"The Good Doctor" and His Specialty

[ShinySephiroth]

I'm on episode 6 of season 1 and I am extremely confused - the surgical residents seem to always be doing Emergency Medicine. I've worked in an ER for a few years and our surgeons rarely come down. I mentioned it to my wife because I was so frustrated with it (huge bus crash just happened in show and they called in all surgical attendings AND the head of the surgical department). She suggested that perhaps other hospitals, maybe smaller ones, don't have ER residents and they train their surgical residents in Emergency Medicine.

That doesn't make sense to me, but I've only ever worked in two different hospitals. I'm very curious because I am leaning toward one day becoming an ER resident and would like to know if this show is just waaaay off base. Curious to hear what the experts have to say!

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[Arturiase]

lol if you watch any of these medical dramas they have doctors doing everything, i mean house md was an Id specialist. Its all for drama. The good doctor is more about character development rather than medical accuracy. some other shows stick to a little more realism, i think chicago med and I heard scrubs?

 

[Belphegor]

I gave up on this show after the 2nd episode where he violates HIPAA and receives no punishment at all. He literally goes to a patient’s house after looking up their address. Autism or not, that should have gotten him kicked out of the program.

 

[mw18]

I'm on episode 6 of season 1 and I am extremely confused - the surgical residents seem to always be doing Emergency Medicine. I've worked in an ER for a few years and our surgeons rarely come down. I mentioned it to my wife because I was so frustrated with it (huge bus crash just happened in show and they called in all surgical attendings AND the head of the surgical department). She suggested that perhaps other hospitals, maybe smaller ones, don't have ER residents and they train their surgical residents in Emergency Medicine.

That doesn't make sense to me, but I've only ever worked in two different hospitals. I'm very curious because I am leaning toward one day becoming an ER resident and would like to know if this show is just waaaay off base. Curious to hear what the experts have to say!

Traumas are handled by surgeons at many (I think likely most) hospitals.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Traumas are handled by surgeons at many (I think likely most) hospitals.

It's up to season 15 on Grey's Anatomy, and I have yet to see a single emergency medicine physician.

 

[Goro]

I'm on episode 6 of season 1 and I am extremely confused - the surgical residents seem to always be doing Emergency Medicine. I've worked in an ER for a few years and our surgeons rarely come down. I mentioned it to my wife because I was so frustrated with it (huge bus crash just happened in show and they called in all surgical attendings AND the head of the surgical department). She suggested that perhaps other hospitals, maybe smaller ones, don't have ER residents and they train their surgical residents in Emergency Medicine.

That doesn't make sense to me, but I've only ever worked in two different hospitals. I'm very curious because I am leaning toward one day becoming an ER resident and would like to know if this show is just waaaay off base. Curious to hear what the experts have to say!

I'm trying to say this in the nicest possible way, but TV shows are works of fiction, not documentaries.

BTW, spaceships don't noise in space either.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I'm trying to say this in the nicest possible way, but TV shows are works of fiction, not documentaries.

BTW, spaceships don't noise in space either.

But black holes do!

Can You Hear a Black Hole? | NASA Blueshift

 

[mw18]

It's up to season 15 on Grey's Anatomy, and I have yet to see a single emergency medicine physician.

Oh no, it makes no sense. Don't get me wrong. But the idea that surgeons were being called to deal with a bus crash does make sense.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I'm on episode 6 of season 1 and I am extremely confused - the surgical residents seem to always be doing Emergency Medicine. I've worked in an ER for a few years and our surgeons rarely come down. I mentioned it to my wife because I was so frustrated with it (huge bus crash just happened in show and they called in all surgical attendings AND the head of the surgical department). She suggested that perhaps other hospitals, maybe smaller ones, don't have ER residents and they train their surgical residents in Emergency Medicine.

That doesn't make sense to me, but I've only ever worked in two different hospitals. I'm very curious because I am leaning toward one day becoming an ER resident and would like to know if this show is just waaaay off base. Curious to hear what the experts have to say!

I haven’t seen the show...medical dramas frustrate me because they’re, well, unrealistic.

However surgeons do often come down to the ED. Usually an ER doc will identify a patient with a possible emergent surgical issue (like appendicitis). They call in the gen surg team to see the consult and determine if surgery is indicated.

Also at our large level 1 trauma center the surgeons run all traumas, although this is not the norm.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

The show is not realistic. Like not even kind of.

Now that we have that out of the way. It depends on the hospital. Often the EM team stabilizes the trauma patients and then they get passed off to the surgery trauma team. Surgery was heavily involved in any trauma that could require immediate surgical intervention at the hospital I worked at previously (large 400 bed level 2 trauma center that did everything but transplants).

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

So yeah, if there was a bus crash or another scenario with a large volume of bad trauma patients, the surgery team would absolutely be involved at least at my hospital.

And do the ED nurses order the EM physicians to call the OR and cancel all the elective cases?

 

[sinombre]

She suggested that perhaps other hospitals, maybe smaller ones, don't have ER residents and they train their surgical residents in Emergency Medicine.

That doesn’t happen. Surgeons/surgery residents come to the ER when an emergency medicine attending/resident/mid level consults surgery to see a patient. We never do the triaging outside of trauma (but even then the EM provider has to activate the trauma). So even though we do spend a lot of time in the ER, we aren’t “working in the ER” in the sense of triaging new patients.

 

[TypeADissection]

I'm on episode 6 of season 1 and I am extremely confused...

Well there's your first problem. Definitely should've stopped after watching a trailer.

I'm very curious because I am leaning toward one day becoming an ER resident...

Well there's your second problem.

Cheers.