title: Portrayal of organ donation and transplantation on American primetime television.
abstract: Recently, both living and deceased organ donation rates have hit a plateau, despite increases in need for viable organs. One approach to improve donation rate is public education and policy; thus, it is necessary to understand the information the public is receiving regarding organ donation. We hypothesized that primetime medical dramas portray organ donation and transplantation in a negative manner. We compiled data on all primetime medical drama episodes with transplant themes from November 2008 through June 2010 and assessed depictions of organ donors and transplant candidates. Positive and negative thematic elements surrounding the process and individuals involved were also identified. One hundred and fifty-five million and 145 million households watched episodes containing any negative message and any positive message, respectively. Episodes containing only negative messages had over twice the household viewership per episode compared to episodes containing only positive messages (8.4 million vs. 4.1 million, p = 0.01). Widespread exposure to these representations may reinforce public misconceptions of transplantation. The transplant community should consider the popularity of medical dramas as an opportunity to impact the perception of organ donation and transplantation for millions of Americans.
authors.affiliation: Summer Surgery Student Research Program, Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Calista
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Harbaugh
authors.forename: Majed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Afana
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Burdick
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: East
authors.forename: Sindhura
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kodali
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Shaun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Govind
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rangrass
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ranney
authors.forename: Vikram
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sood
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Sonnenday
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Englesbe
authors.forename: Amit K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Mathur
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016377:Organ Transplantation; D011379:Prognosis; D013690:Television; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000523:psychology* / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends*