The World of Nursing on Prime Time Television, 1950 to 1980

Abstract

This study reported the results of a content analysis of prime-time television portrayals of nurses and nursing over the past three decades with attention to scope of nursing practice, career orientation of nurses, nursing actions, and nurses' impact on patient welfare. The sample was 320 episodes from 28 series. The findings showed that nurses were depicted as working in acute care settings, entering nursing for altruistic reasons, predominantly acting as a resource to other health professionals, not using problem-solving and evaluation skills, deficient in administrative abilities, and remiss in providing physical comforting, engaging in expanded role activities, patient education and scholarly endeavors. Since the 1960s the trend in the quality of nurse portrayals has been downward. This has created a current crisis in communicating the world of nursing to the public via the most powerful form of mass communication, television.