The Nurses From "The Pitt" Get Candid About Real-Life Violence in the ER

Working in healthcare isn't always pretty — something "The Pitt" understands all too well. In season one, episode nine of everyone's favorite new medical drama, charge nurse Dana Evans emerges with a bloody nose after being punched in the face by a disgruntled patient. In the scene, a nearby medical student looks on in shock. "Happens all the time. Got my cheek broken," one of the nurses tells her. "We've all been assaulted," another confirms. For those who aren't familiar with the modern-day ER, this moment might seem far-fetched. But in actuality, this is real life for so many emergency medicine professionals.

"Why are people shocked?" one commenter writes underneath a video of the scene. "This happens in the ED, on the floor, in the units — everywhere." Other healthcare workers in the comments section added that they'd been kicked in the stomach, spit in the face, and even swung at by patients. They explained that, oftentimes, these incidents were written off by supervisors or treated as part of the job. So while "The Pitt"'s penchant for leaning into taboo topics like these certainly makes for interesting television, it also makes healthcare workers feel seen. While the rest of us may consider ourselves relatively informed, the truth is most of us don't have any idea what modern day healthcare workers really endure.

Using data from 2023, a report from National Nurses United found that eight in 10 nurses face violence at work. In that same report, 45.5 percent of nurses said their unit had seen an increase in workplace violence within the previous year. Verbal and physical threats were the two most common forms of harassment, but slaps, punches, and kicks rang in at number four (reported by over 36 percent of nurses).

A more recent survey from the Emergency Nurses Association found that 56 percent of emergency nurses had been physically or verbally assaulted or threatened with violence in the previous month. Healthcare workers are more than four times as likely to be injured by workplace violence than workers in all other industries combined. All this to say . . . the issue of violence against healthcare workers goes far beyond a TV show. And seeing it portrayed on screen has made so many people feel seen and validated.

"Some people will say in an online setting, 'My God, is this what it's really like?' And people who work there will say, 'Yes, this is exactly what it's like.' And they can't believe it," says Joe Sachs, MD, emergency medicine doctor and one of "The Pitt"'s consulting physicians. "On the other hand, the healthcare workers write in and say, 'You know what? For 20 years I've tried to tell my friends and my family what it's really like. And I could never put it into words until The Pitt came along.'"

To learn more about why "The Pitt" feels especially relatable to so many healthcare workers, we spoke with some of the real-life nurses who appear on the show.

Joe Sachs, MD, is an emergency medicine doctor, a physician at Sollis Health, and a consulting physician for "The Pitt."

Ambar Martinez, RN, is a nurse at Sollis Health and the actor behind Nurse Kim on "The Pitt."

Jamie Lynn Watkins, RN, is a nurse at Sollis Health and the actor behind Nurse Jamie on "The Pitt."

Ned Brower, RN, is a nurse at Sollis Health, a former EMT with the LA County Fire Department, and Jesse Van Horn on "The Pitt."

To put it simply, "'The Pitt' is the most realistic portrayal of an emergency department that I've seen on television," says Jamie Lynn Watkins, RN, (otherwise known as Nurse Jamie on the show). "Those of us 'realies' who worked on the show would often joke about how it almost felt too real." Touching on difficult topics like violence against healthcare workers is one of the reasons why the show feels so accurate, with Lynn Watkins noting that this kind of vitriol has been on the rise ever since the start of the pandemic.

"It is so much more common than I think the general public realizes," says Ambar Martinez, RN (aka Nurse Kim on "The Pitt"). She understands that patients in the emergency department are often having one of the worst moments of their lives, but that's never an excuse to resort to violence. "I personally have been shoved, spit on, bitten, had things thrown at me, wrists bruised from a patient grabbing me, groped, and verbally abused more times than I can count," she tells PS. This type of treatment is what Martinez considers main risk factors for burnout or PTSD in healthcare workers and one of the reasons people leave the field. "I decided to finally leave my last hospital after finding a gun hidden in a hallway bathroom, after which the facility continued to refuse to get a metal detector," Watkins says.

She's also had several friends leave nursing altogether because they did not feel safe at work. The environment has become a very hostile one and it's not conducive to their job as healthcare providers. "I think the discussion on 'The Pitt' between the staff after Dana gets punched spotlights how it has become kind of normalized, and that's not okay," Martinez says.

Ned Brower, RN (Jesse Van Horn in the show) also noted that people tend to get frustrated due to long wait times and overwhelming crowds, all of which place further stress on healthcare staff. "This isn't your father's ER," he says. "Conditions are worse than ever and that's where 'The Pitt' is really shining — showing the general public just how dire these situations can become."

A single television show might not change everything, but it can spark an important conversation. "Because we're current and we're accurate with our medicine, as a side effect, people learn and it can change people's lives," Dr. Sachs says. As people learn more about the violence so many healthcare workers experience, hospital administrators and supervisors may face pressure to take these incidents more seriously. At the very least, patients may become more aware of their own actions in ER settings. Lynn Watkins agrees that awareness can make a real difference. "The more we can shed light on these issues the better chance we have of ensuring caregivers for future generations." With any luck, "The Pitt" is just the start.

Chandler Plante (she/her) is an assistant health and fitness editor for PS. She has over four years of professional journalism experience, previously working as an editorial assistant for People magazine and contributing to Ladygunn, Millie, and Bustle Digital Group.