I don't normally write about books I read. Actually, I don't often write about much at all. However, a book I've read in the last 24 hours is a worthy exception to the rule.
"
This is going to hurt" is quite simply the diaries of a junior doctor - Adam Kay, from qualification through to a post as a Senior Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. It was first published about 3 years ago. Spoiler - the author no longer works as a doctor for reasons which will become apparent when reading the book.
My daughter had read the book and eulogised about it to the rest of the family, and my wife read it after her. I picked it up not expecting to enjoy it too much mainly because my maternity placement when I was training to be a nurse was the least enjoyable eight weeks of my three years training, so a book about the life of an Observer & Gynae doctor didn't sound too appealing, but I was hooked within two pages. I was laughing out loud within 10, enough to bring both my grown up son and daughter into the room wondering what the hell was so funny. It appears my sense of humour was right on point with the author's writing (hint - if you want to know, it was the water lilies that did it for me!).
Perhaps it was my nursing experience, enabling me to resonate with so much of what the author was writing about which also enabled me to bring back my own memories or perhaps it was his just his writing style with which he put down on paper his experiences, whether funny, mundane, or in some cases very sad. It was certainly an easy read in the sense that you don't have to be a medical encyclopaedia to understand what he's writing about, and his frequent use of footnotes clarifying medical terms where he used them would certainly help those without a medical or nursing background - or as he pointed out on a couple of occasions in the book, it might have served some of his medical colleagues well too! A lot of his anecdotes about other colleagues and consultants in particular brought back many similar scenarios I encountered during my relatively brief clinical nursing career - "Black Wednesday" when junior doctors changed over being one, or the consultants who only appeared when something important was happening, or the constant pressure from above (ie anyone in a non clinical management role or politician) to cut costs impacting front line patient care whilst spending hundreds/thousands/millions (delete as applicable) on new and "better" (although almost inevitably worse) systems.
Anyhow, the book was so good I literally couldn't put it down, and it took me less than a day to read it.
I've found the author on Twitter at
@amateuradam and tweeted that I'd really enjoyed the book. One thing he notes in his diaries is the lack of acknowledgement and recognition that doctors in particular, but health care workers in general get for what they do, and not just in renumeration terms (in todays context clapping for the NHS already seems like a lifetime ago), so it seemed the least I could do was tell him I enjoyed his work. He's liked my Tweet, so I'm glad he's seen it.
So, whilst you don't have to be of a medical (or nursing) persuasion to read the book - my daughter after all is a 23 year old averse to blood, needles and partial to fainting at the sight of both who enjoyed it immensely, I think knowledge of the "system" will definitely give you a slight edge when reading it.
Finally, there's a telling open letter to the then Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt at the end. Perhaps most sadly of all, here we are in 2020 and little if nothing has changed for the better when it comes to the management of the NHS.
It's only £1.99 on kindle, or £4 in paperback, although if you live in Wales, you're going to have to wait until the end of the current lockdown to by a physical copy from a shop as books aren't considered an essential item, but that's another story for another day.
Adam Kay has written more books, and I'll definitely be having a peek at these.
Go on.....
Until next time....
