How realistic is 'The Pitt'? - Harvard Gazette

"The pacing is exceptionally accurate. But it's not just the pacing. It's also the fact that the characters are constantly getting interrupted. They'll be talking about one case and be in the middle of a conversation, but they're pulled into another case, or they're answering pages and they're juggling multiple patients at once. It's also the whiplash of going from one patient to another, and the emotional whiplash of going from a heartbreaking case in one room to a minor complaint in the next room."

"We have a huge mental health crisis in this country, and the show does a good job of portraying things like suicidal ideation or acute psychosis without sensationalizing it. These are often sad and complicated cases, and the show does a good job of showing that there's not an easy solution, and sometimes there's not a solution at all for the mental health crises that some patients experience."

"One other example they are not shying away from is the fact that a lot of our patients have crises of homelessness, of lacking insurance, of having unsafe home situations, of having immigration concerns."

Harvard-affiliated emergency physicians evaluated the HBO Max show 'The Pitt' for accuracy in depicting emergency department life. The show excels at portraying the rapid pacing and constant interruptions characteristic of ER work, where doctors juggle multiple patients simultaneously while being pulled between cases. Physicians praised the show's realistic depiction of the emotional toll of transitioning between serious cases and minor complaints. The show also accurately represents the mental health crisis in emergency medicine, portraying suicidal ideation and acute psychosis without sensationalism. Additionally, 'The Pitt' realistically addresses the socioeconomic challenges patients face, including homelessness, lack of insurance, unsafe home situations, and immigration concerns, avoiding oversimplification of these complex issues.

Read at Harvard Gazette