You’d think that since I’m an ER nurse (well one that’s on medical leave) I wouldn’t be all that interested in watching medical shows on TV, but they are still one of my favorite form of television watching.

I used to love watching ER. Oh I’ll admit the early years of the show were the best, but I watched every episode right until the series ended last year.

Now this year a new crop of medical TV dramas are on ranging from more nurse oriented shows like Mercy, Nurse Jackie and HawthoRNe to Trauma which covers the paramedic side of medical drama. I even watched the short HBO series Bloodletting and Miraculous cures – mainly because it was a series that developed from a book written by one of the ER doctors that I’ve worked with for several years.

I also watch House regularly, although as with ER I think the earlier seasons were better than what’s being produced lately. Likewise with Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. Geez there’s a lot of medical shows isn’t there? Maybe they all just need to take a multivitamin and they’ll get better?

These shows are full of errors – from having too many doctors and not enough nurses, to medical errors, to patients going from deathbed to miraculously healthy by the next day. LOL

Of all the new shows I think I like HawthoRNe best. It captures the emotions of being a nurse in the ER much better than most of the shows I watch regularly.

Although, just like Mercy, I don’t understand how the nurses that are supposed to work in one area end up working all over the hospital and even assist during surgical procedures. In real life, in a big hospital, nurses work where they are assigned whether it’s the ER, a medical floor or in the OR … they aren’t all over the place .. nor are doctors unless they are specialists – then they might be seen regularly in a few areas of a hospital over the course of a shift.

I think I like watching these shows because I can spot the mistakes and I get a little thrill when I spot them. LOL Maybe these shows keep me on my toes?

Anyway .. do you like watching medical dramas on TV? Which ones are your favorites and which ones could you do without?