Nurse Ratched

Mildred Ratched
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest character
Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched in the 1975 film adaptation
First appearance	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962)
Created by	Ken Kesey
Portrayed by	Joan Tetzel (play) Louise Fletcher (film) Sarah Paulson (Ratched)
In-universe information
Full name	Mildred Ratched (film, TV series)
Alias	Big Nurse
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Occupation	Nurse
Significant other	Gwendolyn Briggs (TV series) Charles Wainwright (TV series)
Nationality	American
Birthplace	Salem, Oregon, United States

Nurse Ratched (full name Mildred Ratched in the movie, also known as "Big Nurse") is a fictional character and the main antagonist of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, first featured in Ken Kesey's 1962 novel as well as the 1975 film adaptation. A coldhearted and passive-aggressive tyrant, Nurse Ratched has become the stereotype of the nurse as a battleaxe. She has also become a popular metaphor for the corrupting influence of institutional power and authority in bureaucracies such as the psychiatric treatment center in which the novel is set.

Nurse Ratched is the head administrative nurse at the Salem State Hospital, a mental institution where she exercises near-absolute power over the patients' access to medications, privileges, and basic necessities such as food and toiletries. She capriciously revokes these privileges whenever a patient displeases her. Her superiors turn a blind eye because she maintains order, keeping the patients from acting out, either through antipsychotic and anticonvulsant drugs or her own brand of psychotherapy, which consists mostly of humiliating patients into doing her bidding. Her tyrannical rule and her cruel personality stems from her time as an army nurse during World War II.