Medical Television Programs Research Articles

Locating Medical Television

Medical television programmes, across their history, have had specific relationships to places and spaces. On one level, they have represented medical and health places, such as, consulting rooms, hospitals, the home, community spaces, public health infrastructures, etc. Television producers have represented these places, in line with the capabilities of television technologies and grammars. Moreover, producers have borrowed their images of medical and health places from other media (film, photographs, museum displays, etc.) and integrated, adjusted and reformulated them into their work. But medical television has also worked spatially in the political sense of being broadcast internationally, nationally, and locally; therein interacting with differing regimes and polities. This facet includes regional and local broadcasting, as well as public-private divides, including pay television, advertisement and audience measurement. On both levels, medical television programmes have served to represent familiar and unfamiliar locations and medical modes to patients and medical or health practitioners. This issue of Media History on medical television follows the conference of the same title, Locating Medical Television, organised in the framework of the ERC funded BodyCapital project and the Science Museum London. It intends to locate medical television more precisely; to engage (medical) TV history with recent questions concerning the relevance of space within and beyond national borders.

Using Fictional Medical Television Programs to Teach Interprofessional Communication to Graduating Fourth-Year Medical Students.

Effective interprofessional (IP) communication is crucial to high-quality patient care, but significant obstacles remain regarding implementing IP communication curricula for undergraduate medical students. As such, as part of a bootcamp required for University of Pittsburgh graduating medical students in 2021, we developed and evaluated a workshop using clips from medical television shows (eg, ER) to teach IP communication skills. The workshop was hosted on Zoom videoconferencing software and evaluated using pre- and postcurricular surveys that included adapted Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) and Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised (SPICE-R) instruments. The postcurricular survey also included two open-ended items. We used Wilcoxon signed-rank tests to compare pre- and postcurricular CSAS and SPICE-R scores and used thematic analysis for qualitative data. Approximately 94% (n = 105) of assigned students attended the workshop. Comparison of pre- and postcurricular means for all CSAS and SPICE-R items indicated improvements in attitudes toward communication training and IP communication, with statistically significant (P < 0.05) changes for 4 of 10 (40%) CSAS items and 8 of 10 (80%) SPICE-R items. Thematic analysis of open-ended items suggests that the workshop is acceptable to students and may be efficacious at improving both their IP communication skills and skills related to addressing equity and bias. Results suggest that using clips from fictional medical television programs may be a valuable approach to teaching graduating medical students IP communication skills. Future research could examine whether improved attitudes are sustained over time and the influence of the workshop on clinical IP communication behavior.

Television as a Career Motivator and Education Tool: A Final-Year Nursing Student Cohort Study

Fictional medical programs are often used for more than just their recreational enjoyment; they can also influence career decision making. Very little research has examined the pedagogical value of fictional medical programs in terms of their motivational value in the choice of a nursing career. As such, the aim of this study was to examine what motivated nursing students to choose nursing careers, if fictional medical programs were motivators, and if they are used by students as a learning tool. The cross-sectional study collected data using a questionnaire and occurred between April and June 2018. The findings were generated from students’ short answers and extended responses within the questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, while qualitative data were analysed thematically. A total of 291 students participated (82.6% response rate), with motivations for entering nursing being similar to other international studies; however, as motivators, fictional medical television programs were rated higher than job security. Overall, students engage with medical television programs along a television–learning continuum, ranging from limited watching time, recognising inaccuracies, understanding dialogue, through to using fictional medical television programs as tools for learning. However, this is dependent on time, interest, current level of understanding, and a program’s perceived value.

The Potential for Learning Specialized Vocabulary of University Lectures and Seminars Through Watching Discipline‐Related TV Programs: Insights From Medical Corpora

This study investigated the potential of discipline‐related television programs as sources for incidental learning of specialized vocabulary used in university lectures and seminars. First, a Medical Spoken Word List (MSWL) of 895 specialized word types was developed from a 556,074‐word corpus of medical lectures and seminars based on a mixed method: corpus‐driven analysis, specialized dictionary checking, and expert ratings. Then, an 11,036,771‐word corpus of 37 medical television programs was developed and analyzed to examine the extent to which the MSWL words were encountered in these programs. Adopting 5 encounters or more, 10 encounters or more, 15 encounters or more, and 20 encounters or more as the frequency cutoff points at which incidental learning may happen, this study found that the number of MSWL words that met these cutoff points increased as the number of episodes, seasons, and programs increased. This indicates that discipline‐related television programs are potential sources for incidental learning of specialized vocabulary used in lectures and seminars if these programs are watched regularly and in a sequential order.

Doing the Work of Medicine? Medical Television Programmes and Patient Behaviour

This article explores the contribution of television programmes to shaping the doctor-patient relationship in Britain in the Sixties and beyond. Our core proposition is that TV programmes on medicine ascribe a specific position as patients to viewers. This is what we call the ‘Inscribed Patient’. In this article we discuss a number of BBC programmes centred on medicine, from the 1958 ‘On Call to a Nation’; to the 1985 ‘A Prize Discovery’, to examine how television accompanied the development of desired patient behaviour during the transition to what was dubbed “Modern Medicine” in early 1970s Britain. To support our argument about the “Inscribed Patient”, we draw a comparison with natural history programmes from the early 1960s, which similarly prescribed specific agencies to viewers as potential participants in wildlife filmmaking. We conclude that a ‘patient position’ is inscribed in biomedical television programmes, which advance propositions to laypeople about how to submit themselves to medical expertise.

Use of Twitter to Assess Viewer Reactions to the Medical Drama, Code Black

Fictional medical television programs are popular with viewers and have been shown to influence health-related outcomes. We sought to systematically analyze real-time viewer discourse on Twitter related to the new medical drama, Code Black. We retrieved all Twitter posts (tweets) and metadata around the time of the airing of Code Black for four consecutive weeks. We developed a codebook using both content assessment of Twitter messages (tweets) and theory-based variables used in entertainment education analyses. We coded all tweets that occurred during the Eastern Standard Time (EST) airing of the program. Tweets that fell into at least one coding category were further analyzed by two independent researchers. We collected a total of 19,369 tweets, with 54% of total tweets originating during the EST airing of the program. There were 1,888 tweets that fit into one or more of six broad coding categories. Qualitative analysis revealed several key themes including real-life motivation to pursue health sciences careers based on the program, engagement regarding medical accuracy, and respect for the nursing profession. Examination of tweets related to Code Black provides insight into viewer discourse and suggests that Twitter may provide a vehicle for leveraging program engagement into real-life discussion and inquiry.

Exposure to fictional medical television and health: a systematic review.

Fictional medical television programs have long been a staple of television programming, and they remain popular today. We aimed to examine published literature assessing the influence of medical television programs on health outcomes. We conducted systematic literature searches in PubMed, PsychINFO and CINAHL. Selected studies had to be scholarly research, to involve exposure to fictionalized medical television programming, and to assess associations between exposures and outcomes. Of 3541 unique studies identified, nineteen met selection criteria. The most commonly studied programs were ER (73%), Grey's Anatomy (58%) and House M.D. (37%). Outcomes included knowledge, perceptions and behaviors related to topics as diverse as organ donation, cancer screening, sexually transmitted infections, and heart disease. Viewing fictional medical television programs had a negative influence on viewers' health-related knowledge, perceptions and/or behavior in 11% of studies, a positive influence in 32% of studies, and mixed influence in 58%. While most studies (58%) were characterized as having fair quality in terms of rigor of study design, 21% were classified as good and 21% were classified as poor. As such, medical television can affect health education and outcomes. Future work should utilize randomization, more longitudinal assessments, and more direct assessments of health education and behavioral outcomes.

Use of fictional medical television in health sciences education: a systematic review.

While medical television programs are popular among health profession trainees, it is not clear to what extent these programs affect their knowledge, perceptions, and/or behaviors. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of research evaluating associations between program exposure and outcomes. We conducted systematic literature searches in Pubmed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. Selected studies were required to be scholarly research, involve exposure to fictionalized medical television programming by health professional students, and assess associations between exposure and outcomes. Studies were classified according to quality and factors related to population, exposure, and outcomes. Of 3541 studies identified, 13 met selection criteria. Six studies involved undergraduate medical students, one involved nursing students, two involved both medical and nursing students, two involved medical residents, one involved medical students, residents and attending physicians, and one involved graduate epidemiology students. Mean study quality according to the MERSQI was 8.27. The most commonly assessed television programs were ER and Grey's Anatomy (six each). Five studies assessed regular viewing habits, and found that fictional medical programs are popular among students and that students recall health topics from episodes. The eight studies that assessed the association with outcomes when using clips as educational tools reported high satisfaction and increased knowledge of the presented health topics. While relatively few published studies have explored influences of fictional medical television on health professional students, those conducted suggest that students often view these television programs independently and that integration of this programming into medical education is feasible and acceptable.

Life imitating art: depictions of the hidden curriculum in medical television programs.

BackgroundThe hidden curriculum represents influences occurring within the culture of medicine that indirectly alter medical professionals’ interactions, beliefs and clinical practices throughout their training. One approach to increase medical student awareness of the hidden curriculum is to provide them with readily available examples of how it is enacted in medicine; as such the purpose of this study was to examine depictions of the hidden curriculum in popular medical television programs.MethodsOne full season of ER, Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs were selected for review. A summative content analysis was performed to ascertain the presence of depictions of the hidden curriculum, as well as to record the type, frequency and quality of examples. A second reviewer also viewed a random selection of episodes from each series to establish coding reliability.ResultsThe most prevalent themes across all television programs were: the hierarchical nature of medicine; challenges during transitional stages in medicine; the importance of role modeling; patient dehumanization; faking or overstating one’s capabilities; unprofessionalism; the loss of idealism; and difficulties with work-life balance.ConclusionsThe hidden curriculum is frequently depicted in popular medical television shows. These examples of the hidden curriculum could serve as a valuable teaching resource in undergraduate medical programs.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-015-0437-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Television Viewing Habits of Preclinical UK Medical Undergraduates: Further Potential Implications for Bioethics

Background: Medical television programs are popular among medical students. It is believed that these programs contribute to the hidden medical curriculum, which can influence the beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions of bioethical issues. However, the context of such programs is also an important consideration as they often portray health care contexts that are incongruent with the health system in which the students are being trained and raise specific bioethical issues. Methods: Preclinical medical undergraduates at a UK medical school completed a cross-sectional survey. The survey involved a partial replication of the study by Czarny et al. (2008); United Kingdom-based medical television programs were added to explore viewing habits and impressions of bioethical issues depicted in such programs. Results: Three hundred and thirty-seven (211 women; 126 men) preclinical medical undergraduates completed the survey. All respondents watched medical TV programs, with the four most popular being United States-based. A sizeable proportion of the participants viewed the medical programs in the company of others. Moreover, half of participants reported discussing ethical issues depicted in the medical television programs with others. The top three reported sources of bioethics information were medical school, family, and scholarly articles. There were, however, few differences in gender, year of study, first language, and nationality with respect to each questionnaire item. Conclusions: The study demonstrates the ubiquity with which medical TV programs are viewed by a sample of United Kingdom-based medical students. The popularity of these often unrealistic programs and the widespread viewing of United States-based medical television programs by the United Kingdom-based sample raise issues for bioethics education in the United Kingdom through the contribution to the hidden curriculum. In order to ensure the values of the formal curriculum and bioethics education are reinforced, it will be necessary to first acknowledge the role of the hidden curriculum and then understand the contribution made by medical television programs and their influence on medical students.

Medical professionalism on television: Student perceptions and pedagogical implications

Previous research has pointed to the role television can play in informing health practices and beliefs. Within the academic setting in particular, some educators have raised concerns about the influence of medical dramas on students. Less research, however, draws on the perspectives of students, and this study therefore explores medical students' perceptions of medical practice and professionalism in popular medical television programmes. Qualitative data from surveys of Australian undergraduate medical students showed that students perceived professionalism in dichotomous ways, with three main themes: cure-care, where a doctor's skill is either technical or interpersonal; work-leisure, where a doctor is either dedicated to work or personal life; and clinical-administration, where work is either direct patient care or administration. There continue to be imagined divisions between curing and caring for students, who express concerns about balancing work and leisure, and expectations that doctors should have little administrative work. Given students were able to identify these important contemporary issues around professionalism on television, there is pedagogical value in using popular images of the medical world in medical education.

Men in nursing on television: exposing and reinforcing stereotypes

To describe the results of a study of images of men in nursing on television. Previous research has highlighted stereotypical images around nursing, such as the battle-axe, naughty nurse and handmaiden. More recent research focuses on images of nurses who are men, because of the growing numbers of men in the nursing workforce. Given that negative images can harm recruitment and retention in the profession, it is important to interrogate how men in nursing are portrayed in popular culture. Representations on television are particularly critical to explore because of the medium's wide audience. Qualitative study. Five American medical television programmes appearing between 2007 and 2010 were analysed for their construction of men in nursing: Grey's Anatomy, Hawthorne, Mercy, Nurse Jackie and Private Practice. Men in nursing on television were portrayed in ways that engaged with explicit and implicit stereotypes. The men were often subject to questions about their choice of career, masculinity and sexuality and their role usually reduced to that of prop, minority spokesperson or source of comedy. Thus, rather contradictorily, although the programmes often sought to expose common stereotypes about men in nursing, they nonetheless often reinforced stereotypes in more implicit ways. This research has implications for better understanding not only the status of nursing in our society but also for nursing practice and education and attracting more men to the profession.

Nursing on television: student perceptions of television's role in public image, recruitment and education

To explore nursing students' perceptions of how their profession is portrayed on medical television programmes. Recruitment and retention in nursing have been linked to the image of the profession in society. Images of nursing in popular media frequently draw on stereotypes that may damage the appeal of nursing for potential students and denigrate the value and status of the profession. A growing body of work analyses how nursing is portrayed in popular media, but less research asks nursing students themselves to reflect on this area. Convergent parallel mixed methods. Data were collected in 2011 from surveys of 484 undergraduate nursing students at a large university in New South Wales, Australia, that included demographic data, their viewing habits of medical television programmes and their opinions of how the shows handled nursing ethics and professionalism and the image of nursing on television and nursing role models. Most students watch medical television programmes. Students who do not speak English at home watched fewer programmes but were more positive about the depictions of professionalism. The qualitative data showed students were concerned that television can have a negative influence on the image of nursing, but they also recognized some educational and recruitment value in television programmes. It is important for nurses, educators and students to be critically engaged with the image of their profession in society. There is value in engaging more closely with contemporary media portrayals of nursing for students and educators alike.

Games, civil war and mutiny: metaphors of conflict for the nurse–doctor relationship in medical television programmes

Metaphors of medicine are common, such as war, which is evident in much of our language about health-care where patients and healthcare professionals fight disease, or the game, which is one way to frame the nurse-doctor professional relationship. This study analyses six pilot episodes of American (Grey's Anatomy, Hawthorne, Mercy, Nurse Jackie) and Australian (All Saints, RAN) medical television programmes premiering between 1998 and 2009 to assess one way that our contemporary culture understands and constructs professional relationships between nurses and doctors. Analysis shows that these popular television programmes frequently depict conflict, with games, civil war and mutiny between nurses and doctors over patient safety rather than professionals working collaboratively in teams to deliver health-care. Although the benefit of this televised conflict is the implication that nurses are knowledgeable, skilled professionals, the negative connotations include a dysfunctional and dangerous healthcare system, and also ongoing power struggles. Given that popular culture can sometimes influence the public's understanding of real-life nursing practice, it is important to explore what these metaphors of conflict are communicating about the nurse-doctor relationship.

Nurses and doctors in prime time series: The dynamics of depicting professional power

This essay sketches a comparison of 1960s’ television portrayals with those of the present to show that a limited and incomplete portrayal of nurses has been an enduring feature of prime-time medical television programs. They have depicted physicians then and now as captains of the medical ship and nurses then and now their ancillary and ill-defined helpers. As the comparison makes clear, part of nurses' lack of clear power in TV medical scenarios has to do with the explicit and implicit clout exercised by physicians' organizations to present doctor images effectively. That clout contrasts with nursing organizations' lack of attempts or ability (it's hard to gauge which) to influence network television's most prominent representations of their roles and the environments in which they work.

Australian medical students' perceptions of professionalism and ethics in medical television programs

BackgroundMedical television programs offer students fictional representations of their chosen career. This study aimed to discover undergraduate medical students' viewing of medical television programs and students' perceptions of professionalism, ethics, realism and role models in the programs. The purpose was to consider implications for teaching strategies.MethodsA medical television survey was administered to 386 undergraduate medical students across Years 1 to 4 at a university in New South Wales, Australia. The survey collected data on demographics, year of course, viewing of medical television programs, perception of programs' realism, depiction of ethics, professionalism and role models.ResultsThe shows watched by most students were House, Scrubs, and Grey's Anatomy, and students nominated watching 30 different medical programs in total. There was no statistical association between year of enrolment and perceptions of accuracy. The majority of students reported that friends or family members had asked them for their opinion on an ethical or medical issue presented on a program, and that they discussed ethical and medical matters with their friends. Students had high recall of ethical topics portrayed on the shows, and most believed that medical programs generally portrayed ideals of professionalism well.ConclusionsMedical programs offer considerable currency and relevance with students and may be useful in teaching strategies that engage students in ethical lessons about practising medicine.

Where has the doctor gone? The mediazation of medicine on Dutch television, 1961—2000

Health issues and medical science receive a lot of attention on television. Of all the sciences, the European public is most interested in medicine, and the public uses television as their main source of information on science. There has been hardly any empirical research, however, into the historical development of the representation of medical science on television. The development of medical television was explored by carrying out a content analysis of Dutch non-fiction medical television programs spanning a period of 40 years. The speaking time allotted to experts has decreased over the years, while that allotted to laypeople has increased. We are seeing fewer references to sources and science and more expression of emotion and tension. The results suggest three periods of medical television: a scientific, a journalistic and a lay period. Medical television in 2000 shows a personified picture of patients against an instrumentalized and symbolized medical backdrop.

Media coverage of chronic diseases in the Netherlands

Objective: Little is known about the quantity or quality of information on rheumatic diseases provided by the mass media. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the media coverage of rheumatic diseases compared with other chronic diseases in the Netherlands. Materials and Methods: Newspaper articles, magazine articles, and medicaltelevision programs that appeared or were broadcast during a 1-year period; and contained information on rheumatic diseases, heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, or diabetes mellitus, were selected for content analysis. For each article and program, it was determined whether coverage concentrated on treatment, influence of lifestyle, scientific progress, or disease consequences. It was also determined whether professional experts and patients were featured. Results: Nine hundred seventeen newspaper articles, 304 magazine articles, and 163 medical programs were found. Most dealt with cancer (43%) and heart disease (37%). The amount of media attention given to each of the five disease categories was found to correspond with mortality but not with prevalence. The contents of the articles and programs differed significantly according to disease topic. The main focus in rheumatic diseases was on patients' experiences, as well as regular and alternative medications. In heart disease and cancer, the main focus was on professional medical viewpoints, operations, and mortality, whereas in chronic lung disease and diabetes it was on treatments in the context of regular medications, scientific progress, and incurability. The influence of lifestyle on the disease process was mentioned most often in connection with diabetes, rheumatic disease, and chronic lung disease. Conclusions: The amount of attention a disease category received from themedia depended on its fatality rates and not on its prevalence. Heart disease and cancer were portrayed as being more serious than the more lingering diseases. Surprisingly, the proportion of articles and programs that included the influence of lifestyle in their coverage was lowest for cancer and heart disease. More frequent and more accurate coverage of chronic diseases, especially rheumatic diseases, is needed if their image is to be brought into line with their importance for and impact on the community.