realism of scrubs, nip/tuck, and house

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
josh999123 said:
👍, seriously I cant believe all the bashing- House is an amazingly complex and interesting character.
Click to expand...

I agree. Can a misanthrope be an effective physician? What can you do with a brilliant diagnostician who has serious defects in his bedside manner? It is actually a wise choice to believe nothing a patient tells you? (does everyone lie? are you lying now?)
Can/should an impaired physician (addicted to pain meds) be permitted to prescribe medication?

I could see some of these being intersting interview questions.🙄
 
LizzyM said:
Can a misanthrope be an effective physician?
Click to expand...

With all the emphasis on patient autonomy, empathy, and hands-on diagnosis of patients in med school these days, it's pretty clear to me that most med schools would take the position that the answer is "no". I think the current admissions criteria, with emphasis on diverse well rounded, personable, broad experienced people over purely high numbered, science major braniacs emphasizes this school of thought.

As far as not believing what a patient tells you, usually you can, but I personally have experienced several patients now who give me one history, and give the resident, nurse etc a totally different one, so I have to share in this skepticism a bit.
 
midn said:
I used to like Scrubs when it still had a decent plot. Zach Braff's day dreams are rarely funny to me. I just liked to see how the characters evolved from being lowly interns to full doctors. Honestly, the show should have ended a little while after they finished residency. Now the show just consists of dull soap opera drama.

I absolutely freaking hate Elliot. She annoys the crap out of me. Zach Braff is up there too. Dr. Cox is next line. Heck, all the characters suck.
Click to expand...

Yes, this season had some problems. They never should have done the whole "we need to make a statement on the Iraq war thing." ER is the one that makes all the statements about current events (gay marriage/parenting, Iraq war, etc.), but it's not a comedy. I absolutely loved the musical episode since it just cracked me up, but I'm rather annoyed at how the season ended with it looking like JD and Elliot are going to end up together. Too much like Ross and Rachel with the end of Friends. I hope this doesn't mean that next season is going to suck as they try to make it end in a somewhat believable way with them getting back together before the show ends like they did with Friends.

Though I agree that the first few seasons with them being residents were better, my absolute favorite episode was from season five - the rabies and transplant episode (go rent season 5 if you don't know what I mean).
 
shantster said:
Yes, this season had some problems. They never should have done the whole "we need to make a statement on the Iraq war thing." ER is the one that makes all the statements about current events (gay marriage/parenting, Iraq war, etc.), but it's not a comedy. I absolutely loved the musical episode since it just cracked me up, but I'm rather annoyed at how the season ended with it looking like JD and Elliot are going to end up together. Too much like Ross and Rachel with the end of Friends. I hope this doesn't mean that next season is going to suck as they try to make it end in a somewhat believable way with them getting back together before the show ends like they did with Friends.

Though I agree that the first few seasons with them being residents were better, my absolute favorite episode was from season five - the rabies and transplant episode (go rent season 5 if you don't know what I mean).
Click to expand...

I know exactly what episode you're talking about. That's my favorite episode out of Scrubs also. There was actually some decent character development.
 
midn said:
I know exactly what episode you're talking about. That's my favorite episode out of Scrubs also. There was actually some decent character development.
Click to expand...

That was the first time "How to Save a Life" by the Fray was used for TV or a movie, and so everytime I hear that song I think about the end of that episode and start tearing up.

Normally I'm not this emotional
 
I'm going to have to give "Guy Love" and "Everything Comes Down To Poo" 👍 👍
 
Getting back to the original question, Scrubs is the most realistic, but it is also over the top (i.e., the character types occur, but not necessarily to that degree). Having worked with med students, nurses, house docs, surgeons, etc., for several years, the stereotypes are generally accurate, and the issues raised are relevant and realistic.
 
Quix said:
Getting back to the original question, Scrubs is the most realistic, but it is also over the top (i.e., the character types occur, but not necessarily to that degree). Having worked with med students, nurses, house docs, surgeons, etc., for several years, the stereotypes are generally accurate, and the issues raised are relevant and realistic.
Click to expand...

The lessons are okay, but the portrayal is too flippant. For this reason I continue to go against the grain and say that Scrubs is the least realistic show about mediicne. You never get the sense of residents being downtrodden, overworked, abused or in any sort of real angst in a comedy because it's all so slapstick and even the abusers are soft and cuddly (hence your avatar). For this reason it is totally unrealistic compared to some of the dramas. Not everything in medicine is happy go-lucky, but everything in a half hour comedy generally is. That makes the show fun to watch, but not applicable to real life -- such is ratings. (Nor is everything in medicine hot, flirtatious and steamy which is why Grey's is comparably flawed). At least shows like ER, and even House are filled with depressing stuff now and then.
 
Law2Doc said:
The lessons are okay, but the portrayal is too flippant. For this reason I continue to go against the grain and say that Scrubs is the least realistic show about mediicne. You never get the sense of residents being downtrodden, overworked, abused or in any sort of real angst in a comedy because it's all so slapstick and even the abusers are soft and cuddly (hence your avatar). For this reason it is totally unrealistic compared to some of the dramas. Not everything in medicine is happy go-lucky, but everything in a half hour comedy generally is. That makes the show fun to watch, but not applicable to real life -- such is ratings. (Nor is everything in medicine hot, flirtatious and steamy which is why Grey's is comparably flawed). At least shows like ER, and even House are filled with depressing stuff now and then.
Click to expand...

I think this is flawed for a number of reasons. There were episodes specifically dealing with being overworked (e.g., Elliot being picked on by Kelso, Cox's and Kelso's constant beratement of the other doctors, Cox's meltdown's concerning the frustrations of the hospital (season one), losing patients (season five)), seriousness of topics (episodes about one-in-three patients dying in-hospital (season one), iatrogenic illness killing patients (every season, especially season five), losing patients despite one's best efforts (every season)), losing coworkers (Laverne's death last season), losing patients with whom one has formed a bond, etc., etc. There are *many* serious episodes and significant portions of each are devoted to important psychosocial and interpersonal issues, and if you really want to challenge this, I'm happy to list them. Yes, they are done frequently with a tongue-in-cheek attitude, but that was the same approach I experienced working clinically. Gallows humor and bunker mentalities are frequent in clinical practice, even if only as coping mechanisms for the stress and problems working in a hospital pose.
 
Quix said:
I think this is flawed for a number of reasons. There were episodes specifically dealing with being overworked (e.g., Elliot being picked on by Kelso, Cox's and Kelso's constant beratement of the other doctors, Cox's meltdown's concerning the frustrations of the hospital (season one), losing patients (season five)), seriousness of topics (episodes about one-in-three patients dying in-hospital (season one), iatrogenic illness killing patients (every season, especially season five), losing patients despite one's best efforts (every season)), losing coworkers (Laverne's death last season), losing patients with whom one has formed a bond, etc., etc. There are *many* serious episodes and significant portions of each are devoted to important psychosocial and interpersonal issues, and if you really want to challenge this, I'm happy to list them. Yes, they are done frequently with a tongue-in-cheek attitude, but that was the same approach I experienced working clinically. Gallows humor and bunker mentalities are frequent in clinical practice, even if only as coping mechanisms for the stress and problems working in a hospital pose.
Click to expand...


Right, I agree with this. Thought it is over the top at times there are a lot of episodes that are sad, and I feel that those are when Scrubs is at their best. My favorite episodes are the rabies one (Season 5), the 1 in 3 patients dying in hospital (Season 1), and when Ben dies (Season 3), none of which I find particularly happy.
 
Although completely unrelated to this medical topic...scrubs also has the best soundtrack of any television show i've seen. The music is often actually an integral part of the storyline.
 
Although this show isn't in production any more, I feel that many of us are forgetting the most realistic medicine show ever--Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. I know that today's medicine is almost exactly like that show--she was so ahead of her time!!!
 
what about Trauma: Life in the ER, an Code Blue. I never miss these when they are actually on. Unfortunately i think i have seen all the episodes already
 
pguin said:
Although completely unrelated to this medical topic...scrubs also has the best soundtrack of any television show i've seen. The music is often actually an integral part of the storyline.
Click to expand...

And its all picked by the cast members. Really cool. I would have never heard of Joshua Radin if it wasn't Scrubs.
 
gleneagles3 said:
what about Trauma: Life in the ER, an Code Blue. I never miss these when they are actually on. Unfortunately i think i have seen all the episodes already
Click to expand...

Why did you bold the d's? Am I missing something here?
 
midn said:
Why did you bold the d's? Am I missing something here?
Click to expand...

Haha this is actually funny. The letter (d) on my keyboard is broken. So I have to paste in the letter every time I want to use it! I have no idea why it came up as bold and was too lazy to fix it. I know one of my roomates that spilled on it!
 
gleneagles3 said:
Haha this is actually funny. The letter (d) on my keyboard is broken. So I have to paste in the letter every time I want to use it! I have no idea why it came up as bold and was too lazy to fix it. I know one of my roomates that spilled on it!
Click to expand...

lol
 
I love scrubs... ITs my favorite show. Nip/tuck is ok. not very realistic though. I like House too.
ER is just way to over the top and GA is all about the physicians lifes.
 
Whenever I try to tell my normal friends stories about medical school, 99.999999999% of the time, their response will be "oh, so like that one grey's anatomy?"

Ugh.

Though it probably wouldn't bother me if Katherine Heigel was at my school and I got to bang her everyone once and a while in the on-call room. Probably.
 
shantster said:
Right, I agree with this. Thought it is over the top at times there are a lot of episodes that are sad, and I feel that those are when Scrubs is at their best. My favorite episodes are the rabies one (Season 5), the 1 in 3 patients dying in hospital (Season 1), and when Ben dies (Season 3), none of which I find particularly happy.
Click to expand...

My favorite is the wizard of oz one with the transplant. Although that doesn't necessarily seem very representative of what medicine is like...
 
jzeidenb said:
house and some other shows irk me b/c they give u the impression that its the real world and this is how its done.
Click to expand...

Oh come on. No one can seriously be "irked" at a TV show for giving people the impression its real. ITS TV. We all learn at about the age of 4 that its not real (not even the reality TV). If anyone thinks its remotely real thats their problem, not the writers.


TheRealMD said:
House: The diseases you see are too rare for most to actually even know they exist.
Click to expand...
They're ridiculously rare but a bunch of them I've actually already learned about in my first 3 months of med school. Only because they are usually so detrimental and represent the normal pathways so well by showing you what happens when there is a problem.

I usually have house on in the background when I study (just because I did it in undergrad too. I grew up watching TV while doing homework so its just habit, and I've seen them all so many times that its not distracting). But in the past few months there have been like 5 things on old house episodes where it was like OMG I KNOW WHAT THAT IS!! Some examples are the chimerism episode (little kid thinks he's being abducted by aliens), OTC deficiency (mobster episode), Chronic Granulomatous Disease (older teen is taking care of his little siblings and gets sick and chooses not to be treated so he won't have to care for them anymore - this one actually made me sad because the treatment House offered was incorrect). Thats all I can think of right now but there were more. I know I'll never run into them in my practice but its still just fun knowing about one of the disease from your classes.
 
If TV shows were just like "real" medicine, no one would watch. It would be work. Keep that in mind folks.
 
Geez. Some people think these TV shows have an obligation to become a documentary. It is what it is: Entertainment. If you want a realistic depiction of the medical profession, TLC has tons of documentaries on surgeries.

I really enjoy House. It is entertaining, hilarious, and yes a little interesting. Its suspense keeps me watching the whole time.

Gray's Anatomy is too soap opera for me.

Never really got into Scrubs, but from what I have seen of it, hilarious.
 
House is just CSI packaged as a medical show with cheap excuses for character development and a cliche anti-hero. I can see some people enjoying it for the "medical mystery," i guess, but to say its character driven borders on ridiculous.

Nip/tuck has gotten pretty bad in the later seasons, the newest one looks to be particularly ridiculous but its an ok show with some high points. I agree with the earlier post that mentioned how ridiculous it was that julia could perform an adequate full thickness graft using a dead man's entire back with just a pre-med education, for all its unrealistic events this probably bothered me the most.

I think ER hands down is the best medical drama to ever air, realistic or not. For all the people that argue that it is not have you seen the early seasons like season 1-6? I agree that after season 7 it started to go down hill, and I stopped watching around 11 I think so I have no idea what its like now though I imagine its not that great. The first seasons are far better than any medical drama or most other tv dramas that have come out since in my opinion. I agree no ER in the country comes anything close to what they show, though.
 
Critiques of the reality of the medicine on these shows is probably fair game, and in fact there are some very good websites where undergraduate science majors and some MD's do such evaluations. But its really kind of embarrassing to see all the pre-meds explain how realistically show x represents residency or patient-doctor relationships or whatever.

Even if you have read a lot of books on being a fighter pilot you still probably wouldn't go on an air-force forum and talk about how great of a job Top Gun does representing flight school, right? So don't you feel kinda foolish trying to rationalize your interest in medical soap operas by comparing them to something you have no experience in? Because I feel foolish just reading you do it.
 
You guys are missing the big picture. STOP LOOK AT THE TREE'S DAMNIT!

We are the future doctors of America right? (all 300 of us)
So we could make the work place exactly like Scrubs or Grey's Anatomy!

WHO'S WITH ME!??!!?? It would be easy, we just have to decide our most unique personality traits and then exploit them so that they are larger than life. Also, we need ADCOMs in on this so that they accept more hotties. LizzyM, you know what to do.

SHOTGUN EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL/ATTRACTIVE SURGEON WHO GETS ALL THE LADIES! because obviously charisma is my biggest trait.
 
I've only watched Scrubs out of the other shows that was mentioned. I have to say, from my shadowing experience only and nothing more, that Scrubs is probably one of the most "realistic" medical tv shows today. Of course it's not exactly like it, they do exaggerate a few situations. Ok a lot of situations, such as Dr. Cox invite Lavern's choir group to help show him how he feels and they sing "Pay back's a bitch" or something like that, which was hilarious. And i'm sure not all doctors are as hot as Sarah Chalke, and i'm willing to bet that the janitor is not a psychotic weirdo. But that is what makes the show hilarious. But there are a lot of very "realistic" moments. Take "My Lunch" for example, that episode was a very good one. And "My Screwup." Things like this could happen to us, Hell they probably will. Johny Cash hit the nail, "Everyone I know goes away...."

Ultimately Scrubs is not exactly what a hospital is like, but it's certainly not as farfetched as some of the things I've heard about House.

Although this is coming from a very biased opinion, I mean come on Scrubs is like the best show ever, right? Lol.
 
Damn, I thought when I got to residency I would be meeting Dr. McSteamy in the on-call room. My dreams are shot. How do I go about recalling my applications? What's the point now....
 
TopDocChick said:
Damn, I thought when I got to residency I would be meeting Dr. McSteamy in the on-call room. My dreams are shot. How do I go about recalling my applications? What's the point now....
Click to expand...

I suppose if you close your eyes real tight, you can imagine the nerdish troll in the on-call room looks like McSteamy.🙂
 
alwaysaangel said:
They're ridiculously rare but a bunch of them I've actually already learned about in my first 3 months of med school. Only because they are usually so detrimental and represent the normal pathways so well by showing you what happens when there is a problem.
Click to expand...

Agreed. You may also see some of these obscure rare diseases on boards even if not in real life. Not that you should be watching House instead of studying for boards...
 
ymnCheetos said:
You guys are missing the big picture. STOP LOOK AT THE TREE'S DAMNIT!

We are the future doctors of America right? (all 300 of us)
So we could make the work place exactly like Scrubs or Grey's Anatomy!

WHO'S WITH ME!??!!?? It would be easy, we just have to decide our most unique personality traits and then exploit them so that they are larger than life. Also, we need ADCOMs in on this so that they accept more hotties. LizzyM, you know what to do.

SHOTGUN EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL/ATTRACTIVE SURGEON WHO GETS ALL THE LADIES! because obviously charisma is my biggest trait.
Click to expand...

I did fly back home with a fellow interviewee after an interview and found out that she was a lingerie model during her college years. Wow!
 
Law2Doc said:
Agreed. You may also see some of these obscure rare diseases on boards even if not in real life. Not that you should be watching House instead of studying for boards...
Click to expand...

Crap. There goes my study plans!
 
carwreck said:
I did fly back home with a fellow interviewee after an interview and found out that she was a lingerie model during her college years. Wow!
Click to expand...

So... describe her in explicit detail. Ok don't, but was she attractive? Or was she obviously lying.
 
I was watching nip/tuck the other day and noticed that during a surgery, they had some extras around as techs or nurses or whatever, and that when they weren't holding anything, they had their arms up above their waist and were kind of just holding them there. at first i thought, what the hell are they doing, but then i realized they were maintaining the sterile field. that made me laugh. i think that when something like that becomes something odd that people notice, it means that the show as a whole is completely unrealistic!

and someone already brought this up, but in House, the thing that sticks out as the most unrealistic of all is that all the doctors do everything. in particular, apparently each one of these fellows is also an interventional neuroradiologist.
 
Nataliemay24 said:
I was watching nip/tuck the other day and noticed that during a surgery, they had some extras around as techs or nurses or whatever, and that when they weren't holding anything, they had their arms up above their waist and were kind of just holding them there. at first i thought, what the hell are they doing, but then i realized they were maintaining the sterile field. that made me laugh. i think that when something like that becomes something odd that people notice, it means that the show as a whole is completely unrealistic!

and someone already brought this up, but in House, the thing that sticks out as the most unrealistic of all is that all the doctors do everything. in particular, apparently each one of these fellows is also an interventional neuroradiologist.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? Real surgeries DO do that. Above the elbow, below the waist, and the back are not considered sterile so you aren't allowed to drape your hands by your waist for obvious reasons.
 
TheRealMD said:
What are you talking about? Real surgeries DO do that. Above the elbow, below the waist, and the back are not considered sterile so you aren't allowed to drape your hands by your waist for obvious reasons.
Click to expand...

Thats her point. It is something that real surgeons do. Yet it seemed out of place in that particular show because the rest of the show is soo extremely unrealistic.
 
Law2Doc said:
With all the emphasis on patient autonomy, empathy, and hands-on diagnosis of patients in med school these days, it's pretty clear to me that most med schools would take the position that the answer is "no". I think the current admissions criteria, with emphasis on diverse well rounded, personable, broad experienced people over purely high numbered, science major braniacs emphasizes this school of thought.
Click to expand...

although this may benefit the "art" of medicine, it's not doing much to advance the "science" that should serve as the foundation of medical practice. i'd take house as my physician any day over a less adept but more culturally competent, "well-rounded" physician.
 
Drogba said:
Nip/tuck has gotten pretty bad in the later seasons, the newest one looks to be particularly ridiculous but its an ok show with some high points. I agree with the earlier post that mentioned how ridiculous it was that julia could perform an adequate full thickness graft using a dead man's entire back with just a pre-med education, for all its unrealistic events this probably bothered me the most.
Click to expand...

if nip/tuck isn't an accurate depiction of the practice of medicine, i'm withdrawing my app ASAP. the only thing keeping me going as a reapplicant is the thought of me being able to park my lamborghini sideways across 3 "physician parking" spots.
 
Let's face it: movies and TV are interesting because they aren't like real life. Otherwise, we wouldn't watch TV and we'd all be out living life. Life is a grind, med school is a grind, residency is a grind, being a doctor is a grind. It's the few and far between little moments of interest and our relationships with people we enjoy that make life worth living, not the circumstancial content.
 
etf said:
if nip/tuck isn't an accurate depiction of the practice of medicine, i'm withdrawing my app ASAP. the only thing keeping me going as a reapplicant is the thought of me being able to park my lamborghini sideways across 3 "physician parking" spots.
Click to expand...

Just for the record there is a different between an accurate description of an individual and a reasonable representation of a field. It is possible if you are a top earning in plastic surgery to afford a lamborghini, so keep your head up ;]. Obviously no show is going to try to represent the average anything. Nip/tuck though fails on both counts of authenticity; hardly the point though.
 
Rotinaj said:
Let's face it: movies and TV are interesting because they aren't like real life. Otherwise, we wouldn't watch TV and we'd all be out living life. Life is a grind, med school is a grind, residency is a grind, being a doctor is a grind. It's the few and far between little moments of interest and our relationships with people we enjoy that make life worth living, not the circumstancial content.
Click to expand...

I disagree with this philosophy. This outlook of boredom punctuated by moment of joy will never lead to content. Accepting every moment as meaningful regardless of the activity is more fruitful in my opinion, though harder to accomplish.

What you say about TV is definitely true though.
 
Drogba said:
Just for the record there is a different between an accurate description of an individual and a reasonable representation of a field. It is possible if you are a top earning in plastic surgery to afford a lamborghini, so keep your head up ;]. Obviously no show is going to try to represent the average anything. Nip/tuck though fails on both counts of authenticity; hardly the point though.
Click to expand...

i have no intention of becoming a plastic surgeon...but i do want to live the kind of lifestyle some of these plastic surgeons on tv do (real (i.e. nip/tuck) or not-real (Dr. 90210) [yes, i consider christian troy real and robert rey an actor] )
 
sle3pyguii said:
I'm going to have to give "Guy Love" and "Everything Comes Down To Poo" 👍 👍
Click to expand...


ah, yes..."our number one is your number two!" :laugh:

But my favorite Scrubs episodes are the serious ones-they're very moving, especially for a comedy.

And I gave up on ER years ago. When they killed off Dr. Greene, I said "that's it!" and never really watched it again.

I think most of the medical shows on TV have very little basis in reality, but that doesn't mean they aren't fun to watch!
 
alwaysaangel said:
Thats her point. It is something that real surgeons do. Yet it seemed out of place in that particular show because the rest of the show is soo extremely unrealistic.
Click to expand...


thanks.

i feel like i need to hire a translator to translate my posts on sdn. they always seem to get misunderstood. maybe i need to work on my writing skills. 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
"Guaranteed quality of life" and attrition
Replies
7
Views
1K
lioneljohn
L
E
SDN Article: Research Experience and Faculty References: Profile of the Accepted Applicant 2025
Replies
0
Views
315
Emil Chuck, PhD
E
D
Lack of volunteering, good hours in research, leadership, and clinical
Replies
4
Views
1K
Med Ed
Med Ed
D
Questions Re: Letter of Interest and Update Letter
Replies
2
Views
708
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
D
Is the time between secondary submission and interview invite indicative of anything?
Replies
5
Views
2K
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
Top