Objectives: To determine whether a serious paracetamol overdose in the medical television drama Casualty altered the incidence and nature of general hospital presentations for deliberate self poisoning.

Design: Interrupted time series analysis of presentations for self poisoning at accident and emergency departments during three week periods before and after the broadcast. Questionnaire responses collected from self poisoning patients during the same periods.

Setting: 49 accident and emergency departments and psychiatric services in United Kingdom collected incidence data; 25 services collected questionnaire data.

Subjects: 4403 self poisoning patients; questionnaires completed for 1047.

Main Outcome Measures: Change in presentation rates for self poisoning in the three weeks after the broadcast compared with the three weeks before, use of paracetamol and other drugs for self poisoning, and the nature of overdoses in viewers of the broadcast compared with non-viewers.

Results: Presentations for self poisoning increased by 17% (95% confidence interval 7% to 28%) in the week after the broadcast and by 9% (0 to 19%) in the second week. Increases in paracetamol overdoses were more marked than increases in non-paracetamol overdoses. Thirty two patients who presented in the week after the broadcast and were interviewed had seen the episode-20% said that it had influenced their decision to take an overdose, and 17% said it had influenced their choice of drug. The use of paracetamol for overdose doubled among viewers of Casualty after the episode (rise of 106%; 28% to 232%).

Conclusions: Broadcast of popular television dramas depicting self poisoning may have a short term influence in terms of increases in hospital presentation for overdose and changes in the choice of drug taken. This raises serious questions about the advisability of the media portraying suicidal behaviour.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC27823PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.318.7189.972DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

television drama
8
poisoning
8
time series
8
paracetamol overdose
8
presentations poisoning
8
accident emergency
8
emergency departments
8
poisoning patients
8
three weeks
8
broadcast compared
8

Similar Publications

Scripted Childbirth: Genre and the Construction of Subjects and Objects in TV Medical Drama.

J Med Humanit

October 2024

Department of English, Samford University, 800 Lakeshore Drive, Birmingham, AL, 35529, USA.

Grey's Anatomy, one of the most-watched primetime medical dramas in the USA, has been on the air for two decades now. Though scholars have examined the influence the show has on medical students and the viewing public, the import of the narrative structure and genre conventions of the show in exerting that influence has been underanalyzed. In this article, I map the general narrative formula of the show, which positions doctors as the subjects and patients as the objects, in order to demonstrate how such a formula works to humanize physicians and consolidate biomedical authority.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unlike temporally symmetric inferences about simple sequences, inferences about our own lives are asymmetric: we are better able to infer the past than the future, since we remember our past but not our future. Here we explore whether there are asymmetries in inferences about the unobserved pasts and futures of other people's lives. In two experiments (analyses of the replication experiment were pre-registered), our participants view segments of two character-driven television dramas and write out what they think happens just before or after each just-watched segment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The influence of medical dramas could extend beyond the realm of entertainment and potentially strengthen/orient the knowledge, attitudes and hopefully practice of health professionals and the public, despite often depicting unrealistic medical outcomes and scenarios.

Methods: This study examined the portrayal of public health issues in two popular international medical series, "Grey's Anatomy" and "House, MD," selected for their awards and viewership ratings. Individual episodes were double-rated by clinicians for patient characteristics, public health issues, and infection risk management.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the television (TV) consumption patterns (viewing behavior and motivation) of older adults in Wuhan, China, during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on older adults' mental health, particularly in relation to COVID-19-induced fear.

Participants And Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted with 405 older adults in Wuhan, China. The data were analyzed using a structural equation model to understand the relationship between TV viewing behavior, motivation, and fear related to COVID-19.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!