By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA I use Twitter and I like it. As a registered nurse, twitter helps me promote health and wellness and it helps me educate the public on vital health topics. It allows me to tweet about an upcoming radio show, link to informative websites and blogs, or retweet (RT) a tweet. I can read about the latest breaking health news, learn about the latest in health 2.0 and sometimes it…
Read More...Nurses on TV: HawthoRNe is Strong Stuff
On the new TNT series HawthoRNe, a nurse is portrayed in a positive light. By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA I’m delighted to see that the new TV series HawthoRNe avoids most of the media stereotypes of nursing, portraying a nurse character that is strong, determined, smart and assertive. Jada Pinkett Smith, shines as she realistically depicts a nurse. While Pinkett Smith’s role as a Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) is bit exaggerated, that can be…
Read More...TV Nursing Dramas: ‘Nurse Jackie’ Needs Healing, ‘Hawthorne’ Offers Hope
Nurse Jackie vs. Hawthorne Two TV nursing dramas debut next month. Only one seems to have potential to represent the real lives of nurses. By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Does the old adage, “You can’t judge a book by its cover” hold true for TV series? “You can’t judge a drama series by its trailer?” Well, I took a look at the trailers for two new TV nursing-related dramas that debut next month, and…
Read More...Medical Dramas – Accurate or Not?
By Barbara Ficarra Today, Kevin Pho, MD writes, “Why can’t young doctors intubate patients correctly? Blame television.” Dr. Pho references a Canadian newspaper where it’s reported that “Many of the doctors in training said they had learned the procedure from watching medical dramas. And a subsequent analysis of the show ER revealed its fictional MDs and nurses performed intubations incorrectly almost every time.” Medical dramas on television are for entertainment purposes. They are not educational…
Read More...Empathy for Family Members
From the Front Lines By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA As nurses we tend to focus on treating a patient’s illness and still show compassion. As a nurse I try to feel the surroundings. I try to sense not only what a patient is going through, but what the family goes through. And yes, I need to avoid being so intertwined with a patient that it becomes emotionally overwhelming. The key is to separate the…
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