Medical TV Shows

[Struggles]

What's your opinion on some of the commonly watched TV shows? Some are more accurate than other and I won't lie, I have gotten into a couple on occasion though in no way is it why I want to go into medicine.

I was forced into watching Grey's Anatomy by just about every girl on my floor freshman year and found it to be entertaining but a little too dramatic for my tastes.

Scrubs can be funny at times, but other times I want to kill myself when watching it. I guess it just depends on my mood.

The only other show I have watched that's based on medicine is Private Practice, which doesn't really do much for me.

I know there are a couple others out there such as House, ER and more recently a show following Johns Hopkins medical students on ABC I believe (plan on checking this one out... think it's just called Hopkins).

So with all my ramblings aside, what's your take on these?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[da8s0859q]

House.

I watch it because it amuses me, not because I think it's an accurate portrayal. Any show that has a guy say, "In this temple, I am Dr. Yahweh" to a Hasidic Jew is worth watching.

I don't watch any of the others (or much of anything else outside of movies, for that matter).

 

[Geekchick921]

I love Scrubs and House. Those are the only two I watch. Occasionally I'll watch ER when it comes on after something else I wanted to watch.

I have never watched Grey's Anatomy, but when I was reading some website on it. The characters are so ridiculously unrealistic I can't imagine ever watching it. The worst, in my opinion, is Addison Montgomery, based on her set of subspecialties that each take the better half of a decade to complete when you consider residencies and fellowships (MFM and fetal surgery with an additional medical genetics fellowship). Count it all up and she should be 42, at least, when she's done all of her training (if she graduated medical school at 26). But she's, like, world renowned or something... and 39 years old (I don't know what season that age applies to).

From what I've read, it's like an entire cast of Mary Sues. The show basically jumps the shark for me with the characters alone.

 

[RySerr21]

HOUSE is friken awesome. and like someone else said, its cuz its entertaining, not b/c i think it reflects the real practice of medicine.

I watched Hopkins when it was on, that was pretty good.

Every aspect of grey's anatomy makes me want to throw up in my mouth.

Ive never watched scrubs but heard it is a good show.

 

[chemolupusMD]

I started watching House a couple months back, after that i went to blockbuster and got every single season to watch it completely. I love it! really fun and funny. Grey's anatomy is for chicks, is full of drama, i waste my money renting that DVD. I use to watch ER when i was little havent seen it since. Scrubs can get really ******ed at times, but overall i think is funny

 

[ar2388]

im not gonna lie, i love greys anatomy but not necessarily for the medicine.. i love it for christina and meredith and derek...

house rocks! although i was a little bit disappointed with the past season. scrubs is also good, but is it just me or is it getting less and less realistic? not toimply that it was very realistic before.

 

[stixx]

From the few episodes I've watched, House seems freaking absurd. I had avoided watching it until it ended up being one of the few interesting sounding TV shows left on a 13 hour flight. The show would be 100000x better if they just focused on the demented drug addict doc storyline and avoided the cases altogether. It's kind of sad how they feel like they have to come up with more and more outrageous patients each episode. Lazy, lazy, lazy writing. And crap acting (though it helps almost everyone on the show is attractive).

It's just like in Grey's I only care about the love triangles and get bored when they show "surgeries."

Scrubs is perfection. Every season. Every episode.

 

[roseglass6370]

Grey's Anatomy is entirely unrealistic but I still watch it because...well, let's face it, Patrick Dempsey is amazing.

Anyway...Hopkins is good. Never watched House or ER and Scrubs is funny but has nothing whatsoever to do with medicine. No hospital is like that in the slightest.

 

[da8s0859q]

And crap acting (though it helps almost everyone on the show is attractive).

Cameron.

 

[seansss]

Scrubs is great, good silly humor...House is beginning to drag me in b\c his whole attitude and the way he deals with everything i find funny...The OLD er is good..Greys sucked IMO, Hopkkins was a cool mini series, Dr. 90210 makes me sick.....

 

[shiftingmirage]

I know there are a couple others out there such as House, ER and more recently a show following Johns Hopkins medical students on ABC I believe (plan on checking this one out... think it's just called Hopkins).

Hopkins was only a six episode series. You can watch the full episodes online somewhere....maybe check abc.com

I personally like House but more for the characters than the medicine.

 

[shiftingmirage]

Have you guys seen ads for this new show called The Doctors.? It is produced by the people behind Dr. Phil and follows four real doctors. Basesd on the ads I think it is the dumbest thing ever.

 

[ar2388]

Grey's Anatomy is entirely unrealistic but I still watch it because...well, let's face it, Patrick Dempsey is amazing.

sigh... yes... yes, he is...

 

[MiraCheskis]

I watch various shows on Discovery Health. Dr G Medical Examiner, Code Blue, Mystery Diagnosis, Discovery Health CME, Trauma: Life in the ER, Untold Stories of the ER...

More rarely, Plastic Surgery and shows like Big Medicine (always an incentive to lose the extra pounds), Impact: Stories of Survival, and special shows (ie, they had a special on transsexuality recently...).

 

[DEdm]

House is by far my favorite show much less medical show. His actions and the actions of everyone else in reference to him is unrealistic of course. As far as medical relevance, there is a book that explains the medicine in each episode. There are some holes, but mostly they try hard to stay within the realm of reasonable. Let's face it... real medicine is not "entertaining" enough to the layman to be a show. Even documentarys are spliced and edited very well.

 

[deleted74029]

I've heard from others that scrubs minus the comedy is the most accurate of all the shows when compared to how real world medicine is.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Congratulations! You've just made the bajillionth medical television show thread! Chuck, tell him what he's won!

Struggles, you've just won a no-expenses-paid trip to the AMCAS website where you'll sign away many hours and hundreds of dollars for the opportunity to sign away many more hours and hundreds more dollars to individual schools! But that's not all! You're also qualified for absurd ridicule at the hands of your peers and a year of neuroticism and self-doubt! Struggles, this is your prize package worth over $200000 in high-interest federal loans!

 

[deleted74029]

Congratulations! You've just made the bajillionth medical television show thread! Chuck, tell him what he's won!

Struggles, you've just won a no-expenses-paid trip to the AMCAS website where you'll sign away many hours and hundreds of dollars for the opportunity to sign away many more hours and hundreds more dollars to individual schools! But that's not all! You're also qualified for absurd ridicule at the hands of your peers and a year of neuroticism and self-doubt! Struggles, this is your prize package worth over $200000 in high-interest federal loans!

I was waiting for someone to point out how repetitious this thread subject was, it surprisingly made it quite awhile.

 

[chad5871]

I hate "House". No, not hate... loathe it. I have seen 5-6 episodes from all different episodes, and every single episode follows the exact same formula. I just cannot get into it.

My favorite fictional "medical" shows are ER and Northern Exposure. They have interesting characters, intriguing storylines, and great writing.

 

[engineeredout]

House is funny but every episode is the same. The crazy patient comes in, initial tests, OH HOUSE YOU'RE CRAZY THAT PLAN WILL NEVER WORK YOU'LL KILL HIM.

OMFG THE PATIENT IS GOING TO DIE :-(

Oh wait house realized something in the last 30 seconds which changed the diagnosis completely.


Hes still funny though, but all the episodes are identical.

 

[deleted74029]

St. Elsewhere was all a dream in some kids head.

 

[Law2Doc]

St. Elsewhere was all a dream in some kids head.

That was a great show until the last season. Does any network still run this?
Actually most of the medical TV shows start strong but then jump the shark. The first season of ER is a must watch for premeds because the John Carter as med student story line is really quite well done. The later seasons where they are taking care of mass disasters and doctors are getting shot or blown up or getting brain tumors or in helicopter crashes is too sensationalistic to be good. Basically anything prior to Clooney's leaving was decent but the first season (when Michael Crichton was still associated with the show) is tops. House too was strongest in the first couple of seasons. While no physicians can act like him and none take the liberties of experimenting on patients like he does, his use of differential diagnosis and writing things on a big board which you try to do tests to shorten the list is what real doctors do in IM. And you will see lots of residents with similar opinions on working in clinic as he has. So again, the early seasons are worth watching.
I actually guess I'm one of he few who don't consider Scrubs particularly accurate. They work in a few accurate points and concepts, but the slapstick, the janitor character, and the over the top-ness of some of the caricatures sort of ruins it for me.
Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice have nothing to do with medicine, any more than General Hospital had to do with medicine. Premeds should be embarrassed to admit they watch those.
Things like Hopkins are decent. I actually like watching some of he Dr 90210 procedures, but there are as many examples of how not to talk to patients as how to talk to patients on there, and I'd say you probably wouldn't want to emulate any of the docs on there in areas other than marketing (at which they are masters by virtue of the name recognition from the show).
But you guys should enjoy these shows now, because you will miss quite a few of them while studying in med school.

 

[deleted74029]

That was a great show until the last season. Does any network still run this?

According to wikipedia it runs on AmericanLife TV, whatever that is.

 

[RUc10]

Never watched House or ER and Scrubs is funny but has nothing whatsoever to do with medicine. No hospital is like that in the slightest.

I'd have to disagree. I've worked in two so far and my mom's a nurse that's worked in about 4 and I'd have to say the drama that goes on is strikingly similar to what is portrayed on tv. The only thing that's different is that the drama is never really between doctors. It's always between nurses and all the other positions.


I'm addicted to House, possibly the best tv series I've ever watched. Tally another vote for more because it's funny than accuracy but I have been introduced to a few things I never heard of that I looked up after watching the show.

I always thought Scrubs was crap without ever watching it but I've seen a couple youtube clips recently and it looks like it might actually be pretty funny. I don't think it's as close to reality as House though.

Grey's Anatomy sucks.

Mystery Diagnosis and Untold stories of the ER are also pretty good shows that I try to watch whenever they're on.

 

[JaggerPlate]

No Nip/Tuck love??? The show basically has nothing to do with medicine and is 100% unrealistic (with respect to the medical aspect) ... but damn good television.

 

[teddybear]

Patrick Dempsey is amazing.

Oh yeah.

 

[Lukkie]

they're all stupid just like the rest of TV

 

[gah1]

Scrubs is probably the funniest show on TV. I'm so glad to hear that it is returning as a mid-season show on ABC (NBC decided not to renew, strangely).

House is probably the best written show, with incredibly well fleshed out and compelling characters. I just don't like how they adhere to the same formula in the structure of each of their episodes. The patient ALWAYS nearly dies three times then gets saved by a last minute epiphany. Even Sherlock Holmes, the inspiration for the series, fails occasionally.

 

[madeinVEGAS]

def nip/tuck & scrubs. Most entertaining indeed. Especially nip/tuck, the scene with sean and his new girlfriend in the hot tub. Never thought I would see that happen

 

[da8s0859q]

Even Sherlock Holmes, the inspiration for the series, fails occasionally.

As did they on a couple things, really. The one I can think of off the top of my head was that woman who died from a staph infection introduced by a bra clasp.

 

[Quix]

Scrubs, bar none. Most accurate of the bunch.

 

[Virgil]

I'm watching "Hopkins" on the ABC website right now (it's free and in HD) and I think it's a must-see for premeds! It's very realistic and seems to answer a lot of those "lifestyle" questions. Reminds me of my shadowing experiences...

http://www.abc.go.com/

 

[Geekchick921]

As did they on a couple things, really. The one I can think of off the top of my head was that woman who died from a staph infection introduced by a bra clasp.

That was going to be the one I would have mentioned. Didn't they irradiate her, then they found the infected wound on her back and since they just nuked her immune system she was done for?

I've just thought of a few more and I've only regularly watched this latest season, and caught random reruns.

The one where the babies in the nursery get sick because of the elderly hospital worker. At least one of them dies.

There is one episode where a pregnant woman with cancer dies while they are performing a C-section at something like 25 weeks so they can start her treatment.

And this latest season where the disabled patient dies. They'd actually diagnosed him earlier in the episode and treated him, but his service dog ate this pills (which killed the poor doggie) and they didn't know, then keep trying other avenues and he declines from there. And, well... this season finale. I won't say more than that if you didn't see it.

So yeah... there are plenty of episodes where the patient dies.

 

[BlitzSleep]

I found the show Resident Life to be quite interesting. It's a show that follows around some residents at Vanderbilt.

I always thought Scrubs was crap without ever watching it but I've seen a couple youtube clips recently and it looks like it might actually be pretty funny. I don't think it's as close to reality as House though.

Probably the most hilarious sentence I have ever read. Do you realize how rare almost all of the illnesses are on that show? Not to mention that they're all at one single hospital. I guess that's more realistic than a poor resident that pretty much lives at a hospital....right?

 

[da8s0859q]

That was going to be the one I would have mentioned. Didn't they irradiate her, then they found the infected wound on her back and since they just nuked her immune system she was done for?

Yep, that'd be the one - with Foreman taking the whole thing pretty harshly, if I remember correctly.

 

[engineeredout]

No Nip/Tuck love??? The show basically has nothing to do with medicine and is 100% unrealistic (with respect to the medical aspect) ... but damn good television.

I liked it but then it kinda went way too out there for me. I watched it up until the end season 3 I think? The one where the son gets with the white supremacist girl and ends up getting mixed up with a transsexual and gets her (his) penis chopped off?

The season after that just really lost me and I lost interest.

And that is exactly what medicine is like. Don't destroy my premed dillusions.

 

[niranjan162]

I've heard from others that scrubs minus the comedy is the most accurate of all the shows when compared to how real world medicine is.

ive actually told this aswell from people in the medical profession, save hopkins and discovery health.

 

[Aewochinski]

House is great for the clinical cases. It's kind of cool to see the obscure cases that show up and the treatments that go with them. You'd be surprised the number of things you remember from the shows that come up in classes or on exams.

Scrubs is a great demonstration of the dynamics of the hospital. It's one of the only shows that includes dominant characters from the attendings, interns, nurses, cleaning and cafeteria staff, etc. It also highlights some good clinical stuff amidst the humor.

I've only seen a few episodes of Grey's... and could barely stomach them. It kind of irritates me the way the show focuses on Dr. Shepherd's looks and relationships, but almost totally passes over his abilities as a neurosurgeon.

ER was ok... a pretty good mix of drama and "real medicine".

 

[JaggerPlate]

I liked it but then it kinda went way too out there for me. I watched it up until the end season 3 I think? The one where the son gets with the white supremacist girl and ends up getting mixed up with a transsexual and gets her (his) penis chopped off?

The season after that just really lost me and I lost interest.

And that is exactly what medicine is like. Don't destroy my premed dillusions.

Seasons 1 and 2 are fantastic. Raw, character driven, and very meaningful (for me at least). The third season was more commercial and light hearted and by the end, the show was huge. Because of this the 4th and 5th seasons really piled on the over the top plot twists and shocker moments, and lost a lot of the relationships between the characters and tension that drove the show. 90% of people that I talk to don't like the 1st and 2nd season because it's 'too boring,' but love the later ones.

And yes ... that is exactly how medicine is

 

[Geekchick921]

Seasons 1 and 2 are fantastic. Raw, character driven, and very meaningful (for me at least). The third season was more commercial and light hearted and by the end, the show was huge. Because of this the 4th and 5th seasons really piled on the over the top plot twists and shocker moments, and lost a lot of the relationships between the characters and tension that drove the show. 90% of people that I talk to don't like the 1st and 2nd season because it's 'too boring,' but love the later ones.

And yes ... that is exactly how medicine is

Heehee.

I used to watch Nip/Tuck, the first three seasons. I haven't watched it since. It was getting too weird for me (and I was getting so friggin' sick of Matt and all his crap). I honestly don't think I would have finished watching the third season but I reeeeeally wanted to know who the Carver was.

 

[engineeredout]

Seasons 1 and 2 are fantastic. Raw, character driven, and very meaningful (for me at least). The third season was more commercial and light hearted and by the end, the show was huge. Because of this the 4th and 5th seasons really piled on the over the top plot twists and shocker moments, and lost a lot of the relationships between the characters and tension that drove the show. 90% of people that I talk to don't like the 1st and 2nd season because it's 'too boring,' but love the later ones.

And yes ... that is exactly how medicine is

Did you see that episode where they went into the future and the son is a famous doctor repairing the other son with the lobster claw hands? That episode killed the series for me. After that it was just like "wtf, okay we know how they're all going to end up, whats the point in having the series continue?" It felt more like a series finale.


THE CARVER!! I almost forgot about that. That whole episode arc was ****ing amazing.

 

[JaggerPlate]

Did you see that episode where they went into the future and the son is a famous doctor repairing the other son with the lobster claw hands? That episode killed the series for me. After that it was just like "wtf, okay we know how they're all going to end up, whats the point in having the series continue?" It felt more like a series finale.


THE CARVER!! I almost forgot about that. That whole episode arc was ****ing amazing.

The carver thing was amazing. Great television. The future episode (season 4) was by far the low point of the series BUT ... there is a slight excuse. The actress who plays Julia (Joely Richardson)'s daughter fell ill and she had to take an indefinite hiatus from the show while caring for her. Because of that ... they had that LAME ass future episode and then she disappeared after that to NY. However, she ended up returning and was in way more of season 5 than was supposed to be, but that season got all hacked to hell because of the writers strike. Matt as a plastic surgeon in that episode was too much. It's funny too how in the 5th season they have completely ignored all the drama from the 4th (Conner - Sean's new son, Christian getting Wilber back, etc) and just ran in a whole new direction. Let's hope it gets back on track.

 

[gah1]

Haha...ok, well apparently, I don't know the show as well as I thought I did.

That was going to be the one I would have mentioned. Didn't they irradiate her, then they found the infected wound on her back and since they just nuked her immune system she was done for?

I've just thought of a few more and I've only regularly watched this latest season, and caught random reruns.

The one where the babies in the nursery get sick because of the elderly hospital worker. At least one of them dies.

There is one episode where a pregnant woman with cancer dies while they are performing a C-section at something like 25 weeks so they can start her treatment.

And this latest season where the disabled patient dies. They'd actually diagnosed him earlier in the episode and treated him, but his service dog ate this pills (which killed the poor doggie) and they didn't know, then keep trying other avenues and he declines from there. And, well... this season finale. I won't say more than that if you didn't see it.

So yeah... there are plenty of episodes where the patient dies.

 

[chad5871]

Did anyone see a pilot for a show called "Bronx 911" or something like that? I think it came on A&E HD or Discovery HD and it was really interesting, but I could only find a single episode of it.

 

[JaggerPlate]

Did anyone see a pilot for a show called "Bronx 911" or something like that? I think it came on A&E HD or Discovery HD and it was really interesting, but I could only find a single episode of it.

Yup. Great show. It was a 5 episode mini-series type program on The Discovery Channel. Fun fact; the hospital where the show was shot is an Osteopathic teaching hospital and something like 90% of the attendings on the show were DOs. You can probably check the discovery channel website to see when it's replaying.

 

[djfermion]

So much Grey's hate. Sure the medicine is not accurate, but it's still pretty entertaining. You can still watch Hopkins or Scrubs for the "reality" or comedic aspect, but no need to think it's foolish to watch Grey's. Start from the first episode and I'm sure you'll be hooked.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I think it's foolish to watch Grey's because it's one of the worst shows I've ever seen in terms of plot and writing, not because of its medical accuracy. It's basically just a more polished and sensational version of General Hospital.

 

[suizyme09]

I love Scrubs. Hopkins was excellent! Grey's Anatomy is sometimes okay. One of my favorites though is Untold Stories of the ER. That show is great!

 

[Virgil]

Yup. Great show. It was a 5 episode mini-series type program on The Discovery Channel. Fun fact; the hospital where the show was shot is an Osteopathic teaching hospital and something like 90% of the attendings on the show were DOs. You can probably check the discovery channel website to see when it's replaying.

In the pre-MD forum, we can always count on Jagger to bring the fair and unbiased view of DOs in all kinds of topics ranging from allopathic medical school interview questions to medical TV shows. Us pre-allopaths could really use it. I mean, with all the misinformation and plain DO bashing out there, who would've thunk that osteopaths have their own TV show? Amazing!

 

[chad5871]

Yup. Great show. It was a 5 episode mini-series type program on The Discovery Channel. Fun fact; the hospital where the show was shot is an Osteopathic teaching hospital and something like 90% of the attendings on the show were DOs. You can probably check the discovery channel website to see when it's replaying.

I'll definitely try to find out more about it - thanks for the info!