dailyBooks - This is Going to Hurt--secret Diaries of a Medical Resident by Adam Kay--conversation Starters

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Adam Richard Kays

This Is Going To Hurt

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Introducing This Is Going To Hurt

'T his Is Going to Hurt : Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor' is a collection of diary entries that author and former doctor Adam Kay jotted down during the years of his medical training. He started maintaining a diary as a House Officer in 2004 after completing his medical education from the Imperial College School of Medicine. He ended the journal six years later as a Senior Registrar in the UK which is equivalent to Senior or Chief Resident in Surgery in the US

The author found dozens of things happening all at once and recorded them in his diary turned heartfelt emotions of a doctor in the novel. Under different dates, we read about Kay's long nights spent in the emergency department, his attempts to save other people's lives. And some parts are pure comedy gold and downright hilarious, such as his meeting with an old lady on July 5, 2005. The notes stated that the seventy-year-old lady was battling alcoholism, and Kay had established the fact that wine was detrimental for her. The lady had mentioned that she would consume three bottles on a good day, and on her worse day, she could drink only one. This funny entry is rich in how different the thinking of a patient and a doctor is.

After this incident, Kay decided to specialize in gynecology and obstetrics. Two years later, in August 2007, he gets promoted to Registrar.

During this time, Kay learns that some facts about doctors are usually taken for granted. Such as, a doctor is a superhuman who doesn't fall ill. Or another widely believed fact that a great doctor must have a huge heart through which he is supposed to pump kindness and compassion.

While working as a doctor, the author is surrounded on one side by happy faces of mothers delivering babies and on the other with STD-infected teenagers. The author realizes that being a junior gynecologist also means sleeping barely for an hour or two in the parking space of the hospital and not receiving any gratitude for it, not even among colleagues.

He is also hit with the sad reality that being a junior doctor also means being unpaid for all the overtime hours. He sees the irony when all around people are paid to work and save even the smallest of things such as an excel sheet in an office, but the doctors who save lives earn nothing.

He says that doctors don't have the luxury to ignore calls or emergencies, even if they come past work hours. Unfortunately, doctors usually don't get paid for working extra hours, and sometimes they are not paid adequately for the regular hours they put in as well. Also, doctors can't take sick days and vacations on a whim or even plan them in advance as it is not easy to find someone to replace one when everybody is working two shifts a day.

Even after facing obstacles, the author continues to work dedicatedly in the hospital. Three months later, on December 2, 2010, Adam Kay began to perform a cesarean section on a patient with an undiagnosed medical condition called placenta previa. As a result, the baby came out dead, and the mother experienced severe blood loss. Another surgeon eventually managed to stop the blood loss after performing a hysterectomy surgery. The incident is etched in the authors mind for many hours and even days to come and he desperately tries to overcome the mounting despair.

After this episode, Adam loses faith in himself and his capabilities. He is unable to concentrate on anything for the remainder of the day and has a sinking feeling of depression and utter hopelessness gnawing at him.

However, Kay doesn't receive proper therapy or a day off to get a hold on himself. On the contrary, he is expected to come back the next day and work at his usual capacity as if nothing had happened.

Kay is unable to do that anymore, and he resigns from his job officially several months later, after failing to bear the pressure of it all.

Even after going through all of this, Adam Kay delivers his verdict on his job with a heartwarming twist. The author sums up his feelings, saying that though he felt unsupported and underappreciated, he finds the job to be worth it.

According to the author, doctors have one of the most mentally and even physically exhausting, accountable, and blamable professions of all. And whatever they get, they certainly deserve more.

Introducing the Author

A uthor of the book , 'This is going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a junior doctor' is Adam Richard Kay. He was born on June 12, 1980. He is a British comedy writer, author, comedian, and former doctor.

Kay was brought up in a Jewish family, and he chose medicine as his career as a default. He belonged to a family of doctors where his father, cousins, siblings were all medics. Kay is gay and is married to James Farrel. James Farrel is an executive producer to the prequel of popular television series, Game of Thrones. They both live in Chiswick, London. Kay was voted in Pink News' top 50 most influential LGBT Twitter users.