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When Will The Media Recognise That Nurses Want To Do A Good Job?

It is perhaps not surprising with a General Election due next year that there is much excitement in the media about the recent reports of unacceptable patient safety in NHS hospitals.

Contrast the approach of newspapers that back the Conservatives like the Mail and the Telegraph on this issue with that of the Independent.

There are articles from the Telegraph and the Independent on ProNurse today.

<a href = “http://www.pronurse.co.uk/news/articles/2066-shamed-top-hospitals-with-worst-death-rates” TARGET="_blank"> Shamed: Top Hospitals With Worst Death Rates – Sunday Telegraph.

Opening paragraph – The three hospitals with the highest patient death rates in the country can be named today, amid a deepening crisis over the standard of care in the NHS.

<a href = “http://www.pronurse.co.uk/news/articles/2068-demand-for-overhaul-in-wake-of-hospital-report” TARGET="_blank">Demand for Overhaul in Wake of Hospital Report – The Independent

Opening paragraph – A massive overhaul in the way hospitals are inspected was demanded yesterday, as a new report revealed that nine trusts rated excellent or good by the official health regulator were failing when it came to patient safety.

Is there a genuine crisis in the standard of care in the NHS? Or is there a failing by the official health regulator?

The media are not alone in criticising poor nursing care and no-one is saying that all nurses are fantastic at their job. The ProNurse forums contain instances of members complaining that some of their peers aren’t doing a good job.

So why do we say that nurses want to do a good job?

Imagine that your job was looking after a set amount of patients in a ward, and that providing the necessary care for all of them within the time limits of your shift was a challenge.

Imagine if you knew that the patients were hungry, sore, scared, or needed to use the toilet.

Imagine how difficult it would be to ignore all this and spend time chatting to your colleagues and surfing the Internet instead?

Imagine then returning to the ward and facing the uncomfortable patients and at visiting times, the anxious questions from worried relatives.

So why is it so easy to jump to the conclusion that most nurses are lazy and don’t care at all about their patients?

People DO believe what they read and with nursing it affects how they perceive the industry as a whole.

If people ask me what I do for a living and I tell them that I run a social networking site for nurses the response I get depends on what has recently been reported in the media.

Bad press
“Oh I bet they love that! Gives them something to do while drinking cups of coffee all day and ignoring their patients” “No doubt it is full of photos of them going out and getting drunk all the time”

Good press
Come on! Good news does not sell papers. However, when there have not been recent health scandals in the news I tend to get responses like this: “That’s a good idea. It must be stressful being a nurse.” “My mum had a wonderful nurse…” leading on to a long story about what good nursing care their mother received.

There is NO excuse for bad nursing. Just please realise that it is not always the nurse that is at fault.

It also might help the media to remember that nurses make up a significant portion of the voting population for next year’s election!

If you are a nurse and you are concerned about the conditions at your place of work please read our article <a href = “http://www.pronurse.co.uk/education/articles/2069-what-can-nurses-do-to-report-poor-care-within-their-workplace”>What Can Nurses Do To Report Poor Care Within Their Workplace?

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