What a page turner This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay, a (former) junior doctor in England is!
He writes in his doctor diary in such a unique, sometimes sarcastic, and usually blunt way about his very first day at work as a doctor in a hospital, up until his last on the job. If you enjoy sarcasm and dry wit as I do, read this book! I liked how it also made it's way into his humourous footnotes. There are such hysterical entries about conversations with patients. I kept thinking, you can't make this $hit up! Kay found humour in practically everything.
Maybe not so surprisingly, what happened a lot was the retrieval of objects from orifices. Just another day on the job, removing unimaginable things from body cavities!
It was all so funny - until it wasn't. The brutal truth is, doctors are overworked, overtired, and underpaid professionals. I can't imagine it's much different in other countries.
During one usual extremely long night of performing caesarean after caesarean, (he lost count how many) and not sitting for 12 hours, he nicks a newborn baby's cheek during delivery. It wasn't deep and won't scar, he said, but he apologized to the parents and offered them a Patient Advice and Liaison Service office phamplet, which they didn't take. If it was a centremetres higher, the baby's eye would been taken out he realized. "I document our discussion in the notes, fill in the clinical incident form, do everythng demanded of me by the system that allowed this to happen in the first place. Before long I'll get sat down by someone to be genty, or not-so-gently chastised, and at no point will it occur to them that there might be a more fundamental problem here."
He states the frightening truth about sleep deprived dcotors: "It's a surreal feeling being this tired - almost like being in a computer game. You're there but you're not there. I suspect my reaction times are currently the same as when I'm about three pints deep. And yet if I turned up at work pissed they'd probably be unimpressed - it's clearly important my senses are only dulled through exhaustion."
By the time I got to the end, when Kay leaves, I was surprised frankly that he lasted that long! To spend 2 years, let alone 6, putting yourself through such an unhealthy work environment is incredible. But along with his diary entries, Kay openly explains his reasons for staying.
The thing is, we are outraged to hear when people have such ridiculous working conditions with other jobs, so why do we think it's acceptable for doctors?
Kay himself notes that when he was a medical secretary at that same hospital, they were to take 20 minute breaks every 2 hours from staring at the computer screen for health & safety reasons.
Kay has continued to speak about these issues doctors face since it came out in 2017. Perhaps there have been some changes to the NHS (National Health Service) treatment of doctors, perhaps not. (In my search, I note that their site highlights: NHS England and NHS Improvement have come together as a single organisation. Our aim is to better support the NHS and help improve care for patients.)
Not sure about improving care for their doctors.
This is Going to Hurt is a must read I think for anyone considering getting into medicine.
I received This is Going to Hurt in an Instagram giveaway. Thank you Emandherbooks!
Until next time,
Kara
