What do local docs think of “The Pitt”?

“The Pitt,” an HBO Max drama following emergency department staff at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, was the big winner at last year’s Emmy Awards, taking the honors for outstanding drama series, outstanding actor and outstanding supporting actress. It just concluded its second season, with each episode covering one hour in a single 15-hour work shift.

MSSC asked some local ED docs what they thought of the show. Is it medically accurate? Is it a realistic portrayal of an emergency department? Brent Rockley, MD, medical director at the Wesley Medical Center Emergency Department, said the show is “a great, somewhat dramatic portrayal of the emergency department.” He said the cases are realistic and the procedures are well thought out. “The cases they present are poignant and are the patients that keep us up at night,” he said.

Trevor Mattox, MD, MSSC treasurer and an emergency medicine physician with Ascension Via Christi, also thought the cases and procedures were medically accurate. He attended an American College of Emergency Physicians meeting last November where lead actor Noah Wyle and two physicians who write and advise for the show talked about how they try to be as accurate as possible. What isn”t as accurate, Mattox said, is the range and volume of cases that occur within the fictional 15-hour shift. The show portrays “a lot of what we see, just a lot more frequent than we see it,” he said. “But the fidelity is there.”

In fact, the cases are so familiar that Mattox often predicts the diagnosis. “My wife keeps telling me to stop preempting what they are going to come up with,” he said. “Sure enough, 20 minutes later that is the diagnosis.”

Retired MSSC member David Lehr, MD, spent 30 years working in the EDs at St. Francis and St. Joseph hospitals. He also is a fan of the show. In addition to being medically accurate, the show accurately portrays the social dynamics with attending physicians, nurses and interns, he said.

“It is an intense, intense environment,” Lehr said.

Rockley said the show’s flashback scenes to COVID caused him to experience some level of PTSD. But he also noted one way that the show was not accurate: the lack of charting.