Around this time last year, I was sitting in the guidance room with Skylar, discussing my future plans after college. I had decided that I wanted to become a surgeon. Skylar suggested that I watch the American drama series "Grey's Anatomy" to get a better idea of what my life could be like as a surgeon. The show's creator, Shonda Lynn Rhimes, is a well-known American television producer, screenwriter, and author. "Grey's Anatomy" provided an enticing image of the challenges and rewards of being a surgeon. The medical drama series follows the story of Meredith Grey, an aspiring surgeon and daughter of one of the best surgeons, Dr. Ellis Grey. Throughout the series, Meredith and her colleagues at Seattle Grace Hospital face both professional and personal challenges. I quickly became hooked on the show and finished all 13 seasons in about three months. "Grey's Anatomy" shaped my future and inspired me to become a neurosurgeon. The show gave me a new perspective on the daily life of a surgeon and motivated me to strive for greatness in my future career. Although "Grey's Anatomy" is a drama series and can appear to exaggerate many ideas within an actual hospital, it still portrays many realistic surgeries, medical terms, and situations that could happen. "Grey's Anatomy" gave me perspective on how a hospital operates on a daily basis.
He is very confident in his ability and believes that he is a great surgeon. All in all, "Grey's Anatomy" inspires me to become a great neurosurgeon and live the type of life I desire to have. The show portrays the great passion that these doctors have for their jobs and how much pride they take in their work. This show has shaped my mindset about the life of a surgeon.
Dr. Atul Gawande, a Harvard Medical School graduate and writer for The New Yorker, phenomenally illustrates the unknown side of healthcare professions in his book, Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science. By exploring the ethical and analytical aspects of medicine while entertaining readers with relatable anecdotes, Gawande impresses on his audience the importance of recognizing the wonders of the healthcare field, as well as the fallibility of those within it.
The story A Television Drama, by Jane Rule is an exciting story about an unusual event, which the main character, Carolee Mitchell, experiences the end of. The story is about her quiet street becoming unusually busy with police officers, and how the man who is being chased by these officers ends up being outside her front door. Through the point of view of the story, the characterization and character change of Carolee Mitchell, and the setting of the story, A Television Drama is an exciting read. The story conveys how important it is to be aware of ones surroundings, and what is happening around oneself through these elements.
Running for more than 11 seasons, Grey’s Anatomy is never boring. A dramatic, blood pumping (literally) show that will get you saying, “I learned that medical term from Grey’s Anatomy!” Grey’s Anatomy follows a group of doctors in Seattle. We follow the protagonist, Meredith Grey (played by Ellen Pompeo) struggle with her relationship with her colleagues children, and recently (*spoiler alert*) her deceased husband.
In the book, Better by Atul Gawande, the author writes about his experience as a surgeon and his trials and deliberations along the road. The author splits up his books three ways, Part 1 is Diligence, Part 2 is Doing It Right, and Part 3 is Ingenuity. Each part takes a certain place and time in Gawande’s career. Each of the stories are breathtaking and very personal as he takes us through his eyes of what can only be described as impossible conditions and choosing the best outcome to better himself and the world.
Atul Gawande is not only our resident surgeon; he’s also a patient himself. He’s anxious before performing a surgery, he dwells on mistakes, and he has emotions: he’s human and he understands us. However, he does not appear to share concerns with his patients initially. Gawande experiences a long, drawn-out development from a young medical student to the doctor he is today. This process of identifying with patients is evident in his anthology of essays Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science. Dr. Gawande appears to emphasize the value of making mistakes, and how it is a core component of his daily life as a physician. His mistakes are dependent on the “good choices or bad choices” he makes, and regardless
Meredith Grey, a main character in the television show, Grey’s Anatomy once said, "Surgeons are control freaks. With a scalpel in your hand, you feel unstoppable. There's no fear, there's no pain. You're 10 feet tall and bulletproof.” Dr. Grey said this in the third episode, first season of the hit medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. The ABC series, created by Shonda Rhimes, first aired in 2005, and is in its tenth season, with new episodes on Thursday nights at 9/8 central. The series averaged 16.4 million viewers throughout its first 10 seasons, peaking at 25.41million viewers in the third season. (U.S.) The series concerns several surgical interns and their journey to becoming full-blown surgeons. In the average show, the viewer sees several complicated, unordinary medical cases in which the doctors attempt to save the patients life. The cases are always very dramatic which makes for a great television show. Often times the medical cases will have something to do with the doctors’ personal lives, which are just as dramatic. These connections make the situations seem so real, and make viewer believe that their doctor is just like the one that he or she sees on TV. This blur between what the viewer sees on TV, and his or her real life experiences, is backed up by the Cultivation Theory. (Quick) In the healthcare world, a distortion of reality caused by the viewing of Grey’s Anatomy, has an overall positive impact of real-life patient satisfaction with their real world doctors.
Grey initially enters the medical field as a surgical intern and in further episodes, she eventually becomes the head of general surgery due to her outstanding abilities and work ethic. By documenting this rise from an entry level position to a prestigious post within medicine, Grey’s Anatomy promotes a positive image of ambitious and committed women who can advance to high level promotions that would stereotypically be held by men. Along with this idea of female success, the women in the show are often shown in the same scrubs as men of the same position, eliminating the stereotype of the highly sexualized female appearing in mainstream culture. As a character, Dr. Grey is a social, professional, and dependable surgeon who is able to consistently demonstrate her talents as a surgeon throughout the show. In episode seventeen of the second season of Grey’s Anatomy, Dr. Grey shows an extreme dedication to her occupation and patients when she risks her life to remove a bomb from a patient in order to treat the patient’s bleeding. By putting herself in a position where she saved both her patient and willingly removed a bomb, Dr. Grey displays a high level of compassion, courage, and intelligence that puts her well above the stereotypical idea of a competent male doctor within the medical field. In this light, the characterization of Dr. Grey’s character on Grey’s Anatomy promotes the image of a successful, dependable, and non-sexualized female doctor in
Shonda Rhimes’ medical television drama, Grey’s Anatomy, takes place is Seattle, Washington in the fictional Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital. The series focuses on the fictional lives of a group of surgical inters and residents, whom evolve into specialized doctors, while trying to maintain a personal life with significant others and loved ones. The series has seen many characters come and go, but Dr. Meredith Grey is the central character of the show. The television series has a lot of trauma either in patient lives, such as car accidents or illnesses, or in the doctor lives, such as a hospital shooting or a plane crash. Grey’s Anatomy expresses the causes of PTSD better than Pretty Little Liars, but still does not express all possible traumas
Everyone who has seen Grey’s Anatomy knows all the problems and struggles the characters go through with each episode they watch; they know how much Meredith Grey struggles with her mommy and daddy issues which distract her at work and led her to become emotional involved or make an error with a patient. Everyone has seen the characters on the show have committed at least one mistake that led to the death of a patient or a near to death experience. From the time Callie Torres, an orthopedic surgeon, left a sponge inside of a patient and closed him up to the time George O’Malley, a surgical resident, who nearly killed a patient. But what most viewers who watch Grey’s Anatomy do not fully comprehend is that this is not just in a drama but this is in real life—all doctors make mistakes.
Oddly enough, I liked giving obese, old patients bed baths, helping them to the bathroom, and cleaning their bed pans. But, don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t exactly what I loved doing, but I knew it was part of the job, and I willingly did the dirty work. By the end of my junior year, I knew I loved the hospital environment and wanted to eventually work there; however, I just didn’t know in what capacity. Fortunately, during a slow day in my last semester of shadowing, a nurse asked me if I would like to see a surgery being performed. I quickly accepted the offer, and I got to watch a surgeon perform an eye lift procedure. This experience, one of the most interesting I had ever witnessed, made me realize the area of the hospital that interested me most, the operating room. More specifically, I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon. The path to become an orthopedic surgeon is not a quick nor easy one. To become an orthopedic surgeon, one must first be accepted into medical school, graduate medical school, and then complete post medical school requirements such as residency and
For some reason, even though I wasn’t excited managing CHF and diabetes when I was on the medicine team, I enjoyed pre-op optimization so that patients had the best possible chance of recovery. Most importantly, in surgery I felt like I was actually helping to solve a problem. A patient presents with some issue and we are able to operate and fix that problem and hopefully prevent it from coming back again. By the end of my rotation I realized that even though I might enjoy certain aspects in fields besides surgery, I would never feel as happy and fulfilled as I would be in
As a student that is currently seeking a career in the medical professions, I have had to routinely contemplate my reasons for pursuing such an extensive education program in a field that is constantly demanding excessive time and effort. I know of students—many friends and acquaintances of mine included—that have the most sure-fire, inspirational stories that align with their desire to become doctors, surgeons, physician assistants, etc. They always seemed to have a story that emphasized their desire to “give back” what they have received from the medical community. Because of that, ever since the beginning of high school, I have been trying to find an extraordinary reason, a purpose for my medical pursuits. Perhaps I could justify my passion for
Grey’s Anatomy is a medical drama that encompasses the professional and personal lives of interns and residents as they strive to become surgeons. The beginning of the series focuses on one intern, Meredith Grey, who is taking part in the residency program at Seattle Grace Hospital. Throughout the seasons the backgrounds, and aspirations of the characters are explored, while following their present day lives. The series is based off of the doctors everyday lives, but concerns itself mostly with their personal lives, using their professional lives as a backdrop to character development. The medical cases aid the plot of the series most often by the patients saying things that relate back to the dilemmas the characters are going through. This along with the relationships between colleagues connects work to personal life, often mixing professional and private relationships into one.
Since starting this class, introduction to health care, I have begun to think about what the future holds for me and what I will pursue with my college degree. At this point in time my career goal is to become a physician assistant in orthopedic surgery. I plan on working in a hospital setting where I can continue to learn and practice my profession. Five years after all my schooling and achieving my license, professionally I see myself working at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, New York, which is a teaching hospital. I would be working on and with patients, while still learning as I practice my previous knowledge. I would be seeing patients with injuries such as an ankle sprain, evaluating x-rays, and possibly sitting on and
All in all being a surgeon has been a lifelong dream of mine. As a surgeon you must be prepared for anything every single day of every single year. Some may be able to handle that others might not. Surgeons may arguably have the hardest, most stressful job. They have another person’s life in their hands and that person may live or die based on the actions of that surgeon. The work is tuff, the education is rougher but being able to withstand all that, and fighting each and every day to reach my ultimate goal is well worth it. Once I start I won’t turn back, being a surgeon is what I want to do, since I’ve started highs school I have had my eyes set on this job and giving up isn’t a option. After learning all these things I have, I want to be a surgeon. This job saves lives and being able to do that will make my life worth wild.