The Year of the Intern

Synopsis

The nurse is desperate. "Dr. Peters, the patient has stopped breathing and he doesn't have any pulse." "I'm on my way." Dr. Peters, in his fifteenth day of internship, is running again. True, he has been trained to run, through high school, the Ivy League, and a prestigious eastern medical school. Now he has run all the way to Hawaii for his year as an intern. He has run away from the pressure and competition of the mainland medical system. He is tired-tired and scared. And with good reason. After two weeks on call, his exhausted nervous system is in rebellion. Worse yet, three years of the best medical training this country has to offer have taught him too little of practical value. He knows less than a nurse about medication; his surgical knots won't hold; all his knowledge about Schwartzman reaction and other esotérica is useless in the practical hurly-burly of daily hospital life. As for the man who has stopped breathing- "What time did he die?" Peters asks the nurse. "He died when you pronounced him dead, Doctor." Some parts of Hawaii do not disappoint. The climate and the girls are joyful. But in his attempt to grow as a doctor, Peters on his own. As posstesor of a medical degree he is called "Doctor" he is a stage prop, a human mechanism holding retractors through endless operations, staring at the back of the surgeon, unable to see, to learn. On the ward, senior doctors see to it that Peters does the work-ups-fills out charts, draws blood, the "scut" work-and handles night calls. Thus Peters alternates between frustrating days and panic-filled nights. In the emergency room it is much the same. Amid the banality of common colds, backaches, and surfing lacerations, Peters delivers a baby, handles the multiple wreckage of an automobile accident, and deals as best he can with patients who need years of psychiatric care rather than a few hurried minutes with an intern.

Copyright:

1972

Book Details

Book Quality:

Excellent

Book Size:

253 Pages

Publisher:

N/A

Date of Addition:

12/27/05

Copyrighted By:

Robert B. Cook M.D

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Science, Health, Mind and Body, Literature and Fiction, Mystery and Thrillers, Religion and Spirituality, Medicine

Submitted By:

Shelley L. Rhodes

Proofread By:

Sue Stevens

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.