Essay On Medical Trauma

The machines were beeping and there were pools of blood beside the woman. She was laying in the middle of the floor but nothing could be done. The victim was on the television. The incident wasn’t real, but the experience was undeniable. Medical dramas have become so realistic, that we often blur the line between what is real and what is fictional. On television, hospitals experience abundant traumas, rarely experience death, and doctors are glorified as heroes, whereas in reality it is not as dramatic.
Trauma is inescapable and intriguing in real life, but not to the dramatic extent depicted in the media. Television inaccurately portrays the life of a physician in the trauma center. Television portrays trauma as excitement and not as an issue. We watch heaps of physicians scurrying around an overcrowded emergency room and we can feel the anxiety. Every case shown is captivating and makes us want to be there. Tara Parker- Pope reminds us that television isn’t reality. She points out that “fictional doctors also see more “high-adrenaline” cases than most real doctors see in their entire career” (Parker-Pope).
On television one person is usually responsible for the entirety of the patient’s care. The doctor performs the task of two or three individuals. Usually the physician is given the credit for all of the work done by nurses and technicians. They are portrayed as brilliant individuals who can diagnose any illness, even the most uncommon. However, in the real world many people aid in the care of a patient. The nurses do most of the hands on work, and technicians run lab tests and get results. The doctors diagnose patients but often have a difficult time doing so. They consult with other physicians and medical staff members before telling a patient their diagnosis. It takes a team not a man to run a