10/10

Great story of an intern and realities of being a doctor.

I’m a graduate of one of the strongest public allopathic medical schools in the Nation. While I applaud Dr. McCarthy’s candor, I’m astonished that someone who is a graduate of Harvard Medical School (“Man’s Best Medical School”) as well as clinical rotations at the likes of Massachusetts General Hospital (“Man’s Greatest Hospital”) that he apparently graduated and became an intern with such a nonaggressive and weak grasp of basic and clinical essentials which should be drilled into all first, second, third and fourth year medical students. Among many other bedside skills, new clinical house officers (i.e. interns) should know many basic “invasive” procedures including central lines, intubation, spinal taps, arterial blood gases, thoracentesis, paracentesis, running codes, and so on. As I was taught with many invasive procedures, “See one, do one, teach one.” Another pearl of real world wisdom is “There is no body cavity that can’t be reached with a strong arm and an 18-gauge needle.”

I loved this book! Really shows you what the interns lives are like and how hard it is to be a doctor!

This is such a great book. I read it a year ago and really enjoyed it. Hope this author writes a follow up!