1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910861083503321

Autore

McAllister Margaret, RN

Titolo

Paradoxes in nurses' identity, culture and image : the shadow side of nursing / / Margaret McAllister and Donna Lee Brien

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Abingdon, Oxon : , : Routledge, , 2020

ISBN

1-351-03342-5

1-351-03341-7

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (viii, 178 pages) : illustrations (Black and white)

Collana

Routledge research in nursing and midwifery

Disciplina

610.73

Soggetti

Nursing - Social aspects

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: Disquieting images of nurses -- Transgressive texts about nursing -- Nursing's dark past and secret knowledge -- Objects of desire -- Nursing and the abject -- Apparitions, lost souls and healing spaces -- Mighty, mean and monstrous nurses -- Murdering nurses -- Nurses and sick health care systems -- Growing from adversity -- Conclusion: Out of the shadows, into the light -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

This book examines some of the more disturbing representations of nurses in popular culture, to understand nursing's complex identities, challenges and future directions. It critically analyses disquieting representations of nurses who don⁰́₉t care, who kill, who inspire fear or who do not comply with laws and policies. Also addressed are stories about how power is used, as well as supernatural experiences in nursing. Using a series of examples taken from popular culture ranging from film, television and novels to memoirs and true crime podcasts, it interrogates the meaning of the shadow side of nursing and the underlying paradoxes that influence professional identity. Iconic nursing figures are still powerful today. Decades after they were first created, Ratched and Annie Wilkes continue to make readers and viewers shudder at the prospect of ever being ill. Modern storytelling modes are bringing to audiences the grim reality that some nurses are members of the working poor, like Cath Hardacre in Trust Me, and others can be dangerous con artists, like the nurse inDirty John. This book is important reading for all those interested in understanding the



links between nursing's image and the profession's potential as an agent for change.