To start off, I LOVE Grey's Anatomy. I have watched all 14 seasons several times and you better believe I have September 27th already marked on my calendar (season 15 premiere if you haven't heard). I love the drama, the suspense, and the look inside the medical world. However, this is where the problem comes into play.
If you believe this is truly the day-to-day of medical residents/attendings then you are completely mistaken. Doctors are essential in patient care and help save lives but they don't do it on their own.
I don't just mean the screaming at each other in hallways and sex in the on-call rooms (which also does not happen), I mean the duties they are tasked with every day. Shonda Rhimes prides herself in creating a realistic hospital setting by even having an RN on set to do so. However, it blows my mind that said RN has not grabbed Shonda by the shoulders and screamed: "THAT IS WHAT NURSES DO!"
Nurses, nursing assistants, med techs, transport teams, secretaries, the list goes on and on of medical professionals who are completely blown over in this addictive ABC drama. Like I said before, I understand this show is about surgeons but sometimes it is just down-right unrealistic. The inaccuracies have lessened since our favorite characters- who haven't yet been killed- have grown into researching attendings, but how about we acknowledge the backbones of a hospital.
Doctors in the hospital setting see 20, 30, even 40 patients a day. There is not all this hanging around getting to know the families, administering simple shots or cups of pills, running specimens to labs, or transporting patients.
Nurses on a med/surg floor could have 5-8 patients or in an ICU only have 1-3. That means it is the nurse who is providing the most physical and emotional care to the patient and their family. It is the nurses' job to advocate for the patient- who they have spent most of the day with- when the doctor drops by. Doctors give orders and the nurses/assistants/techs/etc carry out those orders. They are the ones drawing blood, giving medication, transporting, and the biggest one for nurses- teaching! When was the last time you saw a nurse on Grey's Anatomy teaching a patient about post-surgical incision care? Um, never!
With the renewal of its 15th season, Grey's Anatomy will be ABC's longest running series. That means for the last 15 years, this drama has been influencing the career goals of young, impressionable teenagers. Some poor kid could have grown up watching this series, dreaming of becoming a doctor, only to face the harsh reality that this show is not that- reality.
Hey Shonda, can you write a series about the true day-to-day lives of nurses? Maybe then I can forgive this HUGE Grey's Anatomy flaw.
