Interesting ER Storyline — Page 2

I quit watching ER about three years ago when my favorite and the most believable characters left. After that, it became too soap operish.

My biggest complaint with the show is the unrealistic expectations it sets for actual real life ER workers. Every since ER aired, people go to the ER expecting any problem they have to be cured in one hour, regardless of whether they have a chronic condition, or that they need to wait on lab results, X-rays to be read by radiologists, or other consults to be called. Most procedures have you in the ER for hours, and sometimes a definitive diagnosis still can't be reached. People want their problems solved NOW and even mention that "TV doctors, who aren't even real could do a better job of figuring out what my problem is."

sabrelady is right that ER shows ER doctors doing procedures in a trauma room that are very improbable and that no ED doc who values his or her licence would perform. The episode that showed a doctor performing a C-section in an exam room was absolutely ridiculous.

One thing about ERs that the show gets right is the number of angry, drunk, and mentally unstable patients that pour through the doors. Another aspect of real life ER that is accurately depicted is the sheer noise level of patients, nurses, and doctors all yelling over the din of the sirens, pneumatic doors, and medics calling out report. Most of the time I don't even turn on my car radio when driving home because my ears are still ringing from the noise level. After a twelve hour shift, the sound of silence is sweet.

Now that I think about it, there aren't as many love triangles and sexcapades in real life as there are on the show. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.