Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nurses Puts Us All at Risk (Kaplan Voices Nurses) (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Harry Jacobs Summers (Author)
Key Phrases: nurse imagery, nursing stereotypes, zoos episode, Grey's Anatomy, New York Times, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Saving Lives has a serious point, that the devaluation of nursing—both by overlooking nurses’ contributions to positive outcomes for patients, and more subtly by emphasizing their devotion, compassion and self-sacrifice over their lifesaving skills—discourages students from the field and contributes to a critical nursing shortage.” —Newsweek

 

“Saving Lives is an important book because it so clearly delineates how ubiquitous negative portrayals of nursing are in today’s media, particularly three common stereotypes of nurses — the “Naughty Nurse,” the “Angel” and the “Battle Axe.” —New York Times.com

 

""Every nurse should recognise the damage that negative portrayals of nursing in the press, films, television and even books can do to our image. ... This well-researched text explores the negative effects of adverse publicity and how it inhibits our professional growth. ... The book deserves wide reading.  Hopefully some firebrand may even be driven to duplicate this study in the UK.""

—Dame Betty Kershaw, Nursing Standard (UK)

 

“Saving Lives provides a stunning exposé of the media’s inaccurate portrayals of nurses and their work, and documents the impact this has on public health. It should be mandatory reading for journalists, script writers, producers, physicians, policymakers, the public, and anyone who perpetuates nursing invisibility and the often blasphemous representations of nurses’ everyday heroism. There’s no longer any excuse for media creators to fail to speak truth about the exquisite skill and essential contributions of nurses to safe, humanistic, intelligent health care.” —Diana J. Mason, RN, PhD, FAAN, Editor-in-Chief, American Journal of Nursing, and co-host, HealthStyles, WBAI Radio

 

“This wonderful book hits the reader in the heart and the mind. As a clinician it hit me hard, with a ‘yes, I’ve been there’ feeling. It still hurts. As an educator it struck me in a different way. Will my brilliant nursing students have to endure the same stereotypical images over and over again? But the book is not only evocative and educational; with a strong sense of hope, it points the way forward.” —Claire M. Fagin, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor Emerita, Dean Emerita, and Interim President Emerita, the University of Pennsylvania

 

“Saving Lives is a fascinating in-depth look at how Hollywood and other media undermine nursing by feeding the public damning myths and derogatory views of nurses decade after decade. The book instills an awareness that will forever change the way the reader views nurses in the media. Reader take warning: you may be left with a strong desire to do something to change the system. Luckily, the authors tell you how.” —Echo Heron, RN, author of Intensive Care: The Story of a Nurse; Tending Lives: Nurses on the Medical Front, and the Adele Monsarrat medical mystery series

 

“Why is watching Grey’s Anatomy bad for you? Why is House a public health problem? Read this book and find out. Sandy and Harry Summers provide an insightful and often witty guide to the media’s ‘nursing problem.’ They help us understand the consequences of the media’s love affair with physicians and its failure to appreciate the critical work of nurses. This book is an important contribution to the study of nursing and health care.” —Suzanne Gordon, author of Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care, co-author of Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the Public

 

“In this irreverent tour of the popular health media, Sandy and Harry Summers lift the cloak of invisibility from the health care professionals who are the front line of healing.” —Andrew Holtz, MPH, former CNN Medical Correspondent and author of The Medical Science of House, M.D.

 

“Nurses are health scientists who save our lives every day, in countless ways. But most people, unless they’ve been hospitalized for an extended period, don’t know that fact—thanks to media portrayals of nurses as nothing more than bedpan jockeys, backrub dispensers, and passive handmaidens of brilliant physicians, in whose shadows nurses wilt. This important, long-overdue book vividly illustrates the dynamism and rigor of the nursing profession—and explains in sobering detail how flawed media images of nursing affect the health of us all.” —Ronnie Polaneczky, Columnist, Philadelphia Daily News

 

”I did not just ‘read’ Saving Lives; I could not put it down. With compelling prose and examples, the book reveals how the media has failed at portraying the profession of nursing. If you are a nurse you should be infuriated. If you are in the media you should be ashamed. Fortunately, the authors have included a ‘tool box’ that provides many ways to seek change.” —Richard Kahn, Independent Filmmaker and Producer, Lifeline: The Nursing Diaries; In Our Midst: The Long-Term Impact of Neonatal Intensive Care; and Frontline: Street Cop

 

“Saving Lives is a powerful indictment of how the media portrays nursing today. With astute yet playful analyses of products ranging from Hollywood sitcoms to elite news pieces, this book shows why the media has contributed to poor understanding, which has in turn fueled the global nursing shortage. But the authors also offer a compelling vision for the future, showing how everyone can help nurses lead the way to a new world of health and well-being. The change starts here.” —Nancy King Reame, RN, PhD, FAAN, Professor of Nursing, Columbia University, former contributor, iVillage, and co-author, Our Bodies, Ourselves  

Product Description

Popular TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy, ER, and House lead people to think that nurses simply push gurneys, drive romantic plots, and provide an attractive backdrop for the real action. However, 12 million nurses worldwide know the reality is far more fascinating, demanding, and important.

Written by the leaders of The Truth About Nursing, the organization at the forefront of challenging and changing representations of nurses, Saving Lives is destined to change the way people look at the essential role nurses play within the U.S. healthcare system. It explores the public’s perception of nurses and spells out the greatest myths about nursing, drawing on examples from television shows, ads, news, and other media.

Saving Lives exposes the media’s role in the nursing shortage and the often dismissive public perception of nursing. But it is also a call to action. Saving Lives offers concrete steps to help nurses, and those who support them, educate the public about nursing.

For millions of people worldwide, nurses are the difference between life and death, self-sufficiency and dependency, and hope and despair. Nonetheless a lack of appreciation for nursing has contributed to a global shortage that is one of our most urgent public health crises. There are not enough nurses available to monitor patients, provide hi-tech treatments, advocate for patients, and teach patients to live with their conditions. Poor understanding of what nurses do undermines claims for adequate staffing, and leads to a lack of resources for nursing practice, education, and research. All of that means worse patient outcomes, including death.

Saving Lives is destined to change public perceptions, thereby empowering nurses and attracting new nurses to the healthcare field.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Kaplan Publishing; 1 edition (February 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1427798451
• ISBN-13: 978-1427798459
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #66,677 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Saving Lives tells the Truth about Nursing, February 23, 2009

By	Bobbi Kimball, RN - See all my reviews

As the United States braces for an enduring shortage of highly trained registered nurses that may negatively affect the quality of health care in our lifetime, the popular media continues to undermine the reality of nursing's contributions through inaccurate portrayals of the profession. Saving Lives not only tells us the truth about Nursing's impact on health, quality of care and the lives of real people, but it articulately demonstrates why Nursing is consistently ranked by consumers as the most respected profession in the US and remains the resiliant backbone of the health care system. This revealing book is a powerful call to action for all nurses, nursing students, policy makers, media and the general public.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Information, April 2, 2009

By	Cathy A. Jacobs "RNCJ" (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a long time nurse, I thought this book sounded interesting. It definitely was. I found their comments about the portrayals of nursing to be all too true and often coincided with many of my and my co-workers comments. Some of our surgeons couldn't pick out their patients in a line up let alone stoop to spending hours of their precious time comforting them and their families or providing actual personal care to them. Anyone who thinks what they see on tv is what nursing really is definitely needs to read this book.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Saving Lives, Changeing the public view of nursing., March 27, 2009

By	Michael A. Lavoie (Roundup, MT, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First off, the book is well written and interesting to read. In addition it illuminates the inaccurate portrayal of nurses in the public media and how that image is impacting the future of nursing and nurses in real life. Ms. Summers does an exceptional job of presenting the evidence of how the image of the nurse in the media is affecting nurses everywhere. With the worst nursing shortage in history in full swing, it is important that nurses and non-nurses alike be aware of the information in this book.