Grey’s Anatomy: 10 Best Nurses, Ranked By Likability

The stories in Grey’s Anatomy are structured in a way that all the glory and gloom goes to the surgeons. Even relationships are biased towards the men and women who hold the scalpels. Given how frequently the employees at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital date each other, it’s surprising that surgeons mostly pick each other as partners and rarely fall for nurses.

Though they have been the unsung heroes, the nurses have proven to be quite intriguing. Most of them have played a part in saving the lives of critical patients while others have served as great sidekicks to the doctors away from the OR. Numerous nurses have appeared as supporting characters in the series so far but there are a few who really captured the hearts of fans.

10 Jennilynn Mandap

To keep up with current affairs, Jennilynn gets introduced in Season 17 as an ICU nurse who gets infected with Covid-19. Like Meredith, the respiratory disease overwhelms her hence she is admitted at the hospital. She spends 6 weeks battling the infection but finally she recovers and gets discharged.

It’s impossible not to sympathize with Jennilynn due to her condition as well as laud her for being a frontline worker. When she finally gets discharged, the rest of the staff line up on the hallways to clap for her as she goes outside. It’s definitely one of the most heartwarming moments in the show.

9 Frankie Shavelson

Richard has a good eye for talent and it says a lot when he personally hires Frankie, a competent nurse who was top of her class in nursing school. He praises her, explaining how she knows the central line even better than him.

Seeing her make jokes with Richard on a regular basis is always adorable. Frankie also knows how to keep people in line and that makes her more likable compared to some of the other nurses who come off as enablers. She calls out Alex and Jo for getting intimate inside his office, telling them that it’s not a private space. She is also the one who informs Bailey about a staff shortage.

8 Rose

Some fans of the show might not like Rose because she was a threat to the bond between Meredith and Derek but she is generally a good person. She holds off on having sex with Derek until she is sure he is serious about her. After Derek kisses Meredith and breaks up with her, she becomes irritated and erratic but it’s an expected reaction.

Even after the love triangle, Rose is decent enough to let bygones be bygones and work amicably with Meredith. Rose is known to treat everyone around her with utmost humility, too.

7 Eli Lloyd

Eli is respected by most of the hospital staff. When he is first introduced, it’s stated he has been working as a nurse for 12 years. His charming ways enable him to melt the heart of even the no-nonsense Bailey. He makes her less rigid by even convincing her to have sex with him in the hospital, something she vowed to never do.

Eli tends to stand up for himself. He goes against Lexie’s orders and doesn’t flinch when she lectures him because he believes he has done the right thing. He is also aware of his own abilities, reminding Bailey that he only has a 12% complication rate compared to the 42% seen in other nurses.

6 Tyler Christian

Tyler is friends with many of Grey Sloan’s surgeons. Cristina once pays him to guard the door while she gets busy with Burke, something he gladly agrees to. In addition to his good relationship with the star doctors, he appears enjoys helping interns more than any other nurse.

During the hospital shooting in season six’s finale, he impresses by refusing to direct the shooter Gary Clarke to Derek. He also keeps on checking on Izzie when her cancer renders her bedridden.

5 Adele Webber

Adele is said to have served as a nurse for 30 years at Seattle Grace before retiring. It’s during her time there that she met and married Chief Richard Webber. She is often portrayed as a nice person. Even in her rocky marriage to Richard, she is always the aggrieved party.

Her most important contribution comes when she is brought to the hospital as a Nurse Mediator when several of the nurses complain about Mark Sloan’s playboy mannerisms. She helps implement a new policy known as “Date And Tell.” The policy states that all employees that are romantically involved have to let HR know.

4 Debbie

Debbie is a veteran in her profession, having worked at Seattle Grace from the time Ellis Grey was the star surgeon up to Meredith’s second year as a resident. During Bailey’s time as an intern, Debbie gives her a lecture on the importance of respect to both patients and doctors. She also plays a huge part in the nurses’ strike when Seattle Grace understaffed.

Richard considers her part of his family as she often checks out for him and goes the extra mile by informing his wife Adele what he is up to in the hospital. She even shocks everyone by throwing Richard a surprise birthday party. She is also good friends with Joe, the owner of Emerald City Bar.

3 Dell Parker

Dell has a warm heart, never failing to greet patients with a smile when they arrive at the Oceanside Wellness Group. He is even more welcoming than the receptionist. Dell is an efficient multi-tasker, too. He enjoys going beyond his job description, performing numerous tasks that keep the practice up and running.

In addition to being a nurse, he is a trained midwife. He eventually grows tired of covering for his much lazier colleagues at Oceanside Wellness and moves to St. Andrew Hospital.

2 Olivia Harper

Olivia is one of the few nurses lucky enough to have had multiple storylines with the main characters. She becomes romantically involved with both Alex and George, something that results in a syphilis outbreak with Alex as the source. Unfortunately Olivia gets fired when Seattle Grace merges with Mercy West Medical Center.

What makes Olivia likable is the fact she has good bedside manner; she constantly checks up on patients and does her best to make them feel better about themselves. When the nurses go on strike, she asks George to keep updating her about the progress of the patients she has been caring for.

1 BokHee

Though she doesn’t speak much, scrub nurse BokHee has been present in the OR during many important surgeries in the show. What’s more impressive is that Kathy C An—who plays BokHee—is a scrub nurse in real life.

During the infamous hospital shooting, BokHee is the nurse who passes Jackson Avery a key instrument that helps save the life of a wounded Derek Shepherd. She is also very observant; she is among the first people to notice Andrew DeLuca has feelings for Meredith.

About The Author

Philip Etemesi
(1212 Articles Published)

Philip Etemesi is an author, journalist, screenwriter and film critic based in Nairobi. Kenya. As a child, he preferred watching movies like The Goodfellas instead of Home Alone. His girlfriend constantly has to pull him from the front of the TV but he just keeps returning. Stubborn dude! An animal lover, Philip also has a pet giraffe called Refu.

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