What nursing or medical pet peeves drive you bonkers in movies or on TV?
I find myself yelling at the tv and huffing about how wrong they got everything.
For example, when people rip out their IV's but don't bleed. Or ETT that are not taped down. AT ALL. Or when they shock a flatline. Or when nurses and doctors run for even the most minor things. Code patients who wake up looking refreshed and alert/oriented. Oh! And when doctors do things like start IVs or clean up vomit (yeah, right).
It wasn't a medical show (I don't remember the name of it - I only caught the beginning of an episode) and I'm pretty sure it wasn't set in a hospital, but one night last week I watched a woman in severe distress get a shot of "adrenaline". She came to long enough to give her two companions a crucial piece of evidence, then she died. She was hooked up to a monitor, of course, and it went to the continuous "flatline" beep to make sure we knew she was gone.
Companion #1 yells to Companion #2 "give her another shot" and #2 responds "her body can't handle it". Um, her body is dead. You could run her over with a UPS truck and it wouldn't affect her at all. How about "she's already gone" and maybe "we don't want to get too much info out of her because we need to fill another 40 minutes of this show"?
Of course it's not (like the movies). I'm sure that physicians, cops, attorneys, schoolteachers, etc., feel the same way about how they are portrayed on TV and in the movies. It's entertainment.
Exactly what I was going to say! I love detective shows as well as medical shows and don't pay much attention to accuracy. I'm sure real detectives have something to say about accuracy but . . . it is entertainment.
"House" used to drive me nuts. One patient, surrounded by several doctors, almost never a nurse in sight.
I love that show - watch it in reruns.
Not nursing-specific but, years ago an actor friend pointed out that almost always coffee cups and mugs are clearly empty. They are not being carried or handled as if they have actual coffee.
Since then, I see this all the time.
I've noticed that for years in all kinds of TV shows - they probably don't put liquid in because it could mess up a scene if it spilled. But yeah, it does look like they are carrying an empty cup; there is no weight to it.
The one time I wished things were EXACTLY like on TV/movies was 2 years ago when my family and I decided it was time to turn off my elderly father's ventilator...darned if he didn't live for 2 and a half days!!! I was hoping for a pause, then a gentle beeeeeeeeep.....
I agree! I've had to remove my patients from the vent to allow them to die and I'll have a roomful of family members and friends STARING at the person expecting the big sigh/head turn (you know, the typical death sign in movies/tv) and it doesn't happen. After about an hour they start getting impatient and asking me "when" -- not that they want their loved one dead asap, they just assumed it would be instantaneous. And then the panic of, "How will we know when it happens??" because I've turned off the in-room monitors. Or they are expecting their person to be alert/talking right up until the moment of death (and then the dramatic sigh/head turn).
It's a really minor thing but it drives me nuts that the everything from the surgeons' scrubs to the patient gowns all appear freshly ironed, crisp and wrinkle-free.
Or how the staff always has their hair down/in their face? Used to drive me bonkers on "Grey's Anatomy" when Meredith's hair was all long/in her face while she was working (same with ER and other shows/movies). And the fitted scrubs that hug their curves (or biceps). Uh, no. lol
I think one of the best examples of nursing/medical/patient roles in a movie is in "Wit" (2001) with Emma Thompson. She plays a grouchy (but esteemed) professor who is diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer. The film follows her from pre-diagnosis to death and it's very interesting to see how different staff treat her (and her perspective, of course). It's a crying movie though, be warned!
Specializes in Huntingtons, LTC, Ortho, Acute Care.
Carla (was that her name?) the nurse, claimed she had never gone to college. So that was disappointing haha
Still possible she did the hospital nursing schools, not everyone went to a traditional university for their training. Not trying to grab at straw but the time the show was popular based the the age range she was in could have possibly been a hospital school of nursing
Sorry, got distracted by the dog! Was going to say don't you love it when the ER doc scrubs in and does a crani or heart transplant assisted by the ER "head nurse"?
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
Gotta love it when you see the MD sitting by the patient's bedside, waiting for him/her to wake up. I also laugh when I see docs transferring patients, inserting Foleys and positioning obese patients...like that's ever going to happen IRL. Haha!
Gotta love it when you see the MD sitting by the pt's bedside, waiting for him/her to wake up. I also laugh when I see docs starting IVs, inserting Foleys and positioning patients...like that's ever going to happen IRL. Haha!
I saw a doc start an IV once. He got it in and it promptly gushed blood all over the patient's arm and bedding. He said "pass me the gauze," which he had failed to bring in himself... then seemed to think I was an inadequate assistant. I wasn't part of the procedure; I walked in after he'd gotten going. He left the cleanup, including the blood, for me.
Once a nephrologist walked out of a room and announced "I took their pressure relief boots are off." I decided next time that happened I would let him know that if he hadn't been trained in the application of pressure relief boots, I would be happy to teach him. Alas, never got the chance.
I love detective shows as well as medical shows and don't pay much attention to accuracy. I'm sure real detectives have something to say about accuracy but . . . it is entertainment. 
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logank622
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It wasn't a medical show (I don't remember the name of it - I only caught the beginning of an episode) and I'm pretty sure it wasn't set in a hospital, but one night last week I watched a woman in severe distress get a shot of "adrenaline". She came to long enough to give her two companions a crucial piece of evidence, then she died. She was hooked up to a monitor, of course, and it went to the continuous "flatline" beep to make sure we knew she was gone.
Companion #1 yells to Companion #2 "give her another shot" and #2 responds "her body can't handle it". Um, her body is dead. You could run her over with a UPS truck and it wouldn't affect her at all. How about "she's already gone" and maybe "we don't want to get too much info out of her because we need to fill another 40 minutes of this show"?