Nursing Culture
CS204: Professional
Presence
12/8/2013
Shaun
Johnson
|
Culture
is defined as the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group,
place, or time; a particular society that has its own beliefs, ways of life,
art, etc.; a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place or
organization (such as a business) (Culture, 2013) .
Nurse
is defined as a person who is trained to care for the sick or injured people
and who usually works in a hospital or doctor’s office; a woman who is paid to
take care of a young child usually in the child’s home; to give special care or
attention to (something): to try to keep (something) from failing (Nurse, 2013) .
Now,
nursing culture and image (both image and culture go hand-to-hand) from the 19th
century to present day has been one of respect, authority, kind, caring,
compassionate, honest, and trustworthy (Gordon,
2006 and Ludwick & Cipriano, 2000); however, to have that respect,
there have been some roadblocks and preconceived notions that to this day,
nurses are having a hard time overcoming. During the 19th century, there
were two opposing views on nursing. The first has the image that Florence
Nightingale, the mother of modern nursing, represented a symbol of excellence,
which gave the profession of nursing public acceptance and respect throughout
the world (Hanbury, 2008) . The second came from the novel Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens.
The novel had a character named Sairy Gamp, a midwife. The character was
depicted as uneducated, untrained, old and fat, rough and unsightly, and has
taught to say little and do much (Hanbury, 2008
& Gordon, 2006). These are two opposing views on nursing, within the
same time, that were prevalent in the United Kingdom.
The
duality of the nurse image continued into the 1890s and to World War I. Nursing as
a profession was growing very quickly during this period within that United
States (Hanbury, 2008) . However, there has a paradigm shift
with the image of nursing. It changed from the unkempt appearance that Charles
Dickens portrayed to a physical image of authority, control, and power (Hanbury, 2008) . However, with the
cultural shift going on the early 1900s, nurses were also looked at as a Gibson
Girl. A Gibson Girl was a woman that portrayed an air of self-confidence and
could overcome any problem or situation, while being the envy of the people
that knew her. She was remote but accessible when needed (The Gibson Girl: The Ideal Woman of the Early 1900s, 2001) . She was the Barbie
of the time. The Gibson Girl image of
what nursing culture was, brought a positive view back to the culture of nursing.
This
positive view on the nursing filed held until the Jazz age of the 1920s and the
birth of the flapper[1].
With the birth of the flapper, nurses were viewed as servants and had romantic
liaisons with the male doctors because of the smoking, free talk about sex, and
all night parties (Hanbury, 2008 & Trueman,
2013). With this view, the nursing culture took a devastating hit. Women
during the Jazz age, the younger generation did not want to follow their mother
into the same work (Trueman, 2013) . Moreover, leading the nursing field
into crisis, not only in numbers, but also with the culture of nursing. Without
new, younger workers entering the nurse field, the nursing culture become
stagnant and looked down upon (Hanbury, 2008) .
At
the end of the Jazz age, World War II started. During World War II, nurses were
in great demand. Since the demand was so high the United States military
started to recruit skilled nurses and started to offer training for women to
become nurses. This was the first time that the education and skills that the
nurse obtains was put front and center (Hanbury, 2008) . In addition, the public started to
realize that nurses have medical knowledge and help participate in medical
cures (Gordon, 2006) . During World War II, nurses were
viewed as leaders, admirable, and courageous to their peers (Hanbury, 2008) . This held true with the nursing
culture. Since the nursing culture was strong, the nursing shortage was almost
gone.
From
the 1960s to the present, the nursing culture started to try to overcome
roadblock after roadblock due to the media, mainly from television. During the
eleven year television run of M*A*S*H, which spawned from a novel and a movie, there
was a nurse named Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan (M*A*S*H, 2013) . This caused viewers to view the nurse
as a promiscuous sex object (Hanbury, 2008) . The sexualization of nurses’ trend continued with the most popular
television shows from 1995 to the present.
The
first television show that did show some true nurse culture was ER in 1995; however, the image turned
from an educated, well skilled nurse to a sex object for Dr. Ross (George
Clooney) (ER, 2013) . With Scrubs, House, Nurse Jackie, and Grey’s
Anatomy following the same trend of showing nurse as people who only toss
around IV bags, taking vital signs, are addicted to drugs, and dating doctors
the image of nurses is continuing in a downward spiral regardless of the
education, skills, and caring spirit that nurses actual have (Hanbury, 2008) .
So
where do does this leave the nursing image and culture?
It
leaves this great profession in dire crisis. More people do not want to become
nurses because of the way that nurses are portrayed on television (Neilson & Lauder, 2008) . “I would not and do
not want to be viewed or seen as an easy woman with no sexual morals – nurses
are seen as easy for doctor”, “The sexual stereotype is always there and seems
to be reinforced when you view TV programs and if you see nurses on adverts or
in films they are always female with short skirts and enormous chests” (Neilson & Lauder, 2008) . With the lack of
people entering school to become nurses, that world is entering a shortage that
may take a decade to come out from.
Unfortunately,
media influences people. There needs to be a paradigm shift in television programs
that shows what nursing culture really is. A culture of well educated, well
skilled, caring,
compassionate, and motivated people that want to help the sick.
This
culture of helping people with respect from doctors has been reiterated by my
interviews with Amy Douglass, RN and Cheryl Weimer, RN, with a combined nurse
experience of thirty-five years.
Both
of these nurses have worked in a hospital setting as well as a specialty
doctor’s office.
Ms.
Douglass describes the culture of nursing in a hospital setting as very
restrictive. There are certain protocols that nurses in a hospital have to
follow. They have to give medications at a certain time and do certain things
(procedures, take vitals, discharge a patient, and etc.). Ms. Douglass has
portrayed that the culture in a hospital in Texas[2]
is one of servitude. The preconceived notion that nurse culture is one of
service, not only to the patients but also to the doctors, has been confirmed.
While
Ms. Weimer describes a very different view of the nursing culture while in the
hospital setting. During her time as a nurse in New York, she describes that
the nursing culture was one that was cutthroat. When she was hired and started
her training, her preceptor was very annoyed that she had to train Ms. Weimer.
The older nurses did not want to train the younger nurses that were coming into
the field. “That nurses eat their young.” This is an aspect that I did not
realize. I was always under the impression that older nurses would take the
younger nurses under their wings and show them the ropes while passing along
their knowledge that they obtained from real world experience. To pass the
baton to the younger generation. Apparently, this is not the case.
Ms.
Douglass describes a very different view of the nursing culture while working
in a specialty doctor’s office. The culture is one that is more based on trust
and respect. The doctors[3]
that she works for have full faith that she will do what needs to be done for
the patient. She has the independence to use her knowledge to do what needs to be
done.
However,
Ms. Weimer describes a very different view of the nursing culture while working
in a specialty doctor’s office. Her view is that she does not seem that she is
helping patients because she does manage a clinical staff of twenty people made
up of nurses, medical assistants, and clinical team assistants. This is a
contradictory view of what the nursing culture is. Nurses’ help patients get
better, with being in a managerial role, this impedes on the culture that she
has been in for eighteen years.
In
conclusion, the nursing culture is ever changing and there are many different
views on what the culture is. The culture of a nurse is dictated by where they
work. Either a doctor’s office or a hospital. Even in the hospital, the culture
of nursing is different based on the department that you work in. The emergency
room nurses will have a different culture from the nurses that work in the
maternity wing. However, some aspects of that nursing culture translate from
the hospital to a doctor’s office, and vice versa. Nurses are caring,
compassionate, well educated, well skilled, trustworthy, and respected by
patients and doctors. Not the drug seeking, sex objects for doctors that
television shows portray; however, there is always a couple in every crowd.
Male
nursing culture is still trying to break through the norms that are perceived
by the majority of the public. Male nurses are also caring, compassionate, well
educated, well skilled, trustworthy, and respected; however, with this female
dominated field, male nurses are looked down upon by some patients and by some
female nurses. This will be an ongoing issue until more
males enter the nursing field.
Culture.
(2013). Retrieved from Merriam-Webster: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture
ER. (2013). Retrieved from IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108757/
Flapper. (2013). Retrieved from The Free Dictionary:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/flapper
Gordon, S. (2006, June). What Do Nurses Really Do? Retrieved from
Medscape: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/520714_1
Hanbury, J. (2008). Changing media images of nursing is key to
promoting it as a profession. Retrieved from Advance Healthcare Network:
http://nursing.advanceweb.com/article/image-of-nursing.aspx
Ludwick, R., & Cipriano, S. (2000, August 14). Ethics: Nursing
Around the World: Cultural Values and Ethical Conflicts. Retrieved from
The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing:
http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/Columns/Ethics/CulturalValuesandEthicalConflicts.aspx
M*A*S*H. (2013). Retrieved from IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068098/
Neilson, G., & Lauder, W. (2008, March 21). What do high academic
achieving school pupils really think about a career in nursing: Analysis of
the narrative from paradigmatic case interviews. Nurse Education Today,
680-690.
Nurse. (2013). Retrieved from Merriam-Webster:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nurse
The Gibson Girl: The Ideal Woman of the Early 1900s. (2001). Retrieved from Eye Witness to History:
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/gibson.htm
Trueman, C. (2013). The Jazz Age. Retrieved from History Learing
Site: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/1920s_America.htm
[1] A
young woman, especially one in the 1920s who showed disdain for conventional
dress and behavior (Flapper, 2013) .
[2]
This information was from a conversation that Ms. Douglass and I had one year
ago. Not an interview question.
[3]
Ms. Douglass, Ms. Weimer, and I all work in the same office. For full
disclosure, Ms. Weimer is my boss.
