Pop culture is full of interesting nurses, from
our favourite movies, to young adult fiction, to the small screen, to the
classic comic book. These men and women offer humour, pull at our heartstrings,
inspire hope and sometimes offer a sinister glimpse of humanity's darker
lining. But one thing all, or most of these characters offer is unconditional
care and that's what makes them nurses. That and four years of university followed by a pass on the NCLEX and a lifetime of countless specialization
courses.
Schooling aside, here are our ten favourite
fictional nurses:
10. Hana
Hana is the innocent Canadian nurse in the English
Patient. She grows up too quickly in order to help the wounded in WW II.
She care's for the badly burned Almásy and casts her own notions of romantic
love on his bandaged face.
9. Nurse Ratched
The lead antagonist in One Flew Over the
Cuckoo's Nest, 'Big Nurse,' as the patients call her, is a strong force to
challenge. She ultimately defeats Randle McMurphy, the loveable but moral less
protagonist, but loses her voice in the battle. Her awesomeness stems from her unreeling
will to maintain order.
8. Abby Lockhart
We watched her gain experience as a nurse,
become a practicing physician and breakup and reunite with ex's almost every
week. She was a rock in the ER and one of the stronger nurses.
7. Greg Focker
"Oh, you can milk just about anything with
nipples." Enough said. Sidesplitting laughs…
6. Annie Wilkes
Definitely the most disturbed nurse on this
list. Her obsession with Paul Sheldon, a romance writer, takes a
sadomasochistic turn when she rescues him from a car crash and brings him home
to care for. The most memorable scene by far is the ankle-breaking scene.
5. Jackie Peyton
After completing her run on the Sopranos,
Edie Falco was given the title role in the Showtime comedy-drama Nurse
Jackie. Her character balances her working life, with a complicated
personal life that includes an addiction to prescription pills. But the show is
more about the workplace interactions, than the powerful pull of addiction.
Awesome quote from Executive Producer Liz
Brixius:
Every medical show out there has been about doctors. Doctors are
absolutely unable to do what they have to do without nurses. We want to tell
those stories.
4. Linda Carter
From the comic world, comes Marvel's Night
Nurse heroine, Linda Carter. The melodramatic tagline for the series: Enter
the world of DANGER, DRAMA and DEATH!" The short-lived comic run featured
no superheroes and was ahead of its time in addressing social issues in a
illustrative medium.
3. Margaret Houlihan
Loretta Swit played 'Hot Lips' Houlihan for 11
seasons on M.A.S.H. During the course of the show her head nurse character
moved from rigid disciplinarian to a more humanist management style. The men in
camp unfairly humiliated her on more than one occasion, but she always kept her
head high.
2. Phil Pharma
"This is that scene in the movie." Philip-Seymour
Hoffman delivers this self-aware line as he tries to connect his dying patient
with his absent son. It shows the passion that nurses have for not just the
health of their patients, but also their souls.
1. Carol Hathaway
She made the tough decisions when others
couldn't. She decided not to become a doctor, but continue making a differenceas a nurse. She ended up marrying George Clooney's character, Doug Ross. Three
big wins!
