Work

When medical drama becomes didactic: Learning through episode‐based error analysis in medical TV series

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Medical education often struggles with balancing theoretical content and clinical relevance, especially in the early stages of the curriculum. At the same time, medical TV series such as Grey's Anatomy, Dr. House or The Good Doctor exert a strong influence on students' expectations and perceptions of clinical practice. While these series are often factually inaccurate, they offer a rich source of teaching material. Despite high production budgets, recurring factual and research-related errors are identifiable in virtually every episode. These range from misrepresented pathophysiology to implausible workflows. Although expert review could feasibly improve accuracy, entertainment value is usually prioritised. From an educational standpoint, these inaccuracies represent a potential learning opportunity: If critically examined, they can raise awareness of typical misconceptions and support deep learning through contrastive analysis. However, this didactic approach is rarely systematically used in university teaching. To explore the didactic potential of such errors, we implemented a teaching format based on a structured, disease-specific error analysis in selected medical TV episodes. The sessions were embedded in a hybrid teaching concept that combined short flipped classroom inputs (pathophysiology, diagnostics and therapy standards) with subsequent joint error analysis in plenary. Each session began with a short asynchronous video to introduce the medical topic. The students were then shown selected, copyright-compliant video clips (1–3 min) from TV series in which specific diagnostic or therapeutic errors were made. During the synchronous part of the course—either in person or via Zoom—students were asked to identify the errors using a suitable question and discuss them collectively after the survey (e.g. violation of guidelines, misdiagnosis and implausible procedure). The interactive component was enhanced by audience response systems and moderated chat discussions, as people who were digitally connected or reluctant to participate also had the opportunity to submit their guesses. Feedback and self-assessment questions at the end of each session allowed students to reflect on both the content and the format. The format was well-received by students. Participants consistently rated the sessions as highly engaging and effective for consolidating domain-specific knowledge. A key insight was that even short video segments can trigger intense discussion and raise awareness for diagnostic accuracy, interdisciplinary communication and adherence to clinical standards. The dual-mode delivery (on-site and online) ensured accessibility and flexibility, while the use of real-world (albeit fictionalised) cases helped bridge the gap between textbook knowledge and clinical reasoning. Importantly, the copyright framework for educational purposes allowed legal and practical use of series excerpts. While the development of these case-based sessions requires a considerable amount of preparatory work, including the identification of suitable scenes and the technical skills necessary for video editing, the effort proved to be worthwhile. Following the initial implementation, a notable advantage emerged: Students began to independently suggest relevant episodes and sequences via email, thereby actively contributing to the selection of illustrative negative examples. This participatory dynamic not only enriched the content but also reinforced student engagement within the hybrid learning setup. Martin Freesmeyer: Conceptualization; methodology; supervision; writing—original draft; project administration; resources. Philipp Seifert: Writing—review and editing; methodology. Christian Kühnel: Writing—original draft; conceptualization; methodology. Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

Source: Medical Education

DOI: 10.1111/medu.70108

Authors: Martin Freesmeyer, Philipp Seifert, Christian Kühnel

Institution: Jena University Hospital

Language: English

Topic: Film in Education and Therapy

Subfield: Health Information Management

Field: Health Professions

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $5,250