The hit medical drama House M.D. centers around the ingenious but unorthodox Dr. Gregory House and his team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. Though not a real hospital, Princeton-Plainsboro plays an integral role in the show as the backdrop for the cutting-edge medicine and ethical dilemmas portrayed. Let‘s take an in-depth look at the famous TV hospital, from its inspiration and filming locations to its medical accuracy and cultural impact.
All About Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital
Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital is presented as a first-rate teaching hospital located in Princeton, NJ and affiliated with the prestigious Princeton University. Its motto "The care comes first" represents the priority placed on patients. As a teaching hospital, it provides hands-on experience for aspiring doctors in various medical disciplines. Princeton-Plainsboro has a busy ER, ICU, radiology department, oncology department, psychiatric ward, surgical ward, and more. It is equipped with the latest medical technology and treatments. The hospital serves as the primary workplace for the show‘s main characters – Dr. House, Dr. Wilson, Dr. Cameron, Dr. Chase, Dr. Foreman, and hospital administrator Dr. Cuddy.
Purpose as a Teaching Hospital
Like real-world teaching hospitals, the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro provides medical school graduates with practical training under the supervision of experienced faculty physicians. Doctors complete residency programs at teaching hospitals, rotating through different specialities from family medicine to surgery. Not only doctors-in-training learn at teaching hospitals – nurses, therapists, technicians, and other healthcare workers acquire clinical experience there as well. The hands-on training and research conducted at teaching hospitals also advances medical knowledge as a whole.
Cutting-Edge Environment
As a teaching hospital affiliated with a top-tier university, Princeton-Plainsboro attracts elite medical talent and receives generous funding for research. This enables the hospital to offer innovative treatments and groundbreaking clinical trials. In the show, we see the team at Princeton-Plainsboro tackle rare diagnoses and experiment with unconventional treatments under Dr. House‘s direction. The hospital‘s state-of-the-art equipment and technology also facilitate cutting-edge medicine.
Filming Locations Recreating the Fictional Hospital
While set in New Jersey, House M.D. was actually filmed primarily in Los Angeles. The exterior shots of Princeton-Plainsboro are of various university buildings, including:
- Braun Music Center at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA
- University of Southern California Health Sciences Campus in Los Angeles, CA
- UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA
Interior Set Filming
Interior scenes were shot on purpose-built sets constructed in L.A. A converted automotive warehouse in Van Nuys housed the main hospital set pieces like the lobby, hallways, patient rooms, and Dr. House‘s office. Having a dedicated studio space allowed the crew to efficiently film scenes in Dr. House‘s office, Dr. Cuddy‘s office, exam rooms, operating rooms, and other key hospital locations.
On-Location Shooting
For added realism, some on-location shooting took place at hospitals around L.A., including:
- Glendale Adventist Medical Center in Glendale, CA
- VA Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center in North Hills, CA
- Southern California Veterinary Specialty Hospital in Irvine, CA
This allowed the crew access to real wards, medical equipment, and hospital aesthetics to enhance the authenticity of certain scenes.
Visual Effects
CGI was used for aerial views and some exterior establishing shots of the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. This allowed the production team greater flexibility in portraying the hospital than filming at a single real-world location. Visual effects added the finishing touches, like ambient vehicles in outdoor scenes.
Attaining Medical Accuracy
House M.D. went to great lengths to portray accurate medical scenarios, terminology, and treatments. The creators recruited technical advisors including real physicians to vet scripts and medical information. Dr. Lisa Sanders, a medical doctor and professor at Yale University, served as a technical advisor for the show starting in the second season. She helped shape storylines based on real-life medical mysteries. Other medical professionals consulted on specific medical specialities relevant to episode storylines.
Balancing Fiction and Fact
However, as an entertainment drama, House M.D. does take creative liberties and dramatizes things for added shock value or suspense. The rapid diagnoses and constant excitement exceed the typical controlled chaos of real hospital environments. But the spirit of cutting-edge diagnostics and clashing professional personalities does ring true. The fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital is abound with ethical dilemmas, rivalry between departments, and the pressure to solve mysteries quickly in order to save lives.
Real-World Impact
Despite its dramatization, House M.D. had real-world influence in sparking interest in the field of diagnostic medicine. Applications to medical school in diagnostic radiology, for instance, increased after the show began. The series also brought awareness to certain conditions like Legionnaire‘s Disease and hemochromatosis.
Diagnosticians Play a Vital Role in Healthcare
The show‘s central character, Dr. Gregory House, is a diagnostician – a type of doctor who analyzes symptoms and health data to determine diagnoses. House he heads up the Department of Diagnostic Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro. Diagnosticians are real medical professionals who play a critical role in healthcare.
Who Can Become a Diagnostician?
Diagnosticians typically complete medical school and residency training in internal medicine, neurology, or another specialty before completing a 1-2 year subspecialty fellowship in diagnostic medicine. After their fellowship, they become certified by the American Board of Diagnostic Medicine. Diagnosticians can be doctors of both osteopathic and allopathic medicine.
Analyzing Clues to Solve Mysteries
Equipped with extensive medical knowledge, diagnosticians carefully weigh patient histories, test results, physical exam findings, and health patterns to get to the root of mysterious or complex illnesses and conditions. They function like medical detectives, piecing together subtle clues to solve diagnostic puzzles when conditions are difficult to identify. This requires top-notch critical thinking skills and the ability to recognize patterns.
Life-Saving Skills
By identifying the correct diagnoses for patients with unclear or complex symptoms, diagnosticians can help save lives through early treatment. Their detective work prevents patients from undergoing unnecessary procedures for the wrong assumed condition. Diagnosticians provide peace of mind to patients by reaching definitive diagnoses.
Collaborating with Specialists
Diagnosticians work closely with doctors of various specialities to consult on cases within their expertise. For example, a diagnostician may collaborate with a cardiologist, neurologist, immunologist, geneticist, and infectious disease expert to get to the bottom of an especially perplexing case. They help direct optimal treatment plans.
Fictional Hospitals with Powerful Symbolism
While Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital is fictional, it represents cutting-edge teaching hospitals that shape future generations of doctors. The psychiatric hospital Mayfield is also imaginary, but stands in for mental health facilities that employ innovative treatments for patients. Both hospitals are powerful symbols.
Princeton-Plainsboro – Knowledge and Discovery
As a top-notch teaching hospital, Princeton-Plainsboro comes to represent the quest for knowledge and desire to push boundaries in order to save lives. It draws idealistic young doctors like Dr. Cameron, driven to help others through medicine. The risky procedures conducted represent the risks clinicians are willing to take to provide care. Princeton-Plainsboro pushes the limits of moral and medical ethics in pursuit of curing the incurable.
Mayfield – Understanding the Mind
Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital symbolizes the continuing endeavor to understand the complexities of the human mind. Within its walls, patients like Dr. House confront their inner demons. Though a challenging and imperfect process, facing one‘s psyche holds the promise of self-realization and healing. The hospital represents the shared journey to understand ourselves and our minds.
Original Characters, Not Real Doctors
None of the characters on House M.D. are based directly on real-life doctors. The brilliant, abrasive Dr. House is an original fictional creation, as are the other doctors on his team. Their personalities and questionable ethics make for entertaining television, though they exaggerate the realities of modern medical practice.
Inspiration from Famous Fictional Detectives
House‘s unique approach to solving medical mysteries is inspired by famous fictional detectives like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Adrian Monk. Like these characters, House displays genius deductive reasoning skills and an obsession with solving puzzles. But he applies these traits to diagnosing patients rather than solving crimes.
Drawing from Real-World Medicine
While the characters themselves are fictional, aspects of their backgrounds and experiences do draw from the real world of medicine. For example, the pressure Dr. Cuddy faces as a hospital administrator mirrors the challenges of leading a real hospital. The politics between departments reflects professional conflicts familiar to those in healthcare environments.
Exaggerated Personalities
The doctors‘ stark personalities, questionable ethics, and dramatic arcs are exaggerated for entertainment purposes. No real-world physician could get away with Dr. House‘s repeated ethical violations or daring experiments on patients. However, grounding the characters and stories in medical realism helps make them believable.
Blending Fiction with Real Hospital Elements
The design of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital combines real-world medical aesthetics with familiar settings of past hospital dramas. The result is a hospital backdrop that feels real but contains fictional elements.
Interior Design Inspiration
The lobby and corridor design of Princeton-Plainsboro draws inspiration from hospital sets on shows like ER, Chicago Hope, and St. Elsewhere. The expansive lobby, nurses‘ central stations, patient room design, and other set pieces have a recognizable look similar to past beloved shows.
Storytelling Parallels
The structure of medical mysteries and problem-solving on House has parallels with past hospital dramas. For example, the paradigm of a brilliant but difficult doctor echoes shows like House and Scrubs. Princeton-Plainsboro incorporates tropes that make hospital shows compelling while anchoring them in medical realism.
Blending Old and New
By integrating familiar elements from past hit medical shows, Princeton-Plainsboro feels immediately recognizable. But its contemporary aesthetic, technologies, and advanced treatments root it firmly in the world of modern hospitals. It effectively merges old and new.
Real Hospitals Affiliated with Princeton University
Unlike the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro, Princeton University has affiliations with several real hospitals in New Jersey where students receive clinical education.
Princeton Medical Center
The main hospital affiliated with Princeton is Princeton Medical Center (PMC) in Plainsboro, NJ. PMC offers extensive healthcare services including emergency medicine, cancer care, neurology, women‘s health, and much more. The non-profit hospital has over 350 physicians and advanced medical technology.
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Princeton is also affiliated with RWJ University Hospital locations in New Brunswick and Somerset, NJ. RWJ provides specialty care in cardiology, oncology, neurology, and other disciplines. It is a key teaching hospital in New Jersey.
Children‘s Hospital of Philadelphia
Princeton medical students train at the Children‘s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) as well. CHOP is ranked one of the best children‘s hospitals and offers comprehensive pediatric care.
Veteran‘s Administration Hospital
The VA New Jersey Health Care System provides medical and surgical care to veterans in the region. Princeton students receive training at VA sites including those in Lyons and East Orange.
Filmed Entirely in California
Despite its New Jersey setting, House M.D. was filmed exclusively in the Los Angeles region, without any on-location shooting in Princeton. The crew recreated the Princeton look through set design, locations around L.A., and some visual effects. For a believable hospital exterior, they turned to buildings with a similar collegiate Gothic architecture style at local universities. Interior hospital scenes were constructed on sound stages.
Through creative filming techniques and dedication to medical accuracy, House M.D. crafted an engaging world featuring doctors struggling with ethical dilemmas as they attempt to solve mysteries and save lives. The fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital backdrop made for an unforgettable setting for this unique medical drama that had real-world influence.
