by Kaitlyn Edwards

Created on: October 28, 2007   Last Updated: November 07, 2010

Nurses and the nursing profession in the UK are not viewed as professionals in their own right. The general population seems to believe that nurses are people not quite clever enough to make it as a doctor, who do little more than run around, following doctors orders and wiping bums. I know that is how my friends view my career choice.

Television programmes and movies have done little to address this issue, often reinforcing the population's stereotypes. Movies have depicted nurses as sexual objects and doctors hand maidens. For instance, the nurses in the Carry On series were either unintelligent or were more interested in sex than in nursing. However, these movies do date back to the 60s, when nursing was a lot different to today, but I am sure that nurses in these days were either unintelligent or only interested in sex.

Modern day movies and television series often continue with this theme, with nurses having these stereotypical qualities. Documentaries also reinforce the public image of nursing. The Channel 5 documentary, entitled So You Think You Can Nurse had three celebrities spending two weeks in the hospital, working as Nursing Auxiliaries (NA), more commonly referred to today as Health Care Assistants (HCA). Whilst HCAs are valuable members of the nursing team, they are not nurses. They are there solely to assist the nurses in their practice. The documentary does not reinforce this, indicating to the public that anyone can wander in off the street and claim to be a nurse. The public needs to realise that this is not the case.

Nurses today must go to university, and study for three years. some study for a Higher National Diploma in Nursing, others study for degrees such as Bachelor of Nursing or Bachelor of Science. Student nurses work as hard, if not harder, than other university students. I am not saying this because I am a student nurse; I am saying this because I know people doing other degrees. A friend of mine does approximately 4 hours at university a week, I am expected to do 37.5 hours per week, and yet my degree will be equal to his.

Another of my friends this year broke up for summer from university in May and returned in September; I broke up in the middle of August and returned to university in the middle of September. I have to complete assignments and study for exams like any other university study, only I have to do this on top of my 37.5 hours per week. And if that isn't difficult enough, half our course is practical, where we go

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