There are many TV medical dramas that make healthcare professionals crazy because they're not even close to depicting what really goes on in a hospital. Most of us, however, can't get enough of "The Pitt." As an anesthesiologist and leader of one of New England's largest healthcare providers, I find the series to be the most accurate depiction of what goes on in an emergency department (ED), whether in New Hampshire or Vermont -- or Pittsburgh, where "The Pitt" is set -- that I've ever seen.
One of my favorite characters is Dr. Dennis Whitaker, a first-year resident who grew up on a Nebraska farm. Whitaker grows in confidence and competence as a doctor, without losing his "Midwestern nice" persona amid the chaos of an inner-city ED.
In one scene, we see Whitaker treat a gravely ill renal failure patient rushed to the ED by his teenage son, arriving in the nick of time. Whitaker learns the family lives an hour and a half away in rural Pennsylvania, and because the family's local hospital had closed, the boy had no choice but to make the long drive to the city to save his dad. This reaffirms Whitaker's desire to return to Nebraska, where he can help families like his patient's and his own.
