Hey, Nurse!

There are real nurses. And then there are reel ones. Fifty-three years ago some of us who earned our stripes in nursing entered what might be called the marine boot camp for nursing students: The Bellevue School of Nursing.





In recent weeks, one of the networks debuted a dramatic series with a nurse as the lead character, HawthoRNe. Just in case you missed it, this nurse is not only an RN, her professional title is embedded in her last name. Clever, right? She's played by the beautiful Jada Pinkett Smith. Ms Smith---the wife of actor, Will Smith--- is also the show's executive producer.





On another channel, another nurse drama, Nurse, Jackie. ( I almost slipped and said Nurse, Judy but Judy's a judge in one of those reality shows headlined by people in black robes, not white lab coats.) Edie Falco stars as Nurse Jackie. In reel life Ms Falco was the beleagured wife of Tony Soprano.





Now, I admit I haven't seen either of these shows. But I have seen some Hawthorne promos and I caught Ms Falco on The View and heard her in an interview with NPR's Terri Gross. And one thing I observed that these reel nurses have in common: they are both tough cookies! In one of the Hawthorne promos our heroine is being manhandled by somebody in what looks to be a hospital corridor or maybe it's a police precinct. Her hair is messed up pretty badly, there's blood down the front of her lab coat and she's screaming at the top of her lungs: "Let go of me, I'm a nurse." Maybe she's being arrested or just having a bad day in the ER. In fairness, there are other promos with Ms Smith looking very subdued as she looks out at us--her audience-- and assures us, "I'm on your side." Or maybe "I'm always fighting for you." Something like that.





Ms Falco, making the rounds to promote her show, looked great on The View. Like a woman proud of her shapely legs and anxious to show them. But she was decked out in a dress so tight and so short that it was distracting to watch her spend half her talk time tugging at her hem. On radio, where legs and hems don't matter, Ms Falco made a point of saying that she likes acting parts of tough women of very few words. Or something like that. Anyhow in a clip from the show, Ms Falco as Nurse Jackie was giving a big shot doctor hell. I think she may have reversed one of the doctor's orders because she believed his prescribed treatment wouldn't be good for the patient. I almost fell off my chair when I heard that exchange. Actually is wasn't really an exchange because I think the doctor was mostly speechless.





I know nursing has changed a whole lot in the 50 years since Bellevue awarded me my diploma. But I can't believe today's nurses are telling doctors to drop dead, or something like that. Less than a month ago, I had a chance to interview and spend time with dozens of my former classmates---many of them retired now---and not a one sounded anything like Nurses Jackie and Hawthorne.





Real nurses from back in our day, remember when women's career options were limited to nurse, teacher and social worker. All of the so-called "helping professions." Today, it's a whole different story.





That's a point I made when I tried to get a couple of news organizations to cover the reunion of my class on May 16. I thought there was a story worth telling about women who came along in the days before "women's lib", who were members of one of the largest classes of nurses-in- training in the history of Bellevue Hospital, itself one this country's oldest public hospitals. In it's day, Bellevue attracted the best and the brightest from all over (not being immodest here) and on graduating they served in all sorts of situations: clinics, ORs, ERs, Viet Nam, the US Senate, schools, Indian reservations. They assumed leadership roles in the profession and helped educate students and younger nurses. Some got married and raised families and continued working.





But guess what? There was no actionable interest in these real nurses. Fugeddabout it! Who gives a darn about people whose work is helping save lives, not taking them.?Or about women from the 60's who are over 60 when that 60-seconds of air time on your average news and talk shows could be spent on murders and celebrity hotties in thigh high dresses. The real life adventures of nurses were not reel enough. And since I started this post, Michael Jackson has died! Michael Jackson 24/7 on MSNBC puts the lie to the often heard media mantra, "Oh, we don't have enough time for (fill in the blank), or "We're running out of time, could you sum up your remarks in 10-seconds?"





I'm not expressing sour grapes here. I spent almost 30 years covering all sorts of breaking news and features as well as so-called "human interest" stories (a dumb term if I ever heard one. Any story lacking human interest has no place in any news outlet). So I know a good story when I see one. I thought some other folks might, too. But they were busy with the swine flu, or some other panic story that had not yet materialized.





More than ever news stories are about what "may" happen, what "could" happen. What "is"
happening is just too....uhmmm, too boring. Not scary enough. Today's reporters need to be predictors, crystal ball gazers. It's not enough to be here now, one must be way ahead in the future. Speculating, for instance, about who will be running for president in 2012!





I fear that many American have reached a point where they prefer the reel to the real. How else to explain the popularity of the mis-named "reality" shows? Or of Hummers, the military vehicle-style for people who wouldn't be caught dead on a real battlefield say in Pakistan or Afghanistan.



Here we are smack dab in the middle of a national debate about reforming our health care system and the delivery of health care so that all Americans are not only covered, but can get quality care without bankrupting the nation and where are nurses' voices being heard? Not on Face The Nation, Meet The Press, This Week....or any of the media platforms that supposedly educate the populous and give exposure to opinion-makers.

Nurses are and have always been important actors on the health care scene! And I'm talking about real nurses, not the people who play nurses on television.