Dissecting the Medical Drama Greys Anatomy

A Content Analysis

Natalie Acone MSS 332 Section A

What is Greys Anatomy?

Primetime television medical drama on ABC Follows lives of doctors at Seattle Grace Hospital Brings unique medical cases and dramatic personal lives of doctors together

Research Question
Is Greys Anatomy a balanced representation of both the medical and dramatic elements of a medical drama?

What constitutes a medical drama?

Medicinal Themes + Personal Drama Themes = Medical Drama Equal balance of both
Both given equal amount of scenes and air time

Medical Themes
Patients Hospital/clinic Diagnosing Treatments Emergencies Surgeries Tests Life of a doctor

Medical Content
(5:18-6:10) http://www.hulu.com/watch/176825/greysanatomy-with-you-im-born-again#s-p1-so-i0

Personal Drama Themes

Relationships
Family Friendships Dating Marriage Sexual

Life outside the hospital

Home Bar

Issues relating to the character

Loosing self Finding self

Personal Life and Relationship Content

(10:56-12:54) http://www.hulu.com/watch/159423/greysanatomy-a-hard-days-night#s-p3-so-i0

Research
Looked at 6 episodes Season 1 Episodes 1+2 Season 4 Episodes 1+2 Season 7 Episodes 1+2 Focused themes in the content Units of measurement Number of scenes that featured theme Amount of air time (mins:secs) that featured theme

Theme Categories
Doctor-Patient Scenes About the illness Having to do with getting through the illness Having nothing to do with the illness Doctor-Doctor Scenes About personal life/relationships When talking about patient When acting as a doctor/talking about being a doctor

*Red = Personal life/relationship content *Purple = Medical content

Doctor-Patient Scenes
Season and Episode About the illness (# and total airtime mins:sec) Having to do with getting through the illness (# and total airtime) 2 1 6 2 2 2 15 1:36 0:22 4:55 :52 2:49 1:10 11:44 Having nothing to do with the illness (# and total airtime) 2 2 1 5 0 9 19 1:17 1:18 :30 3:50 0:00 5:57 12:02

Season 1 Episode 1 Season 1 Episode 2 Season 4 Episode 1 Season 4 Episode 2 Season 7 Episode 1 Season 7 Episode 2 Totals:

5 11 7 8 1 8 40

2:11 5:25 2:10 4:00 1:03 5:50 20:39

Doctor-Doctor Scenes
Season and Episode About personal life/relationships (# and total airtime) When talking about When acting as a patient doctor/talking about (# and total airtime) being a doctor (# and total airtime)

Season 1 Episode 1 Season 1 Episode 2 Season 4 Episode 1 Season 4 Episode 2 Season 7 Episode 1 Season 7 Episode 2 Totals:

12 15 19 29 32 31 138

9:19 9:00 17:34 25:47 25:19 18:44 105:43

13 15 8 10 1 8 55

19:14 8:25 3:32 3:08 1:03 9:38 42:00

13 17 14 10 4 5 63

10:05 18:30 15:22 5:23 4:07 2:12 55:39

Surgery Scenes and Medical Cases

Season and Episode Season 1 Episode 1 Season 1 Episode 2 Season 4 Episode 1 Season 4 Episode 2 Season 7 Episode 1 Season 7 Episode 2 Totals: # of Surgery Scenes 5 5 6 3 2 5 26 # of Medical Cases in Episode 4 11 4 4 1 3 27

Medical Content vs. Personal Content in Each

Episode Medical Content #of Scenes Airtime Personal Drama Content # of Scenes Airtime

Season 1 Episode 1 Season 1 Episode 2 Season 4 Episode 1 Season 4 Episode 2 Season 7 Episode 1 Season 7 Episode 2 Totals:

33 144 35 30 23 23 173

34:23 31:42 25:59 12:23 18:02 18:50 129:23

14 17 20 34 32 40 157

10:36 10:18 18:04 29:37 23:19 24:46 117:45

Comparing Content
Total Content From all 6 Episodes
Medical Content (by scene) Personal Drama Content (by scene)

Total Content From all 6 Episodes

Medical Content (airtime) Personal Drama Content (airtime)

Analysis
Amount of scenes & air time spent on medical themes = amount of scenes & air time spent on personal drama themes Greys Anatomy IS a balanced representation of both the medical and dramatic elements of a medical drama