The Woodhull Study Revisited: Nurses' Representation in Health News Media 20 Years Later

Purpose To determine if nurses are represented in health news stories more frequently today than 20 years ago when Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honorary Society published The Woodhull Study on Nursing and the Media, which found that nurses were cited as sources in only 4% of the stories. Design Methods Content analysis of health news stories for the month of September 2017 in the same publications used in the original Woodhull study. Searches with Nexis and Webhose identified 2,243 articles related to health care published by the news outlets in September 2017. A random sample of 537 of these articles was obtained: 258 from seven newspapers, 127 from three weekly newsmagazines, and 152 from three health industry publications. After removing irrelevant articles or those with only passing references to health, 365 articles were reviewed and coded, using the original study's coding schema. Findings Conclusions Nurses were identified as the source of only 2% of quotes in the articles and were never sourced in stories on health policy. When quoted, nurses mainly commented on the profession itself. Nurses or the nursing profession were mentioned in 13% of the articles. Nurses were identified in 4% of photographs or other images that accompanied the articles. Nurses remain invisible in health news media, despite their increasing levels of education, unique roles, and expertise. Clinical Relevance Nurses' clinical expertise is accompanied by unique perspectives on health, illness, and health care; but the public is not benefiting from the wisdom and insight that nurses can provide in health news stories.