PUBLIC IMAGE OF NURSES

The changing public image of nurses

The changing public image of nurses

Introduction

When public summon up the image of a nurse, what actually is it? The TV nurses of "General Hospital" have spent most of their "careers" standing around telephone, chatting at the nurse's station and saying, "Yes doctor" when doctor breezed through scene. Most television or magazine interviews regarding health care in America are mostly from physician's perspective. Many people still see nurses as one of those nice women who empty bedpans and straighten bed sheets. Nursing's image is outdated in this era (Dracup, 1998).

We do not appear to be going in the right main heading either with our image. More persons hospitalized today are composing into bulletins or the clinic CEO about their knowledge and deploring that: they could not number out who the doctor was that nurtured for them because everyone looked the identical and never recognised themselves; they were not ever nurtured for by the identical doctor; the doctors hurried in and out of the room too hurried to converse; they went days without bathing tubs or linen changes; and they had to delay in apparel and slips soaked in urine because no one ever answered the call bell to help them get to the bathroom in time.

Thesis statement

The public regards nurses as symbols of things they like or fear, rather than as individuals.

Discussion and Analysis

Much has been in writing about the likeness of nursing. Instead of focusing on the past, let's put our energies in the future and continue to build a profession we will all be proud.

How we feel about ourselves as nurses is how we are perceived as a profession, either by physicians, the public or prospective nurses. If we feel good about whom we are and what we do, we communicate that feeling to others both verbally and nonverbally (Simmons, 1997).

As the business of health changes, so will nursing. This is good news for nursing. Nurses are the main providers of direct patient care, nursing is the largest health profession, and nursing is the largest services in a hospital. Medical care cannot live without us. Nursing has the potential both in number and through our practice so that the most significant impact on the future of healthcare.

Today nursing has the opportunity to shape the future of healthcare. Nurses are building partnerships with physicians and other health professionals. Nurses are presuming authority functions in case administration, organised care and dwelling health. All these changes in the way nursing and health care practitioners can improve the image of nursing. Nursing can be seen as a affirmative role form, collaborator and integral change agent.

This is a critical time span in the history of nursing. We must seize the opportunity to market the role of the nurse. Nurses should focus on their achievements and contributions. Negative images of nursing and then fade.

So how nursing can contribute to these changes? First, no one can do for us. We take risks and inspire ...