Trauma Center: Three Days in the Life of an Emergency Room Doctor

by Randall S. Sword, Janet Keller

In a chronicle of three "routine" days in the emergency room of an urban hospital, Dr. Sword describes the emotional roller-coaster of alternating elation and despair as split-second decisions result in life or death

Genres: Medical, Nonfiction

195 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1984

Reviews

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

One would think that Sword would pack a whole lot of excitement into this book chronicling 3 days of his life, perhaps taking a little bit of liberty and including events that occurred on multiple days but could theoretically have all happened within the span. Instead, we get to read about his marital issues and taking his daughters to a mask festival on his day off. When Sword was at the hospital seeing patients, it was very enjoyable, but the outside stuff didn't hold my interest that much. The story of Dr. Malone, which spanned the 3 days, read like fiction in that I knew how it would turn out as the book unfolded and may have been the lone incidence where Sword condensed events into one neat 3 day package. The book is from the early 1980s, so obviously medicine has changed (only one OR team available and none on call at a 'Trauma Center'? LOL), but I felt it was a decent representation of what emergency medicine was like back in the day.