In the course of every series à la “Schwarzwaldklinik”, “Grey’s Anatomy” or “New Amsterdam” there comes at some point this one scene: Emergency! cardiac arrest! Resuscitation! For me, the ultimate test of whether the series is good or bad then begins: the camera pans to the heart monitor – there a zero line runs from left to right, this image is accompanied by a continuous whistle and doctors and nurses screaming wildly. Then the defibrillator is used, the patient is shocked – and immediately his upper body jumps half a meter in the air, only to then bang back effectively on the couch.
If the resuscitation is presented like this or something like that, then that’s pretty much nonsense. Of course, in reality, everyone involved has to step back at the moment of shock, and the patient winces because of the missed charge. But there’s no way his chest is rocketing up toward the ceiling. There is also no chaotic shouting, just short and clear instructions from one or two people. And defibrillation is never done at a zero line, but at ventricular fibrillation.
There are quite a few series about medicine, some have more to do with reality, others less. However, they all have in common that maintenance plays a subordinate role. This is understandable from a cinematic perspective: we nurses are with our patients 24 hours a day, we organize everyday hospital life. But such series feed on spectacular emergencies and illnesses – it’s supposed to be exciting! A usual blood draw or setting up a ventilator is less suitable for this.
Intensive care specialist Pola Gülberg from the Ebersberger district clinic.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
When a show passes my resuscitation test, I’m passionate about watching it – and not just for entertainment. Because surgeries are often depicted very realistically. Most productions have hired medical professionals to take care of it. For me, watching TV also has a small learning effect.
During my work in the intensive care unit, I cannot be present at operations. However, such insights help, as I noticed through the surgical internships in my specialist training: If I know exactly what is being done with which equipment, I am more sensitive to the subsequent care of the patient.
I now see fewer and fewer series or films in which resuscitation is staged in the wrong way. It’s all fiction, but a medical TV evening should at least show the basic movements correctly. I’m very precise: Shocking at a zero line destroys the best series!
Pola Gülberg is an intensive care nurse. In this column, the 38-year-old talks about her work at the district clinic in Ebersberg every week. The collected texts are below sueddeutsche.de/thema/Auf Station to find.