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Summary: Better a little late than never
Review: In reading Shem's masterpiece on the trials and tribulations of the intern year it made me reflect on my own thoughts of what medical school is like. His books gives a fairly pessimistic but very realistic view of medicine and how doctors often times look at patients. At this point in my career(MS2 soon to be MS3 once I pass boards) I still am fairly idealistic about medicine and the opportunity to work with and help people. This book upon first read(before medical school) shocked me such that I believed that Shem was writing complete fiction which was not founded on reality at all. After two years through I see that he has made some very clever and perceptive assertions and am starting to see what he is talking about. Although I still have not bought into "the only good patient is a dead patient" mentality. I still feel too idealistic for that. Catch me after two more years though and I may have a very different opinion. For all of you who are not in the medical field this is an excellent book that provides nice insides to the behind the scenes of medicine. For those of you in the medical field it might shock you how right and accurate he is with his descriptions. Regardless, this book is provacative and a quick read. I definetly recommend it and hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did. --Joaquin
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Summary: House of Chaos
Review: Shem's book portrays the internship year as a chaotic adventure- an adventure full of success and failure, of self realization and self reprobation. The book is exaggerated of course, and is very humorous in other areas, but hits on many important aspects of what is truly a "trial by fire". The lead character goes through many phases during the year, defining his own role as he discards them. The insane hours put a strain on his relationships, and he begins to lose sight of who his is, only to come out the other side a wiser, and more competent doctor. This, I guess, it the philosophy behind the internship year. Put the individual through hell as a learning experience. The book is a bit dated, marked by "interhospital relationships" that may seem shocking to the reader. However, the pace and humor of this book makes it a must read for the fans of real life drama with imagination.
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Summary: Without all the sex, it would have been perfect
Review: Any medical professional who reads this will find that many phrases now common (especially in teaching hospitals) originated in this book. I have read this book several times in my nursing career, and the longer I've been in the profession, the more I understand it. Even laypeople who enjoy the show "ER" will note that some of the catchphrases of that show got their start here. Now that the book is getting older, many people may assume that hospitals aren't really like the one described here. In some ways, they aren't--the days of being admitted to the hospital just for tests are long gone, and most hospital stays are far shorter now than they were then. That said, the medical hierarchy, the cynicism, and the gallows humor are very much alive and well. I think they always will be. Anyone considering reading this should be warned that there are sexual references that are frequent and crude, not to mention completely unnecessary. There is also a very warped view of women, including nurses, social workers, and female doctors. I would love to see this book rewritten with a less chauvinistic tone. The main message of the book is too important to miss. Lastly, the "LAWS" in the book may seem very tongue in cheek, but the interesting thing is that they are actually true. And every time I respond to a cardiac arrest, I take my own pulse first.
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Summary: The Horror of the Hollow Men
Review: In reading the "House of God," you may find yourself going deeper into the darkness of the medical profession. This literary journey parallels Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." Conrad recounts an Englishman's psychological descent deep into the Belgian Congo in search of a talented and successful ivory trader. As the Englishman, Marlow, travels further into the heart of the jungle, he realizes that colonists are misusing their new colony by ravaging and plundering the continent's natural resources and its people. When Marlow finds Kurtz, he discovers that Kurtz has developed an obsession for power and influence through his raids for ivory. Similarly, Samuel Shem portrays a similar journey of the "best medical students" entering the ranks of the medical profession geared to provide the best medical care. As these students care for their patients on their wards, they realize that the hospital administers are out of touch with the best medical students and the patients that are ultimately under their care. As time takes them deeper into the health care system, they witness mismanagement, misuse of health care resources, and the dark side of human behavior. Another comparison can be made with Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now." In "Apocalypse Now," Colonel Kurtz becomes inoculated to the sites and sounds of death in the Vietnam War. He learns that "you must make a friend of horror" or you must "fear it." Similarly, Shem portrays how the best medical students must come to grips with this concept before they can treat patients. The students must learn how to confront death and learn how to use sex and lies to provide the best treatments for their patients. Thus, their souls become what Conrad portrays Kurtz has having a soul "full of unspeakable secrets" that "knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear." In reading this book and comparing to either of these masterpieces, you will find yourself making a journey deep into communities and minds that keep their inner workings secret. The thoughts and actions that these individuals partake are horrific to outsiders but are necessary mechanisms in keeping sane in an insane world. You may find yourself embracing Kurtz in "the horror, the horror" and joining the ranks of individuals who have become hollow due to their surroundings.
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Summary: A documentary of the bordered chaos of the ER and Med Center
Review: If you are wondering whether this book is a realistic portrayal of residency -- in my observation it is. I first read this book in 1978 while working in an emergency room. Coincidentally, I started working in the ER on July 1, just as the new residents were starting. At that time I was a nurse-paramedic, had just worked two years in the float-pool on the med-center floors (as well as part-time on an ambulance). I intended to eventually apply to medical school and wanted more ER experience, as I contemplated becoming an ER physician. I learned my niche as the residents learned theirs. I felt somewhat like an anthropologist as I watched the residents go through the same things described in the book "The House of God." Many of the residents passed the book among themselves that year. And the next. And the next. On occasion, each resident said more-or-less, "Yeah, it's a documentary." After the third year I stopped working in the ER -- it was fascinating work that never let-up, but it can be a burn-out job -- and I moved on to other things, never going to medical school, but marrying a doctor. For twenty years I have kept in touch with my old environment on its periphery. Many things have changed in medicine the past two decades, but some things remain essentially the same. I presume that one of the things unchanged is that new copies of "The House of God" are still being passed around among the residents, year after year. Probably the stress and distress that the residents experience -- as well as the black comedy of daily dealing with the impossible and hopeless -- is as heartbreaking, invigorating, debilitating, and tragic as it ever was. Thank you Dr. Shem, for taking the time to write such an excellent and realistic book on that complicated and perplexing time of growth and change in medical doctor's lives.
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Summary: A Must for Future House Officers
Review: Funny, sweet, sad, tragic, and genuinely human, 'The House of God' is a must-read for all future house officers. Shem introduces us to the modern history of medical education in a very real and personal way. So much of the jargon of today's medical educational system was given to us by the author, and his Laws of The House of God rarely failed me during those tumultuous postgraduate training years. The book was both exciting and terrifying to read just months before the begining of my internship; it endowed me with a sense of context and perspective that made the experience that much more valuable.
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Summary: Great Novel about the Problems Facing Doctors
Review: This novel is a candid often shocking account of a young doctor's year as a resident in a large New York hospital. The author is a professor at Harvard Medical school and a psychologist. His experiences provide a great basis for this novel which seems so real it is often difficult to believe it is fiction. The character development is excellent. The reader begins to love characters like the sagely "Fat Man" and the other young doctors and hate the bureaucracy that leads the doctors to disillusionment. Even if you do not really like medicine the book is interesting because it is a study of a unique psychological world. Shem's story draws the reader evokes powerful emotions. The story is quick moving and never dull the resolution is perfect. This is a masterpiece. It was so good I went out to buy Shem's other novel "Mount Misery" which was also good but lacked the energy and refinement of "The House of God"
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Summary: Funny, but is sex really the solution for EVERYTHING?
Review: I think my title pretty well defines this books -there's a lot of humor in it, quite a lot of struggles, and the reader gets to see what an intern goes through... But some how - the "wild sex session is a solution for everything" attitude was a little too childish in my taste. I'm sure some of it is true to life, but hopefully - our doctors are a little more grownup...
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Summary: Not brilliantly written
Review: but it has a real ring of the ugly truth, heartbreaking and hysterically funny as it is. I read this book when my boyfriend (now husband) was in medical school and he swore that it is all true (with the exeception of the sex...so either 1) times have changed; 2) the author exaggerated; 3) he's protecting me). I would recommend this to anyone with a loved one in the medical profession--just to see where some of the frustration and cynicism comes from.
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Summary: This Book Saved My Life!
Review: There is a well-known phenomenon in health care called "reality shock." It occurs when an idealistic student practitioner emerges from the educational process, bright-eyed, scrubbed and shining, and learns what the hospital industry is REALLY like. The light at the end of the tunnel can be seen (according to the studies on this process) when the new professional regains a sense of humor. When I graduated from college with a nursing degree, I went to work for a huge west coast HMO that shall remain nameless; after a year on the wards I was ready to lay down in front of a bus. I was working nights, caring for 22 patients with one unlicensed assistant, facing 28-year-old geniuses with metastatic cancer, or middle-aged alcoholics who would disconnect their IV lines and watch the blood splash on the floor, or .. well you get the idea. Somebody gave me "House of God" before a weekend off. By the end of the book I was laughing and crying and rediscovering just why I'd gotten into this business to begin with. If you're a health care professional and haven't read this yet, READ IT! If you're a "frequent flyer" in the health-care system and can't figure out why caregivers laugh at things that are absolutely NOT funny to the Real World, this book will tell you. Send this book to your senators and representatives. Send a case to your insurance carrier's Utilization Review department. And thank god that our anonymous author had the guts to write the truth.
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