Grey’s Anatomy Season 1: How Realistic is it Actually
Let’s do something fun! Everyone and their uncle by now has most likely caught an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. For us healthcare workers, very few TV shows capture the realism that actually portrays medical units. So for funsies, I decided to rewatch the first season of Grey’s to compare it to my nursing experience. Now I know what you’re thinking, Taran, how can a show about doctors give you an idea about nursing? Answer, it doesn’t, because I have never seen a doctor do as much as they do on TV. Also, since I have recently switched to a surgical specialty I have a little more skin in the game. Be advised, spoilers alert, but I’m assuming most people have watched it by now.
The first episode is a classic! Let’s get the burning question out of the way, have medical co-workers slept together before, 110% just like other careers with some being more notorious than others for a reason. Now that the topic is covered back to business. The chaotic hustle and bustle of being new and on your first day in medical practice gave a good sense of shock and awe that is very discombobulating. The banter between interns, residents, and attendings seems to be on par, but things change when Katie, a new onset seizure diagnosis, gets admitted.
From a nursing perspective, she is seizing during admission, Dr. Stevens aka Izzy, is one of the new residents pushing Diazepam for seizure control. Maybe protocols have changed, but I have not seen physicians push seizure medications at bedside. Not to say that it can’t happen, I’m sure it has but probably not likely. Later in Katie’s code event from seizing, there was no pulse check, compressions, or proper bag-valve-mask seal to her face with jaw-thrust to name a few inaccuracies, only paddles and multiple shocks back to back. To be fair, those situations can be messy and Katie wasn’t in a critical care environment where those situations are run more smoothly.
The OR scenes on the other hand have been pretty accurate. The simple 1 inch plastic tape on ET tubes placed by anesthesiologist, using ankeny retractors, and internal paddles all seem legit. The only gripe I have is that some nurses and physicians are taking their masks off to talk which likely wouldn’t happen.
Later in the season we see Meredith see an infant with blue coloring due to poor perfusion (cyanosis) and later Dr. Burke operates to restore perfusion. Surgeons generally stick to one population, adult or pediatrics. While crossovers do happen in the real world, it’s more likely that a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon would have taken that case. Reading Dr. Burke wikipedia page (yes we’re sophisticated researchers at The Nurses Guide), I didn’t see any mention of pediatric experience, but we’re talking about a fictional show.
More discrepancies, one scene shows Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Karev discussing starting a central line on a patient with a chief complaint of back pain with a conclusion that the patient is believed to be abusing opioids. Ideally you would start with oral medication first, then attempt an IV (which they said his veins are shot), and do central lines as a last resort as they’re significantly higher infection risks.
However, let’s be honest, of all the little inaccuracies the show is great. The chaos and drama really does capture what it’s like to be the new person, starting a new job, with people you may or may not get along with. There is a popular moment everyone can relate to where all five of the characters are sitting on empty patient beds in a back hallway on night shift and George says, “who here feels like they have no idea what they’re doing”? Everyone raises their hand, and that is exactly what the first year of your career feels like. Long days and nights doing whatever you can to provide the best care you can and make it through your shift. For the Fanale, Christina is pregnant, Addison Shepherd (Dr. Derek Shepherd wife) makes a return causing Meridith drama, and George punches Alex Karev in the face, which he deserved. Another thing the show does well is showing how you find the coworkers you can trust and be friendly with, and others you want to stay away from. A medical show that was made in the early 2000’s holds up today. From a nursing perspective there is one nurse who is not afraid to question doctors orders to make sure high quality care is being provided, nice! While the show doesn’t show too much nursing it does show that there are a lot of commonalities between our entry into the field.