Ever since The Pitt debuted on MAX earlier this year, emergency room (ER) personnel across the country, from registered nurses to residents to doctors, are talking about this hit medical show starring ER’s Noah Wyle.
The realism of The Pitt — the first episode begins in the 7:00 AM hour and the next 14 shows are an hour-by-hour day in the life of a chaotic ER at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital — is what has rung the truest.
This is especially evident in the topics the show has covered, from fentanyl overdoses and teen abortion to the emergency department (ED)’s response to an active shooter situation, which occurs during the 6:00 PM episode.
“What really struck a chord of what it means to work in an ER department is that all of us have had a case like one on the show, a similar conversation with a patient, and had to blow off some steam,” Matthew Harris, MD, a pediatric ER doctor at Cohen Children’s Medical Center, Northwell Health, Queens, New York, told Medscape Medical News. “The medicine resonates, but the moments resonate even more so.”
That’s the exact reaction Joe Sachs, MD, The Pitt’s executive producer, was hoping for when he signed on to work on the streaming series.
About Medscape Data
Medscape continually surveys physicians and other medical professionals about key practice challenges and current issues, creating high-impact analyses. For example, the Medscape Emergency Medicine Physician Mental Health & Well-Being Report 2025 found that
- More than one third of ED physician’s overall happiness worsened this past year.
- Male ED physicians’ overall happiness was slightly worse than female ED doctors.
- 36% of docs in the ED are burnt out.
- 82% said that more personal and family time was very important now.
“The reason I love emergency medicine is that you have to think quickly when you’re presented with a new problem,” said Sachs, who went to film school during medical school before working on ER first as a technical advisor, later writing 35 episodes, and eventually becoming a producer of the long-running TV drama. “It’s cognitively challenging, and you have to have amazing humanistic skills — you have to establish immediate rapport with a stranger.”
To ensure the accuracy of The Pitt, Sachs has a team of seven doctors on hand (and on set) to make sure every procedure and protocol is depicted as realistically as possible. In addition, the show differs from others in its unvarnished look at such issues as boarding, long wait times, and what it’s like to be uninsured and unhoused.
“In the first 5 minutes of the show, you see this crazy waiting room and all of the challenges that exist to provide good care even when healthcare providers are motivated, compassionate, and want to provide the best care,” Sachs said. “We also wanted to show how the system can work against you.”
For some ED doctors, however, the show initially hit a little too close to home.
“When I was halfway through the first episode, I was like why am I watching this. I feel like I’m at work,” Solomon Knicely, DO, medical director and division head of the Emergency Medicine at the Henry Ford Health in Sterling Heights, Michigan, said. “My colleagues had the same impression. It was painful to watch.”
Still, Knicely said he was compelled to keep watching and eventually got “hooked” on the show.
“I hate medical shows in general, but what the characters said, did, and talked about on The Pitt made it less annoying,” he added. “You can tell they have doctors writing for the show. The situations are pretty close to spot on.”
The one thing he questioned was the sheer volume of chaos in each episode. While that might make for good TV, this didn’t quite reflect his day-to-day experiences, he said.
“We’ve all had days where it’s insane and ridiculous, but to have every shift be that hectic — it felt like I was watching a board review show,” Knicely said. “A lot of the cases on The Pitt happen once, twice, or never in your career, and on the show, they all came in in one day.”
The inclusion of these many storylines was deliberate, Sachs said.
“I’ve joked with my colleagues that in 15 episodes, we’ve done every procedure in Roberts & Hedges, the gold standard text for emergency medicine,” he said. “That’s not quite true, but we’ve certainly showcased a very large part of the emergency medicine curriculum you’d get over 4 years.”
For Sachs, it has been very satisfying getting feedback about the show via social media. Many of the comments he’s read have touched him, too.
“Emergency healthcare workers are writing to us telling us that they’re finally able to explain what they do to their friends and family,” he said. “They also say they’ve been in denial about how much PTSD [posttraumatic stress disorder] they have since COVID, and that because of the show, they’re seeking help.”
Others have written to the team to thank them for drawing attention to certain diseases.
“I just got an email yesterday about the first measles case that was identified in Hawaii a few weeks ago,” he said. “I was told that the medical personnel recognized it because they saw it on The Pitt.”
With season 2 currently in the works, Sachs hopes the show continues to be a realistic portrayal of how incredibly versatile and experienced emergency healthcare workers are.
“Emergency departments are open 24/7 for anyone regardless of their ability to pay, and it’s really important to know that the ER is the safety net, especially with talk of cuts to Medicare and Medicaid,” Sachs said.
The goal, too, is to tell good stories and continue shining a spotlight on how committed ER physicians and staff are to their work.
“We want to keep showing the humanity of healthcare providers,” Sachs said. “They may not be perfect, but they care deeply about the lives of their patients.”
Lambeth Hochwald is a New York City–based journalist who covers health, relationships, trends, and issues of importance to women. She’s also a longtime professor at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.
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