Rating: 
Summary: Good course material
Review: I first read Intern Blues as a graduate student in a course on health communication. I am now using it as required reading in an undergraduate course I teach on health communication. A number of my students are pre-med or plan to go into health related fields. They have expressed overwhelming interest in this book. It serves as a great supplement to a health communication textbook. Issues related to medical ethics, patient-provider communication, medical training, death and dying, and even health policy permeate this book. This book has influenced the way I work with and relate to physicians. It has also transformed the attitudes of many of my students. I strongly recommend it for personal reading and/or for college course adoption.
Rating: 
Summary: not bad but a bit tiresome
Review: I read this book after reading House of God and Mount Misery. Same topic, very different voice(s). At times this book was tiresome, at times I couldn't put it down. Things have changed a whole lot since 1985 in the world of interns, but there are still alot of things I couldn't believe I heard someone else complaining about besides me! Worth reading but feel free to skip ahead a few chapters if your'e getting bored.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book for Everyone
Review: I'll preface this review by saying my knowledge of the medical profession is minimal at best. However, Marion's book was among the best I've read in a long time. The story of how three interns struggle to make it throught a year is emotionally draining and exhilarating at the same time. Marion does an excellent job of describing all medical terms and summarizing the stress that the interns are going through. After having read this book I have a greater respect and understanding of what current doctors go through to get to their positions. "The Intern Blues" is well worth reading for doctors and non-doctors alike.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book for Everyone
Review: I'll preface this review by saying my knowledge of the medical profession is minimal at best. However, Marion's book was among the best I've read in a long time. The story of how three interns struggle to make it throught a year is emotionally draining and exhilarating at the same time. Marion does an excellent job of describing all medical terms and summarizing the stress that the interns are going through. After having read this book I have a greater respect and understanding of what current doctors go through to get to their positions. "The Intern Blues" is well worth reading for doctors and non-doctors alike.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Just for Med Students
Review: I'm a regular visitor to the medical reference sections of bookstores, not because I work in the field, but just out of curiousity. Not only is this book good background for med students, but also for the people who are patients or users of teaching hospitals. I felt like this book gave me some insight into the lives of the people whom I rely on to help keep my body healthy. Good stuff here.
Rating:
Summary: Still fairly accurate 20 years later
Review: I'm a soon-to-be ex-resident (thankfully) and I read this book at the end of my intern year. I then sent it to my parents, because I thought it would be more enlightening than any of the mish-mash of frustrations, anxieties, and half-asleep mumblings I had shared with them in the previous year. I attached a note reading, "This is what I've just been through." I think they appreciated it and had a better understanding of what internship was all about.
The general nature of internship has changed somewhat since this book was written/published, especially with the institution of the work-hours rules in 2003 that set limits on the number of hours (both consecutive and total) that interns may work. Interns today are also generally more closely supervised than the interns in this book, but most of the anecdotes and atmosphere of Intern Blues have an essential truth that applies to today's residents as well as it did to those in the '80s.
The style and composition of Intern Blues obviously didn't win it any prizes, but it is candid and easily read and in that sense the style at least doesn't get in the way of the narrative.
I recommend this book to two groups: (1) those considering a career as an M.D. - as a dose of reality, if not discouragement; (2) friends/relatives/loved ones of folks going through internship/residency - as a means to understand the experience.
Rating:
Summary: 20 years old but still a great read
Review: If you're entering medicine now you won't have to deal with 36 hour shift (thank goodness!) but it is very interesting to read about three interns who did in the mid-80's. One even had a two month baby going and was three months pregnant by the time she finished!This isn't an uplifting book by an stretch, but if you're interested in medicine you won't get bored.
Rating:
Summary: I Can't Wait...
Review: Intern Blues is comprised of many excellent diary entries by three real-life interns during their initial year of residency in 1985-1986. The overall transformation of these new doctors from rookie, know-nothing interns into fairly competent and confident second year residents is gradually and subtly parcelled out. As a medical student, I found the interns' initial bumblings and fears quite realistic. I was somewhat disappointed by three aspects of the book: first, there was little more than surface treatment of the interns' internal motivations (except need for sleep), or personal/home lives; secondly, their weekly diary entries were too often made at the end of a 36-hour shift and therefore had an overwhelmingly morose tone and very limited view of their lives (ie., "must get more sleep"); and finally, Author Bob Marion maintains a disingenuous tone of empathy toward his interns regarding the overwhelming burden the residency program puts on them, yet Residency Director Bob Marion does not do anything about that very system in which he is a significant authority. Notwithstanding, I enjoyed the book--it helped prepare me a little bit more for life after medical school (if that really exists!). I learned something important from the interns: that it is not Satan who is the source of all evil, but rather lab technicians! But most of all, following the struggles and growth of these first-year residents gave me hope that I'll also make it alive out of the medical training tunnel.
Rating:
Summary: A future intern's blues
Review: Intern Blues, written by Robert Marion, M.D., is a look at the life of doctors fresh from medical school, from the inside. The author asked three interns to record their lives on hand-held tape recorders, compiled the recordings, and offered commentary on their experiences. This exercise is meant to give the reader an understanding of the process of becoming a doctor. The interns Amy, Andy, and Mark begin the year enthused and excited to be finally working with patients of their very own. They explain the work they are doing, their interactions with their superiors, the staff and their patients, and their personal relationships. The interns are eager to learn the skills an independent doctor must possess. The internships start off in a positive light; however, their experiences quickly become much less positive. Through the remainder of the book, their observations and outlook on life become almost entirely negative. All three characters have lost their ability to socially interact, feel deprived of time with their families, and have no knowledge of anything that happens outside of the hospital. Despite their grim outlook on life, the reader can see their skills and abilities progress quite dramatically. They are transformed from timid students, unwilling to act without supervision, to competent doctors capable of supervising others. The conversion is quite impressive. The author ends the book by questioning the worth of the intern year. He leaves it to the reader to weigh the benefits and the drawbacks and to come to his or her own personal decision. I don not believe this is meant to challenge the entire medical teaching process, but rather ask each individual reader to fully understand what a doctor must give up inside of themselves in order to achieve their goal. My main criticism of the book is that the characters primarily record only when really bad things happen, thus there are very few positive events, and even fewer neutral events. So the reader is not sure if all of the internship is truly this horrible, or if only the truly horrible things are recorded. I have a feeling that if a third party had followed each character and recorded ALL the events, the picture would be significantly less bleak. I hope that is true, seeing as in two years, I will be an intern myself. This is a good book for anyone interested in becoming a doctor, or interested in understanding better the sacrifices one must make along the journey to becoming a doctor; Although it should be taken with a grain of salt. The characters all mention that if they knew how bad the internship would be, they never would have done it. However, as the book is closing, amnesia sets in, and upon reflection, they all concede that it "may" have been worth it. In any event, they all choose to continue their training. At first glance, this book appeared to be filled with the whining of interns. Upon further inspection, it is an interesting commentary on the experiences that young doctors have as they gain the skills and confidence needed in the field of medicine.
Rating: 
Summary: Sequel to INTERN BLUES soon to be published
Review: It has been ten years since the publication of INTERN
BLUES. Many things about training have changed since the 3 doctors portrayed in the book completed their training.
In a new book, ROTATIONS: THE TWELVE MONTHS OF INTERNSHIP,
I examine how those changes have affected the lives of three
interns who trained in the 1994 to 1995 year. ROTATIONS will
be published by Harper Collins in June, 1997
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