The Media and Medicine

While the average television viewer obsesses over details from last week's episode of Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, or Discovery Health's reality shows, many involved in the health care system criticize the accuracy of medical shows in representing American health care. Their concerns are not unfounded. Numerous studies have demonstrated that what we see on TV is not what happens in hospitals-- one investigated CPR and the marked difference between reality and television (Diem et al, 1996). Ultimately, however, these shows serve as entertainment and do not purport to have any other purpose. To this end, writers producers, and networks are incredibly successful. Such shows are advertised as entertainment, no more -- consumers must take responsibility for this fact and look for education elsewhere.

It would seem that in recent years television programing has made the distinction between entertainment and education clearer than ever. Unlike the melodramatic shouts to shock a heart or order "CBCs" heard in ER, many newer shows don't take themselves so seriously. Scrubs takes the form of a sitcom, engaging the reader with realistic issues and emotions interspersed with musical interludes, hyperbolic characters, and protagonist J.D.'s daydreams. Episodes go so far as to show a medieval reenactment of an amputation, a daydream of the doctors as cavemen during prehistoric times and an entire episode in the style of a musical. Even the traditional "doctor dramas" have jumped the shark, distinguishing themselves from medical advice or realistic portrayal. Grey's Anatomy and House, MD both include doctors and medical conditions that entertain because of their outlandishness. They focus increasingly on the personal lives of doctors -- the drug addiction of Dr. House or the incestuous relationships in Grey's -- clearly delineating themselves from reliable sources of medical information.

On the other hand, reality shows such as Trauma: Life in the ER shown on the cable channel, Discovery Health, do not attempt to fictionalize medical drama, but instead film the actual events that occur in an Americanb hospital. While the events that make it to viewers are no doubt the result of careful selection, such shows still portray actual conditions, procedures, and doctor-patient interactions. At the end of the day, any television with medical content will not be representative of actual medicine -- it aims to entertain, not inform -- but a savvy viewer can easily make this distinction.