Blood, Sweat & Tea

Sirens is, undoubtedly, one of my most favourite shows of all time. As I explained in my review, part of what drew me to it was the utter realism of it all: I’ve never been a big fan of shows like ER or Grey’s Anatomy or House or whatever. These shows all seem to deal with diseases or conditions or people that are, in some way, supernatural. Working in a healthcare setting, you get to realise that the vast majority of what you deal with is, obviously, the ordinary. You occasionally get surprised but typically it’s the same thing; where I work, 95% of the time the individual we’re dealing with is either strung out on drugs or incredibly intoxicated. While there is the occasional variation, day-in and day-out, it’s the same thing. Occasionally you get to make a real difference — you save someone’s life, for example (but giving a drunk an IV and pumping him full of fluids and sending him off in the morning just for him to come back the next day just as drunk doesn’t count, I think) — but typically it remains normal. The conflict is one that is never ending and is ultimately more about the healthcare professional (the nurse, the doctor, the paramedic, etc) than it is about the patient. Read the rest of this entry »