Nurses/Miami Medical

Nurses and Miami Medical

Various directors and producers convene on Miami for a large percentage of films and television shows made in America, helping to shape Miami’s image in the eyes of non-natives from all around the world. They also speak to a multitude of problems and highlight many corporations and industries in the area.  Television shows such as Nurses and Miami Medical represent a large fraction of Miami’s workforce as healthcare professionals. Nurses aired on NBC from 1991 to 1994, lasting three seasons, while Miami Medical aired on CBS in 2010, lasting one season. A closer look at the specific characters reveal how the healthcare industry in Miami began to focus less on general practice and more on specialized medicine. Over this time period, the amount of nurses in hospitals has decreased, according to the Journal of Issues in Nursing. This shift heightened the spectacle in Miami from general working class to wealthier individuals that are highly concerned with image.

To begin, the programs featured on NBC and CBS have similar formatting. However, Nurses aired earlier in the day and week than Miami Medical. This had a large impact on the viewers. Miami Medical gained more viewers because it was shown later in the day when individuals were off work and school and had the leisure time to watch television.

More over, the content of each show was vastly different. The television show Nurses was a sitcom that allowed viewers to laugh, while Miami Medical was a little more serious. Miami Medical was also easier to relate to, in that it showed the personal and professional lives of the characters.

Furthermore, the main characters from Nurses highlight the simplicity of general medicine. They are very similar to those of Miami Medical in that they are varied in gender and take place in hospital settings, however the greater focus of Nurses tended to be on the general practice within hospitals. The characters in this show were mainly nurses that contributed to general hospital activities such as issuing medicine and monitoring recovery of various patients. Many cases were general and patient age varied greatly. This area of the hospital was not as fast paced as the emergency room, but was still very vital to the hospital overall. It was a full service hospital for an abundance of diseases and ailments. Numerous medical students at this time practiced general medicine, which allowed for a multitude of learning experiences in care and treatment of a variety of conditions.

As time went on, factors like grants, donations, and revenue began to play a role in the focus of the hospital. As more money was donated, more emphasis was placed on specialized areas of interest such as neurosurgery and sleep medicine. By having staff that focused on a specific area like radiology, hospitals could claim to have specialists. These specialists would see patients whose ailments would allow expensive care and treatment, which would increase the revenue of the hospital.

This sudden change can be seen through Miami Medical. The main characters of this show are chief doctors and nurses in the trauma section of the hospital. The focus of was solely on the area where specialized healthcare professionals worked, such as the emergency room and the trauma floor or wing.

The revenue created by focusing on specialties allowed hospitals to become more modern and expand the interior to create numerous spaces for the increased number of patients. This also gave way for wealthier clientele to spend more time getting treatments in the hospital that the working class individuals couldn’t afford.

In Miami specifically, there are more specialized hospitals and clinics in the area than general health hospitals and clinics. This is further evidence that the wealthier individuals are shaping the community around them into an area of mostly specialties.  This also illustrates how they are more concerned about the appearance than general health. More emphasis is placed on appearing beautifully than being healthy.

These modifications and revisions also provoked current and future medical students to specialize instead of going into general practice. Many students did so because the need for these types of individuals was greater than general doctors and nurses. The growth in this area turned the Miami healthcare industry to specialization for increased revenue, clientele, and profit.

In conclusion, these factors transformed the Miami healthcare industry from a general practice to specialized practice. This has a large affect on the healthcare professionals in Miami today, of who majority are specialized in specific areas such as trauma and neurology.