PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

Medical dramas, no matter how intriguing, are ultimately fictional television shows.

But that doesn’t mean they can’t do some good in the world.

Beth Hoffman is an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health who teaches a course called Entertainment, Media, and Health. She says medical dramas such as the recently announced Max show “The PITT,” which will be set in Pittsburgh, can ultimately shape public perception of the medical field and important public health issues. 

“Most of my research looks at what’s called entertainment education or the ways in which media programs influence health or perceptions of health and medicine. I think this [new show] will be a really good opportunity to promote health messages, create dialogue and ultimately inspire people to join medicine and get involved in health and their communities.”

When the TV show “Code Black” premiered on CBS in 2015, Hoffman studied what viewers were saying on Twitter, now known as X, and found that some were tweeting that the show made them want to become EMTs or nurses. She also noted that when “ER” premiered on NBC in 1994, applications for emergency medicine residencies jumped 25% the following year.

Hoffman’s team has also researched the influence of the Pittsburgh-set television show “This Is Us,” where a major character develops Alzheimer’s disease.

“We found [the show] seemed to be motivating people to plan for aging and have some awareness of Alzheimer’s, so I’m hoping we see similar positive influences with this show,” she says. “We’re not asking these shows to be documentaries or be news stories, but I think the writers really do recognize that these are shows that millions of people watch and that shape the perceptions of millions of people.”

Producers for “The PITT” reached out to Hoffman, who works with the Hollywood, Health & Society out of the University of Southern California, which provides the entertainment industry with accurate information on storylines related to health. They asked her to put them in touch with local clinicians, particularly those with knowledge of emergency medicine and health disparities. She was quick to tell them about Freedom House, the first emergency medical service in the nation which was founded in the Hill District with an all-Black staff.

“I think this could be a really great way to share with the world the Black men from the Hill District who were some of America’s first paramedics and also then explore the reasons why that story was not told the way it probably should have been shared, but also the ways in which we are now working to share that legacy,” she says.

“The PITT,” produced by and starring Noah Wyle of “ER” fame, will be “a realistic examination of the challenges facing health care workers in today’s America as seen through the lens of the frontline heroes working in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburgh,” according to a press release.