Is ‘The Pitt’ accurate? Medical experts weigh in

Short Wave

NPR

News, Life Sciences, Daily News, Astronomy, Nature, Science

4.7 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2026

⏱️ 14 minutes

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Summary

Medical drama The Pitt is winning Golden Globes… and health care workers’ hearts. Medical experts say the show, which chronicles a fictional Pittsburgh hospital emergency department, is perhaps the most medically accurate show that’s ever been created. But what about The Pitt makes it so accurate… and does the second season hold up as well as the first? Stanford Global Health Media Fellow (and fourth-year medical school student) Michal Ruprecht joins Short Wave to discuss.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Dean Regis here, astronomer and host of Looking Up.
0:03.6	I journey to the far reaches of the universe, hearing from scientists, astronauts, and geeky celebs along the way.
0:10.8	We cover everything from black holes to the latest in science fiction.
0:14.7	Listen now to the Looking Up podcast from the NPR Network and Cincinnati Public Radio.
0:20.2	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:25.5	Hey, Sherwaivers, Regina Barber here with Michael Ruprecht.
0:28.9	He's the Stanford Global Health Media Fellow embedded with us here at NPR.
0:33.3	Hey, Michael.
0:34.1	Hey, Gina.
0:35.0	Michael, welcome to the show.
0:36.7	I hear you are bringing us a story about one of my favorite things, TV.
0:41.1	Yeah, it's a medical drama.
0:42.7	Awesome.
0:43.5	But can I admit something to you, Gina?
0:45.9	Definitely.
0:46.6	I'm not a huge fan of medical dramas because I'm a med student in real life.
0:51.5	I'm studying to become a doctor and I feel like most medical
0:55.6	dramas like ER or house, they aren't super accurate. House, really? Yeah. But last year,
1:03.2	all of my medical school friends, literally all of them were talking about this one show. And they
1:10.0	told me that this one was different. This one,
1:12.7	like, I had to watch it. It's called The Pit. Yeah, I just started watching that one. It's the one about
1:17.9	a fictional emergency room in a hospital in Pittsburgh, right? Yeah. Season one came out last year,
	...

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