Have you seen the new Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) ad? It started screening on the weekend and has already won praise – and some criticism – from nurses and midwives themselves. Praise? That it confirms why someone became – or intends to become – a nurse or midwife. Criticism? That there aren’t enough men in the ads.
Watch it below and tell us what you think.
A midwife with newborn from the ad.
The campaign, called Australia’s Nurses and midwives. You couldn’t be in better hands, is partly in response to Australia’s national nursing shortage, intended to promote positive images of nursing and midwifery to attract people to the professions.
Real nurses and midwives were filmed at work at three different hospitals, including Westmead and RPA in Sydney.
Neil Lawrence from Lawrence Creative oversaw production, with no actors, just the help of 22 nurses and midwives and many generous patients who were happy to appear in the commercials.
Lee Thomas of the ANF said the campaign coincides with new figures showing further growth in ANF members across the Australian health system – with membership now standing at 220,000.
If you’re a member of the NSWNA, you’re automatically a member of the ANF too. Like them on Facebook to keep in touch with national developments in nursing activism.
Image credits: ANF
I’m looking at nursing and when I saw the ad, I was struck by the lack of males.
But would that turn you off doing nursing?
The NSWNA will be holding a Men in Nursing forum in September.
http://www.nswnurses.asn.au/events/41731.html
I went to the Men in Nursing seminar last year (and going again this year) and most of the guys I spoke with agreed that we are in a female dominated profession and that will never change.
Most of us had stories about the way we have been treated (over the years)…
I don’t have to tell you what that means…
There will also be a Men in Nursing lecture at Sydney University this Saturday. See this interesting article. http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newscategoryid=1&newsstoryid=9895&utm_source=console&utm_medium=news&utm_campaign=cws
Really superb and amazing ad. The ad has conveyed how much the nurses care and how hard it is to be a nurse..
Awful ad that goes on for far too long.
I am a nursing student and I like this ad. It shows many of the ideas that I had when I pictured nursing before I began study.
The truth is though (and obviously it doesn’t bother me too much as I am planning to stick with my study) If the government wants more nurses they need to attract them with more appealing pay. Even with all the theory based learning at uni, there are still many hours of practical time that needs to be spent in hospitals and nursing homes. Nursing is a practical proffession, and there is no doubt that we need these hours out in the workplace but all that time spent doing full time hours in a hospital makes it difficult to hold down a job and afford nursing studies in the first place.
Fully qualified EN’s and RN’s deserve better pay for what they do, and student nurses need more help. Apprentice chef’s, hairdressers, plumbers get paid (small amounts, but it still counts) to learn.
I know this comment seems a little off topic but in the end, as much as people want to care for others and go into a fullfilling proffession exactly like this ad has depicted it, it does come down to money in a lot of cases. It’s sad but true, so maybe if the government attracted more people in that aspect they would have more nurses to fill the hospitals.