We need a new medical drama, stat!

That's what network presidents must have been saying since word spread that NBC's stalwart medical series, "ER," was calling it quits.

Now the number of new fast-paced, tension-filled series about life-saving specialists is shooting up like national health-care costs. Here is what's new:

"Trauma," KSL Channel 5, Mondays at 8 p.m.

This "high-octane" drama, as NBC describes it, is about the first responders to an emergency, the paramedics. And the series takes place in San Francisco, the capital of all natural disasters, so there won't be a shortage of ideas for episodes (after all, that's what Chicago-set "ER" skated on for years).

"Mercy," KSL Channel 5, Wednesdays at 7 p.m.

There are a lot of Catholic-run Mercy hospitals around the country, but most likely this is a fictional one that is the setting for what looks like a "Grey's Anatomy" rip-off.

This midseason series is told through eyes of a hospital's nursing staff. But their personal problems are going to be as prominent as their professional ones. Honestly, where do these medical workers get time for all that sex with each other?

"Three Rivers," KUTV Channel 2, Sundays at 8 p.m.

This one's new -- a show based on a transplant hospital. CBS says it's about "the emotionally complex lives of organ donors, the recipients and the surgeons at the pre-eminent transplant hospital in the country where every moment counts."

"Miami Trauma," KUTV Channel 2, TBD

This midseason replacement for CBS takes place in another "premier" hospital of its type, the trauma center that treats critically injured patients.

It's by movie and TV producer Jerry Bruckheimer ("CSI"), who feels very much at home producing a crime show on CBS.

These four medical dramas join the ranks of "Grey's Anatomy," "Private Practice," "House" and, if you're being technical, "Scrubs," creating a crowded field for one genre. For me, it's enough new medical shows to make me sick.

Vince Horiuchi 's column appears Mondays and Fridays. He can be reached at vince@sltrib.com or 801-257-8607. For more television insights, visit Horiuchi's blog, "The Village Vidiot," at blogs.sltrib.com/tv/. Send comments about this column to livingeditor@sltrib.com.