Nurse identity: the misrepresentation of nursing in the media

Since 2019, the nursing profession has been frequently represented in mainstream media in the UK through the lenses of the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently, industrial action. In 2020, during COVID, we saw the nursing profession praised, with weekly neighbourhood applause and thanks to the National Health Service (NHS) staff schemes. In 2023, when, for the first time in history nurses voted to strike (fair pay for nursing), nurses again received media attention. Conversely, the media chose to report how striking nurses (and other health professional staff) contributed to long waiting lists in the NHS and unhelpfully, demonstrated how 64% of poll voters (n=7955) did not think nurses should have a better pay deal.1 The reality is that nursing is central to the delivery of quality, evidence-based, and person-centred care in our health sector in the UK and represents the largest clinical professional group with approximately 334 690...
Source: Evidence-Based Nursing - Category: Nursing Authors: Tags: Editor's choice, Nursing issues Editorials Source Type: research