicians, rather than autonomous professionals who follow an independent practice model; (2) nurses' role in advanced care technology consists mainly of handing it to physicians, though in reality nurses are on the cutting edge of such technology; and (3) nurses lack substantive health information, and their role is to help patients reach the physicians who do have the expertise. In fact, nurses are the main patient educators, and nurses at Group Health itself regularly communicate with patients by email. We applaud Carolyn Elliott, Stephanie Hitzroth, Shari Hirshberg and their nursing colleagues for persuading Group Health to do the right thing. more...

Baby We Were Born to Care

November 2007 -- Johnson & Johnson has begun running a new set of television ads as part of its massive Campaign for Nursing's Future, whose stated goal is to address the nursing shortage. The two new 30-second spots do not abandon the emotional, soft-focus helping imagery that marred the Campaign's previous ads, particularly in the use of more gooey lite music with lyrics about being "born to care." But both ads also do important things the Center urged the company to do in its analysis of the previous ads. They make clear that nurses save lives and improve outcomes, even offering some specific examples, like defibrillation. One ad pays tribute to nurse educators. And both continue the Campaign's admirable focus on promoting workforce diversity. We thank J&J for ads that do a better job of showing the public that nurses are not just angelic hand-holders. more...

Get involved in our chapters!

Activity at the Center's chapters is starting to heat up. Please get involved with your local chapter--or if there isn't one in your area, let us know if you would like to start one! Contact us to talk about starting a chapter. What do Center for Nursing Advocacy chapters do? We encourage meetings every month or two. At the meetings, members brainstorm and work together to improve media coverage of nursing around the world--but most especially within their home media markets. For instance, members work to get coverage for nursing achievements, events, problems, or issues facing patients or the community. And they discuss giving organized feedback to media entities for nurse-related products they have created. See more on our chapter mission and activities page.

Nursing Diaries Part I now available for your nurse recruitment needs!

Get your DVD copies of "Lifeline: The Nursing Diaries--The Rookies" (Part I) by filmmaker Richard Kahn. When we reviewed Part I of the documentary in Dec. 2004, we gave it 4 out of 4 stars for its nursing portrayal. From our review: "Part I gives an unusually good sense of the value of highly skilled nursing. It shows nurses working in three intensive care units at Mass. General: the cardiac surgical intensive care unit (CSICU), the neonatal ICU (NICU), and the surgical ICU (SICU). The episode shows nurses doing so many critical health tasks that the media commonly has physicians doing that it almost seems like it must have been a conscious goal of the filmmakers. However, it may simply be the natural result of taking a comprehensive look at what nurses really do. We see nurses autonomously managing patient care, detecting critical problems, formulating key interventions, explaining things to patients, families, and the viewer, and generally managing recoveries with little physician involvement." Read the full review here. Order a copy of Nursing Diaries Part I for US $10, which includes shipping. We are selling these essentially at cost in order to make access to this video as easy as possible. To order, please make a $10 payment here.

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