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The Year of the Intern
The nurse's voice on the phone is desperate, but young Dr. Peters, in his first weeks of internship, is only bone-tired and a little afraid. He has forgotten when he last slept. Yet he knows that in the coming hours he will have to make life-or-death decisions regarding patients, assist contemptuous surgeons in the operating room, deal with nurses who may know more than he does, cope with worried relatives and friends of the injured and ill, and pretend at all times to be what he has not yet become-a fully qualified doctor. This book is about what happens to a young intern as he goes through the year that promises to make him into a doctor, and threatens to destroy him as a human being- The Year of the Intern
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
57 people are currently reading
1579 people want to read
About the author
Robin Cook
167 books5,056 followersLibrarian Note: Not to be confused with British novelist Robin Cook a pseudonym of Robert William Arthur Cook.
Dr. Robin Cook (born May 4, 1940 in New York City, New York) is an American doctor / novelist who writes about medicine, biotechnology, and topics affecting public health.
He is best known for being the author who created the medical-thriller genre by combining medical writing with the thriller genre of writing. His books have been bestsellers on the "New York Times" Bestseller List with several at #1. A number of his books have also been featured in Reader's Digest. Many were also featured in the Literary Guild. Many have been made into motion pictures.
Cook is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Columbia University School of Medicine. He finished his postgraduate medical training at Harvard that included general surgery and ophthalmology. He divides his time between homes in Florida, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts where he lives with his wife Jean. He is currently on leave from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He has successfully combined medical fact with fiction to produce a succession of bestselling books. Cook's medical thrillers are designed, in part, to make the public aware of both the technological possibilities of modern medicine and the ensuing ethical conundrums.
Cook got a taste of the larger world when the Cousteau Society recruited him to run its blood - gas lab in the South of France while he was in medical school. Intrigued by diving, he later called on a connection he made through Jacques Cousteau to become an aquanaut with the US Navy Sealab when he was drafted in the 60's. During his navy career he served on a nuclear submarine for a seventy-five day stay underwater where he wrote his first book! [1]
Cook was a private member of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Board of Trustees, appointed to a six-year term by the President George W. Bush.[2]
[edit] Doctor / Novelist
Dr. Cook's profession as a doctor has provided him with ideas and background for many of his novels. In each of his novels, he strives to write about the issues at the forefront of current medical practice.
To date, he has explored issues such as organ donation, genetic engineering,fertility treatment, medical research funding, managed care, medical malpractice, drug research, drug pricing, specialty hospitals, stem cells, and organ transplantation.[3]
Dr. Cook has been remarked to have an uncanny ability to anticipate national controversy. In an interview with Dr.Cook, Stephen McDonald talked to him about his novel Shock; Cook admits the timing of Shock was fortuitous. "I suppose that you could say that it's the most like Coma in that it deals with an issue that everybody seems to be concerned about," he says, "I wrote this book to address the stem cell issue, which the public really doesn't know much about. Besides entertaining readers, my main goal is to get people interested in some of these issues, because it's the public that ultimately really should decide which way we ought to go in something as that has enormous potential for treating disease and disability but touches up against the ethically problematic abortion issue."[4]
Keeping his lab coat handy helps him turn our fear of doctors into bestsellers. "I joke that if my books stop selling, I can always fall back on brain surgery," he says. "But I am still very interested in being a doctor. If I had to do it over again, I would still study medicine. I think of myself more as a doctor who writes, rather than a writer who happens to be a doctor." After 35 books,he has come up with a diagnosis to explain why his medical thrillers remain so popular. "The main reason is, we all realize we are at risk. We're all going to be patients sometime," he says. "You can write about great white sharks or haunted houses, and you can say I'm not going into the ocean or I'm not going in haunted houses, but you can't say you're n
Dr. Robin Cook (born May 4, 1940 in New York City, New York) is an American doctor / novelist who writes about medicine, biotechnology, and topics affecting public health.
He is best known for being the author who created the medical-thriller genre by combining medical writing with the thriller genre of writing. His books have been bestsellers on the "New York Times" Bestseller List with several at #1. A number of his books have also been featured in Reader's Digest. Many were also featured in the Literary Guild. Many have been made into motion pictures.
Cook is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Columbia University School of Medicine. He finished his postgraduate medical training at Harvard that included general surgery and ophthalmology. He divides his time between homes in Florida, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts where he lives with his wife Jean. He is currently on leave from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He has successfully combined medical fact with fiction to produce a succession of bestselling books. Cook's medical thrillers are designed, in part, to make the public aware of both the technological possibilities of modern medicine and the ensuing ethical conundrums.
Cook got a taste of the larger world when the Cousteau Society recruited him to run its blood - gas lab in the South of France while he was in medical school. Intrigued by diving, he later called on a connection he made through Jacques Cousteau to become an aquanaut with the US Navy Sealab when he was drafted in the 60's. During his navy career he served on a nuclear submarine for a seventy-five day stay underwater where he wrote his first book! [1]
Cook was a private member of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Board of Trustees, appointed to a six-year term by the President George W. Bush.[2]
[edit] Doctor / Novelist
Dr. Cook's profession as a doctor has provided him with ideas and background for many of his novels. In each of his novels, he strives to write about the issues at the forefront of current medical practice.
To date, he has explored issues such as organ donation, genetic engineering,fertility treatment, medical research funding, managed care, medical malpractice, drug research, drug pricing, specialty hospitals, stem cells, and organ transplantation.[3]
Dr. Cook has been remarked to have an uncanny ability to anticipate national controversy. In an interview with Dr.Cook, Stephen McDonald talked to him about his novel Shock; Cook admits the timing of Shock was fortuitous. "I suppose that you could say that it's the most like Coma in that it deals with an issue that everybody seems to be concerned about," he says, "I wrote this book to address the stem cell issue, which the public really doesn't know much about. Besides entertaining readers, my main goal is to get people interested in some of these issues, because it's the public that ultimately really should decide which way we ought to go in something as that has enormous potential for treating disease and disability but touches up against the ethically problematic abortion issue."[4]
Keeping his lab coat handy helps him turn our fear of doctors into bestsellers. "I joke that if my books stop selling, I can always fall back on brain surgery," he says. "But I am still very interested in being a doctor. If I had to do it over again, I would still study medicine. I think of myself more as a doctor who writes, rather than a writer who happens to be a doctor." After 35 books,he has come up with a diagnosis to explain why his medical thrillers remain so popular. "The main reason is, we all realize we are at risk. We're all going to be patients sometime," he says. "You can write about great white sharks or haunted houses, and you can say I'm not going into the ocean or I'm not going in haunted houses, but you can't say you're n
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
April 26, 2014
I hope Robin Cook got it all out here. This book is a constant gripe against medical school, the inadequate training that interns get during 24 hour shifts where mistakes get made and private doctors deliberately obscure the training that interns are there to receive. Cook says this book is a true story, fictional characters, but this is really the way it is. The medical student with high ideals is spit out the end of the year of internship demoralized, disillusioned and disrespectful. Even though this is a perpetual rail against the system, I enjoy Cook's writing. I do hope his later books have less self-pity, but it got his point across here.
I've seen his books around for years, but this is the first I've read. I don't know if this is his first book, but I was surprised to find that he has been writing since the early 70s. I always enjoy picking up a book from the era when I was a toddler.
I've seen his books around for years, but this is the first I've read. I don't know if this is his first book, but I was surprised to find that he has been writing since the early 70s. I always enjoy picking up a book from the era when I was a toddler.
December 6, 2012
It was a nostalgic read. I remembered my internship completed a decade and a half ago. Peter starts as a new surgery intern who is wrought out by the day to day problems of surgical ICU and trauma care centres with hoards of surgeries, dressings, sutures etc. piling up, faster than he can finish them. He is too exhausted even to think about his work. He has to deal with life threatening situations, mostly alone, with minimal help from superiors. How he survives the year of internship and emerges out a bitter, cynical, slightly screwed up resident doctor is the gist of the book. My internship wasn't as exhaustive or as gruesome, but still I remember being on my toes for most of the year, and losing weight drastically despite stuffing myself whenever I had time (which I of course was happy about as I was on the chubbier side then). Learnt a lot from that year, which I couldnot in the preceding 5 years of learning. It was a bitter sweet time and I am somehow in that internship mood the past few days remembering my colleagues, seniors and teachers with stray incidents buzzing around in my head, and its difficult to imagine that I am far off now, both literally and figuratively.
September 1, 2023
I made the mistake of assuming this book would be a medical thriller like his others. Turns out it isn't a thriller whatsoever. Instead it's about a typical first year in the life of an intern. Rather dry. I did find some parts interesting and there was some humour spread throughout, but overall not a fun read.
January 2, 2013
Essential to understand the brain and personality change that is part of becoming a MD.
December 17, 2024
I had scoured this book for a long while until I decided it was a great deal like the shows my parents had watched in the background while I had grown up and not to be taken quite so seriously...
It made me question whether I wanted to pursue this life or not, though.
The primary reason I might not want to go down this route is that I have some sort of malignant condition.
The primary reason I want to disregard it is that I am curious about what other people need to feel better.
Do you want to read this, too?
You might like it.
It is an interesting book, in the end, and also it is not cloaked in medical jargon, unlike some of what I have seen in the past. Or if there was any, it was easy to skip past it and look at just the simpler lines.
I think I've done that before, too, resolving to come back to the more challenging lines at a later date. (And then never coming back.)
But maybe I'll come back to this one.
It made me question whether I wanted to pursue this life or not, though.
The primary reason I might not want to go down this route is that I have some sort of malignant condition.
The primary reason I want to disregard it is that I am curious about what other people need to feel better.
Do you want to read this, too?
You might like it.
It is an interesting book, in the end, and also it is not cloaked in medical jargon, unlike some of what I have seen in the past. Or if there was any, it was easy to skip past it and look at just the simpler lines.
I think I've done that before, too, resolving to come back to the more challenging lines at a later date. (And then never coming back.)
But maybe I'll come back to this one.
December 28, 2022
If you've read his books before and expect more of the same with this one, do yourself a favor and skip it. It's not a thriller as much as a look into how life is as an intern in the medical field. I'm hoping things have changed in the past 50 years but I doubt it. Peters was a hard character to like or feel sympathy for (probably intentionally) but it made it really hard to slog through.
July 19, 2025
Both outdated and timeless.
September 23, 2025
1.5*
236 pages of commentary and criticism about the (medical) “system.” Besides, the main character is a self-absorbed, misogynistic little brat.
Not what I’m used to from Robin Cook. Such a disappointment.
236 pages of commentary and criticism about the (medical) “system.” Besides, the main character is a self-absorbed, misogynistic little brat.
Not what I’m used to from Robin Cook. Such a disappointment.
September 25, 2014
I think this one earned only two stars because of mismanaged expectations. I pick up a Robin Cook and I expect a medical thriller. I kept reading and reading waiting for the story to pick up but the torrent of medical stories kept coming and coming. I finally flipped over to the back cover and realized that this is really a precursor to the medical blog and not a thriller at all. Some of the medical stories were interesting but there was a bit of repetition of ideas and I really could have done without all the discussion of the intern’s sex life (it isn’t graphic or anything just totally uninteresting). If you are interested in this type of book I would recommend Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande over this one.
March 3, 2012
Como bien lo dice el Dr. Cook, el Dr. interno Peters no es un médico interno en particular sino que es la mayoría de los médicos internos y con un poco de suerte el 100%.
ElDr. interno Peters tiene que sobrevivir un año de intenso trabajo mal remunerado con pocas herramientas a su disposición y grandes obstáculos que vienen en las más caprichosas presentaciones: cirujanos ególatras, médicos adscritos "a la antigüita", pacientes problemáticos y tercos. De cualquier modo su internado en Hawai le pone el toque dulce a la historia pues en su tiempo libre practica el surf lo cual le da importantes momentos de relajación y reflexión, es su válvula de escape en otras palabras.
Todo este año le sirve para poder ingresar a la residencia directamente, cosa que por otro lado aquí en México es motivo de penurias pues después del internado sigue el servicio social y a continuación un examen para poder ingresar a una residencia, desde luego no con la garantía de la estadía en el mejor hospital.
Es así comoa pesar de todo es creado un médico.
El
Todo este año le sirve para poder ingresar a la residencia directamente, cosa que por otro lado aquí en México es motivo de penurias pues después del internado sigue el servicio social y a continuación un examen para poder ingresar a una residencia, desde luego no con la garantía de la estadía en el mejor hospital.
Es así como
August 25, 2010
Technically a fiction book, but in the introduction, Cook says that most of the chronicles of the year of protagonist Dr. Peters' internship were actual experiences of him and his friends.
This book deftly shows us in one fell swoop how unsure some medical practices are and how absolutely doggedly young interns must press on through their first year before becoming residents.
It's all at once frightening, compelling, and educational. Cook doesn't curb the medical lingo, but still keeps it readable enough for us to sail through pages feeling like we're in the ER rather than on the couch flipping through a book.
I'd call this one an excellent debut from someone who says that he's a doctor that just happens to write. A good solid read.
This book deftly shows us in one fell swoop how unsure some medical practices are and how absolutely doggedly young interns must press on through their first year before becoming residents.
It's all at once frightening, compelling, and educational. Cook doesn't curb the medical lingo, but still keeps it readable enough for us to sail through pages feeling like we're in the ER rather than on the couch flipping through a book.
I'd call this one an excellent debut from someone who says that he's a doctor that just happens to write. A good solid read.
June 2, 2022
I can understand why some may not connect with this read and don't understand the writing. I would challenge, though, that those who don't understand this read aren't the target audience.
As a medical professional, I was instantly able to connect with this as a satire regarding the intricacies of our medical system and medical training. The underlying humor and sarcasm is clear to me, and I could relate to nearly every debacle in this read, laughing to myself multiple times.
I am most amazed, however, how this was originally published in 1972, and not much has changed in the last 50 years!
For anyone interested in the training and challenges of medical professionals, this read is fairly accurate, even 50 years later!
As a medical professional, I was instantly able to connect with this as a satire regarding the intricacies of our medical system and medical training. The underlying humor and sarcasm is clear to me, and I could relate to nearly every debacle in this read, laughing to myself multiple times.
I am most amazed, however, how this was originally published in 1972, and not much has changed in the last 50 years!
For anyone interested in the training and challenges of medical professionals, this read is fairly accurate, even 50 years later!
August 31, 2021
Esta é uma crítica intensa e bem fundamentada, feita através da descrição da rotina e dificuldades de um jovem médico durante o seu ano de internato. É destacada a desumanização a que o próprio sistema de aprendizagem conduz, assim como a sua ineficácia através de um treino inadequado. Reconheço uma curiosidade mórbida ao ler as descrições dos casos e forma como lidavam com elas, as cirurgias e os comportamentos dos cirurgiões, o acompanhamento e o desenvolvimento de cada caso...Este é um livro diferente dos demais romances de Robin Cook que já li, uma vez que trara-se de um testemunho e da descrição de situações reais.
August 23, 2013
Me gustó este libro porque retrata el sentir, los temores, los sueños de los jóvenes futuros médicos. Sin embargo, el "sistema" acaba por destruir los ideales que esos jóvenes tienen y van cayendo todos en la "mediocridad" por así decirlo. Por otro lado, ahora comprendo más la forma de ser de ciertos médicos (no todos son iguales)a quienes uno considera algo inhumanos, pero hay que ponerse en los zapatos de ellos: tampoco pueden estar cargando con los problemas de todos y cada uno de sus pacientes ni involucrarse con ellos puesto que eso sólo los desgaste física y mentalmente. Buen libro.
May 1, 2015
so relatable...simply loved the book....his struggle, frustration, emotional dilemma, triumph and finally survival as an intern to resident..the book succeeds in telling how the system kills the empathy in you at some or the other time...although the intern seemed very frivolous and careless at times to me..like when he wasnt sure whether his patient was dead or alive,he could have simply got an EKG and confirmed rather than speculating....anyway i loved his hilarious acts in his ER posting... :D
June 20, 2015
I'm hoping to get into medical school, which especially made this book impotent for me. The story of an Intern at a Hawaiian hospital. This story is humorous, darkly introspective and opens up the world and mind of the average intern. Being on-call, dealing with death, coping with a social life (or lack of one). This is a book that I have already read twice and shall keep on my Favorites list for many years to come.
June 21, 2019
This is not a thriller but more of a diary. This book covers daily struggles in the life of a medical intern.
July 9, 2020
An interesting read about the life of an intern but I wonder what has changed considering it was written 47 years ago.
January 25, 2021
El doctor Peters ha completado el agitado camino desde estudiante de medicina, pasando por el internado, hasta el punto en que la sociedad lo reconocerá como un médico con todo el título de doctor. Puede solicitar y, sin duda, recibir una licencia para practicar la medicina, clínica y quirúrgica, en cualquier Estado del país. Esto señalará su capacidad para que se le confíen todas las responsabilidades que confiere una licencia de médico.
Gracias a su entrenamiento riguroso podrá suponerse que está preparado académicamente. ¿Pero está, el doctor Peters, equipado psicológicamente para practicar la medicina como la sociedad actual tiene el derecho de esperar?
Esta pregunta que parece muy sencilla de responder, será una constante interrogante que se estará haciendo Peters como interno en un Hospital de Hawái. El futuro médico estará enfrentándose constantemente a la burocracia médica, adaptándose al sistema y desprendiéndose de sus ideales para poder hacer lo mejor posible con las herramientas que se le otorgan (Que dicho sea de paso, son muy pocas). Haciendo un internado a la deriva, aprendiendo procedimientos de los mejores médicos como puede (Porque casi ninguno tendrá la voluntad de hacer de docente), estando prácticamente sin dormir y sin vida social, es como nos metemos en su psique. Muchísimas cosas pasarán por su cabeza, desde dejar la carrera en algunos momentos a querer terminar con el sufrimiento de alguno que otro paciente; pero nunca terminará de bajar los brazos siendo las situaciones que vive en el tramo final del libro un rayo de esperanza dentro de su cerebro sin dormir, su cuerpo cargado de café y quien sabe que otra cosa más.
"Médico interno" sin dudas sirve como referencia para futuros médicos (sic) pero también para aquellas personas que quieran conocer la intrahistoria del mundo académico que rodea a una de las profesiones más exigentes del mundo, donde nada se juega al azar y en la que hay una eterna lucha de clases que parece no terminar.
A pesar de que este libro fue escrito en los 70s, época en la que el paradigma médico comenzaba a cambiar en países desarrollados (Léase por ejemplo, el paradigma médico de Lalonde), sigue siendo una obra de inmensa actualidad ya que en países subdesarrollados la gran mayoría de las problemáticas académicas y sanitarias del libro están muy vigentes. En esto Robin Cook ha sido un tremendo visionario.
En síntesis, una lectura obligada para futuros médicos y amantes de la medicina en general.
P.D.: Este libro se merece una reedición urgente, no puede ser que uno tenga que revolver cielo y tierra para conseguir una edición de 1979...
January 3, 2018
In 'The Year of the Intern', Dr. Peters is an ambitious young intern in a community teaching hospital in Hawaii. Initially, he is driven by the desire to save and help people. However, his busy schedule leads to stress and fatigue hence gradually changing him into the type of doctor he never wanted to be - one who's detached and views each case as a specific disease or procedure instead of a sick human being whose health matters.
Written based on the author's personal experience, this book provided great insight into what it's like to be in the medical field as well as its day-to-day operations. It's easy to focus on how the other half lives - earning a high salary, having a certain title and being able to afford luxury cars and homes. In reality though, all of that comes with a lot of sacrifice namely time as well as energy. Dr. Peters certainly had a tough time, constantly getting little to no sleep and having no social life.
Besides that, this book delved into how learning and acquiring valuable experience as an intern is challenging simply because one is usually assigned to do mundane tasks that almost anybody else can do (such as holding a surgery patient's foot for hours). Meanwhile, any slip-up is unacceptable and while this is understandable, it can also be emotionally and physically taxing. I found myself sympathizing with Dr. Peters who clearly did his best yet his efforts went unnoticed most of the time.
As he grew more and more disillusioned with the medical profession, his own ideals and beliefs began to change. There's no doubt that Dr. Peters is an excellent and knowledgeable doctor but as a person, that depends on one's point of view. The content was fairly predictable and unexciting - there was no sudden unexpected incident or drama followed by a tidy conclusion. That might sound boring but in this case, it worked because it was informative regarding medicine and the doctors themselves.
Overall, 'The Year of the Intern' was a wonderful eye-opener that delivered ample information and a sense of realism.
Written based on the author's personal experience, this book provided great insight into what it's like to be in the medical field as well as its day-to-day operations. It's easy to focus on how the other half lives - earning a high salary, having a certain title and being able to afford luxury cars and homes. In reality though, all of that comes with a lot of sacrifice namely time as well as energy. Dr. Peters certainly had a tough time, constantly getting little to no sleep and having no social life.
Besides that, this book delved into how learning and acquiring valuable experience as an intern is challenging simply because one is usually assigned to do mundane tasks that almost anybody else can do (such as holding a surgery patient's foot for hours). Meanwhile, any slip-up is unacceptable and while this is understandable, it can also be emotionally and physically taxing. I found myself sympathizing with Dr. Peters who clearly did his best yet his efforts went unnoticed most of the time.
As he grew more and more disillusioned with the medical profession, his own ideals and beliefs began to change. There's no doubt that Dr. Peters is an excellent and knowledgeable doctor but as a person, that depends on one's point of view. The content was fairly predictable and unexciting - there was no sudden unexpected incident or drama followed by a tidy conclusion. That might sound boring but in this case, it worked because it was informative regarding medicine and the doctors themselves.
Overall, 'The Year of the Intern' was a wonderful eye-opener that delivered ample information and a sense of realism.
April 15, 2018
This book is fictional only because names and other details were changed. It covers the life of an intern (doctor just out of medical school) in his dramatic daily routine. The lead character, Dr. Peters, experiences what the author and his fellow interns at the time went through. I found this as gripping as his thrillers, and a fascinating study of personalities and adverse working conditions. Though the book wasn’t a story as much as a series of events, it kept me in suspense about how Peters would manage, (and) what crisis would happen next. It reminded me of James Harriot’s veterinary vignettes except there was more bitterness and less humour. This was a well written learning experience for the author, and a worthy work in itself.
From reading this I can understand why my Mom has said nurses shouldn’t date (medical) doctors. If met in their formative years, they can be philanderers, as the lead character indicated. I was also clued in about why during a hospital stay I had, the same doctor I saw running into my neighbour’s room at night every time the alarm went off was there again in the day. I wondered when he’d slept, now I see he probably didn’t.
Such emotions were the theme of the novel as Cook showed time and time again how insufficient the system was (at that time anyway). Trying to remove doctors from their pedestals in the minds of his readers has been a continuing effort on his part throughout his long list of novels. When the book ended, though, I wanted to know what happened next. When, if ever, did all or some of Dr. Peter’s faith in medicine come back?
Though his sci-fi based thrillers are more pure fun, none is more informative or fascinating that this first novel.
From reading this I can understand why my Mom has said nurses shouldn’t date (medical) doctors. If met in their formative years, they can be philanderers, as the lead character indicated. I was also clued in about why during a hospital stay I had, the same doctor I saw running into my neighbour’s room at night every time the alarm went off was there again in the day. I wondered when he’d slept, now I see he probably didn’t.
Such emotions were the theme of the novel as Cook showed time and time again how insufficient the system was (at that time anyway). Trying to remove doctors from their pedestals in the minds of his readers has been a continuing effort on his part throughout his long list of novels. When the book ended, though, I wanted to know what happened next. When, if ever, did all or some of Dr. Peter’s faith in medicine come back?
Though his sci-fi based thrillers are more pure fun, none is more informative or fascinating that this first novel.
February 10, 2023
Robin Cook staat bekend om zijn medische trillers. Dit is een stand alone waarin een enorme lawine aan medische problemen over je uitgestort wordt, bewijsmateriaal voor de overwerkte co-assistent. Het is namelijk het relaas van co-assistent Peters, een model voor veel co-assistenten in Amerika die door de rollercoaster moeten om dokter te worden. co-assistent is een onmisbaar onderdeel van de opleiding en tegelijkertijd een zeer slopend onderdeel al dan niet met voldoende begeleiding. Dat blijkt uit het relaas van co-assistent Peters. De herkenbaarheid van het boek zegt natuurlijk veel. Cook heeft gelijk dat het op deze manier moeten zijn van co-assistent toch alle perken te buiten gaat maar kennelijk wel in de Amerikaanse (of ook elders?) geaccepteerd wordt, althans dat niemand er iets aan veranderd. Deze triller is al uit 2003 maar ik heb niet het idee dat er nou veel veranderd is. co-assistent Peters overleeft het, zoals zoveel co-assistenten het hebben overleeft en wie-weet-hoeveel-nog-die-volgen.
September 23, 2024
I saw this book in my college liberally, the library filled with medical textbooks. This small novel stood out to me in February...
And as you can see, we are in September, and I have just started the book! it flowed by, was easy to understand, and everything, medical procedures and suture techniques, was explained. The only thing worth saying is that dr. Peters' train of thought was quite a challenge to follow. The page would start talking about a patient then he would remember something relatable from med school. Afterward, he would talk about another patient and his feelings about it, then he finally would go back to continue talking about the first patient the page started with. that's confused me at parts. Other than this, the book is all about stories and Peter's POV, which I enjoyed.
As a young medical student, with a good two years left to finish med school, who lives in an entirely different county and system, I still see dr. Peters' experiences as realistic ones to the point where i thought " Am I, and all of us students, going to be like dr. Peters?".
And as you can see, we are in September, and I have just started the book! it flowed by, was easy to understand, and everything, medical procedures and suture techniques, was explained. The only thing worth saying is that dr. Peters' train of thought was quite a challenge to follow. The page would start talking about a patient then he would remember something relatable from med school. Afterward, he would talk about another patient and his feelings about it, then he finally would go back to continue talking about the first patient the page started with. that's confused me at parts. Other than this, the book is all about stories and Peter's POV, which I enjoyed.
As a young medical student, with a good two years left to finish med school, who lives in an entirely different county and system, I still see dr. Peters' experiences as realistic ones to the point where i thought " Am I, and all of us students, going to be like dr. Peters?".
August 30, 2017
I started reading this book in January, now I'm finally done with it. This book is a lot to swallow as a student nurse with little to no idea what the intern (doctor) is describing and telling his readers. Although a handful are known to me which requires me to grab my thick books randomly or consult Mr Google for quick review — it was definitely worth it because I got to be in a doctor's head for a while. This books actually adds on to my checklist whether I'd still push through medical school and go through hell like every intern has to face or stick with my incoming RN days instead. For now it remains unanswered. Only God knows the answers. Overall I totally recommend this book to those wants to get a glimpse of what an actually intern is — it's not that far from Grey's Anatomy by the way. 😂
March 8, 2018
An extremely interesting semi-autobiographical by Robin Cook. Explains with some exaggerated detail the travails of an intern, trying to cram as much practical knowledge about medicine, surgery and emergency services in the 1 year of sleepless drill in a hospital. And the psychological upheavals he is subjected to, the fundamental doubts about his life and profession that crop up from time to time and the manner in which he tries to blank them all out by mindless sex and surfing. Doesn't spare any gory detail of the surgeries he retracts for, the sutures he puts, the wounds he drains and the fractures he mends. And of course the deaths that he pronounces.
A very good read, for those who are up to the challenge. In any case, lot better than the drivel he had subsequently written.
A very good read, for those who are up to the challenge. In any case, lot better than the drivel he had subsequently written.
July 12, 2022
Library book
The nurse's voice on the phone is desperate, but young Dr. Peters, in his first weeks of internship, is only bone-tired and a little afraid. He has forgotten when he last slept. Yet he knows that in the coming hours he will have to make life-or-death decisions regarding patients, assist contemptuous surgeons in the operating room, deal with nurses who may know more than he does, cope with worried relatives and friends of the injured and ill, and pretend at all times to be what he has not yet become-a fully qualified doctor. This book is about what happens to a young intern as he goes through the year that promises to make him into a doctor, and threatens to destroy him as a human being- The Year of the Inter
The nurse's voice on the phone is desperate, but young Dr. Peters, in his first weeks of internship, is only bone-tired and a little afraid. He has forgotten when he last slept. Yet he knows that in the coming hours he will have to make life-or-death decisions regarding patients, assist contemptuous surgeons in the operating room, deal with nurses who may know more than he does, cope with worried relatives and friends of the injured and ill, and pretend at all times to be what he has not yet become-a fully qualified doctor. This book is about what happens to a young intern as he goes through the year that promises to make him into a doctor, and threatens to destroy him as a human being- The Year of the Inter
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2025
I enjoyed reading The Year of the Intern.
Robin Cook a medical doctor, wrote a factual account of
Interns, how the AMA needs a serious overhaul. They
prepare medical students on how to be doctors, but
do not prepare them psychologically for what they
are about to face as interns.
The protagonist Dr Peters, shows what happens to a
young intern as he goes through the year that promises
to make him a doctor, and threatens to destroy him.
I got very tired Dr. Peters constant whining, but then I
remembered his exhaustion, going 30 hours without sleep, his fears that he might make a mistake with his
patients and a his extreme lack of a social life. The Year of the Intern, is definitely worth reading.
Robin Cook a medical doctor, wrote a factual account of
Interns, how the AMA needs a serious overhaul. They
prepare medical students on how to be doctors, but
do not prepare them psychologically for what they
are about to face as interns.
The protagonist Dr Peters, shows what happens to a
young intern as he goes through the year that promises
to make him a doctor, and threatens to destroy him.
I got very tired Dr. Peters constant whining, but then I
remembered his exhaustion, going 30 hours without sleep, his fears that he might make a mistake with his
patients and a his extreme lack of a social life. The Year of the Intern, is definitely worth reading.
January 18, 2025
CONTENIDO MUY REALISTA. Relato en primera persona de un médico interno en su último año. En el texto habla con mucha terminología médica. Relata sus días en las urgencias, quirófano, medicina interna, guardias, vida privada, etc. Los capítulos son muy largos (Unas 200 páginas), divididos en: día 15, día 172, día 307 y día 365. En ese aspecto, se me hizo largo porque no me gustaba cerrar el libro en medio de las líneas, pero no había más remedio, soy de las que le gusta leerse al menos un capítulo antes de dormir.
January 11, 2018
I've always known that Lives of Medical professionals aren't easy.. But to read in depth about their lifestyle's, their pains, their struggles and the consequential indifference brought on by their jobs is heart breaking. Based entirely on the US model of medical professionalism, while reading i was silently hoping the Indian medical scenario is a little better.
The book itself is a wonderful read, another masterpiece from Robin Cook!
The book itself is a wonderful read, another masterpiece from Robin Cook!
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