Max Pemberton has just begun his first post as a junior doctor, or newly qualified doctor, and he doesn't even know how to order an x-ray or paracetamol for his patients. As he is saved by the nurses and learns the reality of hospital medicine, he blogs his observations and stories for us to enjoy. We can marvel in horror at his 90 hour weeks, his treatment by the senior members of the profession, and the skills that he must aquire to survive the year.
One must be best friends with radiographer's boyfriend to get one's patients scans when they need them.
One must not ever need to sleep.
One must forget one has a family and a life for the year.
One must never have an affair with the consultant surgon.
The consultant is always right.
Actually this book is quite frightening for anyone who uses an NHS hospital, reading Max's utter panic as he is left to diagnose a deathly ill patient, and makes a mistake. But there are some successes too. He manages to save a dying man and learn to navigate the manic maze that is the NHS. He also battles with his instinct to leave the profession before he gets in any deeper. A great read for anyone medically minded, not bothered about being put off becoming a doctor and a real snapshot into the lives of the junior doctors.
It certainly helped me to feel sympathetic as I noticed the harrassed doctors running around the hospital today. Unsung heroes? Yes I think so.
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