Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 29, 1995 TAG: 9507310119
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PATRICIA BRENNAN THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
After forcing CBS to shift its slower-paced medical series, ``Chicago Hope,'' to a different night last season, NBC's smash hit faces a new contender this fall: Steven Bochco's ``Murder One'' on ABC.
The buzz last year about ``ER'' got the fast-paced show off to the ratings races even quicker than the actors anticipated.
``When I was doing the pilot, I knew it would be good,'' said Crawford, ``but I wasn't prepared for how good it would be.''
Accustomed to the world of short-lived TV shows, Brazelton recalled thinking that she might have a job for at least four episodes. ``It was a two-hour movie, it had a lot of positive energy around it, and all the feedback was positive,'' she said.
Not unexpectedly, Crawford and Brazelton say they hope ``ER'' will survive for many seasons. And after playing nurses for nearly a year, Crawford (Lydia Wright) and Brazelton (Conni Oligario) say their esteem for the medical professionals has increased markedly.
But neither wants to be one. ``I just don't have the stomach for it,'' said Brazelton.
They've also come to admire people who can handle polysyllabic technical terminology. Some of the actors, they said, are so insecure about the medical terminology that they tape their lines to gurneys and examining tables or write them on the sheets. And even if they can get their tongues around the words, the actors don't always know what they mean.
Still, there are real medical personnel on the ``ER'' set to help, including two physicians - technical adviser Joe Sachs and story editor/consultant Lance Gentile, who wrote the bloody and fatal birth episode and the one about a multicar pile-up during a blizzard that sent dozens of patients to the ER. Neal Baer, who is finishing his medical studies at Harvard, is also a writer and story editor.
There are also nurses who volunteer for a single episode - sometimes on their vacations - to play-act their duties without the life-and-death consequences they face on the job.
``Real nurses work in the trauma scenes,'' said Crawford. ``Usually if you see nurses working around the patient, but they don't talk, they're real nurses.''
The show's prolific creator, Michael Crichton, wrote the ``ER'' pilot more than a decade ago based on his experiences in medical school, Crawford said, but became busy with other projects, such as ``Jurassic Park.''
When the series did get under way, the actors set about familiarizing themselves with their roles. Crawford observed at a Los Angeles County hospital's emergency room and has appeared at several nursing-organization functions, including one for critical-care nurses. She and Brazelton spoke at the American Nurses Foundation ``Nurses Challenge Violence'' dinner in late June.
``I've spent a lot of time with nurses this year,'' said Crawford, ``and seen some of the hostility directed at nurses. In the waiting room, sometimes the waiting times are long. Patients don't understand the triage system: It has to do with the critical nature of the injuries.
``I think we're going to be exploring more of what we've learned about the kind of violence nurses face in the workplace and how we portray it, because the medium can make a very strong statement.''
``We learned how dedicated nurses are - just like actors are - to their profession,'' said Brazelton. `` ... Ours is make-believe - we can say `Cut and let's do it again' - but theirs is real.''
Critics may note that the medical personnel on ``ER'' don't continually wash their hands, the way real doctors, nurses and technicians seem to do. One of the reasons, said the actresses, is that there is only one working sink on the set.
``Some things we don't need and don't have time for,'' said Brazelton. ``There was one episode where Dr. Benton [Eriq La Salle] showed Noah [Wyle, who plays Dr. John Carter, a resident] how to scrub, but that had meaning.''
The actresses say they are perfectly happy to be part of the large ensemble cast of the weekly drama series, set in the emergency room of a Chicago hospital and focusing largely on the medical residents working there.
But one of their number, nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies), moved into a leading role early last season. Not only did Hathaway survive what was originally planned to be a fatal drug overdose in the pilot, but her wedding to a staff physician - canceled as the guests sat waiting inside the church - became the season finale.
Still, there's no jealously among the troops, insisted Crawford. ``I think there needed to be a nurse who was a lead character,'' she said.
Increased focus on nurses may have come about partly because medical professionals who watched ``ER'' in its early episodes told the show's producers and writers when they were off the mark.
``There has been a very big change in the way nursing has been portrayed, and a lot of that has to do with feedback from the nursing community,'' said Crawford.
``In the pilot, nurses pretty much took orders, but over the course of time you see nurses giving orders, nurses having done procedures before they're asked for them, nurses making the orders and saying `sign them' to the doctors, and some conflict between the residents and nurses. A nurse might say, `Why should I take a back seat to you? I've spent 20 years in emergency medicine and you're still in training.' That's made a big difference to them. Nurses really have a really strong sense of community. I have a lot of admiration for them.''
``ER'' airs Thursday nights at 10 on WSLS-Channel 10.
by CNB