I feel that the voice of my weblog pertains to the appearance of my site. It expresses my thoughts, emotions, and personal likes and dislikes. Facebook is a widely popular, social networking site that contains weblogs similar to wordpress.

When I think of digital composition, art comes to mind. Sharp vertical, horizontal, and diagonal images and texts. A creation of realistic environments and characters. I feel that digital composition to editorial writing is persuasive and positive.

May 16, 2008 by Caitlin Baker

Reshaping the nursing stereotype may be the answer to the nursing shortage. It is time for the media to take a non-gender bias approach towards the nursing profession. This can be done by changing the title of “Nurse” to “Healthcare Professional.” Movies, television shows, commercials, and other media formats need to utilize different marketing strategies free of gender biases.

There are many instances that come to mind that present a negative image of males in nursing. For example, the movie Meet the Parents has a male nurse character. Throughout the movie many negative comments and gestures were made degrading the nursing profession. Often times, the insulting actions were cloaked in humor to catch the viewers’ attention, while leaving behind the belittled image of the male nurse. Scrubs, a popular television sitcom, had an episode that showed nursing as a subservient job to that of the physicians’ positions. The episode definitely disparaged the nursing profession during prime time television viewing hours. To date, the only television commercials that come to mind in which nurses are portrayed are feminine based.

Movies, television shows, commercials, and other media formats need to spotlight a non-gender bias towards the nursing profession. I applaud movies such as John Q., who portrayed the male nurse in a masculine fashion. The television show Private Practice, portrays a young male nurse aspiring to be a midwife. As he works his way up the nursing ladder, he is also the male administrative nurse. He is shown as masculine and strong, yet caring and sincere. In the television show JAG, an episode had a storyline about the heroic deeds of male nurses during WWII. Other marketing tools for the nursing profession include: ads and redesigned websites that are gender neutral. They are utilizing bold colors, prints, neutral gender language, and both male and female action pictures.

Another types of media is through The Johnson and Johnson Nursing Campaign, highlight males and females equally as they explore the nursing profession as a career. Through this awareness campaign, the goal is to attract both genders and all ethnicities to head off the projected shortage by the year 2010, as the baby boomers age and need care and assistance. The Johnson and Johnson campaign is called, Promise of Nursing Galas. Many sponsors have raised millions of dollars to help fund scholarships, fellowships, and specialized nursing grants.

Media greatly impacts the nursing image. In fact, the media gives charisma to any profession. With the easy access to movies and television shows, you will find nurses portrayed as feminine sex symbols and often times illiterate, when in reality quite the opposite is true. A nurse is not subservient to a doctor nor does a nurse have to use sex appeal to climb the professional ladder. The media lens too often focuses on these negative stereotypes. Often people are influenced by the values encouraged by the media whether it be positive or negative. In reality people want to attach a positive image of their career choice and media plays an underlying tone to the image. It is time for all types of media to be positive non-gender biased role models for our younger generations to grow up with.

I admit that my first reaction in the nursing orientation program was rather a stereotypical one. I viewed the role of nursing from a narrow feminine perspective. I am a product of the negative media influences in regards to a nursing career. As time goes on and my friendships grow with my male nursing peers, my eyes have opened to a fresh non-gender based perspective of the nursing role.

The concluding paragraph in the “You are what you grow” editorial, opened my eyes to this agricultural demand. When the eaters have their say and the farm bill becomes the food bill, there is a demand at the table. Also I agree that when it comes to encouraging farmers to focus on the care of the land, we will need to make an imaginative policy better yet a “radical” change.