The Pitt — a medical drama set in a Pittsburgh emergency department — has garnered praise for its attention to detail, medical accuracy, and educational value. It’s got a dedicated following both on- and offline. Not only do roughly 10 million viewers tune in weekly, but on Reddit, a group of over 300,000 members regularly discuss the show’s accuracy.  

Medical participants in these forums field questions and dissect the details, which begs the question: How has The Pitt affected the work of ER doctors and hospitalists especially? 

Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, MD, associate professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and EMS medical director and associate vice chair of engagement at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, was one of the show’s medical advisors in season 1. She said that she was brought in to help the show’s executive producer (an ER doctor himself) and writers develop storylines unique to Pittsburgh, including those representing its Nepali and Somali immigrant communities. 

Owusu-Ansah said she was able to provide feedback on things that had not been touched on in other medical shows, such as the experience of being the sole Black woman in her division of pediatric emergency medicine, health disparities and equity issues, or how the team at her hospital have a moment of silence every time a patient dies.  

“It’s just too darn accurate,” said Owusu-Ansah. “In every single story, there’s an expert that has touched that storyline, so the outcome and the product is what we, as physicians, actually see. I’ve never felt so validated by a show.” 

Feeling Seen

The Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project at USC-Annenberg in Los Angeles regularly examines how various issues are represented in media, including scripted entertainment. Last fall, the Center released a report examining The Pitt’s impact on medical professionals, including importance of medically accurate content and its effect on hospital physicians’ and nurses’ work. 

“Something The Pitt does especially well is that while the characters are heroic in some ways, they’re not superheroes. They care about their patients but they’re also working within the confines and challenges of a realistic healthcare system,” said Erica Lynn Rosenthal, PhD, director of research at the Norman Lear Center. “In our research, that resonated well with the professionals we spoke to.” 

Owusu-Ansah agreed. 

“The Pitt intimately shows how we go above and beyond; it shows the human side of these heroes that are often neglected with the fervor, intensity, and volume of our world. It brings our world to life,” she said. 

On Reddit, laypeople have seized the opportunity to discuss topics such as procedures or the chaotic pace with medical professionals. This echoes the offline experience of ER doctors like Scott Heinrich, MD, emergency physician and associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Rush University Medical Center, in Chicago. “I’ve actually had conversations with a couple of my neighbors who watch the show religiously and they will text me all of the time: 'Have you seen this? Do you really do this?'” 

“It’s 100% made me specifically feel more seen,” he said. “It shows that we’re not infallible, that we’re human and just work in this incredibly stressful microcosm of a place,” said Heinrich. 

Medical colleagues who work outside the ER have also gained a new appreciation. 

“I’m part of a group of 10 women who went through pediatric residency together and we’ve known each other for 20 years now,” said Owusu-Ansah. “Last year we watched The Pitt together (they knew I was an advisor) and they turned to me and said, ‘This doesn’t really happen in the ER, right? You’re really not that busy, right?’” 

“That was a eureka moment,” she said. 

Beyond the Waiting Room

A better appreciation of the “beyond the ER waiting room” appears to have yielded unexpected benefits. Findings from the Media Impact Project’s report underscored that roughly 90% of viewers felt the show made clinician stress relatable and had a better sense of how certain factors — for example, understaffing — might affect patient outcomes. 

Heinrich explained that during one text exchange, a neighbor mentioned patient boarding — namely, how it places stress on the system and the healthcare workers, techs, nurses, and transport physicians who are trying to see as many patients safely as they can. He said that the show has helped many laypeople better understand the reason for the lengthy waiting room times. 

“It’s something we’ve struggled with as emergency physicians for years, but until people have seen it, they’ve not really fully understood,” said Heinrich. "A lot of medical shows we’ve all grown up with didn’t really talk much about waiting room medicine and boarding patients, and how it affects the safety net of the system,” he said. 

Certain storylines have likewise facilitated difficult conversations and family decisions. 

“One of the pieces I watched last week was a man who was admitted for being in diabetic ketoacidosis because he had to ration his insulin due to cost,” said Jennifer Anna Woodard, MD, a hospitalist and internal medicine specialist at UW Health, and clinical assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. 

“I do this all the time; I am always looking at the cost of medications for my patients, if they are able to afford what I’m planning to get them out of the hospital on, or is there something else we need to refer them to,” she said. 

Woodard also mentioned that she found the show’s accuracy very impressive — for example, procedures when patients go into cardiac arrest. 

“The Pitt does an exceptional job of portraying what it’s really like; in other shows when people get CPR, they walk out 2 days later as if nothing has ever happened. When people actually witness or receive education on how codes actually work in real life, they’re able to make informed decisions,” she said. 

Taking It Home

Though many physicians feel the show is cathartic, others avoid it entirely. 

“I know a lot of people — and it’s not a small number — who don’t watch the show,” said Heinrich. “They’ve said, ‘I live this at work; it’s stressful enough. I don’t want to go home and do it again.’ They want to decompress.” 

“ER docs have one of the highest rates of burnout and suicide,” said Owusu-Ansah. “There’s so much layered within a day, within a shift, and you’re constantly being asked to process that and provide the best care each time, sometimes at the sacrifice of yourself.” 

Woodard mentioned that though the show can be emotionally heavy, “it’s therapeutic in knowing it’s portrayed on the screen. In that sense, you’re not alone; these are universal experiences that other healthcare workers have had,” she said. 

Owusu-Ansah, Heinrich, and Woodard reported no relevant financial relationships. Rosenthal is director of the Media Impact Project, Norman Lear Center at USC-Annenberg. 

Liz Scherer is an independent health and medical journalist.