Grey’s Anatomy ‘distorts’ patient expectations

Grey’s Anatomy may be fiction, but a new study warns it is riddled with inaccuracies that skew patients’ understanding of healthcare.

The hit show has garnered up to nine million viewers per episode since first screening in 2005, and its plot lines cover anything possible in a hospital – and a bedroom.

While it makes no claims to being educational, research reveals scores of Americans admit TV shows are their primary source of health information, both reality and drama. 

Now, after analyzing 269 episodes, a team of trauma surgeons has concluded that the show sets up unrealistic expectations for patients, which could affect hospital initiatives since patient satisfaction is now a bastion of policy.

‘I think most hospitals, surgeons, nurses, we don’t realize how much something like a TV show could affect what a patient will expect from their care’ lead author Dr Jordan Weinberg, of St Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, told Daily Mail Online. 

‘Coming at it from a trauma perspective, it’s particularly important because these patients didn’t have the time for their doctors to tell them what to expect. Suddenly they’re in the hospital and it could be that the only reference point they have is Grey’s Anatomy.’   

Dr Weinberg isn’t an ardent critic of the show; in fact, he is quite impressed by the accuracy of the set and many of the small details.

Indeed, throughout the history of medical dramas, production companies have harbored close ties with health organizations in an attempt to make it as authentic as possible. 

He also doesn’t blame patients for taking it to be at least a loosely accurate portrayal of reality, admitting: ‘My sense of how the police department works or law offices is probably based on TV, because I don’t have any other experience to base it on, so it makes sense that the same would work for hospitals.’ 

The issue, he says, comes from the TV format, which means that recovery times are sped up dramatically, and mortality is extremely high – and patients may expect or fear the same.

To assess how inaccurate episodes can be, they embarked on watching the ordeals of 290 fictional trauma patients in 269 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy – the first 12 seasons.

They then compared those stories with real life injuries sustained by 4,812 patients in the 2012 National Trauma Databank.

The death rate was three times higher in Grey’s Anatomy than in real life (22 percent versus seven percent). Most (71 percent) of the TV patients went straight from emergency care to the operating theater, compared to 25 percent of the databank patients.

On the show, only six percent of survivors were transferred to a long term care facility, as opposed to 22 percent of real-life patients.  

Half of fictional patients spent less than a week in hospital from a serious injury, whereas 80 percent of real life patients spend much longer in care. 

The authors added that ‘surgeons in the operating room are often presented without masks and protective eyewear (so the viewing audience may recognize the characters)’.

The time constraints of the show also require that most of the plot lines be wrapped up by end of the hour, including storylines related to a patient’s illness or injury.

Dr Weinberg warns that doctors need to be more aware that patients might be expecting something akin to Grey’s Anatomy’s storylines, and to take the time to explain the differences. 

‘The purpose of the show is not to educate, it’s to entertain, and in that sense it’s fine. But we need to realize that it’s something we don’t always think about.’ 

The hypothesis is not unfounded. 

A recent survey by Quick of regular Grey’s Anatomy viewers found most thought the content was realistic, since it is widely known that the show works with medical advisers to device their episode. 

Another survey of elderly patients across the US found that 42 percent take television as the oracle for medical information, and as a result many of them had overly optimistic expectations of survival.   

While this skewed perspective may seem trivial, the team of surgeons from St Joseph’s warn it could have implications for hospital policy. 

Patient satisfaction is one of the most important factors when it comes to quality initiatives and performance related pay, the authors warn. 

‘The balancing act between the presentation of the realistic and the dramatic can actually result in a skewed perception of reality among television viewers,’ the authors write in the study.

‘In an era where patient satisfaction is a major component of the quality initiatives of healthcare institutions and a pay-for-performance measure in many physician compensation plans, it is important to develop awareness of the drivers of patient satisfaction.

‘A patient’s expectations after injury may be distorted by this unrealistic depiction of injury on television.’



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk