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The first season of the “Scrubs”\u00a0revival ended in mid-April<\/a>, just over 16\u00a0years after the original series wrapped, and its return reflects how much the medical field has changed in that time. In an interview with the Television Academy<\/a>, series creator Bill Lawrence explained that becoming a doctor no longer guarantees the kind of wealth it once did, with many drawn to the profession out of a desire to help others.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Most of the people going into this have some kind of calling to be of service,” he said. “Because it’s a s****y, weird world.” From the outset, Lawrence and his team were intent on faithfully portraying that reality, with star Zach Braff noting that the creator always said, “I want the medical stuff to be fully accurate. I don’t want anyone to question it.” Writers and producers took that beyond showing real afflictions and treatments from the very beginning; there were plenty of crises of confidence and important personal decisions for the young doctors in the early seasons of “Scrubs.”\u00a0<\/p>\n To prepare for the revival<\/a>, showrunner Aseem Batra \u2014 a producer on the original series \u2013\u00a0and the writing staff interviewed medical interns, using their experiences to shape new characters and storylines. The realities for today’s young doctors are very different from those in the past, prompting “Scrubs” to adjust its approach accordingly.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Dr. Perry Cox is trying a gentler approach to teaching in the Scrubs revival<\/p>\n As the realities of modern medicine have shifted, so too has the way Sacred Heart’s doctors interact with interns.\u00a0Braff explained to Esquire<\/a> that some characters were added or adjusted to reflect changes in medical workplace norms and behavior.\u00a0“You cannot talk to interns like Dr. Cox used to talk to us,” Braff said. “We’ve been educated that they get breaks and they have wellness systems in place and they’re not allowed to work the hours they used to work.”<\/p>\n A 2022 study<\/a> published in the journal Healthcare\u00a0found that many doctors are experiencing significant burnout and declining job satisfaction, and Columbus, Ohio, orthopedist Dr. Dan Fosselman echoed that sentiment in a 2024 interview for the Doximity<\/a> medical network website. “The ‘golden days’ of medicine have passed,” he said. “People feel that they are underappreciated for the work that they are doing.”\u00a0The untamed and unpredictable\u00a0Todd Quinlan (Robert Maschio) and Hooch (Phill Lewis) join returning characters from the original “Scrubs,”<\/a>\u00a0although Todd’s behavior hasn’t been tempered much.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Scrubs’ new HR and wellness executive has a lot of work to do<\/p>\n The introduction of\u00a0Sacred Heart Hospital’s new human resources and wellness manager shows just how much the workplace has evolved.\u00a0Sibby Wilson (Vanessa Bayer) is tasked with keeping the hospital’s more old-school doctors in check, with Braff telling\u00a0Esquire about the extent of her duties:\u00a0“She’s got a very thick file on The Todd, and she also looks out, as they do in real hospitals, to make sure that the interns aren’t being worked to death.”<\/p>\n