Keiser Family Foundation
After reading through this study, an interesting question spawned to me. "Are we replacing our doctor with the media, particularly television?"
The #1 type of television show watched today are health related shows. These can be from dramas to documentaries. Keiser says that 65% of these shows focus on symptoms, 59% focus on treatment and 50% focus on diagnosis. They also discuss issues from unusual illness, to heart disease, to pregnancy.
In television nearly 61% of all storylines communicated some sort of educational content. This can be beneficial and non-beneficial to the viewer.
The health storyline can educate the viewer on a number of issues, but it can also veer them in the wrong direction.
It is apparent to me that by viewing these programs frequently, viewers become desensitized to the healthcare community and let the television become its own 'doctor'. Will health-related television shows soon put a disclaimer on tv saying, "We are not liable for your health, etc etc etc etc"?
These shows can also give viewers the wrong idea of the outcomes. Keiser says that the majority of outcomes in illnesses on health-related shows is death. What kind of message does this send to the public? That anyone is going to die of a simple illness? That no chance for life is given?
These shows can also desensitize and give a viewer a "skewed view" as to how hospitals and health clinics operate.
But these shows do not only have negative outcomes, some can be very informative. ABC's "The Doctors" is a talk-show with medical professionals (including former "The Bachelor" himself, Dr. Travis Stork) deliver topics each day about different health issues. The show is effective because it has real live doctors with college degrees that actually know what they are talking about.
But as far as other shows go, America, meet Dr. Television.
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As we discussed in class on Friday, we are moving to a greater presence of electronic media in medicine. Pres. Obama wants to do what many have been talking about, digitizing medical records so that they are completely transportable to any medical generalist or specialist. I suspect that someone will write the programs which already exists in pharmacies. Those programs will alert the pharmacist to potential harmful drug interactions. So a cardiologist could receive the same alert by prescribing a medicine or a procedure which interferes with the regimen ordered by the nephrologist. One can see the real advantage of digital communication in these circumstances. As to whether or not the television becomes the primary care, I have my doubts. People go to the doctor more now than ever before (maybe a break during the recession) even with all of the information on TV and on the Internet. Obviously, they can, by doing research on symptoms or conditions go with more information and ask more questions of the doctors about treatments. If programs about medicine chase people to take more interest in their treatments, those programs would provide a potential advantage.
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