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File:Hospital hottie 4261.jpg

There's someone for everyone to love at Princeton Plainsboro!

Cquote1
"Do all hospitals usually have this many cute nurses on their staff or was this place purposely stockpiling to make sure that they had a steady influx of self-injured male patients?"
Crossroads
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Exactly What It Says on the Tin, medical personnel who are attractive. Makes you just wanna shout: "Helloooo, nurse!"

Expect "sponge bath", "raising temperatures" and "racing pulses" jokes. See also Naughty Nurse Outfit for when a nurse's outfit is deployed specifically for sexification purposes, and the Florence Nightingale Effect for nurse/doctor-patient relationships.

Unfortunately for people who expect this trope to be Truth in Television, anyone who has ever been to a real hospital will notice that the nurses are more concerned with their jobs than their appearance. They will be wearing little if any makeup, and will always be in plain old scrubs, which are nowhere near as appealing as the nurse outfits in TV/magazine land (or the duds favored by their counterparts in the legal profession, for that matter) and you'll almost never see a nurse on the job with her hair done up like they always do on TV. The fanciest "style" you will likely ever see is a simple ponytail, for three good reasons: first, many patients are allergic to the chemicals in hair products; second, you don't want to have to rejigger a hairdo because you accidentally dangled the end into something gross, and third, it's extremely poor form to have to wipe hair out of your face while you're trying to save someone's life.

Even in the cases where this trope is Truth in Television, there's not a lot of sexy activity going on. Nurses see you when you look and feel your worst. They watch you vomit, clean your catheters and bedpans, jab you with sharp needles, and are prone to sticking uncomfortable things in various orifices. Finally, there is really nothing pleasant about genital or rectal examinations. Just because you might be naked does not mean anything fun is about to happen.

Examples of Hospital Hottie include:


Anime and Manga[]

Comic Books[]

  • Subverted in Empowered, the staff of the Purple Paladin Memorial Hospital's supra-human wing have access to exotic technology that makes them embodiments of this trope (yes, both females and males). What happens one of them consumes food laced with something designed to neutralize superpowers? He reverts to being a normal, unattractive and rather overweight guy.
  • Dr. Cecelia Reyes of X-Men.
  • Several Marvel Comics characters who share the title Night Nurse[1][2][3].
  • Nurse Annie wore this outfit while working with the X-Men.

Film[]

  • A more subtle example is Anna in Eastern Promises.
  • Jean Grey in the X-Men movies.
  • Subverted in Kill Bill. Daryl Hannah looks awfully good in a nurse's outfit, but she is there to murder the Bride.
  • Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995). The Man With The Plan, a quadraplegic mobster, has an attractive blonde nurse to care for him. "Can't nurse for shit, but I keep her around because, even though I can't feel them, I just know she gives me erections."
  • The World Is Not Enough. M refuses to allow Bond to return to duty after he dislocates his collar bone. Fortunately the MI6 doctor is a hot redhead who certifies that Bond has "exceptional stamina".
  • Dr. Furano's assistant Midori in Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl. After her death and resurrection, not so much.
  • One appears in Claymation for the opening and ending sequences of Brain Donors.
  • Any and every Carry On film that features medical personnel. Your Mileage May Vary on the charms of Jim Dale or Barbra Windsor, but surely Anita Harris is universal?
  • "Sexy Nurse" played by Maria Menounos in the 2005 Fantastic Four movie.
Cquote1

 Sexy Nurse: My God! You're hot!

Johnny Storm: Why, thank you. So are you.

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Literature[]

  • The Twilight series has Carlisle Cullen, a very brilliant doctor, who's also the series' Hot Dad.
  • Lensman ("Galactic Patrol"). When Lensman Kimball Kinnison is severely wounded, his admiral orders that the most attractive nurses in the Patrol attend to him, figuring he'll inevitably fall in love with one, so she might as well be a looker. The doctor criticises this popular belief, pointing out that while patients fall for their nurses, the reverse seldom happens because the nurses aren't seeing the patient at their best. Nevertheless the stunning Clarissa MacDougall attends to the handsome hero, and sure enough the two proceed to annoy the hell out of each other with their Belligerent Sexual Tension.
  • Played with in James White's Sector General series. Murchison (originally a staff RN, later earns her MD and goes into pathology) is described as being quite attractive by Earth-human standards, but the only one who acknowledges it is Conway. The vast majority of the staff, being composed of numerous species of Starfish Aliens, actually find her appearance a bit off-putting. Also played with in a different direction - when human doctors have received mind tapes from other species, they can find members of those species absurdly attractive - even if they look like giant crustaceans, or whatever.
  • Max Barry's Machine Man features the Prosthetist Lola. For a man with almost no interest in his fellow human beings, Dr. Charles Neumann finds her extremely attractive.
  • In Goethe's Faust, Mephistopheles advises a student to become a doctor in order to become one of these.
  • Richard Wright from Passage is a male version of this. There's a reason Vielle calls him "Dr. Right." Tish may qualify as the more traditional sexy nurse.


Live-Action TV[]

  • Almost any hospital-based series, especially as it approaches soapdom, will depict a staff of impossibly attractive doctors and nurses, to the point where you'd expect people in town to be injuring themselves on purpose just to go there.
  • ER (George Clooney's character in particular was treated in-show as the resident heartthrob.)
  • Dr. Kildare, especially the Richard Chamberlain series. Chamberlain later came out of the closet as gay.
  • Casualty has quite a few.
  • Whoniverse examples:
    • Doctor Who: Harry Sullivan, Martha Jones and Rory Williams
    • Torchwood: Owen Harper
      • Torchwood: Miracle Day's Dr. Vera Juarez. Walking down hospital corridors with her long legs, perfect hair, low cut dress, and high heels, she looks like a model walking the runway.
  • Green Wing:
  • Peter Petrelli from Heroes.
  • Many on Green Wing: Angela, Boyce, Guy, Lyndon and Mac.
  • Quite a few people on Scrubs, including Elliot Reid, Dr. Cox, Carla, Dr. Molly Clock and Kim.
    • Some Scrubs episodes also subvert this trope, in one where they point out that female doctors generally aren't supposed to be known for being fashion forward. Also, in general casting the staff extras with average-looking people.
    • It was even played around with Ms. Martinez in "Her Story II".
    • Elliot getting up early in the morning and preening herself (and the envy it caused amongst the other female staff) was a plot point in at least one episode.
      • In fact, it was a plot point for the entire third season... and a result of the Network demanding that the writers take advantage of the fact that Sarah Chalke is really hot in real life.
    • Lampshaded in Season 9, when Dr. Cox tells a young intern that she is far too good looking to ever be taken seriously as a doctor. He's right, too, even if he is ignoring all the other women who have passed through the show.
  • Everyone on General Hospital and its spinoffs, Night Shift and Port Charles.
  • Grey's Anatomy's McDreamy (Derek Shepherd) and McSteamy (Mark Sloan), and pretty much everyone else on the show, but those two are referred to within the show as being attractive, while everyone else is Hollywood Normal.
    • Katherine Heigl's character also receives frequent in-show comments about her looks, and actually put herself through med school modeling. She's arguably a deconstruction of the idea, since she admits she wonders if people like her for her or her looks, and is tired of always being described as "the pretty girl".
  • Cuddy on House, frequently teased by the title character for dressing inappropriately. He doesn't really seem to mind. Additionally, Thirteen and Cameron, and Chase.
Cquote1

 House: [As Cuddy bends over] Oh. My. God. You're not wearing any panties.

Cuddy: [Standing up quickly] Yes I am.

House: Skirt that tight doesn't hide anything. Skirt that tight wouldn't hide an IUD[1].

Cquote2
  • Best Love has Perfect Man Dr. Yoon Jil Pu as The Bachelor on a matchmaking Variety Show.
  • From the Stargate Verse 'verse: Dr. Janet Fraiser, Dr. Carson Beckett, Dr. Carolyn Lam, and Dr. Jennifer Keller.
  • Dr. Helen Magnus of Sanctuary often pairs her lab coat with thick makeup, an elegant updo, and big dangly earrings. In one episode she can be seen performing an autopsy in black stilettos.
  • Dr. Simon Tam of Firefly.
  • Ducky, Jeanne Benoit and Jimmy Palmer from NCIS.
  • In Hope And Faith, when Charlie hires Faith as a dental hygienist, she shows up for work in a sexy nurse's outfit and bends over a lot.
  • Noah's Arc: Junito, the attractive young physician (and Ricky's major love interest).
  • Thomas of Wonderfalls gets one of these giving him a sponge bath after his tracheotomy. He dates her for awhile.
  • Dr. Jack Shepard and Juliet of Lost.
  • There was a Seinfeld episode where George was visiting his mother at the hospital, when he happened to see a Hospital Hottie give a sponge bath to a patient who, despite never being seen except for behind the blinds, was stated to be even hotter than the nurse.
    • The scene is referenced later in the Mistaken for Gay episode, with George seeing pretty much the exact same thing, except with a male nurse and male patient.
  • Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on Mash, particularly in the first couple seasons and the original movie.
  • Dr. Jennifer Melfi from The Sopranos.
    • Played with in an early episode. A woman in a Hello Nurse outfit comes to check on Jackie Aprile, who insists she's not his nurse. About the point her tits start falling out of her jacket, he realizes that she's one of the girls from the Bada Bing club, whom Tony hired to come out and show Jackie a good time.
  • Spoofed in the hospital episode of The Goodies where the nurse turns out to be a bearded man. Then they're informed she's not a man.
  • Terri Alden on Three's Company.
  • Sonny Lumet, on Bosom Buddies.
  • Dr. Bones McCoy and Christine Chapel from Star Trek: The Original Series.
  • Dixie McCall (played by torch singer Julie London) on Emergency.
  • Nurse Jennifer from the "From Nurse to Worse" episode of Saved by the Bell.
  • Dr. Reid Oliver from the soap opera As the World Turns. His looks actually get used for dramatic effect after Noah regains his sight. Doctor Oliver describes himself as very ugly to blind Noah. However, in a moment of Genre Savvy, when Noah learns his doc is a hottie, he is horrified at the implications behind him being SO attractive and spending SO much time with Noah's ex.
  • Dr. Mikoto Nakadai AKA Abare Killer from Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger, a certified doctor working on hospital, complete with doctor jacket, is a ranger and... is REALLY bored with life and prefers doing exciting things For the Evulz.
    • For the good part, we also have Dr. Yukito Sanjou AKA Abare Blue. He's more Dr. Jerk, but pretty enough to cross dress effectively once.
  • Chad Everett's character on Medical Center.
  • The school doctor on Fifteen Love (nicknamed Dr. Downer by the cast) is very attractive, albeit in a Defrosting Ice Queen sort of way. Most students find her frightening or depressing, rather than attractive; school President Bates would beg to differ.
  • Combat Hospital doubles this with Good Looking Privates in its cast. The best examples are Rebecca, Simon and Bobby.
  • Sherlock has Doctors John Watson, Sarah Sawyer, and Molly Hooper.
  • Doogie Howser, M.D..
  • In ''Coupling,'' Patrick admits, somewhat accidentally, that he has a nurse fetish to his girlfriend Sally. When she asks him what it is, he actually kind of combines this trope with reality saying they're "kind, sensitive, caring people... who are almost impossible to disgust."
  • A very beautiful and busty nurse shows up in an episode of 1000 Ways to Die. She turns out to have been an ex-military nurse too, which is VERY handy when the Asshole Victim of the episode shows up...


Music[]

  • "Dr. Wanna Do" by Caro Emerald is this trope in lyrical form.
  • Doctor, doctor, gimme the news, I gotta bad case of loving you...
  • The Nurse by Philipp Kirkorov.
  • The music video for the Steps song Chain Reaction uses this trope for both male and female Fan Service.
  • Alice Cooper's "Nurse Rosetta" is about a priest fantasizing about a nurse.
  • Garth Brooks' In The Life Of Chris Gaines: the liner notes feature on the cover of Chris' album "Straight Jacket" a young Chris in a straight jacket being flanked by two attractive nurses.
  • In the video for the Aerosmith song "Blind Man" Pamela Anderson has a cameo as a sexy nurse who gives a spongebath to a teenage boy, which causes his head to asplode.
  • Super Shiny Metal by Nerd Core group Optimus Rhyme is about a man who undergoes surgery to become a hip-hop cyborg and falling in love with his nurse during recovery. He goes on to have more surgery just to see her, and eventually marries her and has a son by her.


Theatre[]

  • Old Vaudeville shows often had a scene where an attractive woman in a nurse's uniform would walk across the stage, prompting the male cast members to call out: "Hello, Nurse!!". This makes this Older Than Television. (And now you know.)
    • See the "doctor sketch" in Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys for a good reenactment of this bit.


Video Games[]


Webcomics[]


Web Original[]


Western Animation[]

  • The Trope Maker Hello, Nurse! from Animaniacs.
  • The Futurama movie had a sexy young doctor named Dr. Kayhill, (although Fry just called her Dr. Good and Sexy) who - despite her insistence that her attractive nature didn't make her a bimbo - was in fact a bimbo.
  • Mrs. Dr. Possible from Kim Possible. And during one episode she had Bonnie as a student.
  • An old Popeye cartoon has him and Bluto competing to see who can be the first to get hurt badly, so they can be treated by nurse Olive.
  • An episode of The Penguins of Madagascar had Private falling in love with the zoo's new cute vet, and repeatedly getting himself hurt on purpose in order to spend more time with her.
  • Dr. Duckbreath's nurse in Taz-Mania.
  • June Darby of Transformers Prime.
  • Betty Boop when she becomes a veterinarian in "A Song a Day".
  1. Intra-Uterine Device
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