this is an overall entertaining read and one that has a massive societal importance. it often goes unrecognised just how difficult it is for a doctor during their residency.

I picked this one up because I'd heard it was funny - and there definitely were humorous anecdotes, but I didn't realize that the author had been training as an OBGYN so there are also some sad and terrifying anecdotes that I'd rather have not heard. It ends with the heartbreaking incident that caused him to quit medicine. Even though I'm not from the UK, I still took a lot away about the treatment of doctors and how healthcare doesn't prioritize the health of those that we rely on to keep us healthy.

Thanks to Little Brown and Netgalley for a copy to review.

Content warning: miscarriage, discussions of infertility

This book is so hilarious while also digging deep into more difficult events in the life of a doctor. It made the list of one of my top books of the year and I recommend it to everyone!

A hilarious, easy read. Probably best for those with an interest in medical topics, or at least for those who aren't faint of heart. Warning, there's some fat-shaming sprinkled in here. While a lot of the entries are funny, I often found myself questioning whether they really happened.

This book was laugh out loud! I love a hospital read that isn’t super heavy and this one is that!!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy! (Sorry I’m so late on leaving the review.)

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this ARC of This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay.

After reading this, I will read anything Adam Kay writes. He could talk about his favorite cereals for all I care. He is as endearing and hilarious, as he is vulnerable.

Adam is a OB/GYN who basically shares some of the most notable journal entries of his days in the clinic. From the outrageous, to heartbreaking, to hilarious, you get the full gambit. I laughed out loud several times in reading this, and I also felt so deeply for what his experience as a doctor was like. I really appreciated his "humanness" and how he works hard to portray how infallible doctors are, as well as glaring flaws in the medical system. It's not a long read, but it's just packed full of life.

Content warning: language and graphic descriptions of medical shenanigans

This book was hilarious. Adam Kay is a obgyn and tells the tales of being a doctor from the very beginning. It was laugh out loud funny many times throughout the book. If you want a lighthearted and fun read, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy for an honest review.

Adam Kay shares his experiences training as an OBGYN, from the gory stories that made me cringe, to the devastating loss of patients, to the destruction of his personal relationships due to the long hours and last-minute demands. It sounds like a nightmare, but he keeps a great attitude about it. Some parts of it are genuinely very funny. Some parts are genuinely revolting.

I devoured this book in a single sitting. It is rare to find a book that can make you laugh and cry in equal measure-- especially, I think, a nonfiction book --but this one managed it just fine. Hilarious and touching, I am giving this book to everyone I know in the medical field.

This is Going to Hurt by Adam Key is marketed as the secret diaries of a medical resident. Unfortunately the title refers how I felt while reading the book. I appreciate that medical residents have a strenuous and stressful schedule. Mr. Key assumes that the rest of us are complete idiots who have never heard of any medical procedures or illnesses/conditions. The fact that practically everything had to be explained was a red flag that he was searching for filler. The secret diaries were just brief lines for the most part of things that may (or may not) have happened to the author. Better books dealing with the same subject are available. I am encouraging you to skip this one and avoid the pain I felt!

I thought the concept of this book seemed interesting but didn't love how a lot of the content seemed to make fun of patients or other doctors. It was funny but felt like a bit of a low blow.

This Is Going To Hurt was a really thought provoking book. I admit, I don't usually worry too much about doctors, who seem to get out of medical school and then coast through the rest of life seeing patients oh, three times a week for nine months of the year. But this book made me realize that yes, there are still doctors who really and truly care about practicing medicine, about trying to get their patients care in a broken system, and that it takes a toll.

Adam Kay is such an interesting writer. I was hooked from the very beginning. I really enjoyed how I felt like I was going through all the years with him. Some stories made me cry, some made me laugh out loud, and so many taught me things. This was thoroughly enjoyable and I'm glad it exists.

After reading "This Is Going To Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor" by Adam Kay I have a newfound respect for doctors and nurses.
Adam Kay was a junior doctor from 2004 until 2010 and this is the diary he kept throughout his training. He also added helpful footnotes to explain any medical terms not familiar with readers.
His fascinating account of his life as a doctor was painfully honest, heart-warming and many times hilarious. He explains in great detail his many experiences (including some that made my stomach turn) and the struggles he endured until he got to the point when he made the heart breaking decision to leave his devoted career. Adam's understandable departure from medicine is a great loss to his community and humanity. There are too few doctors with his wit, personality, compassion and devotion.
I highly recommend this captivating read!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Adam Kay and Little, Brown and Company for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This book was ok. Insider look of what training can be like for a medical professional. Some were short entries, some were longer. But, as I was reading about the long hours, the tiredness encountered, I found myself asking, a”When was the time found to keep notes”? Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest opinion about this book. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on my review.

Horrifying doesn’t begin to describe many of the author’s experiences and actions in this book! As a comedy writer for tv, he is very good at telling a story in a funny way. However most of the stories also include gory descriptions, profanity (including taking the Lord’s name in vain), or a lack of concern for the feelings of patients and even so called friends.

After reading this book, especially after the placenta story*, I am wondering if he did keep a journal and how much is manufactured or changed for entertainment value. He does seem prone to exaggerate at times. Remember, Adam Kay now writes comedy for television.

Unless he was obsessive compulsive, I doubt he kept a faithful diary because of the general lack of time for ordinary life and complete exhaustion he mentions.

*Anyone who knows the rarely used (by moms in the natural birth community) term placentophagia is also sure to know what a placenta looks like and that placentas are generally dried and encapsulated NOT eaten raw like a lioness no matter how humorous it may seem.

Adam describes the whole experience as “perversely exhilarating” which feels like this was a bit of a narcissistic power trip. Interestingly he shows us the foibles of other medical staff in questionable integrity but his honesty is nearly always above reproach. There is the episode where he hypothetically talks about a humiliating passive aggressive surgical act he could have done in regards to a patient but claims to have not followed through with as it could lead to potential litigation. This “funny” situation places him as a potential ‘social justice hero’. Frankly, an intolerant passive-aggressive doctor is frightening!

Surprisingly, he says kids decide on their future career in the UK at age sixteen. It seems a bit immature age to decide especially if you are choosing a career that affects life or death for others!

One of the job non-benefits that surprised Adam Kay was frequent over time that strained personal relationships. He complains about total fatigue and uncompensated work hours throughout the book because of understaffed hospitals. He says they don’t even have time to eat or take breaks most of the time. Very dangerous to have over tired medical personnel!

Perhaps you might say we need to hire more doctors. Forbes has suggestions for fixing medical schools and through this improving the medical system. The most notable suggestion is to stop incentivizing medical schools and students to focus more on specialty practice over general medicine. Yet it isn’t clear how to accomplish this. The true bottleneck to medical schools receiving more students is not addressed either.

Adam Kay’s assertion that he respects patients’ choices rings hollow as he describes scare tactics he employs to bully patients into his way of thinking. Forceps with birth and cesarean deliveries seem to be the standard of care despite the briefly acknowledged risks they entail.

Mocking patients for being overweight, using natural remedies, or religious beliefs were other demeaning stories. Yet the author seems unsatisfied not knowing the end result for his patients. One of his more human aspects. His further feelings of awkwardness in dealing with grieving patients and wish to do more is a familiar feeling for most of us. He talks about the necessity of developing a “hardened emotional exoskeleton” to deal with all the hard stuff that happens with patients. Maybe that acounts for half the abhorrent attitude he exhibits toward other patients in this memoir.

More of the job stresses and inconsistencies is shown as he points out patients often forget doctors are real people with homes and emotions. The same is often said about doctors not treating patients as humans. Perhaps we could each treat everyone with tolerance and respect as fellow brothers or sisters and see how it improves our society.

This Is Going to Hurt concludes with a plea to not allow government, i.e. British government, “to take a pickax to the (nationalized) health-care system.” I suggest taking a different approach. More government controls, more legislation will never fix what was broken through that process in the first place.

As more doctors and hospitals embrace meditation, yoga, healing touch, and now we may begin to see health coaches involved in patient care there may begin to be more tolerance toward patient choice in the medical system in general. Let us hope!

Tyler Cowen’s new book Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero looks like it has some interesting advice on the topic of healthcare reform. I am intrigued by what I’ve read about the book and hope we can integrate more free market principles in the healthcare system.

It is interesting to note that amidst the push for Medicare For All, there has been a significant reform to Medicare in recent history that brought some measure of relief to people in the system. Medicare Part D’s success in reducing costs and improving health outcomes seems to be in large part because of the increased choices and free market principles it afforded.

When I first read the title, This Is Going to Hurt, I did not realize it referred to how it would feel to read (and review) this book. I urge you to consider reading Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero instead!

I received a free advanced reader copy of this book. All opinions are completely my own.

See the full review on BookofRuthAnn.com for quotes and article links!

I am obsessed with all things medical but not in the profession. I loved laughing during this book and learning more tales from the medical professionals. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a funny story and who it interested in the medical side that we don’t often see!

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 is funny and 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.

I received a digital ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I wasn't sure what I was getting into with this book. The style of the writing is different from what I'm use to. But it works! It's like diary entries, some short paragraphs or a couple of pages.

The voice told the story as he witnessed it. I laughed a lot and cried a bit.

The blurb wasn't super specific, so I thought this book would be in a typical memoir format, perhaps with one long and significant anecdote per chapter, but this book is quite literally in diary format, save for the little preludes at the beginning of each chapter, marking a new post of his residency.

Most of the diary entries are quite short, just a few paragraphs long, if even, making for a quick, punchy read.

To get a sense of the writing, here's an excerpt from one of my favourite anecdotes:

"Later, I realize there actually would be a way to practice the exact kind of small motor skills I need ahead of time. I text my mom to ask if she by any chance still has that game of Operation tucked away in a drawer.
"She replies to say she's found it. She also has a Magic 8-Ball, she tells me, in case I need it for my diagnoses."

The book was hilarious. Until it was devastating.

"Patients don't actually think of doctors as being human. It's why they're so quick to complain if we make a mistake or if we get cross. It's why they'll bite our heads off when we finally call them into our over-running clinic room at seven p.m., not thinking that we also have homes we'd rather be at. But it's the flip side of not wanting your doctor to be fallible, capable of getting your diagnosis wrong. They don't want to think of medicine as a subject that anyone on the planet can learn, a career choice their mouth-breathing cousins could have made."

Let's just say that I'm not going to be complaining about waiting too long at the hospital anymore. I mean, I'm not one to cause a nuisance with my complaints anyway; I'm much more of a sit-quietly-and-stew-resentfully kinda gal ;)

The last time I visited the ER was to accompany a friend, and in my opinion we had to wait for quite awhile considering the hospital seemed so quiet, though I suppose that's preferable to the ER being in utter chaos. We almost left without seeing the doctor because my friend's blood was already clotting over and it seemed like she was out of the danger zone. But we stayed since we had already come all the way and waited for so long. Four hours later, the doctor finally arrived, gave my friend ten stitches on her finger, and sent us home.

Anywho, this was such an entertaining read (while being a fan of Grey's Anatomy isn't a good reason to go into medicine, it's a good reason to give this book a try. It's like Grey's but without the melodrama. Maybe it's more like Scrubs. Not much like House), and an insightful look at the incredible lengths health-care workers go for their patients, "[working] harder than ever for less money than ever," despite all the crazy shit and sad shit they have to put up with.

If you don't feel like reading the whole book (though I would highly recommend it, both for your enjoyment and your education), I'll pass on Kay's message:

"Next time the government tries to denigrate doctors or take a pickax to the health-care system, don't just accept what the politicians feed you. Think about the toll the job takes on every medical professional, at home and at work. Remember all of them do an absolutely impossible job to the very best of their abilities. Your time in the hospital may well hurt them a lot ore than it hurts you."

I hope I can get my hands on his holiday special Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas before Christmas!

Lots of funny anecdotes that turned into an eye-opening look at what it was like for one man working as a doctor (OBGYN) with the NHS in England.

I just wish he would have told us what the treatment plan and result was for the guy with the unfortunate de-gloving injury!