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thaurisil's review against another edition
3.0
A group of freshly minted interns have started their first year as doctors. The hospital is nothing like what they thought it would be. Rather than having delightful patient interactions, they are disgusted by incoherent incontinent demented elderly folks, whom they call gomers (get out of my emergency room). Rather than curing patients, they spend more time investigating them, and turfing them to other specialties, or out of the hospital. Rather than being proud of their compassionate good work, they are tired, demoralised and burnt out. As they navigate through the year, each finds his method of coping, or self-destructing, and each is more in need of healing the patients he treats.
As a doctor who's been in a hospital for four years, some of the things Shem said through his narrator Roy Basch rang true. Yes, most patients are gomers, though no, they're not immortal. Yes, patients are over-investigated, sometimes for no obvious benefit, and sometimes the investigations cause harm. Yes, the ability to cure often seems out of our control, and some patients deteriorate despite our best efforts, while others thrive after we've written them off.
What I don't agree with is Shem's cynicism. I know people as cynical as he is, and I've found that your attitude to your work is more affected by internal than external factors. I especially disagreed with his feelings towards the emergency department, being an ED doctor myself. It's true that you get a whole bunch of drunks and rowdy troublemakers coming in all the time. We don't have a schizophrenic man living in our ED but we have some who come every single day complaining of knee pain. But these people are part of the fun and the variety of ED. We complain about them, but they remind us that we live in a real world with real problems, and that humanity can be bizarre. Basch says he's gotten good at medicine. He has to be deluded. Even after saving lives every day, nobody can claim to be good at medicine. That's part of the challenge, and the fun, of working in the ED.
I do believe times have changed. Slurpers still exist, but there are many more fat men around, people who genuinely care about their juniors and their patients. I don't get to sleep as much as Basch does on call (he actually complains about bed bugs! I don't usually get to see the bed during a call), but we don't have every other day calls either. Feedback is taken more seriously, and we never, never have to bribe nurses with sex. Plus, there's much more gender equality.
The book is funny and real. One of my favourite quotes was Basch's description of how he felt post-call: "I felt like socks: sweaty, stale, smelly, stiff, worn a day longer than I should have been."
Ultimately, when reading this book, one must remember that Shem is a psychiatrist. Hence most of the interns end up depressed, and Psychiatry is glorified above medicine. Medicine is not as fulfilling to Basch as Psychiatry is, whereas Psychiatry was never as fulfilling to me as Medicine is.
As a doctor who's been in a hospital for four years, some of the things Shem said through his narrator Roy Basch rang true. Yes, most patients are gomers, though no, they're not immortal. Yes, patients are over-investigated, sometimes for no obvious benefit, and sometimes the investigations cause harm. Yes, the ability to cure often seems out of our control, and some patients deteriorate despite our best efforts, while others thrive after we've written them off.
What I don't agree with is Shem's cynicism. I know people as cynical as he is, and I've found that your attitude to your work is more affected by internal than external factors. I especially disagreed with his feelings towards the emergency department, being an ED doctor myself. It's true that you get a whole bunch of drunks and rowdy troublemakers coming in all the time. We don't have a schizophrenic man living in our ED but we have some who come every single day complaining of knee pain. But these people are part of the fun and the variety of ED. We complain about them, but they remind us that we live in a real world with real problems, and that humanity can be bizarre. Basch says he's gotten good at medicine. He has to be deluded. Even after saving lives every day, nobody can claim to be good at medicine. That's part of the challenge, and the fun, of working in the ED.
I do believe times have changed. Slurpers still exist, but there are many more fat men around, people who genuinely care about their juniors and their patients. I don't get to sleep as much as Basch does on call (he actually complains about bed bugs! I don't usually get to see the bed during a call), but we don't have every other day calls either. Feedback is taken more seriously, and we never, never have to bribe nurses with sex. Plus, there's much more gender equality.
The book is funny and real. One of my favourite quotes was Basch's description of how he felt post-call: "I felt like socks: sweaty, stale, smelly, stiff, worn a day longer than I should have been."
Ultimately, when reading this book, one must remember that Shem is a psychiatrist. Hence most of the interns end up depressed, and Psychiatry is glorified above medicine. Medicine is not as fulfilling to Basch as Psychiatry is, whereas Psychiatry was never as fulfilling to me as Medicine is.
kateuganski's review against another edition
I started reading this solely because a few attendings recommend I read this as I continue my medicine education, however I do not recommend this to any person in medicine. I’m aware the book is satirical and attempts to highlight a caricature of medicine, but it was too intense for me and I found myself dreading picking up the book and feeling disgusted every time I read a passage. I don’t think sitting through this book is worth it just to know why the medical team may use terms such as “turf” and “buff.”
niltic's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
coala_573's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
trnolan's review against another edition
2.0
A book devoid of any real emotion that goes out of its way to play into the author's image of himself. This book does a disservice to what emotional reckoning looks like. It has moments of truth about the modern medical system but that can't make up for a rotten core. I wish this wasn't considered a classic of medicine because it glorifies toxic masculinity, cynicism and a culture of emotional suppression. Being snarky and critical does not a good book make.
drebus's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
mloc's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
vinithajoseph's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
cozypaige's review against another edition
1.0
Honestly after half way of the book I just flipped and skimmed the pages. Wanted to DNF.