Was curious to find out what were your opinions of Showtime's new series "Nurse Jackie"?
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June 10th, 2009 at 11:35 am
I have to cross post from another website I frequent because it sums up my thoughts nicely:
I watched the pilot, and I thought it was awful.
I’m obviously biased, but:
-I’m tired of the “nurse sleeps with everyone” stereotype. Every time. And now, sleeping with the pharmacist for drugs? Awesome!
-The addict thing has been played out.
-So has the “mean to patients but witty so it’s alright” thing. She’s probably just burnt out, but holy crap I hate burnt out nurses so it’s annoying to watch one. Also, I watch House MD for that.
-A gay male nurse? You don’t say.
-Showcasing overly happy/excited nursing student (?)/new nurse who can’t take the sight of blood. Come on.
A couple things they did get right:
-The cocky resident thing. Yeah that happens alright. But when it comes between you and the care of your patient, you don’t stand down like she did with the scan thing.
-Chronic back pain for nurses. It happens frequently, and addictions happen not so frequently, but it’s just an annoying premise for a show, considering we already have House MD.
One annoying scene at the end: Maybe I wasn’t paying attention enough, but I did not understand her hissy fit over the bag of fluids and the “I almost killed yoouu arghghgh” thing. Was it the wrong patient? The wrong fluids? Were they allergic to the stuff in the bag? Did she not prime the line? I probably wasn’t watching very intently since it was at the end and it was loosing my interest.
But overall, I’ll most likely be not watching this show regularly anytime soon.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:37 am
There is a post from the mother of a patient that had someinteresting things to say about the show and real nurses. You can find her post at
http://iamsoannoyed.com/?p=1643
June 10th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
I had to watch it a second time as nauseating as it was. I had to be sure everything happened as unfortunately I thought. So here’s the wrap.
1.Her 12 hour shift starts out with her snorting crushed Percocet.
2. F bomb used many time 5 by Jackie
3. She forges the signature of an expired patient on a donor card. While I agree wholeheartedly with organ donation what she did was unethical.
4. A doctor grops her breasts as what he calls a stress response.
5. She takes time out of her busy ER shift to have sex with the pharmacist in the pharmacy.
6. She is disgusted with the student nurse shadowing her and tells her in no uncertain terms to “shut-up” then sends her on an errand of taking biohazards somewhere while she has extra marital sex in the pharmacy with the pharmacist. Afterwards they lie down for a quick rest. He offers her Oxycotin.
7. She has time to go out for a nice sit down lunch with a doctor. Candles on the table.
8. She ignores a woman choking on her food but does in the end give in and performs the heimlic manuver.
9. A patient is examined, in the stirrups, fully exposed in front of an open door, nuns stop by for a peek. She allows the student nurse to take a picture of the patients genitals with her cell phone.
10. Halfway through her shift she is seen snorting drugs again.
11. She has patient who is a drug dealer, his ear was severed, she robs him of his money and then flushes his ear down the toilet.
12. She has time to rest lying in a pew in the hospital chapel.
13. She gives the money she stole, has some redeeming qualities.
14. The pharmacist then gives her vicodan and she tells him she loves him.
15. She punctures the tires of a bike messager on her way home.
Gee, don’t we all have 12 hour shifts like that? I’ve been an RN for 33 years and I’ve never seen such a trainwreck of a nurse.
I am sickened that Showtime is further propagating the false notion that nurses don’t work as hard. We usually have 10 minutes to woof down a cold lunch much less have sex, take a nap, go out to lunch. I am sickened that Showtime is portraying nurses as unethical, dishonest and uncaring about student nurses and their patients privacy.
I wrote to Showtime. My reply was that they had researched to make Nurse Jackie as real as possible. Did they not even read a word of my letter of complaint? Obviously not. I think we all need to write them, over and over.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
This show infuriates me. Just once, I would like to see soemthing on the popular media that shows us as intelligent, emotinally mature professionals who are too damn busy trying to save patients’ lives, prevent suffering, and clean up after thoughtless self absorbed physicians. What hospital nurse today has time to have Sex on the job? And perpetuating the stereotype of male nurses being gay-Well, that is just sickening and a real nasty slap in the face to us all. WHEN WILL THIS AWFUL MEDIA IMAGE OF US STOP!
June 10th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
This show is disgusting. I am horrified that Showtime says that they researched to make the show real. I wanted to throw up the whole time and turned it off early. I was so angered by this and am so upset that there are people out there defending it. I had one friend say, “Hello! It’s Showtime!” As if that is an excuse. I know they are known for having controversial shows but this one is slanderous. Showtime should stick to stupid shows like Dexter and Weeds – don’t attack the already fragile reputation on nurses.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
I am happy to hear that other nurses feel this way. All the points that were made below are so true. I watched the episode on itunes before it aired. I was shocked and disgusted by her behavior. These story lines have all been done before whether on greys or house or er. I am hoping that Hawthorne with (Jada P. Smith)portrays nursing and nurses in a better light.
June 11th, 2009 at 2:07 am
Wait a minute,
There are good, bad and in-between nurses working in society. This is a wake up call for our profession. I know this character does not represent me. However, she does represent several other coworkers who acted as she did in separate negative behaviors. For examples, one nurse revealed too much sexual appeal with the physicians; another nurse is chemical dependent and caught stealing narcs from the patient’s med drawer; back stabbing other coworkers and etc.
Nurse Jackie is a character with all the negatives wrapped within her; instead of several characters displaying the negative behaviors such as ER, Medical Center, Julie and etc.
Why hide the horror stories of our career and show only the positive sides?
Every career has a light and dark side which everyone knows except those who are hiding their career from reality.
Nurses have skeletons in their closets like anyone else. Not all nurses are good and positive as every nurse want to think.
Since when it is slandered that some nurses have engaged in some chemical dependence, criminal acts, the philosophy of “nurses eat their young” has been practiced, displayed miscommunication and misunderstandings w/patients & coworkers, not participating in ADLs, and etc.?
I am not going to lie…it does occur and discrimination is alive and kicking as well among the nurses I have work beside each day and night.
Some of us can scream foul play and others can scream reality.
However, TNT has a new RN show beginning this Sunday or Monday. This Nurse breaks every dam rule and she is not the traditional nurse, let’s see who screams foul play then.
I will accept the Nurse Jackies’ of the world in our profession and I will not become a Nurse Jackie.
June 11th, 2009 at 6:14 am
I am a new grad and was appalled by the way the profession was displayed. One comment I heard from a family member, ” Are nurses really like that?” I sincerely hope not, I was taught that this is a profession to be respected and that we should live to supreme standards in our care of patients, families and colleagues. I have worked hard to obtain my LPN and be accepted to the RN program. My family is extremely proud of me but this show attempts to undermine our hard work and dedication. It sucks as much as Saving Grace which portrays a police woman as an outright alcoholic sl**.
June 11th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Haven’t watched the show but have heard comments from colleagues stating it to be the most demeaning show regarding the profession to ever hit the airwaves.
June 11th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
if they seriously want DRAMA why dont they pay nurses a small sum to GIVE them ideas (of course making sure it doesnt violate pt confidentiality)
Add crazy patients and families into the mix. AMA discharges – one to many admissions – a med error and the stress of someone that is a back stabber working with you.
Have SEVERAL nurses with quirks instead of one nurse that is horrible personified. Have one nurse be distracted and other nurses pull her aside to tell her about it. Have an ass of a dr floating around and the decision whether to wake him at 3 am for an order that you realllly should call him for but then the patient might be OK nad you really dont know which way it is going to go – good or bad – get screamed at for calling or screamed at for not.
Fatigue – falling asleep while charting
the worry of a child that is home at sick
The nurse being at work sick cause she cant call off or risk getting in trouble.
The list goes on and on. They dont need sex and poorly dramatized drug addictions to give you DRAMA. And if they are going to show drug addictions – make it realistic. Gosh real life is dramatic enough.
June 11th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
oh where to begin, I saw the unrealistic portrail of nurse jackie which is obviously pandering to a public that likes that sort of thing, sex,drugs, scandal, and sex drugs scandal….Its not going to be watched if they had anything different. I was apalled that they showed her sniffing percocet then running down the hall with her pt that is on a gurney! I am an ER nurse and it is true, we barely have time to get our breaks and go to the toilet let alone have sex with a pharmacist, go to dinner, lay in a church, sniff some more drugs, ect. It is so sad they have to use all those scenarios to get ratings. I was not impressed.
June 11th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I agree with buttons.
June 11th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I actually sat down yesterday with a professor of mine when we were discussing my clinical research project I’m going to begin soon and the topic of Nurse Jackie came up. I can say I haven’t seen this show and I truly had no intention of watching it from the moment I saw it advertised in a movie theatre.
One reason-once you’re in the healthcare profession, the LACK of reality in shows like ER, Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Hope, House, Nurse Jackie, and the soon to be showing Hawthorne is ridiculous. For one thing, too much emphasis on DOCTORS! Heck, the only healthcare related show that I would even call entertaining would be SCRUBS, because it provides a lighter, comedic approach to healthcare and shows a lot of physician’s, but not all, for what they TRULY are all about. Although I didn’t watch that one much either!
They’re just not enough shows that focus on nurses because for some reason the entertainment industry only likes to glorify doctors and belittle nurses (Gaylord Focker anyone?). It’s a sad, sad commentary on the relationship not only of nurses to physicians, but even to patients and visitors as well. Very seldom on TV or movies do you see a very astute nurse that gets it done and done right!
I personally would love to see a movie or TV show about life on a nursing unit, it would be hilarious, sad, adventurous, dramatic, maybe even Sci-Fi all rolled into one, and that’s a normal day for your average nurse!
But just to touch on one of the poster’s lists above, not having seen the show, I thought I might point out some things that do relate to the real world of nursing and my opinions of what they pointed out:
1.Her 12 hour shift starts out with her snorting crushed Percocet.
1 a. Typical Showtime, TV crap! Not original and totally unnecessary. Yes, nurses see some stuff that might prompt us to WANT to do drugs sometimes, but it doesn’t me that we do. Plus most hospitals have a substance abuse policy and it would be pretty obvious who’s snorting Percocet at work, when they sleep all day long!
2. F bomb used many times by Jackie
2 a. Well, I might wouldn’t use it regularly in front of patients or doctors, but even I would have to admit some things on a unit would make me drop one of those on occasion, but not all the time like that.
3. She forges the signature of an expired patient on a donor card. While I agree wholeheartedly with organ donation what she did was unethical.
3 a. This isn’t just unethical, IT’S AGAINST THE LAW! She should go to prison! Showtime has her on tape, I say we get the tape and we all press charges!
4. A doctor gropes her breasts as what he calls a stress response.
4 a. Unfortunately this type of stuff does still happen, you just don’t see it because no one is standing around with a camera watching. However, its very few and far between.
5. She takes time out of her busy ER shift to have sex with the pharmacist in the pharmacy.
5 a. On the floor, let alone a busy ER, I hardly had time to think, much less think about sex or even perform the act! I was too busy passing meds, doing assessments, charting, eating (when I could) and praying to god I didn’t get another admit!
6. She is disgusted with the student nurse shadowing her and tells her in no uncertain terms to “shut-up” then sends her on an errand of taking biohazards somewhere while she has extra marital sex in the pharmacy with the pharmacist. Afterwards they lie down for a quick rest. He offers her Oxycotin.
6 a. I can’t say a nurse precepting me ever told me to shut up, nor do I recall ever doing that, but I have had people act as though I wasn’t that important or I should go find my instructor. Even if you had an instructor badgering you like that, you’d still try to be somewhat professional with them, much less a student that honestly hasn’t got a clue yet. The point is to help students. I will say I do have my issues with instructors that can’t get it together, but you have to help them too!
6 b. When I first read this I thought it said Oxytocin! Man, that pharmacist must have super semen to impregnate her that quickly and already be ready for gestation! Rumors abound about torrid affairs at hospitals, but again they are few and far between and if you get caught, you’re done!
7. She has time to go out for a nice sit down lunch with a doctor. Candles on the table.
7 a. Hey, sometimes nurses have time to leave the premises and eat, at Burger King! Certainly not a sit down, waiter attended meal that obviously would take hours and if a doctor let you sit with them, that would be a blooming miracle, male or female nurse-wise!
8. She ignores a woman choking on her food but does in the end give in and performs the heimlic manuver.
8 a. That whole Good Samaritan Law gets in the way of your meal sometimes, doesn’t it? I’ve been out and about a few times and had to assist people with injuries or ailments outside the hospital and if I was ever hesitant to do so it’s only because of my own inadequacies, but I have and would always respond as quickly as possible. Those choking people though, so annoying!lol
9. A patient is examined, in the stirrups, fully exposed in front of an open door, nuns stop by for a peek. She allows the student nurse to take a picture of the patients genitals with her cell phone.
9 a. If I were one of those nuns I probably would have said, “what in God’s name?” I can hear the student nurse now, “That’s a keeper! I’m puttin that bad boy on Facebook!” WHAT? is all I can say there.
10. Halfway through her shift she is seen snorting drugs again.
10 a. “Excuse me, sir,” slurring speech, “I’m sorry, ma’am. I have your morphine shot for you.” Patient screams in agony. “I’m sorry, that was your eye wasn’t it?”
11. She has patient who is a drug dealer, his ear was severed, she robs him of his money and then flushes his ear down the toilet.
11 a. HOLY CRAP! Ok, how many violations do we have in this one.
A. Unethical Treatment
B. Theft
C. Assault
D. ID10T ERROR
E. she probably knew the guy
F. FAIL
G. What is the point of this scene? To show she’s a complete moron? (As if we hadn’t already figured this out by now)
12. She has time to rest lying in a pew in the hospital chapel.
12 a. Man, when did they start nap time at the hospital? Why don’t we all go back to Kindergarten say around 2 o’clock, the patients won’t need anything!
12 b. She needed religion, but certainly sleeping in the pew doesn’t cut it!
13. She gives the money she stole, has some redeeming qualities.
13 a. I actually did this once! Not stole money, gave money to a charity the patient insisted I take. It was only 2 dollars and they wanted me to go buy myself a hot dog or something for lunch because I was a student and they were just looking out of me, like most elderly people do. Sweet, but not totally appropriate. So as to avoid a confrontation with a patient, I took it and immediately gave it away. At least they got one thing right!
14. The pharmacist then gives her vicodin and she tells him she loves him.
14 a. Hmm? Maybe I should try that the next time I go sign out some pills in the pharmacy? That will shock them, especially if they are a man, like I am!
14 b. This show should be an insult to pharmacists too, I wish we could get their opinion!
15. She punctures the tires of a bike messager on her way home.
15 a. Yes, invariably when I leave work for the day I stop and have sex with the pharmacists (at least 1, maybe 2 or 3 at once), take a snort for the road, let a doctor feel me up (I swear it was just a hernia check), and slash some unsuspecting bike messengers tires for no apparent reason! What a day!
This doesn’t sound like a 12 hour shift, it sounds like 12 hours in Hell and y’all watched an hour of it!
Regardless, I wasn’t planning to watch this show, y’all haven’t encouraged me to watch this show and I will not be watching this show. Suffice it to say, until they put something more real on (or another comedy that is likable) I won’t be watching healthcare related shows because it’s too much about what Hollywood envisions and not enough about the truly entertaining things of being a nurse. If you’re a nurse like me, you know what that is I’m certain!
June 11th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
I actually LOVED the show and have watched it twice. Sadly, i think it is an accurate portrayal of many nurses. Nursing is the number one profession for drug addiction. there are many nurses who have affairs with doctors, and back problems and such are one of the realistic reasons the addiction rate is so high. I thought Jackie was an interesting character, really wanting to be there and help her patients, but judgemental about some of their actions, just like most nurses i know. it was not realistic that she forged the organ donation card, but besides that i related to her character and to the show itself. Even the way she treats the student is realistic for an ER. if you are working in the ER you can’t be a wussie. But they would never give a first semester student a rotation in the ER…one more tiny flaw. i am sorry to have to disagree with you all, but i loved the show and will continue to watch it. I bet Edie Falco even wins an emmy.
June 12th, 2009 at 9:51 am
don’t know where you work deanna, but once in fifteen years have i come across nurses with drug problems. i know some outside of work who smoke the occasional joint, but that’s about it.
Oh, and can you please provide some evidence to back up your claim that nursing is the number one profession for drug addiction.
I’ve worked in probably fifty different hospitals and not one of my shifts was anything like described in this series.
June 12th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
i’m not an RN officially yet, but I’ve worked the hospital for awhile. This show may not be exact, or real. But it’s a TV show. Was Nip/ Tuck true?
I thought it was funny. And some of it is true to life. Some nurse do drugs on the job (i’ve been to a SBON meeting). As for the sleeping around i’m sure every unit has it’s own story.
I personally loved it when she spiked the messengers tires.
June 14th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Deanna are you even a nurse? Have you worked in an ER? It’s sad that you think the show represents an accurate portral of nursing and that you say you can relate to her.
In 33 years I have never seen a nursing student, never mind in the first semester, turned loose with any nurse on any floor, ever. I have never seen a student nurse that wasn’t in a student uniform. NEVER have a seen a student running around loose, using her cell phone, taking photo’s of patients, conversing with the doctors the administrator, wearing pink powder puff girl scrubs. The whole student scenario is absurd as is Nurse Jackie’s behavior. She was freaking doing chest compressions on a patient who was still talking! Showtime do your homework!
June 14th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
The American Nurses Association (ANA) says approximately 10% of nurses are dependent on drugs, making the incidence of drug abuse and addiction among nurses consistent with that of the rest of the U.S. population.
While nurses’ abuse of drugs and alcohol is roughly equivalent to the general population’s, dependence on prescription-type medication use is higher for nurses, and addiction to street drugs, such as cocaine and marijuana, is much lower than the general population. The most frequently abused substance is alcohol, followed by amphetamines, opiates (such as fentanyl), sedatives, tranquilizers, and inhalants, according to the American Nurses Association.
June 14th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
I am looking forward to the premiere of HawthoRNe..the new show on TNT that airs on June 16th with Jada Pinkett Smith. I saw a preview and it will hopefully portray nurses with the respect they deserve!
June 15th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
I know this opinion may not be a popular one, but I think Nurse Jackie is a great show! It’s about time that a program was centred around a nurse, rather than a doctor. I am almost an RN myself, and agree with the other posts here that the show’s writers have made many glaring errors in their representation of nurses. However, this is a television show – i.e. for entertainment purposes only, NOT to educate the public about what the reality of nursing is about (maybe there’s room for a reality show to illustrate that… just kidding – sort of). If television writers composed their story lines based strictly on accurate representations of each profession – whether nursing, medicine, police work, law, etc. – it would a total failure because it would be so dull. I doubt most doctors see themselves in Dr.House, or most police officers see themselves in an episode of Law & Order – it’s all an exaggeration and full of stereotypes, just as Nurse Jackie is to most nurses. My point is that TV is not intended to represent any situation accurately – it’s for entertainment, suspension of disbelief, and requires the discretion of the viewer.
And besides – even if 99% of nurses are intelligent, responsible, caring, and professional (and I believe the majority are) – who’s to say that there isn’t one Nurse Jackie out there?
June 16th, 2009 at 9:28 am
I watched “Nurse Jackie” also. I have been an RN for 18 years. I admit, I did laugh a few times but am saddened by the portrayal of our profession by this character. Who is to blame for the struggle for respect as the professionals that we know we are? You guessed it, us.
When we take steps to elevate ourselves, Hollywood will follow. Take the time to tell your family and friends what you really do in a 12 hour shift. Tell them about the good you do.
June 18th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Alright alright everyone…let’s simmer down now. I don’t really want to debate this, but in all fairness, it’s tv! Further, it’s Showtime for crying out loud! I think the show is definitely not representative of all nurses, but there is truth to it. If not, there wouldn’t be thousands of nurses losing their licenses. The same goes for doctors, hospital staff, and really any other profession. And why did I laugh at the show? Well, to be honest, because it’s funny…it’s entertainment. And really, I’ve witnessed some of those “negative” things. Nurses are just as human as everyone else. Yes, we are a respected profession, but we have our faults just like everyone else. To say these things don’t happen only highlights the ignorance we have as healthcare workers. Take a show like Queer As Folk, another done by Showtime. It portrays, very well might I add, the varying characteristics of the GLBT community. Not everything displayed was positive, yet it was true. The same goes true for Nurse Jackie. So let’s take a step back, grab some popcorn, and laugh along to the silly satire (spelling?) of this crazy show! By the way, you all have seen Scrubs, right? 😉