Resident On Call: A Doctor's Reflections on His First Years at Mass General
In these loosely strung-together anecdotes, a seasoned physician looks back on his training as a pediatric resident at Massachusetts General Hospital, affectionately dubbed “Man’s Greatest Hospital.” His reminiscing charts the arrogance and ambition of youth giving way to feelings of inadequacy and humility, and, much later, the launching of professionalism and even wisdom. Emotional fatigue, sleep-deprivation, and expectations of perfection are unremitting. Faculty, difficult patients, and the hierarchy of medical apprenticeship are recalled. Rivkees recounts some tragic cases that he was involved with as a resident: an infant infected with herpes virus that ate holes in her brain tissue, newborn conjoined twins who did not survive the surgery to separate them, and brothers with burns on 95 percent of their bodies. Readers receive a heavy dose of the Boston setting—neighborhood bars, Fenway Park, the Charles River—and descriptions of the author’s colleagues, dating experiences, and pranks. The making of a doctor is long, grueling, and engrossing. There are many memoirs of medical training out there, and while Rivkees’ is not among the very best, it is frank and certainly of interest. --Tony Miksanek