By Tom Blackwell
The National Post
EDMONTON, Alberta — When physicians at an Alberta hospital asked why so many medical students and residents were using a faulty technique for inserting life-saving breathing tubes in patients, they received an unexpected answer: It’s television’s fault.
Many of the doctors in training said they had learned the procedure from watching medical dramas. And a subsequent analysis of the show ER revealed its fictional MDs and nurses performed intubations incorrectly almost every time.
The findings, just published in the journal Resuscitation, revive an intriguing debate over whether entertainment TV has an obligation to portray medicine accurately, and underline what some see as chronic flaws in the system of training Canada’s physicians.
Full Story: ER cited as most common source of faulty knowledge