Why Nurses Love ‘St. Denis Medical’s’ Allison Tolman—and Why She’s Jealous of ‘The Pitt’
St. Denis Medical finally gives nurses a TV “charge nurse” who feels like one of us — and Allison Tolman’s Alex might be the most relatable, delightfully frazzled nurse on network TV right now. She’s competent without being sanctimonious, funny without being cartoonish, and just exhausted enough to feel real.
If you’ve ever wanted to look at a new grad and say, “You don’t have to do things my way, but you do have to do them the right way—which is how I do them,” then congratulations: you already understand why nurses are locking onto Tolman’s performance.
From closet-crying coping strategies to razor-sharp eye rolls, Nurse Alex has quickly become one of TV’s most quotable nursing characters — and one that resonates deeply with real nurses everywhere.
St. Denis Medical is a mockumentary-style workplace comedy set in an underfunded Oregon safety-net hospital. Created by The Office and Superstore alumni, the series follows doctors, nurses, and administrators as they navigate short staffing, limited resources, and deeply questionable management decisions.
The humor comes from the chaos, but the setting is intentionally grounded. This is a hospital serving a diverse patient population with not nearly enough money, time, or supplies — a reality many nurses recognize immediately.
At the center of that chaos is Alex, the charge nurse trying to enforce order while fully aware that order is often optional.
Allison Tolman first captured audiences with her Emmy-nominated role in Fargo, but St. Denis Medical gives her something different: the chance to anchor a workplace comedy with heart.
In multiple interviews, Tolman has described Alex as a “dedicated” head nurse who genuinely cares about doing things right and teaching others. Speaking with Salon, she emphasized that Alex has chosen to stay in this chaotic, underfunded environment, even when it would be easier to leave. Tolman compared the hospital staff to “the island of misfit toys,” explaining that they deliberately choose to spend their careers serving this particular community.
That framing matters. Alex isn’t trapped — she’s committed. And that sense of intentional staying is something many nurses understand intimately.
Nurse Alex isn’t written as a saint or a superhero. She’s written like a real coworker.
Fan compilations focus on her eye rolls, her attempts to enforce order, and the way she keeps showing up even when the hospital’s dysfunction is off the charts. For nurses watching at home, Alex is funny because she’s not a superhero — she’s the coworker you’re texting memes with from the break room.
She’s bossy, efficient, and weirdly comforting — the verbal equivalent of a nurse who knows where everything is and will absolutely tell you if you’re doing it wrong.
Then there’s Alex’s now-iconic advice for surviving a bad shift: “What I do when I’m feeling overwhelmed is I go into the janitor’s closet and I just cry for like five minutes… And I really think you should try that.”
Delivered cheerfully, like a productivity tip, the line lands because it captures something nurses rarely see acknowledged on TV — emotional survival as a skill.
Tolman has never claimed to speak for nurses, but she consistently speaks about what draws her to the profession. Through Alex, she seems especially interested in the mix of competence, conscience, and commitment that defines nursing work — particularly in tough environments where patients really need advocates.
Even when she jokes about being “jealous” of shows that get to perform big, technical medical procedures, she positions St. Denis Medical as something different. In her interview with The Daily Beast, Tolman explained that while other medical dramas get prosthetics and chest-cracking scenes, St. Denis Medical focuses on people, emotion, and messy human interactions. The show focuses on the quieter truths: managing personalities, teaching under pressure, absorbing stress, and showing up again tomorrow.
That focus is, arguably, very nursing-coded. She’s not saving the day with one dramatic intervention. She’s holding the unit together — imperfectly, sarcastically, and with deep care.
Allison Tolman’s Nurse Alex feels real because she is allowed to be human. She’s dedicated without being idealized, funny without being dismissive, and exhausted in a way nurses recognize instantly.
St. Denis Medical may be a comedy, but for many nurses, it’s also a rare moment of recognition — a charge nurse who finally feels like one of us.
You can watch St. Denis Medical on NBC, with new episodes typically dropping on Tuesday nights and streaming the next day on Peacock.
