What the Media Gets Wrong About Nursing — and Why It Matters (With Sandy Summers)

Jun 26, 2026

29:46

Episode Description

Hosts Marion Leary, PhD, MPH, RN and Rebecca Love, RN, MSN, FIEL welcome Sandy Summers, RN, MSN, MPH, founder and executive director of The Truth About Nursing, for a powerful conversation about how the media shapes the way the public sees nurses — and why it matters far beyond entertainment.

For 25 years, Sandy has been pushing back against the way nurses are portrayed on TV, in advertising, and in the news. From the early days of organizing nurses to challenge ER, to going after Hooters for a naughty nurse ad campaign, to today's fight with The Pit, Sandy walks through the stereotypes that won't go away and the real-world consequences of those portrayals on funding, policy, staffing, and the nursing shortage itself.

In this episode, you'll hear how Sandy got the Washington Post to cover her first nursing media campaign in 2001, why she says the so-called nursing shortage was created by the hospital industry, how AI reimbursement codes are threatening to redefine nursing roles without nurses at the table, and what every nurse can do right now to join the fight.

Whether you're a clinical nurse, a nurse leader, a nursing student, or a healthcare changemaker, this conversation is a call to use your voice.

Jump Ahead:

00:58 — Welcome and introducing Sandy Summers
01:32 — The Truth About Nursing's mission
02:57 — Why nursing is the largest profession but still poorly defined in media
03:34 — How it all started: the 2001 budget cuts and the ER campaign
07:38 — Why The Pit is making the same mistakes ER did
08:52 — 25 years of progress: ad campaigns, billboards, and global media wins
11:09 — Why Sandy keeps going after 25 years
13:20 — "I can't tolerate the disrespect"
13:23 — How media portrayals affect policy, STEM designation, and funding
14:54 — Nursing education gets 1/50th of physician education funding
15:30 — Why the nursing shortage was created by the hospital industry
16:29 — The CPT codes problem: 288 for AI, zero for nursing
18:35 — How nurses can get involved with The Truth About Nursing
20:00 — Linda Aiken's research: doubling a nurse's workload increases mortality by 31%
23:28 — How to get more nurses fired up about this fight
26:30 — Turning anger into action instead of burnout
28:10 — Sandy's parting words to nurses
28:44 — Closing thanks

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