Portrayal of medical decision making around medical interventions life-saving encounters on three medical television shows.

introductionPrevious literature has shown that patients obtain information about the medical system from television shows. Additionally, shared decision making is regularly cited as the ideal way to make decisions during a medical encounter. Little information exists surrounding the characteristics of medical decision-making, such as who makes the decision, on medical television shows. We evaluate the characteristics of medical decisions in lifesaving encounters on medical television shows and evaluate if these characteristics were different on staged and reality television shows.

methodsWe coded type of medical intervention, patient's ability to participate in decision, presence of patient advocate during decision, final decision maker, decision to use intervention, and controversy surrounding decision on three television shows. Frequencies by show were calculated and differences across the three television shows and between staged

resultsThe final data set included 37 episodes, 137 patients and 593 interventions. On DISCUSSION: Medical interventions are widely portrayed in the medical television shows we analyzed. It is possible that what patients see on television influences their expectations surrounding the decision making process and the use of medical interventions in everyday healthcare encounters.