No matter how senior doctors may be, memories of their internship are always lurking below the surface of their calm, professional exteriors ... a cascade of recalled chaos, high anxiety and bewilderment.
Haematologist specialist Dr Malcolm Webb has been practising medicine for more than forty years in Perth, and has also worked in Canberra and America. His naked memoir is a dizzying mix of laugh-out-loud tales, sardonic insights, withering illumination, heartbreaking admissions, or gentle observations.
He recounts the year in his life as medical intern in one of Perth's largest teaching hospitals in the mid-1980s - vividly describing the confusion, frenetic pace, parade of humanity, unexpected humour, and constant exhaustion of hospital life.
Where the young medico is forced to stand his ground and summon the courage to confront some family demons, as he strives to become a real doctor; questions whether he even wants to continue in medicine; and must ... hope for better days.
