This is Going to Hurt - Secret diaries of a Junior Doctor - Adam Kay

Welcome to the life of a junior doctor, 97 hour weeks, life and death decisions, a constant tsunami of bodily fluids, and the hospital parking meter earns more than you. 

Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, Adam kay's This is Going to Hurt provides a no holds barred account of his time on the NHS front line. Hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking, this diary is everything you wanted to know and more than a few things you don't - about life on and off the hospital ward. 

I had seen this book on the supermarket book shelf many times and never really thought about picking it up to read.  I have worked in the NHS for 30 years and over that time some things have changed for our junior doctors but for the most part there is an incredible responsibility put on their shoulders at a very young age. The hours they are expected to work have improved but for the majority they are still working incredibly long shifts.

A colleague at work was given the book for her birthday and passed it onto me to read.  Even then I wasn't sure whether it was a book I would be able to get into.  How wrong I was.  It is written as a diary at varying points within Adam Kay's career.  His account is a true reflection on the highs and lows of a junior doctor. Adam Kay tells his story in good humour and will have you laughing out loud. At times he will have you shedding a tear as he also tells you of the emotional turmoil our doctors go through when presented with life or death decisions and what ultimately made him give up medicine. 

Brilliantly written unputdownable and definitely worth reading. 

M x