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Movie Analysis Of The Pilot Episode Of Nurse Jackie

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Analysis of the Pilot Episode of Nurse Jackie
Within the pilot episode of Nurse Jackie, which premiered in 2009, Jackie Peyton, an emergency department RN is introduced. Nurse Jackie is an American television show set in New York city. It’s main character, Jackie, is a mother of two, married, and is addicted to prescription drugs. There are many events within this first episode, both in Jackie’s personal and work life. Jackie forges a patient’s signature on a donor card, flushes a patient’s ear down a toilet, almost kills a patient, and is having an affair with the pharmacist, who in turn is providing her with prescription drugs which she has become addicted to. Within this episode alone, Jackie goes against many nursing ethics, which does not portray nursing in a very good light. Outside of her work life, Jackie is having an affair with a hospital pharmacist, who is providing her with pharmaceuticals. It can be assumed that Jackie had previously hurt her back, as each time she takes the medication she complains of a sore back, and she has become addicted to the drugs that she was taking for the pain. It is evident that she is addicted and not just taking for pain as she is breaking up the pills and snorting them instead of using them properly, and she is seeking out more on her own instead of going to see her doctor. As stated in Valarie Douglas’ (2016) paper, when a nurse is impaired they are not only endangering themselves, but the lives of their patients as well.

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