Ashely Judd was the nurse and she was sitting on the bed with her patient and taking a break with the main character? And, yes, she was on duty because she had her uniform and name tag on. No way. She could have been on a break, but still, in real life, I believe most nurses are running around like chickens with their heads cut off, not lounging around on beds, painting finger nails.
"Duh. You're the idiot. Not me."
True. I was in the hospital recently after a surgery and the nurses didn't even have time to help me with needed stuff (I had to keep calling several times and waited hours) let alone kick back and hang out with me.
shareI always just assumed she was hanging out with her after she got off work, or she was on her lunch break. Doesn't make sense, though, if she was staying after work because she'd need to get home to all those kids she had.
Another thing that wasn't realistic was her telling Novalee that she gave up her lunch "hour" so that she could leave work at 3 p.m. instead of 4 to meet Roger. No way do nurses and aides get an hour for lunch. I used to work in nursing. Sometimes you're lucky to get the half hour lunch break.