Learning To Play God: The Coming Of Age Of A Young Doctor

by Robert Marion

Twenty real life stories offer insight into the training that doctors must experience in order to become licensed, and offers suggestions on maintaining one's humanity and idealism throughout the process

Genres: Medicine, Medical, Nonfiction, Biography

267 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Morgan Tallman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Although I read this book for a class, I did end up enjoying it. It definitely wasn't one that I would have grabbed myself. The stories told were fascinating and I feel like I definitely have a better realization of the medical field. My main complaint is that I feel like some of the comments the author made about his training may no longer be relevant. He was going to medical school in the 1970's, and we're 40-50 years after his training, so I feel that some training techniques mentioned may no longer be relevant.

[Elin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ugh, this book makes me soooooo happy to not be working in the US. Ok, so this book has a couple of years now and his internship was back in the 70's but still... None of my older collegues who did their internships and residencies here back in the 70's experienced anything like that (I know we often talk about that)! I mean, on-call every 3rd night!?! And why the hell would you need a doctor to start an iv??

[Jayna Schwartz · Rating 4 out of 5]

i appreciate his brutal honesty. he is not afraid to expose his own failures and vulnerabilities, and he does not gloss over several anecdotes that don't portray him in a very flattering light--all for the pursuit of exposing how the brutal system of medical training burns people out. i will say that while he portrays nurses positively, he makes it seem as if interns are performing every IV, EKG, blood culture set....tasks almost exclusively nurse-driven today. perhaps that illustrates how much the professions of medicine and nursing have both evolved.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to all physicians who had to put in so many hours and make anxiety-causing decisions the best they could, sometimes when sleep-deprived.....

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than Intern Blues. Little stories from Marion's medical training with nice little takeaways.

[Carter Bland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this one on the shelf at the beach house / great read! So interesting

[Slaton Case · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book prior to beginning medical school. "Learning to Play God" chronicles the author's journey through medical training - from medical student to attending. We morph with the author as junior clinicians into veteran practitioners.

And boy, what a ride. The brutal hours, the brutal-er insight into the medical errors and forlorn patient populations gracing the American medical landscape. If you aren't moved to tears by the desperate circumstances experienced by both author and their patients - check your pulse.

The most unfortunate reality is this book could be based in 2010s NYC rather than 1970s NYC.

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. I didn't think much of The Intern Blues either. The title has nothing apparent to do with the book. Dr. Marion has an epiphany early on about how he will be when he is a doctor but fails to carry what would be an apparent theme through until the end. Residency isn't easy; that's for sure. But this guy spent a fair amount of time being seriously pissed off at the world. The cover is also interesting - it appears that the people are in a surgical theater of some sort. Dr. Marion is (I think) a geneticist. Huh.

[Cyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually I didn't finish this. It didn't hold my interest. The story about starting the IV in the infant was upsetting to read. I don't recommend this book.