Do you enjoy TV surgical/medical shows?

Nurses General Nursing

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I will be starting the nursing program in May, and I wonder if other students or nurses can tell me if they enjoy watching medical and surgical shows or not? I love watching them all! Will I grow to dislike them once clinicals start or after I become a nurse? What was your experience?

Thanks for the input!

It belongs to Lifetime.

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

I watch very little TV, but when I do, definitely not the medical shows! I stopped that way back after a few episodes of St. Elsewhere! The inaccuracies just drive me nuts.

And as others have said, it tends to greatly annoy friends and family when you yell things at the TV: "It's Vist-a-ril, not Vits-a ril!" "Hey, somebody put the side rails up!!!" "Oh, c'mon, you gotta be kidding, no way will you ever see a doctor do that!!" "How do they get that ventilator to work with a nasal cannula, anyway??" :lol2:

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Specializes in Pediatrics, NICU, ER, PICU.
I watch very little TV, but when I do, definitely not the medical shows! I stopped that way back after a few episodes of St. Elsewhere! The inaccuracies just drive me nuts.

And as others have said, it tends to greatly annoy friends and family when you yell things at the TV: "It's Vist-a-ril, not Vits-a ril!" "Hey, somebody put the side rails up!!!" "Oh, c'mon, you gotta be kidding, no way will you ever see a doctor do that!!" "How do they get that ventilator to work with a nasal cannula, anyway??" :lol2:

haha...glad to know I am NOT the only one who does this...how long are they gonna let that patient lay in that bed with the blood stains??! It is day 3....LOL..:uhoh3:

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency, Infusion.

Early in my nursing career, my husband would tease me for watching ER. He worked in road construction and would say "You don't see me watching shows about pouring concrete or laying asphalt!" Of course, my response was, "If it was a show of Pamela Anderson pouring concrete, you would definitely be watching it!" Anyway, I guess I did get burned out on those shows. Haven't watched them for years, but just recently started watching ER reruns on TNT. I do have to laugh sometimes, though. The one doc from Bosnia the other day ordered a "Stat 12-lead ABG". It gave me a chuckle.

Has anyone seen the movie "Children of Men"? The delivery of the baby does look pretty realistic. But then I am not a L/D nurse, it may look fake to you experts, but looked pretty real to me.

Sherri

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Specializes in cardiac med-surg.

er greys house yes

scrubs NO

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I like House because they throw out so many differential diagnoses that it keeps me busy looking things up in my nursing school books. Sometimes seeing symptoms of something obscure on TV will help cement a concept into my brain.

The other show I really liked was "Surgery Saved My Life" on the Discovery Channel. The photography on that show was amazing! I hope they do more episodes.

I read a great book about House MD. It goes into detail about some of the stories on the show and if they are even possible . . . and guess what? They are.

http://www.amazon.com/Medical-Science-House-M-D/dp/0425212300/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-0506494-5655062?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176687351&sr=1-1

There is an interesting review though:

"Holtz draws the conclusion that in the real world House would quickly be out of a job. Of course he would, but if TV dramas restricted themselves to reality no one would watch. I don't watch House to learn about medicine, I watch it to see an ongoing story about a brilliant man with an unconventional way of looking at things."

I guess I'm one of those who is more interested in the drama and not the reality.

steph

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I watch very little TV, but when I do, definitely not the medical shows! I stopped that way back after a few episodes of St. Elsewhere! The inaccuracies just drive me nuts.

And as others have said, it tends to greatly annoy friends and family when you yell things at the TV: "It's Vist-a-ril, not Vits-a ril!" "Hey, somebody put the side rails up!!!" "Oh, c'mon, you gotta be kidding, no way will you ever see a doctor do that!!" "How do they get that ventilator to work with a nasal cannula, anyway??" :lol2:

"That NRB bag is deflated!"

"Interesting......I have never seen a vented pt able to vocalize......how do they do that?"

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Specializes in MS, Hospice, LTC.
Have you ever noticed that no matter what show it is, they always seem to shock someone in asystole?

I don't watch medical shows myself- it drives my husband insane when I start complaining about the medical residents on House taking patients to the bathroom and giving IV meds...That hospital must have quite the nursing shortage...

I know exactly what you mean. I can't stand House. The few shows that I have seen, I'm always wondering, where are the nurses?

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Specializes in MS, Hospice, LTC.
i just laughed when on Gray's Anatomy last week Izzy shows up in the pt room with a phlebotomy kit and said she needed to draw some labs. WHAT? I've never seen a doc stick one of my patients. Heck, most of them hit the emergency staff assist when they're in a pt's room and they need to go to the bathroom! I always LOVE to do a little educating on that! Me: "the staff assist is to be used only for emergencies Dr.X." Dr: "This is an emergency, she says she needs to urinate." :nono:

I love your pic!

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Specializes in Brain injury,vent,peds ,geriatrics,home.

I watch SCRUBS every night religiously.It is such a strange humor.Of course I love Greys anatomy,House just aggravates me.I mean he's a drug addict practicing medicine!And ER has been really kinda boring lately.And i ,too love to try to diagnose things and yell things out to the TV.Lots of fun.

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I like to watch House, but only for entertainment purposes. I tell my family that it is not like what really happens in real life. Greys Anatomy is too sappy for me...ER used to be entertaining when George Clooney was young in the early seasons. I have never seen a Dr or intern ever draw blood..

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Specializes in OB, critical care, hospice, farm/industr.

hangs head in embarrassment I tend to yell at the TV and say

"no, no, that's not how you deliver a baby!"

and "OMG, a doctor could NEVER say that to a pt!"

and "Where are all the nurses???"

and "What doctor walks into a pt's house and starts snooping for poisons?" (House)

and "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

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