Nurses: Useless and Ignorant?

Because of the many years of intensive higher education that physicians must endure in order to have a job, nurses may seem inexperienced and ignorant by comparison. Nurses could be seen by the public as assistants to the physicians, unimportant, or not as effective as physicians. Unfortunately, these stereotypes have found their way into our media through television.

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In the popular show Grey's Anatomy, nurses are seen as stupid, unimportant, useless, and only there to assist the surgeons if they are present in the episode at all. Doctors constantly talk down to them and, while they are not common throughout the series, they are rarely if ever are portrayed in a positive light. In one episode, Miranda Bailey,  a surgeon, was mistaken for being a nurse because she was performing the menial task of delivering blood. This was a blow to her self-esteem as a surgeon. Here you can find more examples on how nurses are negatively portrayed throughout the series.

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The Mindy Project is another TV show that portrays nurses as simply assistants to the physicians. There are three nurses, Morgan, Tamra, and Beverly, that appear in most episodes for comic relief instead of driving the plot like the physicians do. They are portrayed as having little to no medical knowledge and being completely oblivious. Morgan and Beverly lack common sense and act mostly as assistants to the physicians of the show. Tamra has little grasp on reality and is often oblivious to her surroundings. Mindy, the main character, also became offended when someone assumed that she was a nurse. Here is another blog post about the Mindy Project's portrayal of nurses.

 

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The main misconception in TV shows that focus on physicians is that doctors perform all of the important duties to improve a patient's health. Nurses are not only assistants to the physician, they are competent guardians and caregivers. Another common misconception is that nurses are ignorant and do not know what they are doing. This statement is simply incorrect due to the rigor of nursing school that is required to become an RN. Shows such as Grey's Anatomy and The Mindy Project diminish the importance of nurses in the medical field.