An observational study in End of Life Care, Violent Aggressive Behavior and Television Viewing, sponsored by King's College Hospital NHS Trust. Not yet recruiting at 2 sites in 2 countries. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-02-18.
Sponsored by King's College Hospital NHS Trust · Observational
Medical TV dramas have become very popular in recent years. These shows are mainly created for entertainment and often do not reflect what really happens in hospitals. However, television plays an important role in sharing information, shaping how people think, and teaching the public about medicine.
Death and dying in hospitals, especially in Intensive Care Units (ICUs), are highly emotional experiences. In real life, these situations often turn out very differently from what patients and families expect. Because of this, it is important to understand how medical TV shows portray major hospital events such as end-of-life care, death, and the delivery of bad news. When what is shown on TV does not match the reality of ICU care, it can lead to unrealistic expectations, false hope, and greater distress for patients and their families at the end of life.
At the same time, violence and aggression towards healthcare providers have increased in recent years. This can include verbal abuse as well as physical attacks. Looking at how healthcare workers are treated in medical TV shows may help us understand whether these programmes influence what behaviour is seen as acceptable. Since violence against healthcare staff has become especially concerning since the COVID-19 pandemic, the possible role of media should not be ignored, even though many factors are involved.
This study aims to describe how death and dying are shown in popular medical TV series and to explore how violence or aggression towards healthcare providers is portrayed in these settings.
248 studies on the registry are indexed under Aggression; 41 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 500 is above the median of 103 across 21 observational studies indexed under Aggression.
Browse Aggression studies →King's College Hospital NHS Trust is the lead sponsor of 171 studies on the registry; 56 are open to participants now.
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Fictional characters in the studied TV series
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
People included are clearly visible and/or audible, intentional acts of violence occurring as self-contained scenes within an episode, set in a hospital environment, and taking place between two or more individuals in a medical or professional treatment setting.
All patients dying within the hospital setting. The death scene must be explicitly shown or named (e.g., flatline, burial, covering of the body). The death must be visibly depicted on screen (the viewer must see the death happen).
Number and type of violent episodes depicted in medical tv series in the OR, the ICU and in the ER.
Violence/ aggression behaviours including: intentional physical, verbal, psychological/ emotional and/ or sexual
Time frame: during hospital admission
Number and type of death/ dying as depicted in medical tv series in the OR, the ICU and in the ER.
End of life scenes depicting the death and dying process
Time frame: during hospital admission
Type of environment that the behaviour is taking place
Describe the environment in which violent behaviour and/or death/ dying is taking place
Time frame: During the hospital admission of observed patient or family member/ friend
Depicted emotions during death/dying
Describe the emotions that are demonstrated by family members/ friends dying death/ dying
Time frame: During the hospital admission of observed patient or family member/ friend
Plan to share: Yes — All IPD that underlie results in a publication
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan
Time frame: Beginning with publication of results and ending 6 months after publication
Access criteria: All researchers that request information on the study protocol and the data collection sheet. An explanation need for the requested will be needed. The request will be assessed by two researchers participating in the original analysis/ publication.
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Feb 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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