Nursing The Image

Julia Hallam considers the 'image' of nursing and how it has been constructed, contributing to the debates surrounding gender and occupational identity.

This book examines some of the more disturbing representations of nurses in popular culture, to understand nursing’s complex identities, challenges and future directions. It critically analyses disquieting representations of nurses who don’t care, who kill, who inspire fear or who do not comply with laws and policies. Also addressed are stories about how power is used, as well as supernatural experiences in nursing. Using a series of examples taken from popular culture ranging from film, television and novels to memoirs and true crime podcasts, it interrogates the meaning of the shadow side of nursing and the underlying paradoxes that influence professional identity. Iconic nursing figures are still powerful today. Decades after they were first created, Ratched and Annie Wilkes continue to make readers and viewers shudder at the prospect of ever being ill. Modern storytelling modes are bringing to audiences the grim reality that some nurses are members of the working poor, like Cath Hardacre in Trust Me, and others can be dangerous con artists, like the nurse in Dirty John. This book is important reading for all those interested in understanding the links between nursing’s image and the profession’s potential as an agent for change.

Ideas of "nursing" and "nurses" carry a powerful social charge. The image of the nurse continues to be a symbol of caring and of duty at the same time as it projects a view of femininity, "stereotypical" in its gender relations. How has this image come to be constructed? An empirical investigation of representations of nursing practices in Britain, focusing on publicity and promotional materials and their relationship to popular fictional narratives, reveals a strong correlation between what are usually described as discrete forms of signification. Recruitment images, the public face of the profession, provide an important source of information and inspiration for those considering nurse training.; Julia Hallam, considers the "image" of nursing and how it has been constructed, contributing to debates surrounding gender and occupational identity, she draws from a wide range of sources including biographies, marketing and recruitment literature, popular fiction (e.g. Mills & Boon) and film (e.g. Carry On films). The book should provide a valuable source for undergraduate and postgraduate students on courses such as the social history of nursing; the understanding of health and illness; women's studies and gender studies; and sociology courses focused on cultural or gendered study of health.

"Explores the ways in which nurses have been and are being portrayed, how these portrayals are related to reality, and how they reflect historical and contemporary conflicts about women's roles. Several contributors also examine the effect such portrayls have on nurses themselves and on current issues in the nursing profession"--cover.

Examines the portrayal of nurses in the mass media, and the misconceptions that it fosters in the way that they are perceived by patients in comparison to the vital role that they actually play in saving lives.

This unique new book offers practical tips that improve communication skills in a variety of nursing situations. Readers explore concepts and apply simple techniques to develop greater self-confidence in communicating both on the job and in personal life.

First Place, History and Public Policy, 2010 American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Awards This new interpretation of the history of nursing in the United States captures the many ways women reframed the most traditional of all gender expectations—that of caring for the sick—to create new possibilities for themselves, to renegotiate the terms of some of their life experiences, and to reshape their own sense of worth and power. For much of modern U.S. history, nursing was informal, often uncompensated, and almost wholly the province of female family and community members. This began to change at the end of the nineteenth century when the prospect of formal training opened for women doors that had been previously closed. Nurses became respected professionals, and becoming a formally trained nurse granted women a range of new social choices and opportunities that eventually translated into economic mobility and stability. Patricia D'Antonio looks closely at this history—using a new analytic framework and a rich trove of archival sources—and finds complex, multiple meanings in the individual choices of women who elected a nursing career. New relationships and social and professional options empowered nurses in constructing consequential lives, supporting their families, and participating both in their communities and in the health care system. Narrating the experiences of nurses, D'Antonio captures the possibilities, power, and problems inherent in the different ways women defined their work and lived their lives. Scholars in the history of medicine, nursing, and public policy, those interested in the intersections of identity, work, gender, education, and race, and nurses will find this a provocative book.

Ideas of 'nursing' and 'nurses' carry a powerful social charge. The image of the nurse continues to be a symbol of caring and of duty at the same time as it projects a view of femininity, 'stereotypical' in its gender relations. How has this image come to be constructed? An empirical investigation of representations of nursing practices in Britain focusing on publicity and promotional materials and their relationship to popular fictional narratives reveals a strong correlation between what are usually described as discrete forms of signification. Recruitment images, provide an important source of information and inspiration for those considering nurse training. Julia Hallam, draws from a wide range of sources including biographies, marketing and recruitment literature, popular fiction and film to explore this question. In doing so she makes an original contribution to the debates surrounding gender and occupational identity. The book will provide a valuable resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students on courses such as the social history of nursing, the understanding of health and illness, women's studies, gender studies and sociology courses.