The Portrayal of Nursing and Registered Nurses in Media - Essay Example

Running Head: THE PORTRAYAL OF RN AND NURSING IN MEDIA The Portrayal Of Nursing And Registered Nurses In Media [Name Of Student] [Name Of Institution] Nurses serve as the backbone for any healthcare system. The role performance, occupation related expectancies and also the job satisfaction of nurses is highly dependent on the manner in which the general public perceives their profession. The public image of nurses in Australia has been the target of an overwhelming number of factors ever since the country started its first healthcare system, almost two centuries ago. From the colonial background when it was regarded as a profession only for the socially outcast, nursing has evolved tremendously. For years, the RN (registered nurses) in Australia have strived for recognition from the public, in terms of respect, acknowledgment of their role and also for medical subservience. In this paper I shall discuss the public perception of RN and the way in which they are portrayed in media. Also I shall discuss how the profession has evolved over the past two decades; including the change in education and also the public perception of RNs. From the times of the early colonial era when nursing was considered to be a job only for the socially disreputable ones, Australian nursing has undergone considerable changes (Schultz, 1991). The field of nursing in Australia has slowly advanced through social, technological, educational, professional and also political reforms. The contemporary nurses are an example of this progress whose roles have expanded much beyond merely obeying instructions from the doctor. There are many elements that help shape the image of RNs but it is simpler to evaluate the progress in the field of nursing in terms of expanding job responsibilities. To explain how and why, if, the public image of nursing has changed is quite a difficult task. Though the progress can surely be linked to the better training of the nurses which have added to their better defined roles and sovereignty, it is debatable if this is also the reason behind the changing public perception of RNs (Dahl, 2003). In the current times, nursing is a very sophisticated job which entails specialized knowledge and information, use of modern technology, learned skills and inestimable roles (Kalisch & Kalisch, 2003). Nonetheless, these facets of the nursing role remain largely misinterpreted and/or ignored by the general public which has resulted in negative stereotyping to further tarnish the image of RNs. It is first and foremost important to investigate whether the general public has come out of the mind set that nursing is a profession chosen by only the less intelligent, passive and extremely reliant medical people (Kaler, Levy & Schall, 2001). In Australia, in the early sixties there was a well settled model of nursing in New South Wales which was founded on the basic rules of care, obedience and hard work and the rules were enforced in a strict structure administered by the matron of the hospital. There was little specialized knowledge or training available then and the RNs performed on primarily Nightingale principles. The image of the RNs in the public was that of a meek obedient hand of the medical doctor, one who was basically incharge of domestic duties only (Wood, 2000). The harsh working environment further added to the public perception that the satisfaction of being a RN was to be duly earned and that since it was a noble thing to care for the sick, the hard working condition were justified with respect to the nobility of the cause (Cushing, 2002). The harsh working condition led to a growing unrest amongst the nurses who started to demand better working conditions and better wages. Meetings were held, unions came into existence and by the mid eighties the nurses started lobbying the government for their just demands. The general public at that time sympathized with them (McCoppin & Gardner, 2004; Dickenson, 1993). Magazines published articles about their struggle and the deplorable state of RNs in Australia. This was followed by a time when there was a radical shift in the society. In the seventies and eighties, women started becoming more independent and it started becoming acceptable for respectable women to work outside homes. There was a huge influx of these women to the nursing profession and by this time males also started opting for this field. The educational and training reforms started mostly in the eighties when there was a rapid technological boom. This had a considerable impact on the image of nurses as their role started to get more and more complex, with additional responsibilities and better expertise required to handle technological processes which doctors were too busy to do themselves (Chinn &Wheeler, 2005). This brought a serious attitude shift in the nurses who started valuing their profession more and started efforts to improve their image. Stereotypes of nurses are portrayed to the general public mostly through media (Green, Taylor, Walkey & McCormick, 2004). In media the image of a RN has primarily been either glamorized, ridiculed and degraded. Hardly has media in any form, whether print or through television, tried to show the job of RN as it really is. The misrepresentations on media have resulted in grave results not only for nurses but also for patients who tend to over expect services from the RNs owing to the characters depicted in media. Fortunately, the Australian media has revolutionized in the past two decades and is playing a much better role in portraying the true image of RNs; being caring, intelligent and proficient in their work, to the general public. The opera named ‘Young doctors’ aired in the seventies which depicted RNs as a sex object to ‘A Country Practice’ which tried to battle against some common misconceptions about RNs by showing female doctors and male nurses, the media has efficiently played its part in portraying a positive image of nurses (Bridges, 2000). Then, the program ‘All Saints’ brought another revolution as it succeeded in showing nurses as extremely competent and skilled people, playing a very crucial role in patient care. Nowadays, the media portrays RNs as an integral part of the healthcare teams, who are responsible for making important decisions, are skilled and properly trained to do their job. This has had an impact on how the public see the role of nurses in the current times, which is in a more realistic and respectable form (Kalisch & Kalisch, 1993). The Australian nursing and midwifery council, better known as ANMC, has drafted a set of rules which is basically a code of ethics for nurses in Australia and is applicable at all levels. It emphasizes on the role of nurses and their dedication to protect, promote and uphold the basic human rights of all people. This also serves as a referencing point for nurses as how to conduct themselves and also for people as to what they should expect from nurses. It has eight value statements which in essence depict that a nurse respects and cares for all human beings, irrespective of their race and require same respect from them. There is no doubt about the fact that nursing is a profession which requires commitment, sympathy, and a strong will to serve the humanity and has evolved into a profession which apart from the things mentioned before, also requires responsibility and accountability. In the current times, an RN is just not a nurse but also a client’s advocate, manager and the person who will inform and educate him all about his disease. The patients now realize this and treat them the respect they deserve. More can be done to enhance a positive image of the nurse by keeping the public informed about the advancement in the field and the related changing roles of RN. As we progress further in the age of technology which has highly advanced and sophisticated healthcare systems, where the public has taken on the role of healthcare consumers, it is vital to pay more attention to change the conventional image of the nurse and acknowledge their unique expertise and the value that they add to the system overall. It is therefore apt to say that the conventional perception of the RN is changing and is being replaced by a more proper and realistic image, one; that duly reflects the services that an RN renders and the role that they play in the healthcare system. REFERENCES Birdges, J.M (2000). Literature review on the images of the nurse and nursing in the media. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 15 (7), 850-854. Chinn, P.L. & Wheeler, C.E. (2005). Feminism and Nursing: can nurses afford to remain aloof from the women’s movement? Nursing Outlook, 33 (2), 74-77. Cushing, A (2002). Convicts and care giving in colonial Australia, 1788-1868. In Rafferty, A.M., Robinson, J, & Elkan, R (Eds). Nursing History and the Politics of Welfare, (pp.108-132) London: Routledge Publishers. Dahl, M (2003). Nurses: An image change still needed. International Nursing Review, 39 (4) 121-124, 127. Greene, D., Taylor, A., Walkey, F. & McCormick, I. (2004). The nurse’s image: fact or fiction. New Zealand Nursing Journal, January, 15-17. Kaler, S.R., Levy, D.A. & Schall, M. (2001). Stereotypes of Professional Roles. Image: Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 21 (2), 85-89. Kalisch, P. & Kalisch, B. (2006). Images of nurses on television, rev ed, New York: Springer Publishing Company. Kalisch, P. & Kalisch, B. (2003). The Changing Images of the Nurse, Menlo Park, California: Addison Wesley. McCoppin, B., Gardner, H. (2004). Tradition & Reality: nursing and politics in Australia. Melbourne: Churchill Livingstone. Schultz, B. (1991). A tapestry of service: The evolution of nursing in Australia. Melbourne: Churchill Livingstone. Wood, P. (2000). Nursing-progress through partnership. Australian Government Printing Services, Canberra. Read More