Despite the critical role nurses play in patient care, they are frequently absent from health news reports — and both journalists and nurses themselves should work to increase their visibility, Carole Myers, RN, senior fellow with the George Washington University Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement in Washington, D.C., argues in a STAT op-ed.
Five takeaways from the op-ed:
1. In an update to a Woodhull report from 1997, researchers analyzed health news stories published in September 2017 and found quotes were attributed to nurses only 2 percent of the time. Nurses were identified in 4 percent of the images and mentioned in 13 percent of the articles.
2. The report also revealed nurses were entirely absent in numerous stories despite the relevance of a nursing perspective to the topic, Ms. Myers says. These providers were least visible in stories involving healthcare policy, business and research.
3. The Woodhull team interviewed 10 health journalists to better understand why there were almost no changes in how nurses are represented in the media between the original 1997 report and the 2017 report. The reporters revealed they did not often reach out to women, nurses and people not in authority positions in healthcare.
Several journalists said they had to justify using a nurse as a source, and others expressed confusion at nurses' roles in healthcare settings. But several of the journalists who did use nurse sources said the nurse perspective enriched their story.
"The message was loud and clear: Nurses are not viewed as experts or as key leaders, and so are not good sources," Ms. Myers writes. "The lack of nursing representation in the media is part of deep-rooted gender disparities in the media."
4. Nurses make up the largest segment of healthcare workers and are repeatedly voted to be the most trusted profession, Ms. Myers writes, citing nurses' contributions to reducing medical errors, improving patient safety, improving access to care and discovering new paths in telehealth and technology development.
"Yet their visibility in the media and influence in policymaking are not commensurate with their numbers, position, and expertise," Ms. Myers writes. "Journalists owe it to their readers to pay attention to the diversity of their sources. Increasing the diversity of sources to better reflect the interests and perspectives of media consumers enhances the value of content."
5. Nurses need to claim their expertise and authority by making an effort to actively engage with the media, Ms. Myers says. "Standing up and standing out can make you a target. This has never deterred nurses in doing what they had to do to improve health and healthcare. It shouldn't in the media, either."