Ridiculous medical mistakes on TV

[adventure_rn]

We've all heard it: nurses can't watch medical shows without getting annoyed about how inaccurate they are. Lately, I'm finding that the most ridiculous medical mistakes happen on police procedural dramas (Law and Order, Criminal Minds, etc.); at least the medical shows have people with medical backgrounds advising them.

Anybody have some funny tv medical mistakes to share??

Last week I was watching a rerun of Criminal Minds. The victim had been drugged with haldol by her kidnapper. When the police rushed in to save her, the EMS gave her a bolus of narcan and she magically awoke. It was a flipping miracle!! ?

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[Emergent, RN]

How about the doctor single handedly doing chest compressions, then grabbing the defibrillator paddles to deliver a shock. Nurse looks on. No other team members needed.

[vanilla bean]

Every show, every time, giving a shock for asystole.

YES!!

I've lost count of how many times I've seen an "intubated" patient with a nasal cannula on. Ugh.

[Dogen]

Here's another one I see again and again in police procedural dramas:

The victim is severely injured and critically ill, yet not hooked up to any monitors. The police go in to take the victim's statement, and with his/her dying breath they tell the police some integral clue. Then the victim either stares off into the distance or his/her eyes roll back, and the police officer yells "Nurse!" to come start a code. Because obviously the nurses didn't know that the critically ill patient was coding since the patient didn't have any d*mned leads on.

In the first season of 24 a woman is smothered in her ICU bed while attached to the telemetry monitor. As she dies her heart rate increases, you hear the beeping increase, then it stops and you hear the "eeeeeeeeee" that asystole makes on TV... and the killer reaches up and switches off the bedside monitor and leaves. No one comes in to check on her, no one was watching her telemetry, there are no other alarms.

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

the over use of the word STAT.

[TriciaJ, RN]

One of my favourite shows is Doc Martin. He's usually not too far off, medically. But can't seem to land an IM shot where it belongs. In one episode he and his Aunt Ruth (also a doctor) were dealing with a crazy guy. Aunt Ruth grabs a syringe of haldol and even though she has a clear shot at the deltoid, stabs it into the back of the guy's neck. He dropped like a rock.

My other favourite TV thing is when someone is in the ICU, hooked up to tele and actively dying. Then of course they die, the tele monitor flatlines and no one comes in the room. The family just stands there, sobbing. I recently saw this on a Spanish soap opera and the tele monitor even displayed a message that the leads had come off. Except it was displayed in English, so maybe they thought their viewers wouldn't catch this.

[annabanana2]

Anytime a character is shown in a hospital bed they always have an IV with fluids running... except the fluids aren't actually running. They're just sitting there. Like somebody hooked them up and then clamped off the line and called it a day?

[outsidethebox]

I guess this is not really a mistake, just pretty unbelievable. The most ridiculous I think I have seen is the James Bond movie where James Bond fibrillates himself. I know, we used to get patients in the ED that did CPR on themselves and lived, equally unbelievable, but really. Of course, James Bond lived also. Happened to have access to the defibrillator in the glove compartment of his car or something. No, it was not an AED, but did have pads instead of paddles, so of course he would be able to press the button.

[Mavrick, BSN, RN]

Speaking of impressive non-dripping IVs. One show had the IV tubing taped to the guy's arm. The spike and drip chamber end. New grad mistake? Just teasing ya new grads, you already know more than enough to be a Hollywood medical consultant!

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

As another poster said, the siderails are NEVER up. (To the point that my non-nursing kids will yell about the siderails now)

Or the patient is an the ICU, and no one ever bothered to take them off the ER cart. There they lay, day after day, on that cart instead of in an actual bed.

[Dogen]

Speaking of impressive non-dripping IVs. One show had the IV tubing taped to the guy's arm. The spike and drip chamber end. New grad mistake? Just teasing ya new grads, you already know more than enough to be a Hollywood medical consultant!

You only spike a patient one time... If you're lucky.

[middleagednurse]

How about when the patient rips out their IV, and there is not a drop of blood?

[Emergent, RN]

How about when the doctors or nurses are in the ER, then they scrub for emergency surgery for the patient, then they recover the patient and take care of them on the floor. Lots of time for emotional scenes with patient and their family too. The continuity of care is amazing on TV!