All stories
are told by Susan, a retired nurse.
Reality TV is
becoming the new thing in television.
There was a show done about nurses, and I was fortunate enough to get
feedback from one of the participants in the show.
The Facts of The show
It is rather
ironic that it is referred to as reality, it sounds like the reality portion of
the show was at times minimal. The
production crew was around as much as 10 hours a day for 2 months, although
only a small amount of the footage shot was used. The preparation for filming was extensive,
everything that had a brand name exposed had to be removed or have the name
covered. The hospital, and every patient
had to give permission for filming, and the hospital had to arrange for a publicity
representative to be on hand for the entire shooting.
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A typical Day
They wanted to
capture a blend of the nursing staff’s personal life, with their professional
life. This involved a lot of shooting
away from the hospital. When you take a
group of 20 something year olds, and put them working and living together, it's
somewhat like a medical version of big brother.
While shooting in the hospital, the nurses all showed that they were
totally professional, and cared very much for their patients. At all times every nurse was very attentive
and doing an excellent job. In one
episode, one of the nurses working with an elderly patient, and it appears they
somewhat form a bond. The nurses all fit
in well with the other medical professionals, and they all jumped, right into
their roles as if they had been there for years. The show featured multiple scenarios, working
to profile each of the shows participants as they worked through their
day. There was sadness, happiness,
anger, and above all else, the love of nursing.
Personal Time
Let's,
just say the personal time for this group was not anywhere near as smooth as
their work time. In the free time of the
participants of the show, there were arguments, disputes, personality clashes,
and connections. This group of nurses
was told by TV producers to play up the drama, and they did as instructed. The one thing they all agreed was that in
playing up the drama they somewhat played up, actually led to more personal
conflicts within the group. Certain
participants simply did not like one another, and there was the usual reality
series jealousy and competition going on as well. The apartments that the group stayed in had a
nice pool, and much of their time was spent poolside, at least when they were
not headed out on the town at night.
This group partied pretty hard, often very late at night. There were visits from significant others
from their home states, which also brought more drama into the picture. On more than one occasion a participant shed
some tears and indicated they were not sure they could continue on, it was
difficult being away from home and living with a group of strangers. The turmoil all happened during their off
time, as they were working at the hospital, they were always professional, and
got along well with one another as well as the other hospital staff.
Related: Should You Change Jobs?
The one thing
that should be noted about this somewhat reality series is that this group of
people was great nurses when on the job.
They cared for their patients, and the producers captured that as they
filmed, it was very apparent that although these nurses were young, and lacked
years of experience, there was no question they all had a heart for their
nursing careers, and they all deeply cared about their patients.
It was a
reality series that was fairly close to reality, with a touch of the dramatics
blended in. The production crew played
up the party lifestyle, however, did a good balance of showing how serious the
cast took their responsibilities as nurses.
As the 8 week
show came to a conclusion, all participants hugged and wished each other well,
as they returned to their homes. It was
a different way of looking at nurses, it portrayed them in them as fun loving,
and typical young people, but the important part of the show is that it did
show that they were all great nurses, and only bound to become better with age
and experience.
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