A friend of mine assumes that I am a Grey's Anatomy junky. "Doesn't watching that make you scared to go to med school?" I just laughed. She was surprised that I had never seen it. To humor her, I finally pulled up the pilot on Netflix. Nope. Grey's Anatomy does not scare me. (That is, unless you are talking about the original Gray's Anatomy. That puppy is pretty daunting.)
So what's a good thing to watch if you'd really liked to get scared? I humbly recommend the NOVA documentary Doctors' Diaries. I caught the program when it originally aired on PBS in 2009, and stumbled across it this past week on Netflix. The program follows seven students enrolling in Harvard Medical School in 1987 over the course of 21 years. In an era when reality TV abounds, it is refreshing to see this candid look at these students who were simply being themselves. (No, I really don't believe the average reality TV star today has much genuine personality.)
You just can't help but feel for these people. Their reaction to being in the anatomy lab for the first time, their realization that there are no promised outcomes--these are things that network television tries to capture, but can't.
You watch them smile as they try to deal with the humbling and somewhat humiliating reality that the "brightest kids in the class" no longer have all the answers. Frankly, one of the guys sounds like a total idiot while taking a medical history. At first you might think, "Wow! Any body can get into Harvard," but it doesn't take much to realize that sleep deprivation is the primary cause of his unintelligent speech, and this guy isn't operating far from his breaking point.
The documentary also chronicles the impact high-intensity training followed by a high-intensity career has on intimate relationships. There is no pretense, just the reality that it is hard to strike a balance in life. The guise of being successful as a physician is pulled aside as you catch them reflect upon what type of success matters most in life. I'll admit it; it left me a little spooked.
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