Technology

Zoey Barkow in Nurse Jackie

Showtime’s newest show, Nurse Jackie, chronicles the daily life of the heroine, Nurse Jackie. Behind the spotlight, however, is Zoey Barkow, a freshman nursing student and nurse assistant to Nurse Jackie. Zoey is a rare example of the role of a nursing assistant in a modern hospital.

Midway through the first episode, Jackie and Zoey ride a battered prostitute, covered in bloody cuts, holding the severed ear of the client responsible for her injuries. While it’s completely unbelievable to think that a nurse and nursing student would be the only people caring for a patient with such extensive trauma, Jackie’s faith in Zoey on her first day on the job is even more ridiculous.

During the altercation, the prostitute managed to cut off her attacker’s ear. Jackie confidently gives Zoey her ear to watch out for. A nursing assistant on her first assignment would not be entrusted with a body part, as evidenced by Zoey’s immediate reaction: vomiting on the floor.

In the eighth episode, “Pupils,” Zoey tells Jackie about a show she saw about eyeballs, and Jackie admonishes her for not paying enough attention to them during check-ups. Zoey’s negligence in the area causes her to deliver medication to patients with no real problems. As Jackie says: “You like students so much, just make sure you check them out.”

Was a nursing assistant delivering drugs to Addict Dave? No. Hospitals have mechanisms and employees that prevent dangers like these from occurring. This is shown again in the eleventh episode when Zoey accidentally overdoses a patient with painkillers, causing him to fall into a coma. A nursing assistant would never be allowed to administer so many medications to a patient without supervision.

One of the truest interactions between Zoey and her co-workers is her relationship with Dr. Eleanor O’Hara. In the third episode, Zoey parades with her new stethoscope, which O’Hara quickly grabs during one of her procedures. While it’s unlikely Zoey would have gotten IVs like she claims to have been doing when her stethoscope was found to be missing, the power play between the two is true to form.

Jackie informs Zoey of the rudeness of the doctors and their way of taking things. Things like “sandwiches. Stethoscopes. Credit,” urging her to assert herself to Dr. O’Hara to claim ownership. However, Zoey can’t muster the courage to ask, and Dr. O’Hara tells Jackie over lunch that she is aware that she took the stethoscope, but has enjoyed watching Zoey obsess over it.

Many freshmen nursing students suffer from the same fears as Zoey. She is of a different race than her co-workers, wearing panda earrings and patterned scrubs. She is young. It is entirely logical for a newcomer to the field to fear someone with much more experience. This would be one of the main causes of the power disparity between a nursing assistant and an emergency room doctor.

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