4am ER shift flipped my opinion on hospital dramas

I used to roll my eyes at those shows where the ER team saves everyone in 42 minutes. Then last Tuesday I worked a code where we got a guy back after 3 rounds of epi and honestly the pacing felt like a TV episode. The real difference is the waiting, the paperwork, the family update phone calls that take 10 minutes. But the chaos, the quick decisions, the weird calm in the middle of it, that part is actually spot on. Anyone else in a high stress job ever watched a show and felt weirdly seen?

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the_lee1mo ago

Do you ever catch yourself mentally editing real life now? Like when a shift is dragging, do you think "okay, commercial break, time for a boring subplot" and then snap back? Curious if the fake TV pacing ruined real pacing for you forever.

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jennysullivan1mo ago

Say what you want about the writing, but nobody warns you that the real adrenaline comes after when you realize you forgot to chart the whole thing and the paperwork haunts you at 4am. lmao, guess that's the part they cut for snacks.

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