Our Hospital

House of God #3

by Samuel Shem

In this sequel to The House of God and Man's 4th Best Hospital , Dr. Roy Basch returns to his economically depressed hometown in upstate New York to help the struggling hospital battle the COVID-19 pandemic and the money-driven bureaucracy.

After the tragic climax of Man's 4th Best Hospital , four doctors have left practicing medicine. But with COVID-19 sweeping the country, they come together to help the small town of Columbia, New York. The doctors and nurses are buckling as they battle both a raging pandemic and the financial woes facing small hospitals everywhere. But no matter what's happening in the world, babies are born, people fall in love, and doctors will do anything to save their patients.

Our Hospital reveals the daily struggle of fighting a pandemic and its personal impact on healthcare workers young and old, who are terrified, exhausted...and determined, somehow, to prevail.

Genres: Medical, Fiction, Medicine

352 pages, Hardcover

First published July 4, 2023

About the author

Samuel Shem (b. 1944) is the pen name of the American psychiatrist Stephen Joseph Bergman. His main works are The House of God and Mount Misery, both fictional but close-to-real first-hand descriptions of the training of doctors in the United States.
Of Jewish descent, Bergman was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford in 1966, and was tutored by Denis Noble FRS, cardiac physiologist and later head of the Oxford Cardiac Electrophysiology Group. In an address to Noble's retirement party at Balliol, he related that Noble's response to Bergman's attempt to become a writer was to ply him with copious sherry. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School.
He was an intern at Beth Israel Hospital (subsequently renamed Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) ,which inspired the book The House of God.
As of 2017, Bergman is a member of the faculty of the New York University School of Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center.
Shem's play Bill W. and Dr. Bob had an Off Broadway run at New World Stage in New York City. It ran for 132 performances and closed on June 10, 2007. The New York Times called it "an insightful new play."

Reviews

[Keila (speedreadstagram) · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the sequel to The House of God and Man’s 4th Best Hospital Dr. Roy Basch returns to his economically depressed hometown. The hospital is struggling and battling Covid. Being a profit driven hospital, bureaucracy is strong. When doctors and nurses band together to battle the pandemic and the financial woes of the hospital, one thing is for certain – healthcare workers will do anything to save their patients.

This book explores the daily struggles of what fighting the pandemic was like for healthcare workers young and old, exhausted and determined.

This book was based during the onset of Covid. I love reading about the pandemic, but this one was such a real look at what the healthcare works faced. Honestly, it was really hard to get through despite being fiction. Covid was a daily struggle for those of us facing lockdowns, wiping down our groceries, and worrying if our friends and family were safe. For the healthcare workers, they faced struggles as well and it was magnified by for profit hospitals. Despite Covid ravaging our population, people still had emergencies, babies were still born, and the healthcare workers were called to action. I did find the writing to be a little off putting for me. It could be that I just wasn’t quite prepared for this view of the pandemic that literally just ended a few months ago, but the style wasn’t as inviting as I would have hoped. I did appreciate that this had a happy ending for such a bleak book.

Thank you so much to the publisher Berkley Pub, @BerkleyPub, and Netgalley @Netgalley for giving me this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Additional links will be added once posted.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I viscerally hated this book. Maybe if I’d read the prequels I would’ve understood or even somewhat liked the characters more? Doubtful. I didn’t even like the writing style, storyline, word choice, etc. Oh and I truly disliked the fat shaming. Unnecessary and not at all educational, which is how I think it was intended to be taken.

As a nurse working on the frontlines during Covid, I could relate to some of the horrors. But man how lucky was this small town backwoods hospital to get secret shipments of PPE and have private suites to hoard ventilators?

I think I read about 90% of the book just thinking “what the fuck??”

Don’t bother with this one.

[Nursebookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you so much to the publisher Berkley Pub, @BerkleyPub, and Netgalley @Netgalley for giving me this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

As an RN in the Emergency Room during the time of COVID really brought back memories of the time I lost many patients and some colleagues both nurses and physicians. I really appreciated the insights offered by Samuel Shem.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

As many of you know, I enjoy books that I can load on my iPhone and listen to while waiting in doctor’s offices or on a car ride. Generally I choose short stories or memoirs or collections. This looked interesting so I loaded it up and decided to listen for a bit to see if it would work for my purposes. Well, about 3 hours later I was still totally engrossed. This is the third in a series so I’m absolutely hoping to find the first two.

It is a novel that covers the beginning of the Covid outbreak and maybe that’s why I found it so interesting. I felt like I was on the front lines helping staff care for the sick and dying. The deaths were not as upsetting to me as I thought they might be. There was no dwelling on dying. It was more about the people who sacrificed so much to care for so many. Here I am about another hour and half since typing the beginning of this. I made the mistake of logging onto the reading program to see how much more book I have to listen to and then settling in to listen. I have to Stop now because a nurse is due to arrive to sister me with some health care needs. This book really caught my brain and my heart.

And I’ve smiled and laughed a bit despite the awful subject matter. That makes this a perfect book in my estimation.

[Traci Buckley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book failed to resonate with me despite my several attempts to complete it. I really wanted to enjoy the book and kept trying to get into it- I just could not finish this book. As a seasoned nurse, I found it lacking in portraying patient experiences and lacked any educational depth. I was hoping for a more authentic portrayal.

With over 20 years of nursing experience, I expected a more genuine depiction of patient experiences and humor, along with educational value. The writing failed to delve into real context and seemed to lack substance. Although the doctors' experiences were distressing, they did not provide fresh, amusing, or thought-provoking perspectives.

The focus seemed to be too much on policy, administration and finances. The focus on patient care and outcomes were limited.

While acknowledging COVID's impact, I found the book unengaging and devoid of the promised humor.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story - the plot - if this book, but felt the writing left something to be desired. A bit heavy-handed at times, with characters pushing things along with long speeches, for instance. And it’s a bit sad, as the protagonists are working on “putting the human back in medicine”, and hoping that the medical horrors of the pandemic shed enough light to provoke change in the medical system…but now, 3+ years in, we know that if anything, the medical system has only become more broken for most Americans.

[Rachelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Our Hospital... a glimpse into the work lives of doctors. Focuses less on patients and quality of care, more time on the doctor's experience with hospital policies and providing care and billing. I expected more in-depth descriptions of procedures or how difficult patients were handled. Definitely more of a ficionalized, hyperdramatized take on his life's work.

[Amy Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story of Dr. Roy not told in the first person which was a little hard to get used at first. Pulling together many characters from past books, feeling a little far fetched. Same theme as past books of putting the human back in healthcare, but now during Covid.

[Lizz Axnick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me forever to read this book. It started out funny like HoG but I missed a lot of what made HoG one of my favorite books when I became disillusioned with healthcare. I liked the end message but the journey to get there was long, winding and frankly BORING. Disappointed

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too soon... too much of what we lived through as a doctor during the pandemic...nothing new...nothing amusing to this primary care doc/medical educator...

[Casey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

[Lydia Mann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Fat shaming unappealing characters no deeper than a daytime soap opera.

[Debra A. Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful followup to previous in series~!