Red Band Society
For the past couple weeks I have been watching a show called Red Band Society. This show has been getting a lot of acclaim and people have been talking about how realistic it is. Which makes me wonder if they have ever spent anytime at all in a hospital.
All along I have had problems with this show and after this weeks episode I am done.
While talking to my mom about my frustrations with the show she told me I should post about it to give a better picture of what hospital life is like since the show does not do it justice.
And since I don't have anything else to post about I figured why not.
Since the beginning of the show I have been annoyed that they show all patients walking around without IVs. If you aren't on an IV you really have no reason to be in the hospital. They hook you up to an IV for everything. Most of the characters on the show would actually be outpatients and would only be in the hospital for doctors appointments.
Also patients with all kinds of diseases would not all be on one floor. Cancer patients are not on the same floor as patients with eating disorders who are not on the same floor as people would need transplants (usually every kind of transplant has it's own floor - for example at OSF I'm always on 2400 because that's were people with kidney problems are) and none of these would be in the same room or on the same floor as someone who is in a coma. That annoys me. I could even go into why they are on different floors and what the nurses on each floor need to know about those conditions but that could be a blog on it's own.
However this week I was pushed past annoyance when the process of getting on a transplant list was described incorrectly and a nurse did something that no nurse would ever do.
First about the lists - on the show a character who needs a lung transplant told a patient who needs a heart transplant that a board of people was all around watching people who would be on the list to see how they would take care of an organ. This is such a huge lie. Getting on a transplant list has to do with how sick you are as told by things like blood work, organ function, and what other treatments the patient is on. When you are sick enough you are put on a list. You move up the list as other people are taken off the list. Things that take you off the list are dying, getting the needed organ, or being too sick to even support a new organ. Patients can also move up list if they have been on dialysis a long time or if there is a perfect match for them. Hospitals put you on the list as in your doctor or team of doctors as it often is when you are sick enough to be on a list. The amount of money you have does not factor into this - you cannot pay your way up the list. Age only plays a role if you have other health conditions that mean your numbers are worse or that mean you are too sick to support a new organ.
Second about the nurse - I am really mad they put a nurse in this light. They have a nurse on the show named Nurse Jackson who they are trying to show as being hard but caring. At the end of this weeks episode they showed her switching labels on vials on blood. A good nurse, a caring nurse, would never do this. This could/would result in a million law suits for her and the hospital and more. This is also not helpful at all to a patient. Doing a switch like this would mean that the patient would be treated incorrectly and in some cases even die. No nurse that I have ever come in contact with would do this. I know that they are trying to add drama to the show but there is enough drama in this made up hospital without this. And it upsets me how they are portraying nurses.
One of the things that I have liked about this show and a show on ABC Family titled Chasing Life (which is more drama filled but also more realistic at times when it comes to hospital matters) it that they are honest about how people can be torn when it comes to making decisions about their life. On Red Band Society the patient that needs a lung says he doesn't know if he wants one. His problems don't end with a new organ. A new organ means more meds, continued doctors visits, another transplant down the line and more.
I know that feeling.
I know that reality.
On Chasing Life there is a character who has a brain tumor. He says he doesn't want it removed. He wants to live on his own terms and die on his own terms. He goes on to say that the surgery could be a success but it could also mean he would be living in a hospital bed on machines - that to him is not living. Though the main character called him a coward I stood up and clapped for this imaginary characters bravery.
Something I have never understood about hospital shows is they try to add all this other drama is that dealing with the realities of a life of sickness is enough drama in itself.
I understand the emotions that are trying to be displayed in these shows because I get that in the life of a chronically ill person there is no quick fix or easy answer which can mean there is no right answer. I understand that even after a new organ is given the term chronically ill still applies.
And I know that fully understanding the life of a sick person can only happen when you live it but that does not justify inaccurate information on a TV show.
All along I have had problems with this show and after this weeks episode I am done.
While talking to my mom about my frustrations with the show she told me I should post about it to give a better picture of what hospital life is like since the show does not do it justice.
And since I don't have anything else to post about I figured why not.
Since the beginning of the show I have been annoyed that they show all patients walking around without IVs. If you aren't on an IV you really have no reason to be in the hospital. They hook you up to an IV for everything. Most of the characters on the show would actually be outpatients and would only be in the hospital for doctors appointments.
Also patients with all kinds of diseases would not all be on one floor. Cancer patients are not on the same floor as patients with eating disorders who are not on the same floor as people would need transplants (usually every kind of transplant has it's own floor - for example at OSF I'm always on 2400 because that's were people with kidney problems are) and none of these would be in the same room or on the same floor as someone who is in a coma. That annoys me. I could even go into why they are on different floors and what the nurses on each floor need to know about those conditions but that could be a blog on it's own.
However this week I was pushed past annoyance when the process of getting on a transplant list was described incorrectly and a nurse did something that no nurse would ever do.
First about the lists - on the show a character who needs a lung transplant told a patient who needs a heart transplant that a board of people was all around watching people who would be on the list to see how they would take care of an organ. This is such a huge lie. Getting on a transplant list has to do with how sick you are as told by things like blood work, organ function, and what other treatments the patient is on. When you are sick enough you are put on a list. You move up the list as other people are taken off the list. Things that take you off the list are dying, getting the needed organ, or being too sick to even support a new organ. Patients can also move up list if they have been on dialysis a long time or if there is a perfect match for them. Hospitals put you on the list as in your doctor or team of doctors as it often is when you are sick enough to be on a list. The amount of money you have does not factor into this - you cannot pay your way up the list. Age only plays a role if you have other health conditions that mean your numbers are worse or that mean you are too sick to support a new organ.
Second about the nurse - I am really mad they put a nurse in this light. They have a nurse on the show named Nurse Jackson who they are trying to show as being hard but caring. At the end of this weeks episode they showed her switching labels on vials on blood. A good nurse, a caring nurse, would never do this. This could/would result in a million law suits for her and the hospital and more. This is also not helpful at all to a patient. Doing a switch like this would mean that the patient would be treated incorrectly and in some cases even die. No nurse that I have ever come in contact with would do this. I know that they are trying to add drama to the show but there is enough drama in this made up hospital without this. And it upsets me how they are portraying nurses.
One of the things that I have liked about this show and a show on ABC Family titled Chasing Life (which is more drama filled but also more realistic at times when it comes to hospital matters) it that they are honest about how people can be torn when it comes to making decisions about their life. On Red Band Society the patient that needs a lung says he doesn't know if he wants one. His problems don't end with a new organ. A new organ means more meds, continued doctors visits, another transplant down the line and more.
I know that feeling.
I know that reality.
On Chasing Life there is a character who has a brain tumor. He says he doesn't want it removed. He wants to live on his own terms and die on his own terms. He goes on to say that the surgery could be a success but it could also mean he would be living in a hospital bed on machines - that to him is not living. Though the main character called him a coward I stood up and clapped for this imaginary characters bravery.
Something I have never understood about hospital shows is they try to add all this other drama is that dealing with the realities of a life of sickness is enough drama in itself.
I understand the emotions that are trying to be displayed in these shows because I get that in the life of a chronically ill person there is no quick fix or easy answer which can mean there is no right answer. I understand that even after a new organ is given the term chronically ill still applies.
And I know that fully understanding the life of a sick person can only happen when you live it but that does not justify inaccurate information on a TV show.
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