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The Center for Nursing Advocacy promotes nursing to the public by trying to improve mass media portrayals of nurses in shows such as ER, which reaches millions (including high school students) every week. The idea that working to improve the portrayal of nurses in ER is "pointless" because it's mere entertainment is contradicted by the fact that U.S. youngsters get their main impression of nursing from such shows. Also, consistent with the show's inaccurate, physician-focused portrayals of health care, young people have been found to undervalue nursing. The producers of ER take credit for influencing health care; many people, in fact, act on health information taken from the show. When the media ignore or misrepresent nursing, this tells government leaders and health care executives that it's acceptable to starve nursing of resources. In order to end the current crisis in nursing, nurses must be given the opportunity to show the public the autonomous, highly skilled professionals they are.