One would have thought that the Nigeria movie industry would help the masses see some professions in positive light. But it is disheartening how they have been poisoning people's mind as far as Nursing is concerned.
(You want to know why?, keep reading).
Oh! my dear Nursing, see what Nollywood has done to you.
Am a Registered Nurse - not a Physician, not a police officer - so am going to be talking about Nursing and Nollywood through this article.
How Nollywood See Nursing
As a Registered Nurse and an avid observer, Nollywood and it's 'practitioners' present Nursing and Nurses in purely negative light.
Probably they do not have a clue of what we are and what we do.
Nollywood sees Nursing and Nurses as;
1). Below-average professionals
Nurses are not below-average in any way. We attend Universities, Schools of Nursing like other professionals.
2). They see Nurses as those folks in white uniforms claiming to be a nurse after spending some time in private hospitals, medicine shops to be trained as one.
Those people trained in private hospitals and medicines shops etc. and have not been to either University or School of Nursing to study Nursing as a science and an art and are duly registered by Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN), ARE NOT NURSES. If am not going to wreck psychological havoc, THEY ARE SIMPLY QUACKS.
But people with high level of ignorance refer to them as Auxiliary Nurses. Since they create a negative mental picture in their psyche about Nursing and Nurses, they employ the service and ways of the quacks to portray to the public what Registered Nurses are.
3). Nollywood portrays registered Nurses as prostitute that sleep with Doctors and patients while on duty. As a matter of fact, Registered Nurses are not prostitutes. The quacks may be.
YouTube is full of such movies where Nurses are portryaed in this way. What people see is what they believe.
Recently I stumbled on a blog post, TheInfong, but because the writer of that blog post is not a Nurse, he thinks that is what Nurses do. He said, See what Nurses do with their patients in the hospitals at night. So nauseating.
4). Nollywood portrays Nursing as a profession that answers YES! to other health professionals without questioning. No, we are not!
As our code of conducts have it, we only stand up to greet our senior colleagues while in uniform. We do not do that for other professionals since almost every household in this country has access to movies, series etc and because they tend to believe what they see, they believe what Nollywood shows and thinks about Nursing and Nurses in Nigeria is really what Nursing and Nurses are. No, we aren't the Nollywood stereotyped Nurse!
What Nurses Really Are
To simply put, a Nurse is an individual who went to an accredited University or School of Nursing to study the science and art of Nursing, registered with NMCN to be able to render timely medical help to the sick in collaboration with other health care professionals.
- Nurses respect patients' privacy.
- Nurses know patients' bill of right.
- Nurses have rationale for whatever they do.
- Nurses have code of conducts guiding their conducts.
- We have regulatory body.
Registered Nurses are not some folks in white uniforms, gossiping, sleeping with patients, doctors that Nollywood thinks we are.
What Nollywood Can Do
To me, it seems Nollywood do not know a thing when it comes to the roles Nurses take in the hospital, if you are going to make a movie about Nursing and Nurses, make it well. What is worth doing at all is what doing well.
Nollywood should take their time to understand how some professions perform their duties before going out to make movies that will dent their images and poison people's mind.
Someone once told me, those things Nollywood shows about you is what you do.
To learn more about how/what registered nurses do and how they do it, the likes of Nurses On Air, Nursing World Nigeria, Fellow Nurses Africa etc. are more than eager to help and give the proper orientation.
What Nurses Can Do
Are you a Registered Nurse that loves acting? Are you fed up with the way Nursing is being portrayed by Nollywood in movies?
I charge you to dig your way into the movie industry and infect them with the right images of what Nursing and Nurses really are!
#Nollywood_Stop_Tarnishing_Nursing_Image
Obembe S.D, RN
(JustAskNurse & MemoNaija Boss)
Do not leave this article without sharing with someone. Nursing is great already!👍
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