Surprisingly, when you ask a medical student what their favourite medical TV show is, many will say they don't even watch any! A lot of my friends don't have that one medical show that they're attached to, but I happen to enjoy this genre thoroughly! When asked why, a lot of medial students say they're just not realistic or interesting. I totally agree about the unrealistic-ness of it all, but I do find them entertaining to watch, so I'll keep doing so!
Some aspects of medical shows I enjoy are how they tackle issues like insurance, end of life decisions, and the bureaucracy.
I have here a few of my favourite medial TV shows that I want to share with you all, and if you've watched any I haven't listed, do leave them down below!
GREY'S ANATOMY
This is definitely the OG of all medical shows, and the most loved and popular! It's been running since 2005 and we're 16 seasons in and still waiting for more! I love this show because it's thoroughly entertaining - there is intense drama straight from season 1 - and the hundreds of characters all get to have moments where their back stories are explored. I found that there were moments where the drama outweighed the actual medicine and especially from season 14 onward, it seemed heavily focused on the romance aspect.
There were some very cool cases and surgeries I found interesting, like the woman who grew numerous mini spleens following a surgery, the face transplant on the woman with amnesia, the man and woman connected by a pole going through the both of them following an accident, and the woman with toxic blood that made most people lose consciousness.
CHICAGO MED
I honestly feel like this show is 70% drama and 30% showing actual surgeries. I don't recall any specific surgeries or cases that pop out to me, but I can tell you all about my favourite couple and all the crazy things that happen to the characters. I'd recommend this show if you're into the drama of it all but not necessarily if you're looking for medical inspiration.
DR ROMANTIC
Once you get past the cringe of the name, it's a great K-drama! The thing about Korean dramas is that they are all focused and principally centered on romance, and the main genre it claims to be is sprinkled around in scenes here and there. Medical dramas are (mostly) set in a hospital and surprisingly has quite a lot of medical content, but it's definitely a romantic drama at the end of the day.
Dr Romantic season 1 is centered around two doctors who work in a big hospital in the city, and after an almost fatal accident and a touch of medical bureaucracy, both end up working in a small countryside hospital. It highlights medical bureaucracy so well, and puts into perspective that medicine and the medical field is still a business that some benefit from, while others suffer at their hand. It follows their journeys as they grow as doctors, while also highlighting other medical professionals like nurses and doctors who aren't surgeons (which I don't think is really done in Western shows!). I have yet to finish season 2, but it follows a similar plot!
THE GOOD DOCTOR
This was a hugely popular show when it came out, and I hopped onto the trend and finished the first season in 2 days. When season 2 came out, I just didn't have that same fire anymore, but did manage to get through it eventually. It puts a different twist on all medical shows in that the main character is autistic and training to be a surgeon. There are a lot of cool cases in this one; the very first episode has a tracheotomy (which I still find fascinating whenever I see this in a show), a tumor growing in a fetus that has to be surgically removed, and a man with a 200 pound tumour growing around his body.
I think it balances drama with medicine pretty well, but honestly the characters are a bit forgetful!
DOCTOR STRANGER
This is another Korean drama that actually has quite a lot of medicine in it! It follows a boy and his doctor dad who were tricked into going to North Korea and they ended up being denied to go back to South Korea. He trains as a doctor in North Korea, falls in love, and tries to escape with his girlfriend but they end up separated. When he reaches the South, he starts work as a doctor and tries to find out what happened to his girlfriend. There are a lot of cool surgeries and cases in this one, which I enjoyed.
The drama-to-medicine ratio is surprisingly very good so I'd definitely recommend this to any K-drama fan or medical TV show fan!
What are your favourite medical dramas?
Tell me below!
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