This article contains spoilers for Max's The Pitt.
This article contains mentions of drugs.
The Pittis Max's new show that seeks to depict a realistic portrayal of a hospital's emergency room as it seeks to be one of the best medical dramas out there. Each episode of the show portrays one hour of a typical shift in the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital's emergency room. The Pitt's cast of characters includes ER's Noah Wyle, The Originals' Tracy Ifeachor, Chucky's Fiona Dourif, Goosebumps' Isa Briones, and Emerald City's Gerran Howell. The Pitt will have 15 episodes in its first season, depicting a 15-hour shift at PTMC, with the final episode airing on April 10, 2025.
Despite the real-life legal controversy behind The Pitt, the show covers critical subjects in their attempt to portray a typical day in a hospital's emergency room. In just the first two episodes, The Pitt covers sickle cell disease, fentanyl consumption, traumatic brain injuries, and more. The Pitt also explores real issues that hospitals face today, which further makes the show's portrayal of the medical world realistic. The Pitt debuted with a high Rotten Tomatoes score, indicating the show is on the right track in its goal of portraying medical realism.
The Pitt Grapples With Real-Life Problems Currently Facing Healthcare & Hospitals
The Pitt Depicts Nurse Shortages, Racial Bias, & Fentanyl Overdoses Among Other Things
In just two episodes, depicting only two hours of a typical hospital emergency room shift,The Pitt has covered several topics that trouble the medical world. Within the first ten minutes, The Pitt illustrates the absurd wait times in emergency rooms and how they are often attributed to various shortages, from lack of nurses to unavailable beds to understaffed hospitals. Patients wait, on average, for eight hours for a bed and a proper conclusion from a doctor. While The Pitt's portrayal is a little exaggerated, these extensive wait times are not far off.
Max's new medical show, The Pitt, takes care to get the little details right, and one scene in episode 2 fixed an issue so many medical dramas don't.
According to a study published in the National Library of Medicine, emergency room wait times are longer when fewer beds are available. If a hospital has no beds available, the percentage of patients remaining in the emergency room for more than four hours is nine points higher compared to a hospital where only 85% of beds are occupied. The Pitt also covers the nursing shortages, another significant disadvantage in hospitals. In fact, Nurses.org surveyed a group of nurses that found the show's portrayal realistic, although The Pitt could benefit from more screen time with the nurses.
The Pitt highlights the importance of the charge nurse, Dana Evans, portrayed by Katherine LaNasa. Wyle's Dr. Robinavitch consistently expresses Dana's irreplaceable and vital role in PTMC's emergency room. Furthermore, experienced nurses are more likely to know more about some medical regions than rookie doctors, an aspect often glossed over in other medical shows, if they even have nurse main characters at all, making The Pitt's focus on Nurse Evans refreshing, and it's resonating with real nurses. On Instagram, for example, Nurse Erica posted a reel about The Pitt calling out how medical systems treat nurses, a significant factor in the nurse shortage.
The Pitt also explores the post-COVID world and racial bias in medicine. The Harvard Global Health Institute published an in-depth analysis of how racial bias affects patients in medicine. The Pitt illustrates this bias when two orderlies drag in a Black woman screaming in agonizing pain, whom the officers believe is just a "drug-seeking woman." However, it turns out this woman is in the throes of sickle cell crisis and is in desperate need of her medication.
Sickle cell disease primarily affects the United States' Black population, and considering that this disease is treated with extreme painkillers, it's sad, but not surprising, that medical professionals assumed the patient wanted drugs rather than enduring a severe episode of the disease. When Dennis Whitaker, a fourth-year medical student, asks Dr. Samira Mohan how sure she can be that the patient is not looking for drugs, Dr. Mohan insists that sickle cell disease pain is impossible to fake. Dennis Whitaker is still a medical student, but The Pitt illustrates how subconscious racial bias has already crept in.
The Pitt Is Also Accurate In Small Ways
The Pitt Illustrates A Realistic Portrayal Of Medical Students In The ER
The Pitt also portrays smaller realistic aspects of hospital emergency rooms, especially regarding the dynamic between residents or attendings and interns. The interns and medical students take Dr. Robinavitch and the other residents seriously, heeding their advice and treating them with respect—Dennis Whitaker takes Dr. Robinavitch's advice to slow down chest compressions into account, for example. To compare, Grey's Anatomy season 2, episode 26, "Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response," portrays a highly different relationship between the interns and more advanced medical professionals.
Izzie Stevens and the other interns decide to cut a patient's LVAD wire to move him up on the transplant list. Izzie refuses to adhere to Dr. Bailey's orders to step away or allow a nurse to take over. Furthermore, Izzie even dares to ask Dr. Bailey if her patient, whom she is also romantically involved with, will get the heart for the transplant after breaking almost every rule in the book.
YouTuber and family medicine practitioner Dr. Mike Varshavski, a certified licensed doctor, critiqued this episode to highlight the inaccuracies. While this episode is entrenched in medical misinformation, "Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response" is a prime example of how Grey's Anatomy does not accurately portray the dynamic between resident and intern.
However, the fact that The Pitt depicts a respectful and accurate dynamic between residents and interns is a promising sign of the show's realism.
It is a stark contrast to The Pitt, a show that does not depict forbidden romances between doctors and their patients, or interns and medical attendings, for that matter. It might seem insignificant, especially given that there are only two episodes thus far. However, the fact that The Pitt depicts a respectful and accurate dynamic between residents and interns is a promising sign of the show's realism.
The Pitt's Unique Medical Drama Premise Contributes To Its Realism
Each Episode Of The Pitt Covers One Hour During The Day
The Pitt portrays their episodes in real time—each episode is the equivalent of an hour during one shift in a hospital's emergency room. The show limits the interactions between doctors, refusing to build on their dynamics as a typical medical drama would. Furthermore, the doctors rotate between patients quickly, an accurate depiction of a typical emergency room round. Emergency doctors are always on their feet, with new patients coming in every few minutes, on top of the patients standing by in the waiting room.
The Pitt illustrates the fast-paced, chaotic rush of an emergency room while highlighting several problems hospitals face today. These factors, combined with each episode unraveling in real time, separate The Pitt from previous medical dramas. Even ER, one of the most renowned medical dramas, does not match The Pittin accuracy, even with ER being significantly better than other medical dramas. Despite the high praise from critics and audiences, it is unknown whether Max will renew The Pitt for season 2, but the show is certainly deserving.
The Pitt is a medical drama developed by veterans of the television series ER. The series will follow healthcare workers set in Pittsburgh, showing he challenges faced in the modern-day United States by nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals.
Cast
Noah Wyle
Character(s)
Dr. Michael 'Robby' Robinavitch
, Uncredited
Creator(s)
R. Scott Gemmill
, John Wells
, Noah Wyle
Producers
John Wells
, Noah Wyle
, R. Scott Gemmill
, Simran Baidwan
, Erin Jontow
Custom Image By Sarah Novack
English (US) ·