REVIEW Use of fictional medical television in health sciences education: a systematic review Beth L. Hoffman 1,2 • Robert Hoffman 3 • Charles B. Wessel 4 • Ariel Shensa 1,2 • Michelle S. Woods 1,2 • Brian A. Primack 1,2,5 Received: 11 July 2016 / Accepted: 6 January 2017 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017 Abstract While medical television programs are popular among health profession trai- nees, it is not clear to what extent these programs affect their knowledge, perceptions, and/ or behaviors. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of research evaluating asso- ciations between program exposure and outcomes. We conducted systematic literature searches in Pubmed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. Selected studies were required to be scholarly research, involve exposure to fictionalized medical television programming by health professional students, and assess associations between exposure and outcomes. Studies were classified according to quality and factors related to population, exposure, and outcomes. Of 3541 studies identified, 13 met selection criteria. Six studies involved undergraduate medical students, one involved nursing students, two involved both medical and nursing students, two involved medical residents, one involved medical students, residents and attending physicians, and one involved graduate epidemiology students. Mean study quality according to the MERSQI was 8.27. The most commonly assessed television programs were ER and Grey’s Anatomy (six each). Five studies assessed regular viewing habits, and found that fictional medical programs are popular among students and that students recall health topics from episodes. The eight studies that assessed the Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10459-017-9754-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Brian A. Primack bprimack@pitt.edu 1 Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA 2 Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA 3 VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, PA, USA 4 Health Sciences Library System, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA 5 Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 230 McKee Place Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA 123 Adv in Health Sci Educ DOI 10.1007/s10459-017-9754-5