Considering Chicago Med is in the midst of airing its eleventh season, there is no doubt that the show has been wildly successful. There are many reasons for that, including the fact that fans of the show care deeply about the medical drama's characters. That is why most fans have been deeply invested in Dr. Hannah Asher's pregnancy fears and the storyline involving Dr. Daniel Charles considering retirement.
While it is clear that the team behind Chicago Med has done many things right, that doesn't mean that the show couldn't be improved. After all, it could always garner higher ratings, and more importantly for the fans, there could be more entertaining storylines. I believe that there is one way that NBC's hospital show has been falling short of its potential for many years.
Chicago Med needs to show more of Gaffney Chicago Medical Center to reach its potential
Since Chicago Med began airing, the show has almost entirely focused on the Emergency Room. Making the ER the show's entry point into the Gaffney Chicago Medical Center makes a lot of sense on the face of things because that tends to be the most chaotic and possibly more compelling area of a hospital. However, the series' history shows that almost exclusively focusing on the ER for years now has been a mistake.
As fans should already know, Dr. Dean Archer is a surgeon and attending physician who used to be in charge of the Emergency Room that is at the center of the show's storylines. Of all those components of Dean's medical career, it is the easiest to forget that he is a surgeon because that part of his career is showcased a lot less than the show's previous doctors who served in that role. Instead, Dean is often depicted as being no different from any of the show's other doctors who aren't surgeons.
When Dr. Connor Rhodes was one of Chicago Med's main characters, he would be shown working in the ER, but operating on people was his character's biggest career focus by far. The show even heavily focused on the head of surgery becoming Connor's mentor for a while. The fact that the show highlighted another part of the hospital during Connor's era opened up huge storyline possibilities that are closed in its current form.
In addition to having Dean potentially focus more on surgery, the show could expand its view to a wide array of other parts of the hospital. A perfect example of that is the fact that viewers almost exclusively see Sharon Goodwin dealing with issues related to the ER. In her role as Executive Director of Patient and Medical Services, Sharon's influence over the hospital should reach far beyond one area of it. Given that Sharon is such a palpable character, it could be delightful to see more of her professional efforts.
Ultimately, Chicago Med's storytelling potential could expand exponentially if the doors leading out of the ER opened far more often.