I watch a lot of medical television (if you haven’t noticed), so when I saw the What Your TV Habits May Say About Your Fear Of Crime article this morning, I was pretty interested to read about the connection between TV viewing and personal beliefs:
From the article:
- The more frequently people watched non-fiction crime documentaries like “The First 48,” the more fearful they were of becoming a crime victim. They also were less supportive of and less confident in the criminal justice system and said they believed the national crime rate was climbing.
- Frequent viewers of fictional crime dramas were not affected by the programming to believe they would become crime victims, and their support of and confidence in the criminal justice system also was unaffected by their viewing habits. Interestingly, though, the more frequently they watched crime dramas, the more certain they were in their support of the death penalty.
- The more often people watched crime coverage on the local news, the more they believed that the local crime rate was increasing.
While reading the article, I was thinking “hmm… what if they applied this to medical television?” Maybe researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will look into that next? In the meantime, I have a few hypotheses about the medical TV viewers (and the conclusions that they make):
People who watch medical dramas…
- Think zebras, not horses (I mean… doesn’t everyone get amyloidosis?)
- Are disappointed when their real-life neurosurgeons don’t look like Patrick Dempsey.
- Think that all nurses, doctors,surgeons, residents, medical students, veterinarians (etc) are in dysfunctional relationships.
- Have occasional “I need a Dr. House” moment whenever they have some mystery symptom that their doctor can’t explain.
- Don’t relate portrayed patient outcomes with their own health (personally, I’ve never worried about dying from the hiccups).
People who watch non-fiction medical series…
- Think zebras, not horses (okay, so no amyloidosis, but you don’t see too many patients with strep throat or the flu on TV, do you?)
- Are bigger hypochondriacs.
- Have a sick fascination with blood / trauma.
- Should look into a career in the medical field (maybe a paramedic?)
not that any of these things would apply to ME…. of course not…
I think maybe it’s a good thing that all neurosurgeons don’t look like Patrick Dempsy. Just think what would happen if that were the case, there might be a rash of hypochondriacs believing that they *needed* an exploratory craniotomy. What would that do to our health care system??
I wish had the resources to do this study – it is right up my ally! I definitely have “I need Dr. House” moments pretty much everyday. I also get frustrated when I go to the doctor’s office and they can’t give me an explanation for why I feel crappy. I would be interested to see if watching shows like House have increased people’s expectations as far as tests and a diagnosis. Most of the time I go to the doctor they have no explanation for why I feel the way I do, but on House the patient always gets a diagnosis.
I think watching House has also made me more willing to have a doctor that doesn’t have the best personality if they will be honest. Not saying that I want my doctor to say everything House says, but I would rather have a doctor that is honest and tells me how it is then one who tries to sugar coat things.
To add one more to your list, I think people who watch medical dramas also expect doctors to have NO personal life (except for sleeping with one another). Think about it…in ER, House, Grey’s they rarely go home!