I guess I'm in the minority of nurses here that have no problem with these medical shows. Mind you, I don't watch much TV at all, and haven't even seen a single episode of 'House'. But I haven't really had a problem with the episodes of shows I have seen.

Would I like it if these programs more realistically reflected the nurse's role in health care (and, indeed, the many other different allied health care professionals out there, including but not limited to, here in Canada: Nursing Practitioner, APN, RN, LPN, RT, OT, PT, Social Worker, and Registered Dietician)? Of course. But I'm not going to sweat it. It's mindless entertainment. Lack of the public's understanding of one's professional role is not limited to nursing alone. I wish it were otherwise, but there you have it. I can guarantee you that I would make an effort to tune in for a show about nurses, although I'm sure it would still skew reality in some way. When it comes to entertainment, the skewed will always interest more people than reality. And really, there's nothing wrong with that.

I will also say that I feel bad for my fellow nurses out there who describe dealing with many, many bad/condescending/insert-shitty-description-here doctors. Perhaps I've been uncommonly lucky, but I've only ever dealt with one doctor who acted in a questionable manner toward me (a cranky old-schooler who was put in his place by both me and my unit manager). I can honestly say that every other physician I've worked with has been nothing short of courteous, professional, and respectful of my abilities and knowledge as a fellow health care practitioner.

I posted earlier on in the thread as M (otherwise known as Michele). It was clunky in a way I didn't like after I'd registered it, so I'll be using this one from now on. Whomever's in charge, please feel free to delete the screenname mentioned in my first sentence.

And here's a point - if I wanted to BE a doctor, I would have gone to med school. I like nursing. And it's really hard.

Exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself. I have two Bachelor's degrees (Bach of Science in Biology, Bach of Science in Nursing) and will probably start work on my Master's in a couple of years. It's obviously not school or hard work that bothers me (yes, my curriculum included such daunting subjects as pathophysiology and histology, biochemistry, molecular chemistry, physics, and calculus; and not 'dumbed-down' versions, either). I just don't want to be a doctor. It's not my path. I love patient and family interaction, which, contrary to popular belief, most physicians (at least the ones I've talked to about it) wish they had more of.

Anyway, this wasn't about me, so I'll shut up now -- heh. But thank you for responding, Sallie. From a fellow nurse (and writer), I look forward to reading more of your work.

So I guess I must have truly been naive or something about these shows' effects on the viewing public. If Cosmic Mojo's post is any indication, I stand corrected on how much of a misunderstanding there is about nurses and what we do.

If you really think that all we do is apply bandages, take blood pressures and temperatures, and hold patients' hands while the physician does his or her thing (all equally valuable functions, though), you clearly don't have a single clue. I suppose the push toward university degree RNs has nothing to do with the growing complexity of our profession, but is rather just to make us feel better about ourselves when we empty those bedpans and change those diapers all shift-long.

I also don't have a sweet clue what comprises the majority of a nurse's workday on an orthopedic unit, which is where I assume you've been rehabilitating post-accident, and that's sort of my point. Maybe they DO only take blood pressures and temperatures, dole out meds, and administer bed baths. Somehow I doubt that that's all they do, but what do I know? I don't work on such a unit, nor have I ever (with the exception of a one week clinical rotation back when I was a first year nursing student, but that was a fairly limited-exposure type of situation). Like physician specialities, nursing specialities come in all colors of the rainbow.

I agree wholeheartedly that it's contemptible at best to deliberately antagonize another person. I also don't discount others' attitudes and feelings with respect to sex, porn, and the like. But I also, personally and as a woman myself, don't 'get' why so many other women feel threatened by porn if it's not being used in an antagonistic way toward them (like what the LW describes her ex doing; what an asshole!).

It's incomprehensible to think that somebody not only wants your total loyalty in life, they want to control your fantasies also.

Well said. Unless porn consumption becomes... well, all-consuming, an obsession, or involves children or animals, I really don't see a problem with it. It's like anything in life: it's a question of healthy balance.

And let's face it. Porn is not going away anytime soon. It's as ubiquitous as oxygen and nearly as much in demand.