The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes presented mostly as the daydreams of the central character, Dr. John "J.D." Dorian, who is played by Zach Braff. The ninth season saw the transition from Braff as the central character to Kerry Bishé, who plays Lucy Bennett. The show's title is a play on surgical scrubs and a term for a low-ranking or insignificant person (at the beginning of the show, most of the main characters were medical interns, one of the lowest ranks in the medical hierarchy).