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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McAllister, Margaret, RN, author.

Brien, Donna Lee, 1959- author.

Series:

Routledge research in nursing and midwifery.

Routledge research in nursing and midwifery

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nursing--Social aspects.

Nursing.

Physical Description:

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

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge, 2020.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

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.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-351-03342-5

1-351-03341-7

OCLC:

1140915544

Publisher Number:

9781351033428