Character is story and story is character. Now, you may wish to argue the point but as a medical doctor, writer and former TV junkie, I can tell you that badly written medical characters make me turn off the TV, close the book and switch off the Kindle.
Doctors, nurses and paramedics are not saints. Nor are they Gods, archetypes or cliches. Yes, you do get the muscle-bound rugby playing orthopaedic surgeons and the geeky, awkward microbiologists, but they are boring to read and even more boring to write. Not to mention, lazy.
Medics are people. Complex, flawed, jaded, tired people. WRITE THEM THAT WAY.
DON’T:
Write nurses as Florence Nightingale
Have a medic say “I just want to help people”, or something as cringe-worthy
Make your paramedics ‘cowboys’
Give your Consultant/Attending a God-complex
Make your surgeons unfeeling ‘cutters’ (although I’ve seen plenty)
Have a doctor know everything about every speciality
Some cliches still exist:
The cocky young doctor who thinks they know more than they do - although these are more and more rare - I don’t suffer these fools gladly
Surgeons preferring to ‘cut’ than manage patients ‘conservatively’
The jaded older physician bemoaning the system - they are often full of tales and incredible insight. I hope to become one.
Things we’d rather patients didn’t see
We all use A LOT of dark/gallows humour.
Nurses and doctors have great back-and-forth. Nothing better than working with colleagues with good banter.
I’ll reiterate - WE ARE NOT SAINTS.
We cry. Most of us have had a cry at work. Sometimes it's because a colleague has ruined our day,
but mostly it’s when a patient breaks our heart.
When we party, especially as a team, we party hard.
Most of us love our job, but hate the system. Yes, we bitch about other specialities, complain about entitled, demanding or difficult patients, but we love what we do.
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