The TV Show 'Trauma'

I enjoy watching the show "Trauma," not for its portrayal of EMTs. It falls into that realm of entertainment with James Bond movies, disaster films, and "Die Hard." Shut the brain off and enjoy the ride.


As an EMT, many of the things that I see on the show make me chuckle. A lot of these guys forget about scene safety among other basic tasks. One of the first lessons in EMT class is to stay safe so you don't become a patient and burden other first responders. What sometimes passes itself off as emergency medicine on this show would get EMT cards yanked. A paramedic would not fill an IV with ice water to intentionally induce hypothermia on a patient with a spinal injury. There are plenty of other examples cited by people better qualified than me. If you want to learn about EMS, there are plenty of emergency medicine sites and this one is one of my favorites, The EMT Spot. Or even better, get some first aid classes, join a squad and work toward an EMT certificate.


But just take the TV show with a grain of salt and enjoy it for what it's worth: an hour of drama with great production values. Roy and Johnny from "Emergency!" did it better and captured more of the flavor of being an EMT. However, the name of the show is "Trauma" not "80 Year Olds with General Illness." Neither is pretty, but bowel troubles of the elderly don't make good television.