For years, nurses have been fighting an uphill battle to change the way the public views them as professionals. With television shows like Nurse Jackie, Grey's Anatomy, and Mercy each portraying nurses in a different light, it's no wonder the public's view of nurses is skewed.
Even men in the profession have a hard time breaking stereotypes, just think of Gaylord Focker in Meet the Parents.
For female nurses, the phrase "naughty nurse" has the public believing female nurses should be wearing white stockings, a short skirt, and heels while attending to their patients.
In an effort to change this stereotype, nurses are speaking out against Mariah Carey's recent music video for her song "Up Out My Face." Nurses want Carey to reconsider the video, in which Carey and fellow pop star and rapper Nicki Minaj are wearing white stockings and high heels.
"I'm sure Ms. Carey was inspired by the nursing research that shows how music can improve patient outcomes, and she just wanted to pay tribute to the profession, " said Sandy Summers, executive director of Baltimore-based advocacy group The Truth About Nursing, in a press release. "But these images associate nursing with female sexuality, undermining our claims to adequate resources."
Millions have already viewed the video, but Summers thinks this may mislead people who do not know much about the profession into thinking nursing is just "a tired sex joke, not a life-saving profession for college-educated men and women."
Male nurses are rare, accounting for only 5% of the 2 million registered nurses in the U.S., but national ad campaigns are trying to help break stereotypes about male nurses.
The ad campaign is asking men "Are you Man Enough to Be a Nurse?" The ads depict a variety of men and then provide a brief description of a hobby each man enjoys. The men shown in the campaign are dressed in nurse scrubs, sports attire, and business suits.
According to a study conducted by the Bernard Hodes Group in 2004, 50% of the men surveyed have encountered stereotypes in the workplace, and 56% said they encountered the stereotype at school.
Even though the use of these ad campaigns can help promote nursing and recruit more males into the profession, the Hodes study reveals that the men did not view the ads in a positive way.
However, an assistant professor at the UCF's College of Nursing believes that no matter where you work, if it is in a good team environment, the stereotypes will not matter.
"We did not care if you were male, female, white, black or Puerto Rican," Christopher Blackwell, assistant professor at the University of Central Florida, said. "What we care about was that you were a good, productive member of the team."
Sarah Kearns is an editor for HCPro in the Quality and Patient Safety Group. Contact Sarah at skearns@hcpro.com.