This article provided by: Gifted Healthcare
Travel Nurses work hard and deserve downtime just like everybody else. And when it’s time to relax, there’s nothing better than getting cozy and watching a great movie or TV show.
And when it’s time to relax, there’s nothing better than getting cozy and watching a great movie or TV show.
Do you have a favorite nurse from the silver screen? You may find a new one when you check out our list of great movies and television shows about nursing and medicine.
Read on for a list of classics and under-the-radar gems.
TV Shows
Nurse Jackie
Nurse Jackie is a medical comedy-drama television series starring Edie Falco that ran from 2009 – 2015 on Showtime. The show follows ER Nurse Jackie Peyton’s daily routine at All Saints’ Hospital, a hectic New York City facility.
Nurse Jackie was popular with both audiences and critics due to Jackie’s raw portrayal as an exceptional yet flawed clinician. The show deals with present-day topics like opioid addiction and the current state of the U.S. healthcare system.
Nurse Jackie is a dark but comedic take on nursing, written with intelligence and depth. You can stream it on Netflix.
Call the Midwife
Call the Midwife is a fascinating period drama that follows young midwife Jenny Lee, who works in 1950’s East London. The show was originally adapted from Jennifer Worth’s memoirs, who worked as a midwife in an East London convent following World War II.
Call the Midwife spotlights the heroic and often thankless work of nurses serving patients in an impoverished community. Critics have praised it for its unique blend of social commentary on present-day female social issues with accurate post-WWII London portrayals.
If you like historical dramas, plan on being glued to the screen once you start watching Call, the Midwife. You can binge all 8 seasons of it on Netflix.
HawthoRNe
HawthoRNe is a medical drama starring Jada Pinkett Smith as Christina Hawthorne, a Chief Nursing Officer at Richmond Trinity Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. The show highlights Christina Hawthorne’s passion for nursing, depicting her as a tireless advocate for her patients and staff.
Given the countless stream-able options of modern television, HawthoRNe is often overlooked. However, it’s a broader, mainstream alternative to the dark and intense shows that make up so much of modern-day television.
You can stream all 3 seasons of HawthoRNe on Amazon Prime.
Movies
M*A*S*H
We begin the movie side of the list with a classic.
M*A*S*H is a 1970 war movie based on Richard Hooker’s famous novel, MASH: A Novel About Three Doctors. M*A*S*H was one of the most popular films of the 1970s and inspired the famous television series of the same name.
The movie takes place during the Korean War. It follows two combat surgeons, “Hawkeye” Pierce and “Duke” Forrest, through various trials and tribulations as they adapt to practicing medicine during wartime.
M*A*S*H is an important release in the history of cinema, and one of the first modern films to revolve around the medical profession. You can find it on Amazon Prime and YouTube.
WIT
Wit is a 2001 television movie based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. It follows Vivian Bearing’s life, a professor of English literature after she is diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer.
Although Wit’s main character is not a nurse, one of its most important characters is. The only person who shows Vivian compassion and care is nurse Susie Monahan, and the two develop a bond that plays a major role in the movie’s central lesson.
Wit is a powerful exploration of the impact that a great nurse can make on a patient. Find it on HBO Now and HBO Go.
Patch Adams
Our list ends with a feel-good classic. Patch Adams follows Hunter “Patch” Adams, a former psychiatric patient who decides to become a doctor after a life-changing stay in a mental institution. Adams’ methods as a physician, which emphasize humor and compassion, are controversial among his colleagues and serve as the central theme in the film.
We’ve included Patch Adams on our list due to its positive portrayal of the nurse’s role. Throughout the movie, Adams encourages his medical students to work closely and respectfully with nurses, highlighting them as integral players in quality patient outcomes.
Stream Patch Adams on Amazon Prime.
From comedies to period dramas, there is a diverse range of great movies and television shows about nursing and medicine. Your next favorite could be on our list, just waiting to be watched.
No matter which one you choose, we hope you get some much-deserved R&R so that you can seize the day (or night) like the all-star Travel Nurse that you are! We hope you found this list of tv shows & movies for travel nurses helpful and fun!
