The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly: A Physician’s First Year by Matt McCarthy (PDF)

Description

A scorchingly frank look at how doctors are made, bringing readers into the critical care unit to see one burgeoning physician’s journey from ineptitude to competence.In medical school, Matt McCarthy dreamed of being a different kind of doctor—the sort of mythical, unflappable physician who could reach unreachable patients. But when a new admission to the critical care unit almost died his first night on call, he found himself scrambling. Visions of mastery quickly gave way to hopes of simply surviving hospital life, where confidence was hard to come by and no amount of med school training could dispel the terror of facing actual patients.This funny, candid memoir of McCarthy’s intern year at a New York hospital provides a scorchingly frank look at how doctors are made, taking readers into patients’ rooms and doctors’ conferences to witness a physician’s journey from ineptitude to competence. McCarthy’s one stroke of luck paired him with a brilliant second-year adviser he called “Baio” (owing to his resemblance to the Charles in Charge star), who proved to be a remarkable teacher with a wicked sense of humor. McCarthy would learn even more from the people he cared for, including a man named Benny, who was living in the hospital for months at a time awaiting a heart transplant. But no teacher could help McCarthy when an accident put his own health at risk, and showed him all too painfully the thin line between doctor and patient.The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly offers a window on to hospital life that dispenses with sanctimony and self-seriousness while emphasizing the black-comic paradox of becoming a doctor: How do you learn to save lives in a job where there is no practice?

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “A real delight…an entertaining window into an unknown world.”—USA Today“It’s an account so engaging that I went from swearing never to let an intern near me to understanding exactly why the doctor-training process works the way it does.”—Entertainment Weekly“McCarthy gives readers a brutally honest, often darkly comical glimpse into the formative days of his medical career…an enthralling account of the metamorphosis of an uncertain medical resident into a skilled physician.”—Discover“[This] rousing memoir describes [a] tumultuous year of medical internship at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, a 12-month marathon noteworthy for a steep learning curve, emotional extremes, and chronic sleep deprivation…A genuine glimpse at the making of a doctor.” —Booklist“This story is a year in the life of an almost-doctor, but it is so much more than that. It’s a book about mentorship, compassion, pride, and the insecurity of learning the most important lessons in your career—and in your life—long after those lessons were supposed to be taught. It’s about the precarious and often unclear boundary between life and death, and those tasked with maintaining this boundary, even at the end of a thirty-hour shift. Perhaps above all, it’s about decent people doing a very hard, decent thing with their lives. Yes, doctors are people too—and McCarthy tempers and then transcends the unease of such a reminder by telling his story with much humor, and even more heart.” —Jeff Hobbs, author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace “Fascinating, funny and spot on. Like my own internship – only with a laugh track. A must read for anyone who’s going to be a doctor, or just going to see one.” —Lisa Sanders, MD, New York Times Magazine’s “Diagnosis” columnist and author of Every Patient Tells A Story “McCarthy’s tale is by turns harrowing, hilarious, and uplifting. Whether you’re deciding if you should become a doctor, or merely if you should go see one, this look beneath the hospital gown will change your perspective for good.” —David Epstein, author of The Sports Gene “Thanks to Dr. Matt’s column, I know why tennis players grunt, and why five-finger shoes are for morons, and why I should have gotten a vasectomy during March Madness. And thanks to this book, I now know how he became the kind of doctor that I feel comfortable going to with stupid drunken questions.” —Drew Magary, author of The Postmortal and Someone Could Get Hurt “Hilarious, horrifying and ultimately inspiring, The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly is a hallucinogenic trip through a doctor’s first year, filled with ill-fated pin pricks, misdiagnosis, disappearing patients, life and, inevitably, death. Beautifully written and impossible to put down, here is the unvarnished look at how we create the flawed and ultimately heroic human beings who save our lives—and sometimes don’t.” —Steve Fainaru, co-author of League of Denial “Everything you did—or maybe didn’t—want to know about becoming a doctor. Matt McCarthy’s tale of internship is equal parts entertaining, cringeworthy, and inspiring.” —Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, author of What Doctors Feel “Matt McCarthy’s new book, The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly, is an honest, beautiful, and terrifying look at what goes into creating a doctor. Filled with very human characters, both doctors and patients alike, Matt’s well paced writing makes it easy to imagine yourself in the shoes of a brand new intern, nervous and afraid, yet still tasked with literal life and death decisions. I would recommend this book to anyone who knows or has been treated by a doctor (so basically everyone).”—Chris Kluwe, author of Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies “Well-written and brutally honest, Dr. McCarthy’s engrossing memoir of his internship year is told with uncommon frankness and perception. The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly is one of the most powerful books about a doctor-in-training I have ever read. The author vividly describes the crushing emotional and physical demands a young doctor must face, and he does so with consummate skill and compassion. A marvelous book.” —Michael Collins, author of Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs “I’m no doctor—but I am writer—and what I appreciated most about Matt McCarthy’s book is the humor and the humanity on every page. Even if you don’t know the spleen from the stomach, by the end you will understand the sometimes frightening and sometimes comic reality of a doctor’s apprenticeship.” —Jack McCallum, author of Dream Team“Insightful, fast-paced and achingly honest, Matt McCarthy’s The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly has all the elements of a great story: a flawed hero with lively allies battling frequent, seemingly insurmountable obstacles to reach a laudable goal – becoming a good doctor.” —Louise Aronson, author of A History of the Present Illness About the Author MATT MCCARTHY is an assistant professor of medicine at Cornell and a staff physician at Weill Cornell Medical Center. His work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Slate, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Deadspin, where he writes the Medspin column. His first book, Odd Man Out, was a New York Times bestseller.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐It tells it like it is.

⭐What happens when a graduate of Harvard Medical School arrives at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital for his straight medicine internship and discovers he is woefully underprepared? They say you can tell a Harvard man, but you can’t tell him much. But Matt is a Harvard man and he doesn’t know much. He doesn’t know much about the practical aspects of drawing blood, putting down a nasogastric tube, or placing a central line. He is pretty close to useless in a cardiac arrest. And needs special guidance on how to decompress a tension pneumothorax. As a Columbia Medical School graduate I have had the suspicion that graduating from Harvard confers a handicap. This book proves that suspicion true. Matt McCarthy deserves credit for his honesty and perseverance and his clear telling about the real deal. And it is nice to see his character slowly develop into that of an excellent physician. We cheer him along the way as he discovers his ability to think beyond the science of medicine to the art of medicine. The patients discussed are interesting too including Dre with AIDS who doesn’t want to take her meds, the man who waits and waits and waits for a heart transplant, and the patient at Allen Hospital who had Hepatitis C who suddenly arrested and died for no apparent reason. Believe it or not, medicine has a high cultural component. What is standard of care at Harvard is sometimes quite different at Columbia. And I know from my internship at Cornell and the New York Hospital that Cornell medicine was sometimes quite different from what was considered standard care at Columbia. At Cornell, for instance, if a patient arrived with a pure motor hemiparesis, he would get a gigantic load of tests including four vessel arteriograms. At Columbia he might get a portable chest film, some care and attention to electrolytes, nutrition, and bowel and bladder control and just put to bed for a two week rest, followed by rehab. The outcome was usually, but not always, better by the Columbia method of “do no harm” and let the patient recover. So I recommend this book if you really want to see how Columbia house officers think and function at a world class medical center. Medicine is a complex discipline and the Columbia house staff more often than not gets it right.

⭐I want to share to everyone how great this book is. The targeted audience is someone currently in the healthcare field, or about to enter it. There is a lot of medical jargon, however it is usually clarified within context. I would highly recommend this book to someone about to enter medical school or PA school. This book is a very candid view into a physician’s first year, full of trials and tribulations. It has made me laugh out loud and surprise myself, and it has caused me to cry like a baby..this vast emotional range is how I rate the effectiveness of a story, whether it be a book or movie. Not that the author reads these, but it’s important to note the sensitive personal nature of some of his experiences, and I wish I could tell him how much I appreciate this, coming from a person just admitted to a highly competitive PA program. 5 stars!

⭐Great read

⭐This memoir outlines the making of a physician. Dr. McCarthy gives the reader a walk in his shoes as he navigates his first year out of medical school. For the lay person and medical professional alike, it is very readable.The medical jargon is explained without talking down to the reader. The situations he finds himself in are typical and yet extraordinary. After a needlestick, he is forced to confront himself and what kind of doctor he wants to be.He struggles with empathy and objectivity as he deals with patients and their families, all while chronically sleep deprived.I enjoyed my look behind the curtain. No matter how far they go in their field, they all have to start somewhere. They all have to begin at the beginning and they do not come pre-programed for success.Med school, internships and residencies are brutal. Once through all that I can see how some doctors seek to insulate themselves and their emotions. I’m glad that Dr. McCarthy continues to put himself out there for his patients,his students and now his readers.

⭐As a current medical student, I found this book a really useful and fun read. Though I’m terrified of what lies ahead for me when I become a junior doctor, this book makes me feel like I can get through it. I know that everyone will feel uncertainty and fear and can sometimes break down, but Dr. McCarthy shows me this is all part of the journey.He writes about his experience in a very down-to-earth and witty manner. He writes honestly about thoughts and feelings that I never thought a doctor would admit to. I could barely put it down for hours! It was easy to put myself in these characters’ shoes and imagine what it must be like to feel like you don’t know anything. I wanted to know what happened to each of the patients, just as if I were seeing these patients together with Dr. McCarthy.Reading his observations and feelings makes me really excited to become a doctor and get to work with other such compassionate and intelligent people.

⭐WOW. I have worked in a teaching hospital wuth resudents and interns but to be quite honest going into a 12 hr shift my focus was on my patients…Dr meant Dr but it surely means something differently to me after reading Dr Matt’s book. I don’t think I can ever interact with a physician again without seeing what they went through to get where they are. I am a Home Health Nurse…before that physical Rehab and always Med Surg. When moving ICU patients when a bed was needed I always said the only difference between ICU and Med Surg was the elevator door. I have already recommended your book to nurse friends and will recommend to my PCP as well. So relatable, and even as a nurse when out in public you always see the skin, hear that cough, see the unsteady gait and wonder what they have or are going through. Excellent book!

⭐Really good book I couldn’t put it down. Well written fast moving and takes you through the life and trials of an intern in a busy hospital

⭐Excellent

⭐Wonderful book. Loved it!!! As an ICU nurse, it talked to me from the beginning to the last word. I highly recommend it to anyone who has some understanding of the subject or wants to know what it is going on in the hospital medical field, respectively ICU mostly.Thank you Matt, highly appreciated!!!

⭐This was enjoyable from start to finish. In marvellously readable style the author takes us for his first tenuous steps as a fledgling doctor through a harrowing yet ultimately satisfying year of medical training. The tone is light but the experiences are real and emotionally wrought. I feel it was a privilege to peer over the author’s shoulder throughout.

⭐What a great book written so well by this young intern. I loved it from the beginningwith the banana peel to the end with Benny. You know a book is good when you canlaugh and also shed a tear. I am sure Dr. McCarthy is a fine Doctor!

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