HawthoRNe

[JudithMitiguy]

We'd love to hear what you think about the new series HawthoRNe. The contrast between Jada's character and Edie's on Nurse Jackie is amazing.

[PWhite]

What a lousey, sappy, show!!
The Director of Nursing as the all encompassing Angel!!
Just what we need...........NOT!

[OBNurseJeanne]

Interesting crtiique from Suzanne Gordon:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ed...arry_the_show/

Finally, hospitals' unsung heroes carry the show

By Suzanne Gordon | June 18, 2009

SINCE THE BIRTH of television, Hollywood has given doctors a permanent starring role in prime-time hospital dramas. But most doctor shows have relegated the nation’s largest healthcare profession - nursing - to the status of bit players. Whether it was “Marcus Welby, M.D.’’ or “St. Elsewhere,’’ TV routinely presented RNs as mere handmaidens of physicians. In more contemporary shows like “Grey’s Anatomy,’’ “The Practice,’’ and “House,’’ medicine is now full of ethnic, racial, and gender diversity. Unfortunately, there’s hardly ever a nurse in the house.

That’s why it’s so remarkable that two new shows put the spotlight on a nurse. In TNT’s “HawthoRNe,’’ Jada Pinkett Smith plays a chief nurse who’s smart and feisty. Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie’’ (Edie Falco) displays an edgier and far more realistic view of nursing.

In each show, we see the challenges of modern nursing depicted in an unprecedented way. In the first episode of the Showtime series, a young bike messenger is brought into the emergency room after being hit by a car. Because she’s a veteran RN, Jackie knows the boy has a brain bleed but a cocky young doctor blows her off and fails to treat it. The patient dies. In episode two, an angry man storms into the ER and socks Jackie in the jaw. Jackie figures out that the guy isn’t crazy, just distraught. He’s taking care of an obese, diabetic mother - a double leg amputee - all by himself. Jackie gets him an overnight stay and calls in social services.

“Hawthorne’’ is smart but a little too saintly, and Pinkett Smith is a one-note actress. “Nurse Jackie,’’ however, is a real gift to the nursing profession. The series reveals the critical role nurses play in healthcare and the price they pay for their expertise and commitment to patients. Jackie self-medicates because she injured her back on the job and is in constant pain. (In the real world, 6 to 11 percent of all nurses leave hospital work because of back, neck, and shoulder injuries). She’s a stressed-out recovering alcoholic. (Because of the stress of their work, more nurses do, in fact, have higher rates of stress-related illnesses, depression, and even suicide than the rest of the population.)

In spite of all this - and here Jackie may be functioning better than some real-life RNs - she’s worn out, but not burnt out. Like the best nurses I know, she displays deep compassion for her patients but without a shred of sentimentality. When a nursing student confesses to being unsure whether she’s cut out for the work, Jackie takes her aside and let’s her in on the secret of work in a modern hospital.

“You know what this job is honey, this job is wading through a shitstorm of people who come here on the very worst day of their lives. And just for your information, doctors are here to diagnose, not heal. We heal. And All Saints is in the business of flipping patients, that’s it, end of story. The fact that you have even the slightest inclination to help people puts you miles ahead of 100 percent of the population. So buck up.’’

Nurses are already reacting to nursing’s star turn. Three RN unions, including the Massachusetts Nurses Association, ran ads during commercial breaks on the first episode of “HawthoRNe,’’ advocating safe staffing legislation. And the blogosphere is buzzing with rank-and-file feedback on Jackie’s human foibles. Some RNs are upset that Jackie may hurt the image of their profession. The New York State Nurses Association is even demanding that the show’s producers run a disclaimer stating that Jackie violates nursing ethics.

To focus on Jackie’s flaws, however, is to miss the point. Most television doctors are oversexed, self-absorbed, and idiosyncratic. But when it’s time for diagnosis and treatment, they’re brilliant. Even though TV is supposed to be just entertainment, shows like “Nurse Jackie,’’ and even “HawthoRNe,’’ can help convince the public that nurses matter. Not just because they’re kind, sweet, and selfless but because they have the knowledge and skill that often makes the difference between life and death.

Suzanne Gordon is author of “Nursing Against the Odds.’’

[RyanRN]

Interesting point of view, indeed. Like it.

[copperrose]

I saw Hathorne last night. I've never seen a CNO sit at the nurses station and chat with the nurses. I've worked in hospitals where I didn't even know WHO the CNO WAS.To me it's just as unrealistic as some other things on other shows. The hospital board meeting was fairly correct I suppose (I've never been to one).Snapping between her and a female Dr. with a chip on her shoulder,I'm sure that happens. Read where Jada Pinkett-Smith's mother is a nurse. That's great but she obviously didn't have much input into the show. Like PWhite said pretty sappy.

I like the Ms. Gordon's reviews of the shows and I have thought pretty much the same thing. I've had several friends over the years who've had back surgery and are in pain. I've had friends that are recovering substance abusers. Unfortunately those things can be consequences of the job.

I LOVED Jackie's speech to the nursing student. Many of us have mentored nursing students like that. I remember BEING a nursing student like that. I remember calling the hospital at midnight after 3-11 clinical and them telling me to go to bed. I remember crying in an elevator so no one would see me. Jackie may do some bizarre things (flushing the ear was unique) but I can't say that it isn't something some of us have wanted to do. I don't know how many cranky old cardiac patients I've wanted to slap and say "Shut up and behave" to but I didn't. I don't know how many attending I've wanted to slap and remind them that they are grown ups and not spoiled 8 year olds, but I didn't . (I'm waiting for her to do something like that!)Jackie does some things we've all wanted to do in our hearts.

When the nursing administrator got a hold of Jackie's crushed percocet and put it in her coffee and then acted silly and foolish I laughed very loudly.(I think there will be a negotiation thing with the Admin, ear vs silliness, I won't tell if you won't) How many of us have had administrators who didn't understand our problems and never made sense? In the first episode the Admin gave Jackie a speech about how the amount of over time she did was against the rules then she asked Jackie to do a double the next week. I'm sure that some nursing administrators don't like the character but some of them don't have any senses of humor anyway.

[maire]

Welcome to the site. Have yet to watch the show. Looking forward to it, even after reading opinions in advance.

[MASHNurse]

Hello, I'm new to this forum. I'm a Nurse, I love to support Nurses as well as patients. I've been in the trenches and still am. I'm here because I'm concerned about how Nursing is being viewed. You see, I've been so busy that I've just finally seen "Nurse Jackie". I couldn't help but wonder how afraid that show would make patients feel. I would never be a patient if I saw that. How can patients take Nurses seriously after watching Nurse Jackie. How can they trust Nurses? It's like the screen writers are projecting their own mental illness onto the entire field of Nursing. Nurse Jackie is more of a Technician mentality, not professional problem solver like most of the savvy Nurses I worked with. Man, I’ve learned, along with my co workers, how to spin straw into gold. Leave a great Nurse with a failing patient and come back in the morning and that patient is not only alive but is now awake and grateful. Now that's deserving of respect. Where is the imagination or value in Nurse Jackie? If Nurse Jackie really did have sex in a lab room, the security staff that monitor the hidden security cameras (that are located in every room) would have a laugh and then escort Jackie and her partner out for good. Now that's real Nursing. How can we expect people to advocate for Nurses and take Nursing seriously after watching that show? It's like we're back to the pre-Nightingale days when Nurses were considered untrustworthy prostitutes. After all we've fought for, working to be taken seriously. I hope “HowthoRNe” helps build bridges of understanding more than Nurse Jackie did. I imagine Jackie helps some Nurses vent and that would be great if patients didn't have to be frightened while watching their advocates fight it out. How are we going to maintain a healing environment when we tear our reputation apart like Nurse Jackie does? How can we expect Mothers to trust us with their babies or parents with their children? I don't understand why Nurses don't boycott the networks that play this show. Why shouldn't I be concerned?