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Show I NEW YORK'S MOST I STRENUOUS LIFE What class of .men livo the most strenuous lives in New 'York? wa3 a topic recently launched on tho waves of discussion in tho lobby of a Broadway hotel by a broker, who, with the frenzy of panic activity still upon him, declared de-clared that no one was so bard-workod as the man who labors on 'change. A lawyer pooh-poohed this and claimed tho title for his own profession while other persons advanced tho claims of railroad men, newspaper reporters and sweat shop workers. Finally a physician phy-sician got the floor and described the routine of an interne at one of the citv hospitals. Thereupon tho company unanimously conceded tho pnlm for strcnuousnoss to the young disciple of Aesculapius. Tho hospital interne, it can safely be said, is tho hardest worked of all in the citj' who toil with brain or handH. It is equally true that tho young physician phy-sician servos tho most arduous apprenticeship demanded of any profession. pro-fession. Beforo lie can ovph enter upou his two years of hospital service, ho must havo had at least four years of hard grind in a medical college. As a medical student, from the very start ho has an intellectual nine-hour da'. In the university and Bcllcvuo Hospital Hos-pital Medical college of New York uni versity, tho largest university medical school in the city, for exnmplot tho student is busv from P o'clock in the morning until G o'clock at night, having solid chunks of medical lore hurled at him in tho lecture halls, working with microscopo or with scalpel in tho laboratories, lab-oratories, or getting actual bedside experience ex-perience at the clinic of one of the big city hospitals. The only interruption is time for a hurried bito'of luncheon. On Saturday ho may loavo a few minutes earlier. But often ho may be found toiling ovcr soino bit of laboratory work until far into the night. But it is at tho oud of theso four gruelling years of study, after he is an "M. D. ' nnd has become an interne at ono of the great hospitals of tho city, that tho student; begins tho hardest part of his apprenticeship. Coveted Slavery. This hospital apprenticeship is considered con-sidered so essential to a physician that nil tho high standing men in tho medical med-ical schools cuter into tho stiffest sort of examinations to qualify for service at tho beat institutions. If a man is admitted to this coveted slavery, for which ho receives no emolument, ho will bo about 30 years of age when ho leaves tho hospital, and, as a ''young" doctor, starts to build up a private practice. Bollovuc, tho great frco hospital maintained main-tained by tho city, constant!' has ovcr fifty such interne's. Tho fact that thu sick population of thin hospital, exclusive ex-clusive of patiouts at tho froo dispensary, dispen-sary, averages closo to 1000 daily, is oviuenco that tho interne's day is full of crowded hours. The patiouts aro of cvory nationality in tho world, and havo, collectively, all tho ills that flesh is hoir to. All social clnssos come to 1 this house of a thousand diseases. A man whoso nnme is a household word I for success may bo driven, crazed from drugs, in between tho grim gates in a private carriage at the samo timo that the ambulance hauls in an unknown hobo, shrieking with delirium trcmons. Both bocomo tho concern of the white-clad white-clad iutcrnu. The typical interne at Bcllovuo starts, say, as "a janitor in surgery. A largo part of his time in this position is spent in tbo laboratory, analyzing samples of blood or other fluid taken from patients, or gazing at tho interior of various parts of tho human unutoiny with the aid of the X-rny. Tn addition, iu tho wards, ho makes daily physical examinations, examin-ations, gives anaesthetics, and works at tho operating tables. Ho may be called upon also, in tho course of an afternoon, to make as many as twenty dressings for wounds, each of which may rcquiro from five to forty minutes of Iho most, dexterous nnd patient work. At odd times tho "histories" must bo fixed up, for an exhaust ivo personal record is kopt of every patient, Tho interne must ihcludo uot only tho personal per-sonal history of tho patient, his habits, characteristics, nant diseases, and a complete diagnosis of bis present state, but his family history as well. Thero aro scores of thousands of these records stored away in Bollovuc. Day Is Long One. To attend to all this work, tho ;junior in surgery begins his da' at 7 o'clock, and, with scarcely a break for lunch, is nt his varied tnsks until dinner, at ti o'clock, After dinner ho toils again in tho wards or laboratories until midnight mid-night or later. And even after he has flung himself down exhausted on his dormitory bed, his snatches at sleep aro likely to be broken several times each night by hurry calls to locato a bullet with thu aid of X-ra's iu the body of a would-bo suicide, or to set a splintered bone, or stop an artery. The comparative compara-tive quiet or the routine in tho surgical ward is varied by sue weeks of service amid tho profanity of tho prison pavilion, pa-vilion, tho coughing of the tuberculosis J division or among the shrioking inmates ' of the psychopathic or alcoholic wards. During this first six months' service tho interne has much less timo to himself him-self than a servant. Of two selected at random for, questioning in Bellevne, ono had had three- cvcning3 and one afternoon after-noon out in six woeks, and another one Sunday and eight evenings in nino weeks. On the Bus. "From the surgical ward tho interne goes to three months of ambulance scricf "on tho bus," it is called in tho hospital then to throe months in tho gynecological ward; next to six months a senior in medicine, or whatever what-ever ho is specializing, and finally six: months as "house," in complete cliartro pf a department and on duty all tho time. It is while on the bus that the interim in-terim manages to get bohio fresh air, but thic period of his existence is probably prob-ably tho most strenuous of all. Bellevne Belle-vne runs a four-bus system, with four physicians constantly on hand. When doing his twenty-four hour "stunt" as first bus man, tho intcrno must answer every call that comes in, and the soc-ond soc-ond bus man responds to summonses that come while tho first bus is out. During his lirst bus period tho interne gets no sleep and generally has no timo to cat. lTo answers fifteen or twenty calls in the course of tho twonty-four hours. And tho patients are not easy to handle, for tho poor, particularly aliens, havo a drnad of tho hospital. Sonic wcop and pray and try to incite tho crowd to attack tho ambulance Burgeon; Bur-geon; some attempt to leap from tho flying ambulance; soino tear off their bandages as last as they are put on, and some go Ftark, raving mad and try to kill the aurgoon. At tho oud of a week of first and second bus duty the young surgeon is completely used up and ready for a quioter period of emergency emer-gency service. |