Media Representation Of Nursing Essay

“To do what nobody else will do, a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through; that is to be a nurse,” was once said by Rawsi Williams. Unfortunately, not everyone gets to witness the amazing work of a nurse because of the constant negative portrayal of nurses in the media. The work of a nurse tends to be over looked every day in the media. “Nurses are nursing against the odds— striving to provide safe, high-quality, effective care in a healthcare system that is being savaged by obscene cost-cutting, nurse shortages and gross misrepresentation through media stereotypes,” said best by Ian Peate (Peate, I., 2016). The media’s perception of nurses is completely wrong. The television shows and movies are great for drama and entertainment but fail to accurately depict the real life of a nurse and all of the work they do. The media fails to portray an accurate representation of males as nurses, an accurate portrayal of the nursing practices performed on a daily, an accurate portrayal of the differences and nurses and physician’s duties, and an accurate representation of the physical and mental characteristics of a nurse. It is time for nurses to put an end to these stereotypes and change the way they are represented in the media.

The nursing profession historically was female dominated, but over time the population of

Where did such overly sexualized image of such a notable profession come from? Terry Ferns and Irena Chojnacka reveal that:

The sexualization of the nursing profession is embedded historically in the fabric of society and nursing. Uniforms in the past tended to be designed like a maid's or housewife's aprons, for example. Medical staff wore white coats not aprons. Nurses uniforms were sometimes also tight around the waist accentuating the hour glass figure, and extenuating the female aspects of the role. (Chojnacka, I. & Ferns, T.,