Intern: a long year

a new medical school graduate must work one year in a hospital as an intern okay now push your back out like a cat now the pictures in the books are real people and now Karen Mack tries to treat them with her inexperienced hands she is a doctor but has to learn how to grow into her new role sure I worked hard to become a doctor and I like it Dr Mack knew that Philadelphia General Hospital was understaffed and bad need of repair but in spite of that she chose it for her internship Dr ma here she knew each intern has given more responsibility than most interns in private hospitals yes he is at first she didn't feel at all like a doctor she thought who me are still Q gradually her confidence and ability grew do you have any more pains in your chest many of the 8,000 interns in the country are given scut work by doctors routine jobs like taking blood inserting needles but here interns are directly involved with the patients and discuss the cases every morning at Doctor snobble staff conference here they develop judgment something as important to a doctor as dexterity with his hands she's had a 12year history of psychiatric problems with multiple breakdowns where she'd become hallucinatory and repetitive acting very strange and incoherent however her younger kids came home from school yesterday about 3:00 found her asleep but about 10:00 at night she hadn't moved they tried to wake her up found they couldn't so they called the rescue squad and they brought her in got a chest x-ray on her which isn't the greatest it was taken Seine down in the x-ray department sort of diffusely hazy and not a very good inspiration the right diaphragm looks a little my but I is she better now is she awake yes okay any other things to report this morning during her intern year Dr Mack had to perform the very jobs she was learning and on patients with serious sometimes fatal diseases like cancer she soon realized that people's lives depended on how well she learned Dr Mark evil was an intern last year this year he is a resident doctor specializing in medicine and accompanies Dr Mack on most rounds this woman is only 35 alcoholism has taken its toll there's little left of her liver she throws up a lot and is usually comos all they could do was keep her comfortable okay 10 days later she died is she getting any mail yeah down the tu tu plugged up right now so can we put it in the refrigerator nine seven Miss doson got a as in many older hospitals there are many problems paint peels off the walls they are understaffed with people and over staff with mice I once asked the patient if she'd like a sleeping pill she said no that's okay I watch the mice run around all night every new doctor hopes he'll accomplish dramatic cures but Dr Mack soon learned how important even in intern's routine Duties are know antibiotic she went home but at home she developed a lot more a 90-hour work week brings physical strain and irregular sleep but also as Dr Mack said a deeper respect for life and the rewards of seeing people get better every third weekend she worked all weekend long from Saturday morning till Monday night an exhausting yet exhilarating year I was so tired at night that I just ate supper and went to bed the experienced nurses helped a lot one taught her how to Bear the daily burdens more lightly many question about bar I don't think we're accom anything so maybe it's another had a good deal of knowledge she's eating a lot more than 1600 for her size a lot more not all the problems were medical good morning Agnes morning how are you today all right what's the trouble H what's the trouble they feeding you right no why not cuz I haven't had any food at whole since when when is the last time you had something to eat did you have breakfast this morning no did you have supper last night no did you have lunch yesterday no you must be pretty hungry I'm stared the problem is that she just has no place to go her chemistry is fine her lungs are fine her heart's in good shape but she has a problem remembering things and she can't really be on her own it's just a little old lady with no place to go and it's so common here I want you to keep wicking your lips and eventually you're going to taste a real bitter taste this woman had heart trouble Dr Evil conducts a test a decaline injection to time the circulation through her heart say when now okay now look your lips normally the bitter taste takes 16 seconds to reach the mouth as soon as you taste just keep liing 20 seconds exactly has it this test helped confirm what they suspected she has cardiovascular disease another patient has lung cancer her lungs are full of fluid and this makes it difficult to breathe one cancer specialist is consulted now I don't recall from her film how large her mass is with a fluid in there but it's optimal to drain it as dry as possible we often put in an interf and keep it in over a couple of days and let it drain the first thing I would really try to do is give her something that will relieve her pain the radiation didn't get rid of all her disease in her in her chest at all in the beginning so I'm sure she's got residual disease how do you feel my thought Yer was to try and get all the fluid out and then give her something like some 5fu and plaster so I numbed her back inserted a large needle into her chest cavity and Drew off two quarts of [Music] [Applause] liquid Robert Dr Mack spent the year in several different War Wards in the hospital the month on emergency Ward Duty she handled about 12 drug overdoses with this critical one they had to work fast a tube was inserted into his stomach to pump out any pills he may have [Music] swallowed Robert they took blood samples and inserted an intravenous catheter to give fluids to flush out his kidneys once he stopped breathing I got what are you drawing I know needle marks on his arm and injected nailing to counteract the heroin I thought how bad he must have felt to do this to himself but I didn't show it her responsibility as a doctor was to save him and get him out of the hospital his pupils weren't reactive his respiration started going up pretty quickly gave him some B carb better now he's pretty rming how about his eyes he didn't have his pup wenten down pup were down they were contracted and they didn't respond to light and uh now he at one point he he stopped breathing he survived but as she said her satisfaction on helping to save him was spoiled by the thought of The Temptations He would return to she was so busy Christmas seemed to come suddenly that year David in the water David in the sun Sunbeam I think that's a beautiful color isn't that pretty that tree despite the harsh conditions or maybe because of them the staff at Philadelphia General Hospital has a good deal of spirit and human concern you don't have to do that too much having a good time mag no how could I have a good time when I haven't had to eat oh you haven't had anything to eat at all no nothing hi thank you I do with it put it around first okay is it your birthday today no February whose birthday is it today somebody's birthday [Music] to happy birth to you here we are oh I'm not going to give these parties help relieve the staff's own tensions as well hours benefiting the lady's loneliness I haven't completely given up on obstetrics but I just didn't think I could handle the hours more enjoyable than Min in some respects true did you tell Mrs Simmons happy birthday no I didn't this is Mrs Simmons Agnes happy birthday to you like most big city hospitals Philadelphia General needs more staff when the mayor threatened to lay off 500 workers it was time to protest interns and residents went down to City Hall soon the Press gathered the mayor refused to talk to them Dr Mack got on TV involv is that we just cannot continue to practice medicine as physicians at PGH under the conditions that they exist at the moment it's just intolerable people who come to PGH don't suffer with one disease they usually have 10 diseases and need a great deal of care they out the the hardcore stuff right said that the people who are in power are sitting out in the suburbs and don't know what's going on in here and the people who come here don't have any power they cut that out Dr Mack likes to cook French Gourmet cooking especially she says for most of her turn year she didn't have a date but would invite friends over for dinner every 6 weeks or so aren't you glad you have female intern now I'm beginning to like it she tries she says to get a good mix of interesting people artists lawyers writers as well as doctors the conversation is always Lively this evening they talked about her television parents the Press came and then somebody came up to me and said oh I always wanted to interview a nurse I said well I have to look for somebody else I'm a doctor's dinner to many more of Karen's dinner [Music] okay you down quite a bit right now she spent one month of her intern year In Obstetrics this girl was only 17 frightened and alone in a strange hospital and about to have her first baby deep breath P down during her pregnancy she had never seen a doctor her apprehension makes the pain even worse mommy Mo Dr Mack has already delivered 70 babies and can give the girl Comfort mommy mommy oh boy push that's it don't scream push you got to do it on your own why now contractions are coming every 3 minutes okay come on you got a good pain push push long and hard come on the microphone amplifies the baby's heartbeat so Dr m can hear if the baby is in any distress the heart is pumping well with the contractions coming every minute the anesthetist and the obstetrician arrive push keep pushing keep pushing more more more more more more I can't push any push good girl that's good push okay you're doing well first deliveries are usually difficult and with this girl who's had no preparation for childbirth they are concerned about the baby's life 3 hours after she was admitted to the hospital they prepare her for the actual delivery I see black ha Ora come on wake up and push your baby out come on his head's right down here she's not Contracting wait wait wait wait for the p Just Breathe okay push take a deep breath and push push push push P okay go push push push push that big head okay shoulders are out here comes the baby here comes the baby and you have a baby boy how about that that's what you wanted huh yeah a [Music]