The Intern Blues : The Timeless Classic About the Making of a Doctor

Rating:
Summary: A must read for anyone looking into medicine as a career
Review: A great account of the lives of interns. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in becoming a doctor. A great read!

Rating:
Summary: Gaining a New Respect
Review: Although I haven't read Marion's "Learning To Play God" I'm sure it will be a great book. This book took the reader through the life achievement of the medical training program. I believe that this is one of the most outstanding observations on intern life. Being a 17 year old high school student this book helped to reaffirm my idea of being a doctor.

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Summary: Right on the nose
Review: As a third year resident in pediatrics, I re-read this book. I read it initially as a premed student, and I couldn't wait to live it myself. Having lived it, I'm glad I san say that I am part of a rich alumni of former interns. However, my second year was more grueling than the first. Insted of being the intern, I was supervising the interns, as well as the ICU's, My only criticism of the book is that Marion seemed to select 3 ultra whiners for his subjects. Maybe it's an East Coast thing, but even after a horrible call night or some terrible deaths, my colleagues and I rarely achieved this level of whining and self pity. Suggestion : Do a book at a Big Ten School !

Rating:
Summary: ....not bad
Review: Being interested in the medical profession and browsing through this book, I decided to make the purchase. How much whining can three people concoct? I just found that I was hearing too much of their troubles and not enough of the goings-on during an internship. Rob Marion tells a good story and ties ethical, social and professional values together fairly well. It's just the three interns who brought the book down.

Rating:
Summary: A hauntingly accurate representation of internship
Review: During medical school I was given "The Intern Blues" by a friend (we were both interested in pediatrics). I could not believe that what was in the book really happened, because the problems and stresses appeared to be impossible for anyone to undertake. During my internship in pediatrics, however, I reread the book and was amazed to find that it was 100% factual, from the patient AND physician standpoint. As a Chief Resident in pediatrics as a teaching hospital I have recommended it to the interns, to let them know that what they are experiencing is not unusual, and that they are not alone. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in medicine (especially pediatrics), and for the families of medical students and residents, as it can help them understand the many personality and life style changes that accompany internship and residency. This book is a MUST READ for anyone contemplating pediatric residency.

Rating:
Summary: A hauntingly accurate representation of internship
Review: During medical school I was given "The Intern Blues" by a friend (we were both interested in pediatrics). I could not believe that what was in the book really happened, because the problems and stresses appeared to be impossible for anyone to undertake. During my internship in pediatrics, however, I reread the book and was amazed to find that it was 100% factual, from the patient AND physician standpoint. As a Chief Resident in pediatrics as a teaching hospital I have recommended it to the interns, to let them know that what they are experiencing is not unusual, and that they are not alone. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in medicine (especially pediatrics), and for the families of medical students and residents, as it can help them understand the many personality and life style changes that accompany internship and residency. This book is a MUST READ for anyone contemplating pediatric residency.

Rating:
Summary: Any Prospective Doctor Should Read this Book
Review: I am 17 years old and I was thinking about being a doctor. I had read all the general guides on the road to becoming a physician that included information on schooling and standardized tests. But what I was really looking for were testimonials, stories of doctors who decided to take the hard route and made it. This book helped me to reaffirm my decision to become a doctor for after finishing it, I realize what I am getting myself into. What they gain through one year of absoulte hell is more valuable than all the riches in the world. Even if you don't plan on becoming a doctor, read this book anyways to see what doctors have to go through to get where they are. I know I'll never look at a doctor the same way again.

Rating:
Summary: Worth the read
Review: I am currently finishing my pediatric residency at a large, urban academic center. I agree that we may not have to work the 36 hour shifts as described in this book (post 2003 federal legislation), but I've done many a 30 hour shift on no sleep at all, and could very much relate to the fears, anxieties, and stresses of being an intern. I recommend this book to all my non-medical friends and family as a real-life look into a turning point in a young doctor's education.

Rating:
Summary: An honest and real novel which I thoroughly enjoyed
Review: I am sixteen years old and I want to become a doctor and this book has been perfect for me to read. What a wonderful idea for a book that Dr. Marion thought of-- by taking a diary of 3 different interns and showing how their internship truly is. It's just an excellent book, one that took me just a week to read. As I read this book, I felt like I was beginning to personally know these three interns through their good times and struggles. I look forward to reading the sequel. I would really like to know what Amy, Mark, and Andy are doing now and how they feel about this book. Excellent job, Dr. Marion!

Rating:
Summary: A Day in the Life View
Review: I appreciated the attempt of Bob Marion to bring to life the everyday trials of residency, but perhaps the impression that the reader ends up with is a skewed one. Since this book was "written" by giving the various residents a tape recorder, the reader is only privy to the most down and out times that the residents are having. Almost nowhere in the book do we hear of any satisfaction, redemption, or ...gasp... actual healing in the lives of the residents or their patients. Perhaps the naivity that I can afford now as a second year medical student will be rapidly swept away when I step onto the wards next month, but I feel that their were more emotions and thoughts going on in the heads of those residents than what made it onto their handheld dictaphones and eventually onto paper. Although I appreciated Bob's comments dispersed throughout the book, it seems as though he views the problems in medical education as something that is beyond his control. He goes on and on about the stresses of residency and how the system is screwed up, but he doesn't seem to actually do anything toward changing the system in which he functions. Perhaps his "revealing" of what resident's lives are really like is his statement to the medical community. It definitely is one that demands to be heard.