With all the medical-themed shows on TV these days, as a physician it's always fun to chat with "normal" people (i.e. those of us who don't spend their waking hours immersed in the medical field) and trade impressions. They always wonder, Is it really anything like what we see on TV? And I tell them, Yes, but a conditional yes.
Probably the first show to become a national phenomenon, at least in the time of Generation X, was ER (well, that era also brought Chicago Hope, if anyone out there is keeping track, and I'm not going so far back as those before-my-career-began classics MASH or Marcus Welby, MD).
ER was especially riveting to any person out there who devoted even half a brain cell to the consideration of the medical professions - from middle-schoolers to seasoned attending physicians. I know of medical students who formed regular Thursday night viewing parties - faces glued to the screen, sucked in by the drama, exchanging insiders' winks over the technical parlance, and of course, swooning over George Clooney and his Caesar-style haircut.
But then there was the problem of the Hollywoodization of medicine; accuracy was sacrificed for optimizing storylines, facts changed to move the plot along, visuals modified for viewer palatability - raising eyebrows and inducing groans from medical professionals across the nation. But I suppose that is part of the joy of watching television - it's a magical escape to a different world, and with a finite allotment of time, there isn't room for the slowness of reality or the dead weight of pesky fine details.
As the entertainment industry began to realize what an appetite the American public had for medical shows, they multiplied and mutated. Talk to anyone in the medical field, and we'll all admit to watching - and seeing a little truth in each of the shows.
ER definitely captured much of the drama of medicine. Scrubs highlights how much humor is a critical part of the workday and night. Grey's Anatomy brings out the soap opera plot twists that often surface in the hospital. House sometimes says the things some doctors wish they could say in real life.
And yes, I must admit that the plastic surgeon in me was totally engrossed by Nip/Tuck Season One, and maybe even Season Two, before the wild plot twists and turns lost me forever. But even Nip/Tuck has some professional commendation due: their depiction of surgery (at least the visually sensational parts where the scalpel slides through the skin) is perhaps the best out there.
Photo courtesy of NBC.com
