Hot Lights, Cold Steel

Parth Patel
04/27/11
Introduction to Medical School

Hot Lights, Cold Steel
Michael J. Collins, M.D.

Hot Lights, Cold Steel is an exciting medical memoire, written by Dr. Michael J. Collins regarding his life as a resident at the famed Mayo Clinic. This narrative of Collins' four-year surgical residency recounts his progress from an enthusiastic but inexperienced first-year resident to an expert Chief Resident. In detailing the rigorous path to a successful medical career, Collins conveys his struggles with academic challenges, familial responsibilities, professional pressures, and personal conflicts. The book opens with orientation for the first year residents. Entering one of the most recognized residency programs in
Harding, the attending surgeon for the beginning of his stint at Rochester Methodist Hospital, Collins works relentlessly to match the level of expertise of colleagues. Through his hard work and unrelenting academic efforts, Collins begins to portray the hardships that await first year residents. He thwarts the notion that medical students learn everything there is to know about medicine in their time in medical school; instead, he emphasizes that the career itself is a lifelong commitment to the pursuit of knowledge. During his time with Dr. Harding, he learns of a poem called Little Albert which ends with the boy getting eaten by a lion and a subsequent philosophical conclusion: “what can’t be helped must be endured.” Although Collins does not specify a meaning that should be extracted from this quote, the reader can assume its relevance to the medical field; there are plenty of ailments about which doctors can do absolutely nothing but watch the patient suffer. After Dr. Harding’s service, Collins
The emergency room rotation had damaged the relationships he had with his wife and children—“I had been a terrible husband, a terrible father. I was rarely home, and when I was, I had no patience for anything, no energy for anything, no interest in anything.” His brother Denny, needing shoulder surgery, visited the family for a few days and proved to be the reality check Collins needed: “What the hell kind of life am I leading? I wondered. I hardly ever see my wife. My kids don’t even know me. My brother is more of a father to them, and more of a husband to Patti than I am. Is that what I want?” Through this interaction, Collins highlights the importance of attending to the aspects of life that are not related to one’s career, such as family. Collins admits on several occasions throughout the book that a healthy relationship with his wife Patti helped him immensely through the rigors of surgical residency. While long hours require residents to invest a substantial amount of time in the hospital, one must prioritize in order to do justice to all the other important things in life. The other issue worth discussing is the concept of moonlighting, when residents work overtime hours at rural hospitals to earn some extra cash. Collins clarifies that the purpose of this extra cash is not to support a lavish lifestyle; instead, the money can merely help him put food on