This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Medical Resident by Adam Kay

Warning: this book is going to hurt.

Your body will hurt from laughter. Your laughter will irritate those around you and you will be relegated to a separate room, causing hurt feelings. Or--they will be jealous of the fun you are having and that will hurt their feelings.

Your head will hurt considering all the things that can go wrong in delivering a baby.

And your heart will hurt learning the sacrifices and ordeals required to become a doctor.

In This Is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay, NHS ob/gyn doctor shares stories from the surgical rooms and hospital beds that are unbelievable. I can't even share some of the stories here. Let's just say that people can do some pretty strange things and eating a hospital spoon is one of the less strange ones in this book. His stories in the delivery room can be pretty funny and pretty gruesome.

Kay can be politically incorrect and some of his stories are scandalous.

And yet I 'got' so much of his experience.

There are the high costs of becoming a doctor: expensive schooling, the long hours, being on call, the lack of time for a personal life and family, the meager salary and unpaid overtime, the emotional drain that makes you create a hard shell, the stress, the burn-out. Many professionals can relate to these issues.

It is the heavy burden of being held accountable for life and death decisions that is unique to medical careers. Human error--a slip of the hand or a misdiagnosis in the medical record, the things you can't control--and the doctor goes home feeling they weren't good enough, alert enough, smart enough, lucky enough. 

Kay's experience in the British National Health Service could be a warning to Americans considering national health care options. To keep costs down, the NHS caps salaries. Low pay and long hours contribute to staffing problems.

Kay mentions he has to pay for parking. So do patients. Some doctors leave England to work in for-profit systems.

But the UK medical system rating is quite a bit above the US. It's doing something right.

Kay's writing reminded me of David Sedaris. I laughed, I was embarrassed by what I was laughing at, and Kay engaged my mind and my heart.

I received access to a free ebook through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Medical Resident
by Adam Kay
Little, Brown and Company
Pub Date 03 Dec 2019
ISBN 9780316426725
PRICE $28.00 (USD)