At the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, nurses and doctors under immense pressure treat patients with dignity and compassion. Though the women on “The Pitt” may be fictional, their stories are based on the reality of healthcare providers and honor the real work they do to save lives.

Warner Bros. Television Group, in collaboration with non-profit organization Women in Entertainment, hosted a panel discussion on Thursday on the Warner Bros. Studio Lot to celebrate the women behind the scenes of the show. Writers and actors from the Emmy Award-winning television series discussed the show’s portrayal of women’s health issues.

“This series authentically reflects the joys, struggles and frustrations of women working in medicine, while at the same time educating the audience on women’s health issues,” said Channing Dungey, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Television Group.

The medical procedural features issues impacting the American healthcare system, including women’s health issues. Episodes have touched on access to abortion and miscarriages. It also has touched on intersectionality, displaying the barriers that Black women face in dealing with unequal access to healthcare.

The first panel included Simran Baidwan, executive producer and writer; Cynthia Adarkwa, a producer and writer; and writers Valerie Chu and Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman. The writers spoke about specific storylines they felt were powerful to portray on the show, both following the concerns of patients and of the healthcare providers.

“I was really proud to write the [polycystic ovary syndrome] story, and then also the story about the Black woman with the eating disorder. I thought that was a very important story to tell,” Adarkwa said.

Chu said that the writers come with stories that they are passionate about representing on screen. The writers then conduct extensive research to ensure they are telling the story accurately and respectfully. 

In episode seven of season two, a young woman, Ilana (Tina Ivlev), comes to the emergency room after being sexually assaulted, and charge nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa) performs a rape kit for her.

“The sexual assault storyline is pretty revolutionary,” Chu said. “It has been so talked about, just the way that it was handled. We all know that [Kirsten] spent hours doing that research because she wanted to be so responsible with that storyline.” 

Another recent episode saw United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers bring in a patient, Pranita (Ramona DuBarry), who was injured when they raided the restaurant she worked at. The presence of the agents in the ER causes patients and staff to leave the hospital out of fear of being detained, and the ICE agents’ treatment of Pranita alarms nurse Jesse Van Horn (Ned Brower), who is detained after intervening. 

“We just want to honor the healthcare workers and what they’re going through in their day to day lives. We talked to a bunch of nurses and a bunch of doctors, and just asked how that has affected their day-to-day. There are hospitals where there are less people [than in] a normally busy ER, because they’re too scared to come in,” Chu said. “It’s sort of the thesis of our show that everybody has the right to emergency care.”

The importance of prioritizing mental health, especially as healthcare providers experience so many traumatic events daily, is another theme that the show explores as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and burnout.

Baidwan said the writers hope that his storyline helps to motivate people to have important conversations about mental health and vulnerability. The writers said they want Dr. Robby to serve as a representation for doctors who may be struggling with mental health issues.

“We’ve heard from doctors who said, ‘I did not confront my PTSD from [COVID-19], or from the buildup of how many deaths I’ve seen over the last decade, and now, because of the show and because of Noah Wyle, I can have a point of preference for all that,’” Chu said.

The second panel featured actresses Amielynn Abellera, who plays nurse Perlah Alawi on the show; Laëtitia Hollard, who plays nurse Emma Nolan; Alexandra Metz, who plays Dr. Yolanda Garcia; and Kristin Villanueva, who plays nurse Princess Dela Cruz. 

The actresses spoke about the importance of taking mental health seriously and shared the way that they are able to take care of their own mental health after working on such a high-stress show. Metz said that somatic therapy has been helpful for her in decompressing. She described how she was affected by a specific scene in season one, episode ten, when a patient comes to the ER with severe burns. 

“I didn’t realize how much those prosthetics would affect me,” Metz said. “I just started to feel the blood rush through my body in this way that was like, ‘Am I okay? Am I about to faint?’ And luckily, I had the tools, because I had been engaging with [somatic therapy].”

The actresses spoke about the strength that nurses possess and the importance of telling their stories and giving them the recognition they deserve for the life-saving work that they do.

“My mother is a nurse, my father is a doctor, and I felt so honored to honor nurses, because I find that their role is so unique in the army of healthcare workers,” said Abellera. “When I go to a hospital, the nurse is the first person that I see, and the last person I see, and they’re with me throughout my entire journey.”