994 - What "The Pitt" Reflects About Real-Life Hospitals
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 8 January 2026
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
About this episode:
Emmy-award winning drama "The Pitt" returns for a second, thrilling season that follows 15 hours in an emergency department for doctors, nurses, residents, and administrators. In this episode: Dr. Emily Boss discusses what the show gets right about real-life hospitals, from the medicine to the stress to the systemic barriers that can make delivering quality health care difficult. You don't have to watch the show to enjoy this conversation!
Guests:
Dr. Emily Boss, MPH, is a pediatric otolaryngologist and a professor of Health Policy & Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Host:
Dr. Josh Sharfstein is distinguished professor of the practice in Health Policy and Management, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland's Health Department.
Show links and related content:
Transcript information:
Looking for episode transcripts? Open our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app (desktop or mobile) or the Spotify mobile app to access an auto-generated transcript of any episode. Closed captioning is also available for every episode on our YouTube channel.
Contact us:
Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website.
Follow us:
-
Here's our RSS feed
Note: These podcasts are a conversation between the participants, and do not represent the position of Johns Hopkins University.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jhh.edu. |
| 0:23.8 | That's public health question at jh.u.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:30.9 | Hey listeners, it's Lindsay Smith Rogers. |
| 0:33.4 | On January 8th, HBO launches a new season of its acclaimed medical drama, The Pit. |
| 0:39.4 | Among those eagerly awaiting the premiere is Dr. Emily Boss, a head and neck surgeon at Johns Hopkins. |
| 0:45.0 | She joins Dr. Josh Starstein to talk about the lessons of the show for hospital management, medical training, and health communication. |
| 0:52.0 | Also, she shares who her dream guest star would be. Let's listen. |
| 0:56.8 | Dr. Emily Boss, thanks so much for joining me again on Public Health On Call, in this case to talk |
| 1:02.6 | about a TV show, The Pit. Yes, thanks, Josh, for having me. So I have a confession to make. |
| 1:08.8 | I have not seen The Pit. I was in training during the days of ER, |
| 1:13.1 | and it cut a little bit too close to home to watch a show about medicine, and now it triggers all kinds of memories for me. |
| 1:21.7 | But I've been hearing a lot of good things about this particular show. I read an article that you wrote about it, and I thought I would reach out. |
| 1:28.3 | Tell me about your relationship to the pit. |
| 1:31.2 | I can start by just telling you about my relationship to television, |
| 1:34.9 | which is that I love it, |
| 1:36.4 | and I grew up watching ER and Chicago Hope and Doogie Hauser, |
| 1:41.6 | and I was training when Gray's Anatomy was really hot. And I had a slide once |
| 1:46.9 | that had Abby Lockhart from ER and Miranda Bailey from Grey's Anatomy and my mother, and I'd call |
| 1:52.5 | it the three most important women in my life. I mean, my mother would really understand every |
| 1:57.4 | moment of medical training and hospital politics through Gray's Anatomy and ER and shows |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

