Question

The purpose of the discussion is to examine the responsibilities of the professional nurse. You will complete this by analyzing the image of nursing that is portrayed to the general public. For this discussion, locate a negative image of nursing (see below). Explain why you believe your selected media presents a negative image for nursing.

Answer 1

Registered nurses often work in hospitals or outpatient facilities, where they provide hands-on care to patients by administering medications, managing intravenous lines, observing and monitoring patients' conditions, maintaining records and communicating with doctors. They are also relied upon to give direction and supervision to nurse aides and home health aides.

Beyond the physical support and care they provide, registered nurses may provide emotional support to patients and patients' family members. They may educate patients and the general public on disease management, special diet plans and medical conditions, provide information on home care after their treatment and teach individuals how to self-administer medication or complete other self-care tasks.

Nurses employed by physician offices and other types of facilities may have different duties depending on the level and type of care being offered.

Public perception about nursing is that the profession is highly respected and recognized globally, which most people will not hesitate to recommend nursing career to their qualify students. The public sees nursing as combining knowledge, skill, and professionalism with caring. Many people as well depict the profession very poorly due to the growing trend of stereotyping. Many people believes that the working conditions are hard, powerless and lacked autonomy, they have other professions in their dreams, the income is not satisfactory and nursinghas a low social status. Even though nurses have become healthcare professionals in their own right who possess a great deal of knowledge the public does not always value the skills and competences nurses have acquired through education and innovation.

Nursing is considered as a critical resource, which is why it is essential to know its image to contribute to consolidating its identity and consequently increase its number and place among health-care professionals and society.

In Indonesia, nursing image is likely seen to be assistants to physicians and committed to housekeeping duties, rather than devoted to caring, which is similar to Shields and Hartati said that nurses are regarded as “doctors” helpers. This image could discourage young generation to choose nursing as a career. In contrast, Indonesian nurses are also seen as knowledgeable, intelligent, and analytical.This tells that there is a gap of nursing image perceived by nurses and nonnurses.

In addition, previous studies might not represent the number of population to describe nursing image in Indonesia, as Indonesia consists of 220,004 nurses serving about 250 million of population in 17,000 Islands.[8] Therefore, we need to explore further about nursing image, as the image may be different in each island in Indonesia. Furthermore, there is a limited number of studies related to nursing image in Indonesia which appears to two studies in 2003 and 2018.

The responsibilities of the professional nurse go beyond caring for the sick or promoting wellness. As outlined in the ANA code of Ethics for Nurses, it is the responsibility of all professional nurses to support the profession as a whole. This can be done in various ways. In addition to promoting the profession in a positive way, the professional nurse also looks at the bigger picture of health and wellness in the community, country, and global community

The way the media portrays certain healthcare professionals works a lot like advertising. The same people influenced by commercials or political ads also will be influenced by messaging about the conduct and role of healthcare professionals. Nursing is constantly portrayed inaccurately by several media outlets. The media’s negative portrayal of nurses continues to damage the public’s perception of these professionals, and as a result, some students do not understand or respect nursing as a profession and therefore do not consider it as a career.

These negative portrayals also influence public officials and other healthcare decision-makers. Their misunderstanding of the nursing profession leads to insufficient allocation of funds when it comes to nursing education, nursing research and the adequate staffing of nurses.

It is important to note that in some cases the media is not intentionally portraying nurses in a negative way. However, the problem is that the audience is still being influenced whether the negative messaging was intentional or not. The best way to put an end to this is to call out the common stereotypes that the media is perpetuating, and then show those stereotypes are inaccurate by displaying facts about registered nurses’ responsibilities.

A few of the false stereotypes the media has popularized are that nursing is a career only for females, that nurses are would-be doctors who couldn’t finish med school, and that nurses work for doctors and must be at their beck and call.

However true those stereotypes may have been in the past, they now are outdated. They inaccurately portray the contemporary field of nursing.