Friday, March 19, 2010

What. The. Fuck?

I felt compelled to write the actual words out because I’m just THAT pissed off. First, the Dutch moron who tried to get a nurse branded incompetent for not providing a happy ending with her visits and now this banner on an English bus of a sexy nurse advertising the route to a hospital.




There are many feminist theories that can much more eloquently dissect this piece of shit ad apart, but I’ll stick to good ol’ fashioned rage. It angers me to no extent when I have to listen to idiotic drivel about how nursing is a ‘sexy’ profession. I sure as hell don’t feel sexy when I’m trying to stick a foley catheter in a 250+ lb violent drunk to get a sample for a urine tox screen. There’s absolutely NOTHING sexy about trying to provide care to people who are too sick to speak for themselves and are terrified of institutions. Sexy is not a variable in question when a nurse has to go to the corner and sob out of utter despair because someone dies unexpectedly. When I was studying my ass off for exams and writing papers like a demon on meth, I most certainly did not think, “Hot damn, all this studying is gonna make me one sexy nurse!” And I highly doubt that (most) patients are thinking, “dayum baby stop talking sexy to me” when I’m asking about the frequency and consistency of their purulent anal discharge. Ads like these do nothing to promote nursing as a profession that has dedicated itself to caring for those who can’t care for themselves and has long been marginalized.

13 comments:

Albinoblackbear said...

AMEN sista!

But I always felt sexy when I was up to my elbows in melena or sprayed wih vomit--wait--even sexier when I emptied a cath bag onto my shoe at the start of a shift.

You're absolutely right. It does nothing for the profession and the very smart, hardworking men and women who are a part of it.

Anonymous said...

Dayum you type sexy lol

Grumpy, M.D. said...

Yeah, it's just wrong. And demeaning to you guys.

StorytellERdoc said...

Maha, great post. Easy to see why all of the frustration. Laughable how the "sex sells" is now being used in this manner. Oh well, at least custom scrubs will be included, right?

Grumpy, M.D. said...

Storyteller- is this a new line of scrubs from Victoria's Secret?

Angela said...

Urgh I read that and gagged, I hate how our profession is over shadowed by the perception of us being "Sexy" Uhh I wear baggy no-discript scrubs, wake up at five am have no make up and generally wear granny panties that is sooo sexy!!

and I agree have never once felt "Sexy" while working *shakes her head* I hate the public sometimes

xx
Jaxs

OMDG said...

Wait, you mean that nurses aren't just poorly paid call girls in scrubs?

Wrong on so many levels.

Anonymous said...

WTF...no kidding!!! What is WRONG with the UK that such crappola is allowed on their buses? Bravo to you for speaking up!

It's just me :) said...

Holy Crap.

That's about all I can say right now. YIKES!

medrninja said...

Yeah, I'd like to be there the first time some fool shows up expecting *that chick* to be taking care of them. Ha Ha. Let's just hope the *real* nurse they get has the restraint to let them down gently (or not).

RH said...

ummm...

"The young woman witnessed some of the man's other nurses offering him sexual gratification..." REALLY!?!

I wonder if this is a valid statement or not. Putting in a foley cath doesn't end with a happy ending - usually just a balloon inflation and pee in a bag.

...the article and the ad are messed up on so many levels. I think that guy needs some "pillow therapy."

Anonymous said...

About a year ago, I was in the hospital for two days, I met a young lady who was a nurse's aide who was interning. She was about in her mid-twenties, had three kids, going to school full time, and a great attitude.

I thought, than and now, that she should be the type of people the nursing profession should use to attract new students.

Anonymous said...

Funny, I've never seen a nurse dressed like that or look like that.
But I only have experience with American nurses as I've never jumped the pond. Maybe British nurses dress and look like the model in the ad. Not.
And all to advertise a bus route to the hospital? The ad would have been classier (and made more sense) if the model had been a man (or woman) with a gunshot wound or a table-saw blade embedded in their forehead. Now those are two reasons to want to get to the hospital FAST. As the ad stands, it looks like it's advertising a bus ride to the red-light district.