Stories from the Emergency Department

by Mary Beth Engrav MD

Stories from the Emergency Department: A real look inside of an Emergency Department, as an Emergency Physician of 20 years remembers some of the cases she has seen that are the most memorable. Real stories about the patients, nurses, consulting physicians, and daily life of a busy Emergency Department. Get a glimpse inside the inner workings of an Emergency Department and the staff that works there, caring for patients and their families. From a toddler who can cuss a blue streak, a dead mouse brought into the Emergency Department, to critical resuscitations, these are stories that you will never forget.

Genres: Medical, Nonfiction

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 31, 2011

Reviews

[Margaret Kolstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting read

Interesting read about life in the ER. Very easy to read and lots of interesting stories. Well written by author.

[Lawon Weeks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

Has to be the best book on this subject that I've read. Well written in understandable words for a layman and very descriptive cases. Dr. Engrav gives everyone credit for their assistance and includes the information that patients and their families should be sure to share with the medical staff.

[Melanie Rowley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Enjoyed this very much. Very well written but they need a proofreader as there were errors. I hope more ER books are written by this doctor and soon. I did not want the book to reach the end. Such a treat to find a book that you are eager to open for days.

[Donna McDermott · Rating 5 out of 5]

very American

Really interesting but difficult at times because US and UK medicine can be very different. Some additional proof reading would have benefitted too. Overall, worth reading.

[Margaret Agard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kept me interested

For some reason I've become addicted to medical personnel memoirs, lately. This is one of the better ones. It's organized slightly differently than most - along medical themes such as fractures, or medical mysteries. Well done

[jill silverman · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent she captures what the ER is exactly and i say this after having been an ER RN f0r over 35
years all over this country! She and Nick Casto[ER DAYS] are the only ones worth reading re the subject,

[joyce lee middleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!! Thoroughly enjoyed ❤️

So well written, interesting both good bad and really bad. Received a lot of very good information from this read. Thank you so much for writing this, much appreciated ❤️🫂

[jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you!

I have had many ER visits over the years, and this book taught me a lot of things that I had questions about.

[Robert Dodd · Rating 5 out of 5]

nice pace

Nice pace, clear, human centered stories . She didn’t go for wow stories but stories highlighting the process and qualities of patients and care givers.

[Cynthia Mccormack · Rating 4 out of 5]

informative book, but…

I enjoyed the read, but the editing is poor. Many punctuation, grammar, etc. mistakes. For me, this always reduces the credibility of the author.

[Eleanor Shumaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent!

Utterly fascinating stories, clearly, and well told. And the kind of doctor you wish could be your doctor!
I hope she will write more!

[Allyson Dyar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Reviews: Two of a Kind

I decided to take advantage of my hour long lunch hour by taking part of it and reading books. Right now, I’m concentrating on non-fiction, Medical History books; eventually, I’ll get back into reading fiction.

One of the last of the hardcover books left on my shelf is The Making of Modern Medicine: Turning Points in the Treatment of Disease by Michael Bliss and the next book was the Kindle version of Stores from the Emergency Room by Mary Beth Engrav, MD.

I’m combining both reviews into one because after completing my reading, I was left with the same feeling of bewilderment: these books were very well written, interesting to read but ultimately left me unsatisfied and unlikely to read them a second time.

The Making of Modern Medicine by Michael Bliss can be described as not only a very short book but a preface to three of Dr Bliss’ three other books: Plague: A Story of Smallpox in Montreal, Williams Osler: A Life in Medicine, and The Discovery of Insulin (which I’ve read and previously reviewed). It’s not that the individual stories weren’t interesting but they were obviously written to prompt readers to read the actual books and honestly, as a reader, I feel duped. I’m sad to say that, but that’s honesty how I feel. Yes, the information was interesting and well-presented, but it was obvious presented more as an over-view, rather than in-depth analysis.

I didn’t really have that problem with the second book, Stores from the Emergency Room. It was an interesting collection of anecdotes of interesting cases Dr Engrav had encountered while an emergency room physician. The stories reminded me of the Emergency Room itself: tell the story, get the patient off to a specialist.

Perhaps I’m picky, but I seriously wanted more background: hospital background, background of Emergency Medicine in that hospital, background of Dr Engrav herself. Something. Anything more than, “here’s the patient – here’s what we did -- there goes the patient.” Yawn.

I had a hard time coming up with a rating for these two books and I’ve decided on ***/***** but in reality, I would give them each 3.5/5 stars. Well-written but ultimately unsatisfying.

[Andrew Niemann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was initially put off because the book seemed to start out a bit too clinical, but as I got into it, it began to have the right mix of clinical with emotional and the "story - telling" flow began to take over. When it comes down to it, this book was series of anecdotes that I was sad to see end. Also found several statements that I may have to quote in the future.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light read, very quick. Involves the reader. A few typos here and there but no big deal.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good stories but poor editing

I enjoyed this book quite a bit but the editing bothered me at times. Worth a read though! It had some excellent stories and it was very insightful.