February 20, 2009

Here Come the Interns

By Carol Peracchio
When I started nursing back in the 70's, I witnessed first hand the truth of the old saying that the most dangerous time to be a hospital patient was the month of July, when the shiny new interns arrived. In those first thrilling, scary weeks of responsibility, we all worked to make sure those physicians lived up to their pledge to "first, do no harm." Well, America, our economy is in the intensive care unit and look out---here come the interns! Observing the brand spanking new Obama administration, I see quite a few parallels to medical centers in July.Interns run the gamut of attitudes and abilities. Many of these brand new doctors are very well educated but somewhat inexperienced in actual interactions with patients. Obama is very well educated (so we're told, we've yet to see a college transcript) but he has very little experience with governing. The best interns I worked with were intelligent and aware of their shortcomings in the real world. They did not hesitate to...(Read Full Article)