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).
I do notice after a medical emergency, many times the folks involved just get together for a beer afterwards. Who does the massive amount of charting?
However, I get it . . . they only have less than an hour to keep us entertained. If the show was more like real life, we'd be bored quickly and turn the channel.
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.
don't forget about the perfectly tailored scrubs that Izzy and Meredith wear either! Nothing baggy or saggy thankyouverymuch lol! and they're the same scrubs that come out of the vending machine that everyone is wearing so it's not like they got their own scrubs altered. no they just grab a set of ceil blues and hit the floor looking amazing!
don't forget about the perfectly tailored scrubs that Izzy and Meredith wear either! Nothing baggy or saggy thankyouverymuch lol! and they're the same scrubs that come out of the vending machine that everyone is wearing so it's not like they got their own scrubs altered. no they just grab a set of ceil blues and hit the floor looking amazing!
We have a company here called happythreads and they actually advertise the scrubs as "as seen on tv" you can pick the scrubs from greys anatomy or from nurse Jackie lol
It's not a medical show but the episode of American Gothic when a major character is murdered by his wife by simply pinching off his nasal cannula in the hospital. He was of course dead from this in moments. It was so ridiculous for such a major plot point that I kind of lost interest after that.
This is showing my age … but remember Doogie Houser, MD? There was one nurse in high heels that Doogie ran into on every single floor of the hospital - like it was one big unit or something. She did everything of importance on every floor, every unit. Plus, those high heels! Yeah right: in real life I give her 20-30 minutes before she put them in the trash.
Also, my son plays a video game: Silent Hill, which is like a whole town in purgatory. In one area of the hospital there are a gaggle (a murder? Like crows?) of lethal nurses (pretty scary too) that all look the same. Their heads are like a scarecrow (i.e., faces sunken in, dry, desiccated) under their hats, but from the neck down they are the sexy nurse persona (which I hate). They all wear super high heels, and tight, short, revealing nurses dresses with the cleavage pushed up (and all carry scalpels). They are inanimated when you find them in the dark hallway guarding something, and they look like windup toys that just ran down - bent forward from the waist, heads down, arms hanging limply at rest … that is until light hits them and they are activated. They all reactive with a jerk, and start walk stuttering in the same direction, twitching and jerking - like a combination of windup toys and spiders. Then they start lashing out with their scalpels at throat level if anything gets too close, mostly slashing each other (but that doesn't slow them down - oh no it does not!). Not only does this annoy me - because no nurse has ever dressed like that for work, but it scared me so bad when I saw the movie that I had nightmares for a week.
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
I really enjoy watching Code Black and am looking forward to its return in the fall, but I sure wish they would put more CNAs on there. That part of the show is NOT real at all. Also, what healthcare professional cleans up the messes, Isn't it usually housekeeping? We never ever see that on TV shows either, and I believe we should if the show is going to show reality.
I really enjoy watching Code Black and am looking forward to its return in the fall, but I sure wish they would put more CNAs on there. That part of the show is NOT real at all. Also, what healthcare professional cleans up the messes, Isn't it usually housekeeping? ...
I love that show. Definitely hope they don't cancel it as it is one of the few medical dramas with realistic scenes to show what an ER really looks like.
We don't have CNA's in our ER. And housekeeping is only a 05-1700 job. We do clean up the messes.
I'm not a nurse yet and I love watching Greys but what annoys me about is that the hospital seems to be run by nobody but the surgeons lol. They're all working in the ER for every simple case and there don't appear to be nurses anywhere except to be occasionally yelled at. I always think its funny that these surgeons spend their entire days providing basic patient care that a nurse would normally be taking care of.
It drives me nuts when a hysterical/out of control patient is man-handled & stuck with an exceptionally large syringe of instant sedation which causes the patient to collapse & drift into a dreamy, sleepy calm.
And rarely an arm band/allergy band.
As as for docs & Foleys -- I used to work in urology/oncology & as punishment for his ineptitude the brand new R1 had to put in a Foley on an elderly gentleman with BPH & bladder ca. Noooo!!! I nearly lost my poop when I asked what size sterile gloves & he insisted it was "NOT a sterile procedure". I started getting hyper & he said, "maybe it is at this hospital but not anywhere else". Uh, it's a sterile procedure EVERYWHERE!!! Little R1 had no idea what he was doing, I had to talk him through the whole thing & he was nervous/shaking but yet, still arrogant. í ½í¹„
Other than that, I've only seen nurses & the GU tech place catheters (unless they come from OR with one). And have only seen docs put in central lines, never a peripheral. I can see how smaller facilities would have procedure overlap though.
When a Greys doctor goes from touching a patient with gloved hands to TOUCHING THEIR FACE with the same nasty gloves OR BETTER YET they go from touching their patient to touching/brushing their hair out of their face which should have been freaking tied back out of their face to begin with for that reason!
I still love medical shows but now it's more for comic relief. My comments and criticisms have, however, ruined the shows for my wife. I try SO hard not to laugh or tell her what would really happen, but too often it just slips out!
Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN
11,305 Posts
I do notice after a medical emergency, many times the folks involved just get together for a beer afterwards. Who does the massive amount of charting?
However, I get it . . . they only have less than an hour to keep us entertained. If the show was more like real life, we'd be bored quickly and turn the channel.