Patient and provider attitudes toward commercial television film crews in the emergency department

One of the most successful reality-based television shows is The Learning C hannel's "Trauma -Life in the ER," in which patients are filmed prior to be ing consented and camera crews are intimately intertwined in resuscitations . Objective: To assess provider and patient attitudes regarding privacy and satisfaction during filming. Methods: This was a prospective sun-ey of pat ients and providers working in an urban, county teaching emergency departme nt (ED). Scores of visual analog scales (VASs) for satisfaction, privacy, a nd willingness to return to the ED were accessed. Results: Eighty patients, 39 physicians and 39 nurses, were interviewed. On a 10-cm VAS where 0 = no invasion of patient privacy and 10 = extreme privacy invasion, the mean (/- SD) rating by physicians was 5.4 (+/-2.6), by nurses was 4.9 (+/-3.1), a nd by patients was 2.3 (+/-3.2). There was no significant difference betwee n physician and nurse ratings ip = 0.69!, but patients rated invasion of pr ivacy significantly lower (p < 0.0001). Filmed patients rated significantly higher invasion of privacy (3.8 <plus/minus> 4.1) than patients not filmed or those unsure whether they had been filmed (1.6 +/- 2.55; p < 0.01). On a 10-cm VAS where -5 = extreme decrease in satisfaction and -5 = extreme in crease in satisfaction, the mean rating by physicians was -0.25 (<plus/minu s>1.6), by nurses was -0.32 (+/-1.3), and by patients was 0.02 (+/-1.4). Th ere was no statistical difference between the satisfaction levels of provid ers and patients (p = 0.19). Conclusions: Providers rated invasion of patie nt privacy higher than patients rated their own invasion of privacy. Patien ts who were filmed rated invasion of privacy higher than patients who were not filmed. Filming had no significant effect on the satisfaction of provid ers or patients.