Media's Impact on Nursing: Navigating the Double-Edged Sword

1 Media In Nursing Freddy Hernandez Nightingale College ANT 300: Cultural Anthropology 11/26/2023

2 Nursing is one of the oldest and most noble professions and has evolved over time to fit the needs of the world, likewise media has evolved just as much and even more so in the last 50 years. Media has taken on man significant roles in society from the only source of information to the newest dance trend. Media was how the world announced the end of wars and the beginning of a pandemic, media has a far reach over the world and can control the narrative where it is shown or shared. Anthropologists have studied media and its affect on people and more specifically the effect that no media has on a group of people. Media has changed forms over time and has played a vital role in the way we interact with our environment, as soon to be nurses it is important to understand how media will affect us and we must adapt to meet the changes that media takes or risk falling behind in either crucial information or will we be able to use media as a tool for a better health care system. When Katie Nelson wrote her chapter in the book, “Perspectives: An Open Introduction To Cultural Anthropology” she writes that when interviewing a tribe in Brazil about their title as Indians there was one person who stated, “…hey were Indians because the community was on an Indian reservation and the Brazilian government had recognized them as an indigenous tribe” (p. 46). Katie goes on to call their cultural identity confusion a “contested identity” and I believe that this is in part due to the fact that the media, in this case the government, integrated their message and placed it into the minds of this tribe who would normally abstain from any involvement in media and yet was still affected by the only form left. This introduction of confusion is a very powerful example of just how influential media can be.

3 As a nurse in modern times we rely on media for many different reasons, from being a source of new information in the healthcare world to being able to teach and help others with new practices in medicine and have it be learned quickly over social media. Nurses are expected to continue their education outside of school and stay up to date with medicine. Being responsible for keeping up with learning can be daunting but now with online classes and new options and advancements in medicine everyday we can learn them and hear about them because of media. We are also very interested in new developments as disease spreads all over the world. When covid hit we all relied on media to keep us up to date with numbers of those infected, methods to test, where to test, and eventually about a vaccine that was distributed. Some draw backs that come with media in the nursing field is also a constant revolving door of information. Furthermore, not all of the information out there can be trusted especially as new media outlets pop up online claiming to have all of the answers. The spread of false information is extremely difficult to combat especially in the healthcare industry as nurses have to deconstruct ideas formed over half baked theories and conspiracies. As these conspiracies spread and influence more people it can lead to distrust in the nurses meant to help and aid those in need. It can be challenging to try to give someone a vaccine for a disease that they do not think is real. For every great option media gives us in being able to deliver information and advances there are several other negatively influential outlets handing out bad information. In conclusion, media now is a double edged sword that can advance society and give us the best chance at fighting disease or terror but it can also isolate a group of people into thinking that getting or seeking medical attention for any reason is a bad idea. This is the burden

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

4 technology has given us and one that as nurses we have to overcome with greater education with every patient we meet.

5 References Medeiros, P., & Cowall, E. (2020). The culture concept. In N. Brown, T. McIlwraith, & L. Tubelle de Gonzalez (Eds.), Perspectives: An open introduction to cultural anthropology (2 nd ed., pp. 29-44). American Anthropological Association. Nelson, K. (2020). Doing fieldwork: Methods in cultural anthropology. In N. Brown, T. McIlwraith, & L. Tubelle de Gonzalez (Eds.), Perspectives: An open introduction to cultural anthropology (2 nd ed., pp. 45-69). American Anthropological Association. Nelson, K., & Braff, L. (2020). Introduction to anthropology. In N. Brown, T. McIlwraith, & L. Tubelle de Gonzalez (eds.), Perspecrtives: An open introduction to cultural anthropology (2 nd ed., pp. 3-28). American Anthropological Association.

Reflection on media

Related Documents