News on Nurses in the Media -- July - December 2003
The Center ranks best and worst media portrayals of nursing for 2003
December 31, 2003 -- The Center for Nursing Advocacy has issued its list of the best and worst media portrayals of nursing during 2003. The list highlights a variety of depictions of nursing--from television to the print media, from fiction to news, and from Milwaukee to Malaysia--that the Center believes deserve recognition, for better or worse. more...
December 2003 -- Mike Nichols' film version of Tony Kushner's extraordinary play Angels in America, now showing on HBO, includes one of the best depictions of nurses in feature film history. The movie is an imperfect but still dazzling exploration of faith, politics and sexuality in the United States soon after the start of the AIDS era. It features Nichols' usual assured direction and excellent work by Meryl Streep, Al Pacino and the other major actors, some of whom (as in the play) take multiple roles. more...
USA Today: "Nurse dispenses dignity to dying"
December 30, 2003 -- Today USA Today ran a generally good story by Kim Painter about Virginia home hospice nurse Kathy McLaughlin. more...
Physician: nurses key to reducing hospital errors
December 20, 2003 -- Today's Baltimore Sun included reader letters about its December 14-15 story on efforts to reduce hospital errors after the dehydration death of Josie King at Johns Hopkins Hospital, including an astonishing letter by Dr. John F. Irwin of Catonsville arguing that "the answer to eliminating medical errors lies right in our midst--nurses." more...
Polaneczky: "Closure spurs anger toward striking nurses"
December 19, 2003 -- Ronnie Polaneczky's column in today's Philadelphia Daily News focused on the animosity being directed at nurses striking the Medical College of Pennsylvania (MCP) by their own colleagues as a result of Tenet Healthcare's decision to close the hospital. more...
The Australian: "Whistleblower nurses stood bravely for cause"
December 19, 2003 -- Today The Australian ran an editorial praising five New South Wales (NSW) nurses its readers had nominated for the paper's "Australian of the Year Award" because they "blew the whistle on the unnecessary deaths of 19 patients at two Sydney public hospitals," despite being "dumped from their jobs, ignored by their superiors and shunned by their minister." more...
New York Post reports on Center's "Nurse Precious" campaign
December 18, 2003 -- Today the New York Post ran a brief item by Michael Starr about letter-writing campaigns by the Center and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) protesting the use of an orangutan to play a private duty nurse on NBC's soap opera "Passions." more...
December 16, 2003 -- Over the last few days the New York Times and other media outlets have run stories about the filing of murder charges against Pennsylvania nurse Charles Cullen, who reportedly told investigators that he had ended the lives of 30-40 patients in his career in order to "alleviate pain and suffering." Today's Times article presents a relatively fair account of Cullen's alleged actions and their wider significance, though it could have provided more context. more...
Center's ER campaign earns extensive press coverage in print and broadcast outlets
December 16, 2003 -- Following the Center's distribution of a press release on November 10, numerous print and broadcast outlets have covered our campaign to persuade the NBC show ER to portray nursing more fairly. see the ER press coverage...
Important Baltimore Sun piece on hospital errors marred by undervaluation of nursing
December 14-15, 2003 -- On these two days, the Baltimore Sun published Erica Niedowski's massive feature about Baltimore's Sorrel King who, following the death of her daughter Josie at Johns Hopkins Hospital due to preventable dehydration, joined the hospital in a comprehensive, influential effort to reduce the risk of such errors. This moving piece makes valuable points about how Ms. King, Hopkins and other hospitals are trying to prevent future errors, but its physician-centric focus results in a failure to recognize the importance of nurses in resolving these problems. more...
Good Housekeeping highlights "tender mercy" of homeless outreach nurse
December 12, 2003 -- The January 2004 issue of the widely read Good Housekeeping includes a long story by Elizabeth Gehrman about a former nun who has become a Boston homeless clinic outreach nurse. The piece is very positive, though it places more emphasis on emotional bonding than on the professional skills required to do the life-saving work of a community health nurse. more...
Polaneczky keeps pushing for MCP nurses
December 11, 2003 -- Philadelphia Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky today continued her seemingly relentless campaign on behalf of the nurses striking a local hospital over mandation (forced overtime). more...
"All Things Considered" features pediatric nurse expert in flu story
December 11, 2003 -- Today Melissa Block's report on NPR's "All Things Considered" about this season's severe flu epidemic consisted largely of an interview with a clinical nurse manager of pediatrics and pediatric intensive care at a Colorado Springs hospital. more...
Inquirer's Ferrer: "Striking nurses hold the edge"
December 7, 2003 -- Today the Philadelphia Inquirer's columnist Tom Ferrick suggested that the strike of Medical College of Pennsylvania (MCP) nurses over "mandation" is a "post-modern" one in which the "serfs" may win, because the nursing shortage has hampered the hospital's ability to hire replacement workers and resulted in a drastic reduction in its patient census. more...
December 1, 2003 -- Today Malaysia's Star newspaper ran Catherine Siow's lengthy, very good feature about Willie Kwa Sue Tang, a footloose Malaysian "boy" who three decades ago set out to see the world with his friends, starting in London. Kwa had little money and didn't end up seeing much of the world--but he did become a nurse and a leader in geriatric mental health care in Britain. more...
Polaneczky follow-up: shortage of nurses, or just the will to pay for enough of them?
November 25, 2003 -- Today Philadelphia Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky suggested, in a powerful follow-up to her November 17 column, that safe staffing was the key to resolving the nursing shortage. more...
"7th Heaven"'s portrayal of nursing reportedly less than divine
November 24, 2003 -- Tonight's episode of the WB's popular "7th Heaven" reportedly presented a competent, experienced ED nurse as being more knowledgeable than a medical student--for whatever that's worth--but some felt it also suggested that nurses exist to perform tasks that physicians are too important for and to obey physician commands, even if it endangers patients. more...
NY Times: "From Philippines, with scrubs"
November 24, 2003 -- Today's New York Times includes a lengthy article by Joseph Berger about the high numbers of Philippines-born nurses in the New York area and elsewhere in the United States. more...
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"Scrubs" defines nursing: it's all about shutting up and following physician "orders"
November 20, 2003 -- Tonight's episode of NBC's "Scrubs," which purports to teach nurse Carla Espinosa that nursing is all about doing what physicians tell you, is one of the most virulently anti-nurse prime time television episodes the Center has ever seen. more...
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ER: the nurse as physicians' Girl Friday
November 20, 2003 -- Tonight's episode of NBC's ER credited to supervising producer and physician Joe Sachs, included more divisive, damaging comparisons of nurses and physicians. Guess which group looked smarter, stronger and more important, and which looked more sensitive, empathetic and common sense-oriented. more...
The united nursing colors of Will & Grace
November 20, 2003 -- Tonight's episode of Will & Grace, continuing the Jack-goes-to-nursing-school plotline begun last week, presented a jokey image of nursing school which had some problems, but which did seem to be aimed at showing the potential diversity of nursing students today--right down to repeated references to Benetton's diversity-focused ad campaigns. more...
Baltimore Sun reports on critical work of sexual assault forensic nurses
November 18, 2003 -- Today the Baltimore Sun ran a lengthy story by Linell Smith about Mercy Hospital's Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE) program, stressing the SAFE nurses' key roles in collecting evidence and providing skilled counseling. more...
Philly columnist finds local nursing strike about more than pay or benefits
November 17, 2003 -- Philadelphia Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky devoted her column today to a helpful discussion of a nursing strike at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, observing that unlike many other strikes, this one was about the well-being of those for whom the strikers were trying to care. more...
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November 14, 2003 -- In its November 13 episode, "ER" continues its tentative efforts to treat nursing with respect when it's no trouble and doesn't threaten the show's physician-centric worldview, but persistently indulges in damaging inaccuracies and stereotypes when that seems more convenient. more...
"Will & Grace" bombshell: gay men like nursing!
November 14, 2003 -- In its November 13 episode, NBC's popular sitcom "Will & Grace" began a wacky but worrisome foray into the world of "student nursing." Though no one takes what the show does at face value, this episode's treatment of nursing was misleading and damaging to the profession. more...
Polaneczky: nurse practitioners provide excellent primary care to the poor; why not to everyone?
November 13, 2003 -- Today Philadelphia Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky devoted her column to the growing role of primary care centers run by nurse practitioners, stressing that these highly skilled, cost-effective providers could be critical in a state reportedly suffering a shortage of primary care physicians. more...
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November 11, 2003 -- Tonight's episode of the CBS drama "Judging Amy" contained inaccurate and damaging suggestions that nurses are subordinate to physicians. more...
Elite panel issues massive report, urgent call to improve working conditions for nurses
November 5, 2003 -- Today Reuters and the New York Times ran passable initial stories about a major report issued by a panel of the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine, which advises the federal government on health care, urging reform to protect patients from the proven dangers of excessive nursing overtime and short-staffing. more...
Dean announces plan to address nursing shortage
November 3, 2003 -- Today's Boston Globe carried an AP story by Mike Glover about Presidential candidate Howard Dean's proposal to combat the nursing shortage through an array of new measures to address overtime and staffing, as well as promote higher pay, tuition assistance, and a more diverse and empowered nursing population. more...
October 31, 2003 -- In a Halloween eve plotline that's more trick than treat for nurses, TV's influential "ER" effectively suggested that nurses advance by attending medical school, continuing the show's long tradition of virtually ignoring the nation's 200,000 advanced practice nurses, and the fact that recent data suggest nurses who obtain graduate education are at least 50 times more likely to do so in nursing than medicine. more...
October 30, 2003 -- Today Slate published "The Pleasure Principle," art curator Mia Fineman's review of pop artist Richard Prince's photo of Kate Moss in a vinyl "nursing" uniform from the September W and his recently exhibited "Nurse Paintings," which consist of boldly colored, at times gory images and titles drawn from the artist's collection of mid-century naughty nurse pulp novels. more...
NPR highlights efforts to comply with California's new nurse safe staffing law
October 29, 2003 -- Today NPR ran a fairly good report by Patricia Neighmond about efforts by hospitals and staffing agencies to find the estimated thousands of new nurses hospitals will need to comply with California's safe staffing law, which goes into effect in January 2004. more...
BBC: UK nurse's "J-hook" invention may save National Health Service millions
October 24, 2003 -- A BBC story published today explained how veteran Wolverhampton nurse John Edwards devised a plastic hook to hang hospital fluid drips from curtain rails, replacing conventional drip stands at about one twentieth of the cost. more ...
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Regressive nursing stereotypes on a major network soap opera? No!
October 24, 2003 -- Some found the private nurse character Glenda appearing on the October 21-23 episodes of CBS's 47-year-old "As the World Turns" to be a stereotypical "naughty nurse" who sported sexually aggressive attire and attitude--to say nothing of the fact that, according to the show's web site, Glenda was soon fired for showing up at work drunk. more...
Welsh nurse Kerry Griffiths comes forward, describes heroic work to save Staten Island Ferry victim
October 18, 2003 -- Today Yahoo News published Verena Dobnik's update of her AP story about the mysterious nurse who saved a Staten Island Ferry disaster victim, reporting that vacationing nurse Kerry Griffiths had visited the injured man in the hospital Friday. more...
October 17, 2003 -- Today the Yahoo News site ran a short AP story by Verena Dobnik headlined "Mystery Nurse Helps Save Ferry Victim" that unintentionally highlights a tragic dilemma at the heart of modern nursing. more...
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October 9, 2003 - In perhaps the most significant "ER" for nursing ever, a standard misfortune-pileup episode--about a bad day for nurse Abby Lockhart--sends a series of destructive, grossly inaccurate messages about nursing. more...
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Reader's Digest: Burnt-out ICU nurse "blows the whistle"
October 2003 -- This month's issue of Reader's Digest, following up on the September story on the nursing shortage, features an anonymous ICU nurse's powerful account of one short-staffed shift in which the nurse does complex, life-saving work despite facing an array of improper demands and abuse caused by the short-staffing itself. more...
October 2003 -- This month's issue of the monthly magazine Parenting illustrates the difficulty nurses face in getting proper recognition from a physician-centric parenting media that often seems convinced that nurses lack valuable health care expertise. more...
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October 7, 2003 -- The issue of Woman's Day dated today includes a fairly good article by Richard Laliberte about the nursing shortage. But it undercuts the article to some extent with a baseless derogatory comment about nurse practitioners in a nearby sidebar by Winnie Yu. more...
How to survive the plague of short-staffing: Today Weekend features nurse as health expert
Oct 4, 2003 -- Donna Cardillo, RN, MA, was featured as a health expert on Today Weekend, NBC to discuss the nursing shortage and practical measures patients and their families can take to cope with it. more...
Engaging "RN" exhibition examines nursing uniform from 19th to 23rd centuries
October 3, 2003 -- A new exhibition at Philadelphia’s Fabric Workshop and Museum, RN: The Past, Present and Future of the Nurses’ Uniform, offers a valuable historic overview, a glimpse of an ambitious project to design an "ideal" nurses’ uniform, and intriguing projections of what nurses’ uniforms might look like in the future. more...
Will Carla get to be a real nurse this year? Scrubs review is up in time for season premiere tonight
October 2, 2003 -- "Scrubs" is one of the best sitcoms to debut in recent years... The show's portrayal of nursing is less impressive... See the full review
Nurses of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your bizarre white masks
September 28, 2003 -- Richard Prince's "Nurse Paintings," an exhibition of 19 new works at the Barbara Gladstone Gallery in New York through October 25th, 2003, is a campy 19-frame horror movie. more...
September 26, 2003 -- Two days ago, University of Pennsylvania professor Linda Aiken, RN, PhD, and several colleagues published a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association linking rates of surgical patient mortality to whether nurses had bachelor's degrees, leading to a widely-carried AP story by Lindsey Tanner but virtually no other original articles, no in-depth stories, and no coverage at all in most of the leading newspapers. more...
The Oregonian: "Fighting for life on Level 3"
September 21, 23, and 24, 2003 -- On these three days, the Portland-based Oregonian published a lengthy, melodramatic feature by Tom Hallman Jr. about a local NICU for especially critical babies, focusing on the heroic efforts of the unit's nurses to help patients and their parents, but probably leaving the impression that nursing is subordinate work that is more about comforting than saving lives. more...
It may be a "Doctor's World," but do nurses even live in it?
September 16, 2003 -- Two recent national media products--Lawrence K. Altman, M.D.'s "The Doctor's World" piece in today's New York Times about U.S. Marines with malaria, and the 13-part documentary/reality show "Resident Life" currently airing on The Learning Channel--both illustrate the ways in which the media can marginalize the important work of nurses, to the point that the average observer might wonder whether nurses even exist. more...
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NBC's "Passions" solves nursing shortage: monkeys can do the job!
September 12, 2003 -- Starting in March 2003 and at least as recently as late August, NBC's campy, supernatural daytime soap opera "Passions" has featured an orangutan named Precious in the role of the private duty nurse of one of its characters--a bold step backwards in the already slow...evolution...of the media's treatment of nurses. more...
September 2003 -- In a clear signal that the United States' television industry finally understands nursing and the gravity of the global nursing shortage, nurses can look forward to an exciting and empowering fall season in which their work finally receives attention and respect commensurate with the central role they play in modern health care. As if. more...
UK nurses "lack tools of their trade"
September 9, 2003 -- Today's issue of The Times (London) ran an unsigned article about a recent survey by Nursing Times indicating that more than two thirds of UK nurses sometimes lack the tools to do their jobs properly, and a campaign by the nursing publication, called "Equip Us To Care," to highlight the problem. more...
Times of India: "Nursing system in poor health"
September 9, 2003 -- Today's Times of India included an article by Purba Kalita highlighting complaints about a lack of professional nursing care in Indian hospitals which has reportedly forced families to try to perform much of the care themselves. more...
September 2, 2003 -- Though even patients with strong preconceptions may learn that hospitals are mainly places where they receive the benefits of nursing care, this basic reality still eludes most of the elite media, as illustrated in an article by Robert Pear in today's New York Times which manages to discuss Bush Administration plans to ease federal emergency hospital care requirements without mentioning or consulting a single nurse. more...
Reader's Digest: Nursing shortage is "America's Biggest Health Care Crisis "
September 2003 -- One of the cover stories in this month's Reader's Digest is a powerful, 10-page piece by John Pekkanen explaining the causes and significance of the nursing shortage, including recent research showing how short-staffing harms patients and harrowing real-life anecdotes to help readers understand just how it can affect them. more...
New Zealand Nursing Review profiles the Center
September 2003 -- Fiona Cassie's long profile of the Center for the New Zealand Nursing Review appeared this month. It also featured the Center's Kiwi board member Anita Bamford, RN, MA, PhD (candidate), who led the charge in early 2003 to stop Lion Red's use of "nurses" for their beer advertisements. more...
September 2003 -- This month's issue of W has a feature story by Julie L. Belcove on charismatic supermodel Kate Moss, along with a portfolio of new images, including a photo by prominent artist Richard Prince showing a tough-looking Moss in a quasi-naughty nurse dress and cap, in front of a disturbing painting of a nurse from the mid-20th century who is dressed in a vaguely similar but traditional outfit, with white gauze covering her face. more...
The Nurse Practitioner: Nurses must speak up!
August 2003 -- This month's issue of The Nurse Practitioner features a rousing editorial by Editor-in-Chief Linda J. Pearson, RN, DNSc, decrying physicians' virtual monopoly on positive health care press coverage, and urging advanced practice nurses to take specific steps to ensure the media "honors" nurses. more...
Surviving the "Crisis in White"
August 31, 2003 -- Today's USA Today Weekend magazine ran a useful special report, cosponsored by Nursing Spectrum, about surviving the nursing shortage, though there was a bizarre disconnect between the authoritative article and the regressive language and imagery of the cover, which featured the title "Crisis in White" along with a highly stylized photo of a white female model dressed in an outdated white uniform--complete with a cap. more...
August 26, 2003 -- Today National Public Radio's Morning Edition carried a report by John Ydstie focusing on a Scranton, Pennsylvania woman who, after being laid off when a TV picture tube plant moved to Mexico, had successfully retrained to be a nurse. more...
Oregon university study finds greeting card nurses mainly about sex and abuse
August 12, 2003 -- Today Oregon Public Broadcasting ran a story by Rob Manning about a study by Professor Linda Smith and her nursing students at Oregon Health and Science University examining images of nurses found in greeting cards. Their "card content analysis," to be published this fall in Nursing Spectrum, evidently angered the students because the two most common images of nurses they found in the cards were the "blonde bombshell" and the "sadistic shot giver." more...
NPR: "Male candidates sought to offset nursing shortage"
August 12, 2003 -- Today National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" ran an optimistic segment by Joyce Russell on the by-now-familiar topic of the potential for male nurse recruitment to offset the nursing shortage, with the focus of the story on Iowa nurses, hospitals and nursing schools. more...
Nursing Spectrum profiles Center
August 11, 2003 -- Today's issue of Nursing Spectrum featured a lengthy article about the Center for Nursing Advocacy and its work to improve the image of nursing. See the article.
Center's director appeared live on WBAI radio's award-winning "Health Styles" today
August 1, 2003 -- The Center's executive director Sandy Summers discussed the Center's work today on New York City radio station WBAI's Health Styles program, hosted by American Journal of Nursing editor Diana Mason, R.N., Ph.D., FAAN, today between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m. EST. more...
US News hospital rankings undervalue nursing, despite article on shortage; lead statistician tells Center he will consider bigger nursing role
July 28, 2003 -- This week's issue of US News & World Report includes, in its annual "Best Hospitals" section, an article by Jodi Schneider entitled "Getting nurses back on board" which highlights one Houston hospital's efforts to end its need for expensive agency nurses, and also features a sidebar on key factors in quality nursing care. more...
Baltimore Sun: "Nurse practitioner takes place of ICU doctor "
July 27, 2003 -- An article by Luciana Lopez in today's Baltimore Sun reports that Harford Memorial Hospital has begun using a nurse practitioner for some ICU shifts after being unable to fill a position it had advertised for an intensivist (critical care physician), "a move that industry experts said won't necessarily reduce the quality of care." more...
July 26, 2003 -- Today the Baltimore Sun ran a lengthy appreciation by Jacques Kelly about Sister Mary Thomas Zinkand, a much-admired Baltimore nun who had modernized the city's Mercy Hospital and served as its president for 35 years and who, astute readers might discover, had also been for many years a pediatric nurse and director of nursing. more...
Edwards proposes $3 billion program to address nursing shortage
July 25, 2003 -- The Baltimore Sun ran a story today by AP writer Mike Glover about Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards' proposed $3 billion, five-year program to add 100,000 nurses through tuition assistance, grants to lure back nurses who have left the profession, the elimination of mandatory overtime, and programs to promote nursing in high schools. more...
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July 23, 2003 -- The Nurses' Association of Thailand is asking for your help in a campaign to persuade Pacific Cigar to stop using "nurses" to sell their cigars and wine. more...
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Baltimore Sun: "Time running out for overtime"
July 15, 2003 -- An article in today's Baltimore Sun by Stacey Hirsh, explored how the life of nurse Nina Scheppske would be affected if the new overtime rules are passed into law. more...
South Africa's Sunday Times: "African nurses blocked"
July 14, 2003 -- The July 6 issue of the Sunday Times ran an item by Gaenor Vaida reporting that South Africa's Health Minister Dr. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang had urged the South African Nurses Council to stop recruiting health workers from the rest of Africa, apparently in connection with the government's support for the "Code of Practice for International Recruitment of Health Workers," as part of which the government agreed not to recruit from developing nations. more...
Agence France-Presse: "Nurses" selling cigars
July 13, 2003 -- Today's issue of Malaysia's The Star ran an AFP story originating in Bangkok reporting that Thailand's real nurses were "fuming" over an international cigar company's local outlet naming itself "The Nurse" and dressing its staff as nurses. more...
July 5, 2003 -- Today's Toronto Star ran a story by Betsy Powell about the emotional funeral of Nelia Laroza, the 51-year-old nurse who died of SARS at a local hospital on June 30, including descriptions of Laroza as a " hero" and the presence of an honor guard typical of the funerals of police and firefighters "killed in the line of duty." more...
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Complete survey and help design new nursing uniform
July 4, 2003 -- The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing is asking nurses to complete a 5-minute survey it is co-sponsoring to help fashion designers create a new uniform for today's nurses. more...
Geographic's "Doctors Without Borders" Episode Focuses on...Nurses!
July 2, 2003 -- Tonight's one hour episode of the National Geographic channel's "Doctors Without Borders: Life in the Field," a cable television series about the well-known international health care non-governmental organization (NGO), focused primarily on the work of nurses in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Uzbekistan. more...
LA Times: California announces new nurse-patient
July 2, 2003 -- An article by Steve Hymon in today's Los Angeles Times reported that California state regulators had issued rules setting specific new nurse-patient staffing ratios, which will take effect between 2004 and 2008, as mandated by a 1999 state statute that was the first of its kind in the United States. more...
Media highlights alarming nurse survey in context of Massachusetts safe staffing bill
July 2, 2003 -- Numerous recent media reports have described a new survey in which 3 in 10 Massachusetts nurses surveyed report that they know of patients who have died because of nurse short-staffing, linking the survey to the ongoing debate over pending Massachusetts legislation that would mandate safe nurse-to-patient ratios. more...
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