how realistic is The Resident?

[dr.dareyou]

So I grew up knowing art to be the mirror of society. Most things we portray in drama or art have some sort of stem in real life events. How common is it for attendings to blame their mistakes on poor residents, scapegoat them in front of patients, mock their abilities, humiliate them in front of colleagues, and for a person who's made multiple medical mistakes to somehow rise to a star-like state in the field of medicine? Oh, and would an actual attending threaten to deport you if you didn't let him do a surgery you'd been training for for months, only so that you could give a crash course of your hard work in a couple of hours?

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[OddNath]

There can be some blaming, but that is over the top. Especially that part about the threatened deportation (WTF?).

According to Esther Choo, an attending whose opinion I respect, there are a number of reasons that the show is not realistic:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/think/amp/ncna847261

 

[doc05]

The show is totally unrealistic.

 

[LebronManning]

Esther Choo, an attending whose opinion I respect

Might wanna reconsider that lol. Go look at her remarks regarding the surgery resident Vanderbilt very appropriately suspended.

 

[OddNath]

Might wanna reconsider that lol. Go look at her remarks regarding the surgery resident Vanderbilt very appropriately suspended.

Haha I had no idea 🙂

 

[Mad Jack]

It's about as realistic as House, Grey's, etc. Which is to say, not at all

 

[getdown]

Just watch scrubs first couple of seasons.

 

[dr.dareyou]

I really did not want to come off as naive, and thank you so much for all of your responses. I'm prepared for some level of arrogance with my superiors because this is a really hard field. I get it, pride is part of the deal. But like, some of the stuff just seems to be very much possible.

The show also talks about the politics in medicine. I know that the real decision makers are MBA's not MD's, for the most part. So for instance, in the second episode, a long standing patient's heart arrives and one of the senior attendings suggests reassigning it to a powerful politician also in the hospital at the same time. He might also be a donor. Or when someone dies because of a nicked artery, they scour the patient's history and blame it on an undisclosed heart condition. I know Grey's is unrealistic, but are my worries about the politics of medicine totally unfounded?

 

[dr.dareyou]

Just watch scrubs first couple of seasons.

To the one who told me to go watch Scrubs, did you have to do that to me? Now I'm questioning my life choices.

 

[Lucca]

To the one who told me to go watch Scrubs, did you have to do that to me? Now I'm questioning my life choices.

Now go read House of God

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

To the one who told me to go watch Scrubs, did you have to do that to me? Now I'm questioning my life choices.

You really want to question your life choice, go read The Intern Blues.

 

[Oso]

Watch Parks and Rec

 

[getdown]

To the one who told me to go watch Scrubs, did you have to do that to me? Now I'm questioning my life choices.

What do you mean? You decided to pursue janitorial services and/or become a lawyer instead?

 

[Med Ed]

So I grew up knowing art to be the mirror of society. Most things we portray in drama or art have some sort of stem in real life events. How common is it for attendings to blame their mistakes on poor residents, scapegoat them in front of patients, mock their abilities, humiliate them in front of colleagues, and for a person who's made multiple medical mistakes to somehow rise to a star-like state in the field of medicine? Oh, and would an actual attending threaten to deport you if you didn't let him do a surgery you'd been training for for months, only so that you could give a crash course of your hard work in a couple of hours?

The Resident is a realistic portrayal of medicine in the same way that The Godfather is a realistic portrayal of 19th century Rhode Island clam diggers.

 

[kavorca]

Scrubs is the most realistic of the shows.

 

[VincentAdultman]

Just binge watch Bojack Horseman. You’re welcome.

 

[IgEdoc]

Some of the antics in House of God reminded me of my years as a resident; glad I read it after I finished residency.
Would never watch any medical show on TV, with the exception of “The Knick” on Cinemax

 

[Lucca]

If you want to have a laugh watch “the Good Doctor”.

 

[LizzyM]

Read Forgive and Remember by Charles Bosk.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

The Resident is completely realistic. It’s the next most realistic medical drama after the Office

 

[dr_kateb]

The trailer itself is pretty cringe inducing. I’m not sure how that’s not a massive giveaway that it’s going to be passable at best.

 

[holdthemayo]

Scrubs is the most realistic of the shows.

The first few seasons of ER were also pretty accurate. It is pretty dated now though.

 

[TypeADissection]

I don’t know guys. The show is kinda true. I mean, my colleagues and myself included are incredibly good looking. We’re all kind of bro in our program. Obviously very talented. Oh and humble. The most of all the specialties. Cheers.

 

[Mr.Monster]

 

[RNthenDoc]

Scrubs. That is all.

 

[DocAdams]

Where my Doc Martin fans at?

 

[VincentAdultman]

Zach Braff has a punchable face.

 

[dr.dareyou]

thank you to everyone who replied. No one really denied the politics in medicine though...the influence of money and donors, the obvious issues with hierarchy? Its obvious how much it affects patients, but how much does it affect training?

Sorry i like hard questions...😛

 

[dr.dareyou]

If you want to have a laugh watch “the Good Doctor”.

this was sad to me honestly. The funny parts were few and far between

 

[Lucca]

this was sad to me honestly. The funny parts were few and far between

Sad? It was the most cringeworthy television writing I’ve ever seen.

 

[dpmd]

thank you to everyone who replied. No one really denied the politics in medicine though...the influence of money and donors, the obvious issues with hierarchy? Its obvious how much it affects patients, but how much does it affect training?

Sorry i like hard questions...😛

No one responded to it because it is laughably ignorant of you to even ask. Complete and utter horse**** is all that show spreads.

 

[dpmd]

The show also talks about the politics in medicine. I know that the real decision makers are MBA's not MD's, for the most part. So for instance, in the second episode, a long standing patient's heart arrives and one of the senior attendings suggests reassigning it to a powerful politician also in the hospital at the same time. He might also be a donor. Or when someone dies because of a nicked artery, they scour the patient's history and blame it on an undisclosed heart condition. I know Grey's is unrealistic, but are my worries about the politics of medicine totally unfounded?

Neither of those scenarios has any basis in reality.

 

[kavorca]

None of the shows are that realistic because no one would want to watch what a resident really does, especially in internal medicine. Writing H and P s as fast as you can and making sure you change all the "today's" to "yesterday's" on the SOAP NOTES, prewriting the D/C summaries, begging the social worker to make more than one call to place at a nursing home or rehab, sometimes calling these places yourself.

Never did I do anything behind the back of the attending let alone the chief of surgery or CEO. The highest stakes I was dealing with were the Hb is 7.1 and supposed to transfuse below 7. Hmmm, let's just do it!

That isn't very TV worthy.

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

If you want to have a laugh watch “the Good Doctor”.

This show pissssssssssssssssssssssssssssses me off!😡😡😡

 

[getdown]

This show pissssssssssssssssssssssssssssses me off!😡😡😡

Is this the one about the autistic genius who somehow identified a cardiac abnormality by looking at random low resolution transport EKG?

 

[trobinsonmd]

I started it last week and just caught up... season 1 cliffhanger was really good... anyway -- parts of it are realistic and others are not. You don't have residents who are allowed to just break protocol left and right like Conrad does, you don't have billing people going around telling you to overbill, and surgical errors are not as common as they are in the show. Some scenes in the ER have some truth to them, I think the dynamic between Nic and Conrad has some validity in the sense that there are some inappropriate relationships that form between residents and nurses... also you don't have residents that behave like Okafor, they would most likely get thrown out of the program if they behaved like that with patients