MD/RN: Nurses Who Become Doctors
Introduction and Acknowledgments
Table of Contents
PART I. IN TRAINING
Section One: The Interns and Residents (Dodson*, C, D)
"My son stopped talking to me."
Phyllis Dodson is doing a straight medicine internship before completing an ophthalmology residency.
"I feel very strongly that health care is a team effort".
Dr. C is in the first year of an OB/GYN residency in the Northeast.
"My medical career is not the main thing in my life."
Dr. D, an unmarried mother, is in the second year of a part-time family practice residency.
Section Two: The Psychiatric Residents
(E, F, G)
Marilyn Cooper, an experienced psychiatrist, serves in the introduction to highlight the concerns in this field.
"I never wanted to be a nurse."
Dr. E is a psychiatric intern at General Hospital.
"To me, acting like a nurse says more compassion, more understanding, more time to spend with your patients."
Dr. F is a second year psychiatric resident at the H Clinic.
"Taking responsibility is the key issue."
Dr. G is a third year psychiatric resident, pregnant with her first child.
Section Three: The Fellows (I, Helene Spergel*, John Marshall*, L)
Dr. M, an endocrinology fellow, introduces this section with her experiences common to the other fellows.
"I find a lot of doctors socially retarded."
Helene Spergel is a pregnant woman doing a fellowship in general internal medicine in New York.
"I'm basically a nice guy. I don't yell, I don't throw things."
John Marshall is in his sixth year of surgical training, now doing a three-year plastic surgery fellowship.
"For me it would have been a sacrifice to have stayed a nurse, because I love this."
Dr. L is in the fourth year of a pulmonary fellowship at General Hospital.
PART II. IN PRACTICE
Section One: Family Practice (Maria Kramer*, P, Q, Amy Richards*, Vicky Brownell*, Gail Garrison*)
"I'm not sure I'd go to medical school if I had it to do again."
Maria Kramer, a former LPN, is the medical director of a small ambulatory care clinic on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
"It was inspirational to find that many doctors were total jerks."
Dr. P received his D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathy) before doing a family practice residency.
"It took a great financial and emotional toll, for very little payoff."
Dr. Q practices at a clinic in U and would not do it over again.
"This time around my life is about my work."
Amy Richards trained in Texas and now practices in a small community with her lesbian partner.
"I want a piece of power, and I always have."
Vicky Brownell practices family medicine with a group in California.
"Medicine is a job, not a life."
Gail Garrison practices family medicine in a small community in the South.
Section Two: Pediatrics (Joan Finch*, O.W.*, Karen Wilson*, AA)
"I wanted to be doing what the nurses were doing."
Joan Finch is an RN working in an intensive care nursery.
"The responsibility is much more than you ever had without the MD behind your name."
O. W. is a third year pediatric resident in Cleveland. She has never been a nurse.
"I can't stand the sight of blood."
Karen Wilson practices with a group of pediatricians in the Northeast.
"I felt I had to push a little harder."
Dr. AA is a pediatrician in DD who sub-specializes in allergy, immunology and infectious disease.
"If I wanted to get married and have a family, being an oncologist was going to be impossible."
K. O. is associate medical director of one of the largest HMOs in the Midwest.
"I really fell into this and absolutely love it."
T.A. is director of a dermatologic laser surgery institute.
"My ego won out over my sense."
Darcy Forbes is in a group practice of OB/GYN in Denver.
"Docs are the biggest bunch of pansies you've ever seen."
Dr. HH practices internal medicine at a clinic and in an emergency room.
"I've enjoyed my life. I have no complaints."
Catherine Pierce is 70 years old and recently retired from an OB/GYN practice.
Section Four: The Academics (JJ, Beth Lucas*)
"It's a privilege to be a physician."
Dr. JJ is chief of neurology at the MM Hospital.
"I might have gotten a Ph.D. in biochemistry."
Beth Lucas works as a pathologist in an academic setting.
Conclusion
All narratives use pseudonyms
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