Medical dramas on television: A brief guide for educators

Abstract

The popularity of medical television dramas is well-established and medical educators are beginning to recognize the power of medical media as a potential tool for education. The purpose of this study was to view a number of medical dramas and consider their potential use in medical education. A total of 177 episodes from eight popular television medical dramas produced between 1990 and 2009 were systematically viewed and analyzed and a brief guide was developed for each drama. The dramas analyzed contained a wealth of material applicable to medical education. In our experience, each drama may be best suited to a particular educational use: for example, clips from "ER" and "Scrubs" offer more examples of teaching and learning than "House" and "Grey's Anatomy", which are perhaps better suited for topics on ethics or team work. We hope that this brief guide will encourage others to consider integrating this material into their teaching, and to explore how television drama may be used most effectively in medical education.

Television Series Use in Teaching and Learning Professional Ethics in Communication

“…In university classrooms, television dramas have mainly used in medical topics. Shelton (2001), Hirt, Wong, Erichsen & White (2012), Law, Kwong, Friesen, Veinot & Ng (2015), Hether, Huang Beck, Murphy, and Valente (2008) claim that the teachings that transmit medical series not only affect future doctors but to patients and the general public, to teach them about health issues in a way in which they recorded the information remains permanently.…”

Iranian Medical Staff’s Perception of the <i>All Saints</i> TV S

“…Many TV series can be used to teach medical students issues in different areas. For example, clips from ER and Scrubs are said to be good for teaching and learning while episodes of House and Grey's Anatomy are good for teaching ethics and team working [8]. However, [9] believes that Scrubs is more successful in teaching ethics than bioethics classes.…”

Hospital doctors' Opinions regarding educational Utility, public Sentiment and career Effects of Medical television Dramas: the HOUSE MD study

“…17 In particular, some of the established role model personality traits such as ethical astuteness, communication and empathy have been sufficiently demonstrated in these series to warrant use in undergraduate teaching videos. 18 Although much of the learning that can be gleaned from observing the practices of TV doctors has focused on perceived softer undergraduate educational domains, 19 their use in postgraduate settings is also increasing. 20 TV is a medium through which many health care workers not only take their minds off work, but also reflect both consciously and unconsciously on experiences.…”