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TV doctors vs. real life: study to examine how medical dramas shape our views on death and violence

NCT ID NCT07416669

Knowledge-focused Sponsor: King's College Hospital NHS Trust Source: ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

What the study statuses mean

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Recruitment status, easiest to join first

Recruiting now
This trial is taking on new participants right now.
Not yet recruiting This study
Registered, but not yet taking participants.
By invitation only
Not open to general applications. Only people the study team invites can take part.
Paused
Paused for now. It may or may not start again.
Ongoing
Running, but no longer taking on new participants.
Completed
The trial has finished. Results may not be published yet.
Stopped early
Stopped early, before it reached the end. That can be for many reasons, including safety.
Cancelled
Cancelled before anyone took part.

Expanded access (not trials)

Expanded access
Not a trial. This treatment can be requested outside a study, case by case, for people who qualify.
Expanded access (paused)
Not a trial. The treatment can normally be requested outside a study, but is unavailable right now.
Expanded access (ended)
Not a trial. The treatment could once be requested outside a study, but no longer can.
Approved
The treatment has been approved, so it is available normally rather than through this programme.

When the status isn't known

Details not published
The full record has not been published yet, so there is little to show here.
Status unknown
This status has not been confirmed recently, so it may be out of date.

First seen Jun 26, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time

Summary

This study will analyze popular medical TV series to see how they depict end-of-life care, death, and violence toward healthcare workers. Researchers will review 500 episodes, counting and categorizing violent acts and death scenes. The goal is to understand whether these portrayals create unrealistic expectations for patients and families, and whether they influence attitudes toward aggression against hospital staff.

What this could mean

Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.

What this could lead to
If successful, this study could reveal how TV medical dramas influence public expectations about end-of-life care and attitudes toward violence against healthcare workers.
What could go wrong
This is an observational media analysis, not a clinical trial testing a treatment. It cannot prove cause and effect, and results may not change real-world behavior.

This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.

Study facts

What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.

Participants

About 500 people

The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.

Expected to start

May 2026

An estimate. Start dates often move.

Expected to finish

Dec 2027

An estimate. End dates often move.

Lead sponsor

Other sponsor

The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.

Who can take part

This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.

Who is studied

Fictional characters in the studied TV series

Ages

Children (under 18), adults (18 to 64) and older adults (65 and over)

Sex

Anyone

Healthy volunteers

Not accepted

This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.

Show the full entry requirements

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Any 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). Exclusion Criteria: * Violence: Violence outside the hospital. Self-harming behaviour or acts of violence that originate from a purely private context and do not arise within a professional medical setting. * Death: Death outside the hospital. Stories or mentions of death without visual depiction do not count. Implied or off-screen deaths without explicit confirmation or depiction are excluded. Implied or off-screen deaths without explicit confirmation or depiction are excluded.

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Conditions

The condition(s) this trial relates to.

Aggression Death

As listed by the trial registrant

The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.

End of life care Media use Television viewing Violent aggressive behavior

How to take part

Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.

  1. The places running it

    2 sites in 2 countries. The list below names each one and where it is.

  2. The official record

    ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.

    Open the record ↗

  3. A doctor treating you

    A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.

Contacts and locations

Locations

  • Medical tv series

    Witten, Germany

  • Medical tv series

    London, Select, SE1 3BG, United Kingdom

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