The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly

A Physician's First Year

By: Matt McCarthy

Narrated by: Matt McCarthy

A scorchingly frank look at how doctors are made, bringing readers into the critical care unit to see one burgeoning physician's journey from ineptitude to competence.

In medical school, Matt McCarthy dreamed of being a different kind of doctor—the sort of mythical, unflappable physician who could reach unreachable patients. But when a new admission to the critical care unit almost died his first night on call, he found himself scrambling. Visions of mastery quickly gave way to hopes of simply surviving hospital life, where confidence was hard to come by and no amount of med school training could dispel the terror of facing actual patients.

This funny, candid memoir of McCarthy’s intern year at a New York hospital provides a scorchingly frank look at how doctors are made, taking readers into patients’ rooms and doctors’ conferences to witness a physician's journey from ineptitude to competence. McCarthy's one stroke of luck paired him with a brilliant second-year adviser he called “Baio” (owing to his resemblance to the Charles in Charge star), who proved to be a remarkable teacher with a wicked sense of humor. McCarthy would learn even more from the people he cared for, including a man named Benny, who was living in the hospital for months at a time awaiting a heart transplant. But no teacher could help McCarthy when an accident put his own health at risk, and showed him all too painfully the thin line between doctor and patient.

The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly offers a window on to hospital life that dispenses with sanctimony and self-seriousness while emphasizing the black-comic paradox of becoming a doctor: How do you learn to save lives in a job where there is no practice?

Fantastic listen

Excellent book for those in medicine as well as anyone who appreciates a good story.

Effing Awesome

I truly enjoyed this book! It had humor, suspense and heart. The storytelling was phenomenal and do easy to become attached with Matt and his patients.

Excellent Listen

As a PA student getting ready to head out to clinicals, this book was an excellent snapshot into what life will be like out in clinicals. Hearing about the uncertainty of as a new provider, and hearing about how the author handles mistakes was very enlightening. I feel that I've learned a lot about what to expect as a new provider. I would definitely recommend this book to others going into healthcare!

Warm and wonderful

After working 40 years as a nurse, it’s nice to know that some of the new generation of physicians ‘get it’. Well done Dr. Matt.

His feelings.

I really liked the story. We need people like him in health care. People who care.