On Call: A Doctor's Days and Nights in Residency

I like this book because it's such a contrast to the previous one I read, which was recommended to all family and "partners" of those attending my daughter's medical school. That book is so awful I won't even review it, although it's well written but the three interns/residents were such nasty people I couldn't possibly be objective. I don't recommend it, and I can't for the life of me understand why the medical school suggested we all read it, but here it is anyway: The Intern Blues: The Timeless Classic About the Making of a Doctor As opposed to the immature, selfish, whining, cursing, temper-tamper throwing horrible doctors whose residency/specialty was in pediatrics in The Intern Blues (you would be shocked at what they said about their young and very sick patients as well as the parents), Dr. Transue is much more compassionate, caring and mature in attitude, even though she was about the same age as the interns in the above-mentioned book. What's also more satisfying is she also writes about three years of residency, vs. the first year only. That gives some perspective and a better sense of what happens in first year residency to the progression through third year. As an aside, many hospitals now call first year interns "residents," not interns, but that's not universal yet. That was very confusing until my daughter set me straight.In all fairness to the "bad" interns I mentioned above, hospitals and medical schools changed their rules about how many hours residents could work, be on call, etc. -- after The Intern Blues was written. However, I am guessing Dr. Transue would have maintained her composure and empathy had she been under the old system of overworking the residents. She just struck me as more mature and better able to cope with any situation, whatever the circumstances.I have reason to believe this book will give you a pretty good idea of what residency is like for the current set of doctors going through the rite of passage that's required. I sure recommend it over The Intern Blues. If nothing else, it will give you an appreciation of what any and all of your doctors had to go through.

“On Call” is a book about Dr. Transue’s experiences during her three-year Internal Medicine residency (mostly in her first year internship) focusing on trauma and indigent care. Her collection of stories was developed from the author’s contemporaneous notes. The book is organized into brief, loosely chronological incidents varying from a few paragraphs to several pages.Previous medical memoirs I’ve read focused on either the doctor’s actions or the patient. This book additionally emphasized the doctor’s thoughts and feelings. For this reason, I originally thought the book was too soft. But as the book progressed, a mix emerged between the technical and the personal. It became clear that doctors were people too. And, that aims at a difficult part of the profession.In her stories, patient death and intern exhaustion were recurring themes. The relentless repetition invites the reader not just to observe, but to share her experiences. I found myself thinking, “Why do all of these episodes end up with someone dying?” But, that is the reality: they do take place in hospitals.This book was interesting, but aside from an occasional high-spirited patient, I found little upside in the episodes. On completing the program, the author’s strongest emotion seemed to be relief. But, she also acknowledged her growth and the role her residency played in her becoming a doctor. I will need to read her follow-on book to discover what kind of doctor she became.

Being a Registered Nurse myself and also being married to a physician, I'm very aware of all the hospital stories that occur during training. In fact, I dated many medical students when I was young and working at a teaching hospital. I also now live in Seattle. So this book was a "given" that I would read it.I thoroughly enjoyed every story she told. She struggled with being "human" rather than tough and non-feeling as many doctors appeared to be. And that was an endearing part of her story. Doctors are human and have feelings. And Dr. Transue learned in her training that being tough isn't necessary and that it's ok to become involved in patient care and really "care".I worked L&D most of my clinical career in San Diego. A real tough OB doctor worked with me for years----he could be very matter of fact and hard core with his patients. One day I realized that a patient of mine in the triage room was carrying a stillborn. He was the doc on call. I was concerned that he would be too tough and not soft enough for this patient. But when he pulled the curtains and cried as he told her the baby had died, I realized that he is a caring man and had compassion for his patients---just tried too hard not to show it. I gained a new respect for him and doctors.This is an excellent book about the training for doctors. I highly recommend it for all those newly graduated from medical school. It just might help them with that "human factor".

The reason I bought this book is my daughter and her husband just finished 7 years of Residency last year. They also had many crazy incidents since they did most of theirs at Hannemann General Hospital in Philadelphia. Our son-in-law is now doing a Fellowship in Surgery in Southern California. Our daughter does General Surgery. They both did plenty of work in the Emergency Room. They saw gang members, stab wounds, gunshot wounds, vehicle accidents, severe burns, you name it. So, this book revealed lots of info on what goes on behind the scenes. Many doctor wannabees think of the fortune and glamour of the medical profession. Before they make the plunge, both they and their parents/caregivers should read this book. I learned a lot from it, since our daughter is the first in our family to make it this far.

I went through medical school approximately the same time as the author. Reading this brought back a lot of memories. She is so much more compassionate than I was, so insightful, extremely articulate. Some of her descriptions are so amazingly poignant and succinct and brilliant. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Amazing amazing cover and good delivery! Started it and so far so good.