Intern

by Doctor X.

The week-by-week diary of a young doctor during his year of hospital internship. Frank, sometimes shocking, andcompletely honest, it is the first inside account of modern medical and hospital practice that has ever been presented to the American Public.

Genres: Medical, Nonfiction, Memoir, Medicine, Science, Biography

404 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honest

[Michael David · Rating 5 out of 5]

'And if there is a single dread that haunts doctors even after years of practice, it is the dread of misjudging a situation because of anger, irritation, laziness or selfishness.' (p. 145)

I've been there. I've been an intern before I became a doctor, and it's amazing how similar our experiences have been with each other. I guess the hardships and difficulties never change, even in spite of the fact that fifty years have passed since the publication of this book. The only difference is that technological advances in medicine have made life easier, but death still remains - and death will always remain.

Although I think Dr. Nourse had a stronger personality than mine, he was never wrong in regard to the nurses. Great nurses become your friends, and make your life a hell of a lot easier. As an intern, I was able to do what I needed to do because of nurses prodding me with the right calls. Sadly, however, there are also horrible and lazy nurses - just as there are horrible and lazy doctors.

We always, however, have had to start somewhere:

'The interns starting each July are just as green, just as frightened and just as hapless as they ever were. They work just as hard, doing the same kind of work, with just as many failures and just as many triumphs today as when I was there. But they learn ... and the work goes on.' (p. 404)

Interns and medical doctors should definitely read this.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read originally as a Condensed Book selection, then re-read when I was fortunate enough to locate a hard-cover edition of the original. This no-punches-pulled, first-person account of a young physician's intern year in the 1950s reminds all of us that doctors are human, fallible creatures who've chosen one of the few professions in which the slightest error or moment of inattention can result in death... and who even today, must take their years of schooling into a hospital and "practice" the application of that knowledge before being granted the privilege of a license. I do regret not taking the time to write to the author (after discovering his identity of Dr. Alan Nourse) to thank him for his courageous publication of this incredible journal. Though somewhat dated, the essence of Dr. Nourse's journey still remains relevant, and his passion for medicine -- and his appreciation for those at whose hands he learned -- shine from each page.

[Shaun Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found a copy of this book in a second hand book store. A brutal honest account of medicine. We are to often surprised to find our doctors are human. Some complain about the language and thoughts of Dr.X. I for one believe the stuff we hide, the facade the front, to be the most dangerous lies of all the lies humans tell. Alan exposes it for what it is. Your doctor is human, your doctor may hate you. I also suggest The Making Of Surgeon but Dr. William A Nolan. These two books helped me understand and communicate with my doctor so much more. Closing thoughts: Do you have the stones to cut another human open to try and save their life? Because I don't.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was tired just reading about this intern's activities. I was also shocked at how little could be done to treat certain conditions back in 1965. However, from reading comments by more recent medical school grads, it appears that the experiences described are still relevant. I recommend this to anyone considering becoming a doctor.

[David Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when I was about 12 years old. I was fascinated with the humor and pathos in the story but I never knew any further about it

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the events of this book occurring ~50 years ago, it did not feel nearly that dated. Dr. X., a pseudonym of a doctor who was practicing somewhere in the southwestern U.S. at the time the book was published, chronicles his intern year at a notable hospital system, likely the one where he was now a full-time staff member. Perhaps it is that the training of a medical doctor has not changed all that much over the years which can explain why I found this book quite timeless. X breaks down the year based on the 5 'services' he rotated through, Medicine I, Obstetrics, Surgery, Pediatrics, and Medicine II, some more enjoyable than others and all shaping his decision to choose his area of practice in the end. These days, I imagine there are more than 5 rotations, as psychiatry seemed to be a newly emerging field back then, and 'Medicine' covered broad topics from oncology to urology to what we would still consider now to be general medicine. His year was also shaped by the fact that their intern class was quite small, such that some services had no interns in a given month and thus when X or his colleagues were on call, they were also responsible for those services' patients too.
The book is written in diary format as X would dictate his recollections and his wife, who sounds like the stereotypical housewife of the day, would type them up for him from these tapes. Therefore, depending on how tired or busy he was, some entries covered just the most recent shift, while others encompassed a whole weekend or more and thus some details were forgotten. It added an authenticity to the book to have it this way, as there are many patients he saw once, but by the time he worked again their cases either turned out not to be memorable enough to mention again, or he lost track of their case. That said, there were enough patients who stayed long enough for X to follow through on their hospital stay and not leave readers hanging all the time. Unfortunately, many of today's advances in medicine were still in the distant future and a good percentage of the cases ended in the patient's death, but again, that is simply a real representation of what the limits were of medicine back then and how fortunate we are to have come this far in 50 short years.

[Cathy DuPont · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the urging of my daughter, an OB/GYN RN, I read half the book but had to put it down although in my opinion, it was well written. An intern kept a journal in the mid-1960's and published the journal in 1965. I usually don't review books that I put down, and perhaps I should note that as 'put down' on my shelf. I didn't put it down because it was not a good book. This book enlightened me to the fact that there are other reasons for not finishing a book.

Unfortunately, I found the description of the ailments of the patients quite disturbing. The 'uck' factor was more than I could handle. In fact I told friends including my daughter, that I think it brought on short term depression. When I considered that, I just read through the first two chapters, Medicine I and Obstetrics and Gynecology, about one-half of the book, then gave it up because daughter said the 'uck' factor, as I called it, got worse. She said pediatrics was a real heartbreaker. I believed her.

Highly recommended for those in the field of medicine though. They work in that environment, patients coughing yellow mucus (and other stuff) daily. And Dr. X, the writer, told it like he saw it, warts and all. He even owned up to making his own mistakes which I thought was quite commendable. Interns are there to learn. He pulled no punches even with his fellow doctors which is probably why he authored it as "Dr. X."

Good reading for someone not queasy. Got a stomach ache now just thinking about it. Uck!

[Josephine Ensign · Rating 1 out of 5]

A totally offensive 'Mad Men of Medicine' sort of book. Doctor X is really Dr. Alan Nourse (pronounced, ironically enough, 'nurse,' so he was 'Doctor Nurse) of The Bladerunner fame. This is a 400-page rambling diatribe of a book based on his real-life year as an intern at Seattle's Virginia Mason Hospital in the late 1950s. He tries to change/alter names of patients and colleagues, but otherwise it is based on his almost daily diary that he dictated into a recorder and his long-suffering wife transcribed into a book for him. What's offensive about it is his treatment and descriptions of nurses and patients as 'slovenly bitches'--or worse throughout the entire manuscript. And his utter worship of abusive, yet God-like senior surgeons at the hospital. I mainly read this as an historical artifact/ primary source about some of the hospitals in Seattle during that time period, but I am amazed it ever got published by a major publisher in the first place. I hope 'Doctor Nurse' somehow matured into a more compassionate general practitioner in rural Washington State--where he practiced for the rest of his life.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best part about this book is that it's not the reminiscences of an experienced doctor, but a journal written (or actually dictated into a tape recorder) during his internship. He occasionally adds a post hoc comment to explain further or correct his opinion based on additional experience or information.
What's really crazy is that Doctor X was really Alan E. Nourse, a physician and science-fiction writer; his sci-fi stories helped pay for medical school. He wrote the novel The Bladerunner, providing the title for the film version of Philip K. Dick's novel, and Robert A. Heinlein dedicated a novel to him. He only practiced medicine until 1963, and he later wrote a medical column for Good Housekeeping.

[Ginny Thurston · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and educational journal by a medical intern in the 1950’s. You never learn his name...he is known as Dr.X, but it really makes one appreciate how difficult it is to be a doctor....all the long hours, difficult cases, tragedies,and victories. One can really see how medicine has changed...especially when all nurses are”she” and all doctors are “he.” He has to spend time in emergency rooms, in surgical training, in obstetrics,and pediatrics. It is along exhausting year after which he has to pass medical boards, and then decide whether to do a residency or go into medical practice.

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating! I worked at virginia Mason Hospital about a year after this book was written in 1965 so of course it was really popular back then.

[Renee]

It was the first book ever written about a doctor and his experiences as a hospital intern. At times, it was hard to understand some of the medical terms - likely because this book was written assuming that the reader would be futur doctors. So sometimes, I didn't understand the terms. But the book was great overall.

I really came to understand how difficult it is to be a hospital doctor. What these poor people go through....the sadness of treating incurable disease, death, and the pain in the ass patients. Sometimes, they go on just a few hours of sleep and yes, they make mistakes. It really humanizes doctors.

ALthough times have changed and health care is completely different, it really gives an inside look into hospital care. If you like ER and Grey's you might like this book.

[Patricia]

I first read this as a Condensed Book, as a young girl. It was captivating. Stories of hope, survival, despair, and sorrow, all held together by a single thread: the involvement of a man who is in the process of making the final entry into the medical profession.
The book not only chronicles his movement through the various "rotations", but also his growth as a doctor, his ability to make decisions that lead to diagnosis. And it chronicles the slow development of what we could call a "thicker skin", but what is almost certainly really a defensive wall, necessary for survival in the world of medicine.
I definitely appreciate the time and effort this person went to, to chronicle his experiences in a way that was not only informative, but also entertaining.

[Sharon Griffitts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book while in medical school and it inspired me to write a journal, which I probably kept up for only a month or two. (part of me aspired to be a writer inmy younger days, but I simply can't sit still long enough). Intern was a first, a revelation of what it was really like to endure medical training in the late sixties, early seventies. My idea was to write the female version; women were just beginning to be accepted in medicine in larger numbers (and look at us today!). I really wonder how much has trainig changed in the last 4 decades--a lot I think juding from attitudes of younger colleagues.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being a nurse I thought it was very interesting and true...but the part where a patient had her saphenous vein tied off during a vein ligation and he decided not to come to her aid and help her sue the surgeon caused her an amputation all at her expense...she had no insurance,had to save for the ligation herself and she was only 24....he didn't blow the whistle cause he was "one of them"...so much for do no harm.....

[Maryse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this because I was entering internship at a large hospital. But when you start living it, there just doesn't seem any point in reading it. Not that this isn't a good book. Much of it still rings true today (at least where I'm training) and I recommend it to anyone thinking about entering Medicine.

I'll probably read this again when I get a vacation or something

[Richard A · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in high school. I was shocked and impressed with life as a young intern. It made me not want to be a physician and it also made me much more aware than I was at the time of the frailities of the human body.

[Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great hospital read from back in the day. A classic

[Cws]

M Doc

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

True story about an intern in a large hospital. Revealing!

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting story of a doctor's first year as an intern. More interesting was discovering who Dr X was and his accomplishments in life.

[Anne Oswald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite dated, but that's part of what makes it so interesting. An account of internship in the 1950s, interesting cases, and the social aspects of learning to be a doctor.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

fascinating real life of an intern. makes you want to not be a doctor.

[Tikri /Letitia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seemed like I was right there, a friend he confided in as he lived the story.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it while I was an Intern!

[Maureen Grigsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was published in 1965 and I remember my (nurse) mother reading it when it first came out. At the time, it was quite shocking that an intern had the gall to publish the unvarnished truth of a physician internship. Today, this book is a close look at the state of American medicine 60 years ago. The treatment of leukemia,heart disease, kidney disease, and so many other illnesses have changed drastically with much better outcomes today. The author never mentioned a female physician. There didn’t appear to be an ICU unit in his hospital, but apparently they were just beginning in the U.S. at that time. Of course measles, mumps, and polio were still common at that time. And the field of “hospitalists” didn’t exist, which makes life easier for hospitalized patients today. I found this book to be a very interesting one! Interestingly, the author eventually got out of the practice of medicine, and became a science fiction writer.

[Yvonne Lacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodness, how medicine has changed! I have re-read this a number of times since it was published, and marvel at the almost quaint but at the same time terrifying scene confronting doctors in the 1950s when these experiences were lived.
Doctor X turned out to be Dr. Alan Nourse, a real physician who also had a career as a science fiction writer. He wrote his intern memoir anonymously for obvious reasons, as he gave honest and scary accounts of the state of hospital medicine.
My favorite SF by him is a kids' book, Star Surgeon, another one I re-read periodically.

[Ram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan E. Nourse, a physician as well as a prolific science fiction and medical writer, drew upon his own professional experience to craft Intern. The book is presented as a fictionalized memoir of a young doctor navigating his internship year in a large, urban American hospital.

More at

https://vramonline.wordpress.com/2025...

[China]

My dad recommended this as a juicy read, but it was a rare DNF for me. I could handle the mucus but lost the energy for the writer’s voice about 120 pages in.