Woodhull Study on Nursing and the Media
In 1997 the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International commissioned “The Woodhull Study on Nursing and the Media” to be conducted by the University of Rochester School of Nursing. The study was named in honor of Nancy Woodhull, journalist and founder of USA Today, who died in April 1997 from cancer. Her work to foster an appropriate place for nursing in the media was one of the final projects and contributions she made to quality in the media.
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Woodhull Study Part I
Woodhull Study Part II
You also may order a video presentation of the study's findings here:
The Woodhull Study on Nursing and the Media: Health Care’s Invisible Partner
This is a fast-paced video presentation highlighting the study’s findings. Experts such as Anita Manning, USA Today; Rick Rodriguez, American Society of Newspaper Editors; Shirley Chater, former commissioner, U.S. Social Security Administration; and Peter Buerhaus, Harvard Nursing Research Institute, offer a strategic course for better communicating the science and expertise of nursing to the media and ultimately, the general public. Learn more.
Key Study Findings:
On average, nurses were cited only three percent of the time in hundreds of health-related articles culled from 16 major news publications.
In the seven newspapers surveyed, nurses and nursing were referenced in only four percent of the health care articles examined. In the four news magazines, they were referenced in five percent of the health-related articles. In the five trade publications, where the total focus was on the health care industry, only one percent of the references were nurses.
The few references to nurses or nursing that did occur were mostly just in passing. For example, Newsweek (9-22-97) identified a nurse as “Heroine No. 1” in uncovering an out-break of E. coli. After that, Sandra Gallegos, a nurse responsible for tracking communicable diseases, disappears from the story completely.In many of the stories, nurses and nursing would have been more germane to the story subject matter than the references selected.
One example found was in Healthplan (Sept./Oct. 1997). Care for AIDS patients is becoming more complex and costly as it moves out into the community. The article discussed the search for expertise from many sources to help keep health plans flexible, find the right type and mix of providers, and keep abreast of the best patient education strategies. A physician, an HIV policy operations coordinator, and a pharmacy educator were cited. Nurses, who currently provide the majority of HIV/AIDS patient care and education in the community were not included.
Key Study Recommendations:
The primary recommendation by study participants is for both media and nursing to take a more proactive role in establishing an ongoing dialogue.
The media will continue to miss major elements of health care news if it continues to disregard the contributions of nurses. By the same token, if nurses merely wait for the media to discover their emerging roles as researchers, educators, problem solvers, and practitioners, they are doing the public—whom they seek to serve—a disservice. Distinguishing researchers with doctoral degrees from medical doctors would add clarity to health care coverage.
Articles examined during the study referred to both physicians and health care academics as doctors. No example was found where a nurse with a doctorate was referred to as a doctor. To reduce confusion about the title “doctor” and to give credit to nurses and all other health care practitioners who hold doctorates, study participants suggest that the media and health care profession use the term “physician” for medical doctors.
The often repeated advice in media articles and advertisements to “consult your doctor” ignores the role of nurses in health care and needs to be changed to “consult your primary health care provider.”For significant demographic population segments (mostly under 35 and enrolled in health maintenance organizations), the front-line source of advice and consultation on health care issues is a nurse practitioner.
Nurses have long been the leaders in community health education matters. Significant health care research and policy decisions are being carried out by nurses with doctoral degrees. Ultimately, the public is best served by shared confidence in physicians, nurses, and all other health care providers. Study participants, therefore, recommend that the foregoing admonition be changed to: “Consult your primary health care provider.”To provide comprehensive coverage of health care, the media should include information by and about nurses.
Nurses are the integral component of today’s health care delivery system. Providing the public with coverage of issues affecting the wellness-illness continuum, including nurses’ perspectives, will contribute to a more knowledgeable, healthier population. It is essential to distinguish health care (the umbrella) from medicine as subject matter in the media. Health care is the umbrella term which includes medicine and nursing as well as other health care disciplines. Medicine and health care are not synonymous and should not be used interchangeably.Media and Health Care
Representatives Respond:
Ten respected members of both the media and health care industries took center stage during Sigma Theta Tau International’s biennial convention in December 1997 to examine and respond to the Woodhull Study. They each agreed that the discussion started was critical to improving and promoting the crucial role nursing plays in health care today. (See Appendix II for the panelists listing.)
“I think there is a real opportunity for the media panel to take this study and share it with their colleagues and think about how they can act positively to address some of the problems raised here today,” said Peter Buerhaus, RN, PhD, FAAN, director of the Harvard Nursing Research Institute.“Starting the dialogue is very important,” said Anita Manning, health care reporter for USA Today, “and the media also is guilty of going to the ‘top’ for quotes. We need to reach the nurses who are on the front line.”
Jean Gaddy Wilson, executive director, New Directions for News (think tank), at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and moderator for the presentation, asked panelists “Why are nurses short-changed in the media?”
Shirley Chater, RN, PhD, FAAN, former commissioner of the U.S. Social Security Administration, believes that “nurses have not been found, until recently, in positions as top administrators or chief executive officers—the people who are most often quoted.” Chater also believes part of the problem is that nurses have been socialized not to blow their own horns. “The nursing profession in general does not jump on the bandwagon and promote nurses’ roles in health care.”
Charles Hertz, MD, vice president and chief medical director, MetLife, believes one reason nurses are short-changed in the media is because of gender.
James Lemons, MD, professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, also says “physicians traditionally have been spokespersons for new advances in health care and nurses have taken subservient roles.”
Tom Reed, assignment editor (retired) for McGraw-Hill Broadcasting in Indianapolis adds “we are not often invited to talk to the nurses on the front line, so we have to have better access.”
“Nurses have to be able to articulate clearly what is useful to both consumers and policy makers through the media,” according to Mary Katherine Wakefield, RN, PhD, FAAN, professor and director, Center for Health Policy, College of Nursing, George Mason University. Wakefield, who also serves as a member of President Clinton’s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection, Quality and the Health Care Industry, agrees that a lot of what nursing does is newsworthy and informative. “We must communicate it through the mass media to consumers and policy makers so they too can benefit by learning about what nursing does, what our practice consists of, and what our research is all about.”
Panelists agreed that nurses should take a more proactive approach in promoting themselves. “Nurses should first advocate within their own organization to become experts who are willing to talk to the media,” suggested Sheila Gibbons, editor and publisher, Media Report to Women Newsletter. “Then they need to get to know the media in their communities.” According to Gibbons, this study is a blueprint, telling nursing and media representatives alike where the problems are and how to set goals to overcome the problem.
Rick Rodriguez, managing editor for The Sacramento Bee, agrees. “I will use this report as a catalyst and an inspiration to start building bridges (between the media and the nursing profession)." He also pledged to assign stories that his paper has missed and that need to be done, as well as to share the Woodhull Study findings with colleagues at the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
Jenny Labalme, medical reporter for The Indianapolis Star, says the dialogue started by Sigma Theta Tau is good. “Looking at the study made me start to think about how I need to make an effort to quote nurses in our stories.” Labalme also issued a challenge to the audience to take the offensive and contact local media representatives.
Physician James Lemons believes those in nursing leadership should help members of the profession to enhance their confidence and ability to present information to the media.
Perhaps Mary Katherine Wakefield best summarized the panel’s response. “… I think the best thing that comes from this dialogue is that it demonstrates Sigma Theta Tau’s commitment and recognition that nursing needs to partner with the media to begin to work more effectively and exert more time and effort to get our message out to the media. It lays the foundation and reminds us that we have a lot of work to do.”
Sigma Theta Tau International Responds:
As we approach the 21st century, the very fabric of nursing has changed. Nurses provide most of the hands-on care in our nation’s health system. And, like physicians, they are highly educated and possess distinct knowledge. Nurses monitor, educate, manage, and supervise. They coordinate health care teams and provide and facilitate acute and basic care. They develop policy and conduct research that affects every facet of health care. Many nurses with advanced degrees regularly diagnose patients and prescribe treatment and medication.
Today’s nurses have key roles in American health care as scientists, researchers, business professionals, community leaders, and front-line caregivers.
But nurses cannot expect the media to cover nursing simply as a public service. Nurses must recognize the news value of what they do. Clearly, both the media and the nursing profession must educate each other. Important practice innovations and laboratory discoveries in nursing must be shared with the public. Thus, communicating the important contributions of nursing for building healthier communities is an essential component in all communication strategies.
All nurses, whether in clinical practice, research, education, or administration, must learn the skills of public communication in order to inform the public. By telling their “stories” in terms that are understandable to the general public, nurses can dispel commonly held stereotypes that have inhibited the leadership potential of nursing. To better communicate nursing’s contributions and innovation to health care, the following strategies are recommended as a result of the study and response panel:
Strategy 1
Bring representatives from nursing organizations together to create a description of the art, science, and role of nursing in clear and simple terms and disseminate it broadly.
Strategy 2
In collaboration with other nursing organizations, develop and implement a strategic plan for acknowledging and publicizing the science and innovations of nursing to both internal and external constituencies.
Strategy 3
Educate nurses in the use of effective public communication and media relations models.
Strategy 4
Widely disseminate the findings of the Woodhull Study and replicate the nursing and the media panels throughout the country as a means to engage the media and nursing in dialogue.
Strategy 5
Expand the Woodhull Study model to include a review of how the broadcast media portrays nursing.
Strategy 16
Using the 1997 Woodhull Study as a benchmark, conduct a follow-up study to monitor the media and carefully assess the effectiveness of the above initiatives.
CONCLUSION:
The Woodhull Study on Nursing and the Media initiated an important dialogue for nurses and journalists to develop more effective communication channels with those they both serve: the American public. Nurses should help journalists obtain stories about the breadth and depth of nursing contributions in order to present a more comprehensive account of wellness and illness—including key roles that nurses play in today’s health care system.Journalists should give nurses more extensive media coverage in order to more accurately portray the realities and complexities of today’s health care systems.
Organizations such as Sigma Theta Tau International plan to help by continuing to issue relevant news releases, sponsor media research, and teach nurse scholars the skills they need to communicate effectively—via many communication channels—the vital roles nurses play in improving health.
Overall, the goal of nurses, journalists, and Sigma Theta Tau International is a better educated, more informed and, ultimately, healthier public.