Medical Romances… Grey’s Anatomy? How realistic are they?
I live with a doctor. I was trained as a nurse. We literally eat, sleep, talk medicine (or we did until I changed careers… but I’m still super interested in my hubby’s work and…I write medical romances for Mills and Boon). Sure, romance is all about the journey for our two hapless protagonists, but it is also essential that we get the medical details accurate. We put a lot of work into research and, occasionally, reach out to experts to make sure all details are correct. We want the stories to feel as realistic as possible because anyone reading may have been in similar medical situations and we need to reflect that accurately.
But it is possible that sometimes we get it wrong! My husband hates watching anything set in a hospital as inevitably there will be x-rays on display and they are always the wrong way round showing the heart on the right side of the chest!! This could be because of the reversing effect of cameras??? Maybe??? But if that was the case, surely every medical advisor on a film set would know this??? LOL
We do endeavour to make them as realistic as possible; using terminology and pulse-racing situations that often the authors (who come from a variety of previous medical and non medical jobs) have come across, and in the midst of the life-challenging drama people fall in love. Love blossoms anywhere, right?
Mills and Boon medical romances have a variety of pulse-racing settings where the one/two lead characters have ‘medical’ careers in one way or another – hospital specialties, ER, community, cruise ships (!), midwives, paramedics, doctors, nurses, private medicine, public hospitals…anywhere you find a medic we set a romance there!!
I love knowing what people’s reactions are to medical things…take a look at this doctor analysing the first episode of Grey’s Anatomy!!! Fun!!!
Have you ever read a medical romance? Do you enjoy them?