[Physicians in the TV soap--a study of ER].
Health providers are constantly exposed to patients' cultural expressions. Television is a central agent forming our cultural surroundings. The aim of this study has been to elucidate how a specific genre - the medical soap opera - represents the health system, and shape our expectations of it. The first part of the study is a genre analysis based on media science, literary theory and narrative-based medicine. The second part of the study applies these theoretical elements on the series Emergency Room (ER). Using text analysis, one episode was reviewed in detail. The medical soap opera is a genre characterised by qualities such as a narration, its focus on the physician in her professional role and as a private individual, and by a glamour medical reality. These theoretical considerations support how soap operas focus on the physician as a type and a causally stringent construction of the narrative. The narrative qualities of the soap opera are found to satisfy people's desire for more causality in daily life. Wish fulfillment is a central function of the soap opera. In sum, medical soap operas fulfill a desire for a more comprehensive health system, showing health actors as human beings rather than just white coats.
Nielsen
Rune
R
Seksjon for allmennmedisin, Institutt for samfunnsmedisinske fag Universitet i Bergen, 5018 Bergen. rune.nielsen@med.uib.no
Baerheim
Anders
A
D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008512:Medicine in the Arts; D009040:Motion Pictures; D010819:Physician's Role; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians; D013690:Television; D014481:United States