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I have just finished reading a fabulous book "This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor" by Adam Kay.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Going-Hurt-Secret-Diaries/dp/1509858636/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536485361&sr=8-1&keywords=this+is+going+hurt
Kay, A. (2017). This is going to hurt. Pan Macmillan.
If you have not read this book then please take the time to check it out it will open your eyes to the world of medicine. It is written in a delightfully witty and poignant way, that has the reader really feeling for the plight of the junior Doctor.
3 Things you may not know.
1. Doctors are considered "Junior" right up until they reach consultant level - 15+ years Junior really?
2. They do not get paid incredible amounts of Money - Adam quotes the equivalent average of £6.60 per hour in his early years.
3. Mental Health in the medical profession is considered taboo - The very profession that cares for you and your family work to the point that they struggle to care from themselves.
(Gerada, 2018) States that 1 in 5 people consider suicide, the rate of suicide in Doctors is estimated to be between 2 and 5 times more likely.
What is even more shocking is an article written In the Daily Mail (i know, know) states that female Doctors are 4 times more likely to commit suicide. 430 (female i assume not clear in article) took their own lives between 2011 and 2015.
This is not a literature review or an article on suicide so if you want to know more then please read the articles i have quoted and do your own research.
back to the track of my blog
Doctors are often missing out on their personal lives to perform that emergency procedure so you and I can go home to our families, or your new baby can safely enter the world new fresh and ready to meet their family. Chances are while they are dealing with your emergency another one is waiting for them. Doctors are working unimaginably long hours and all we ever hear is people complaining about how long they had to wait, what this doctor said how disengaged she was.
This book will genuinely make you think next time you are stressing because A and E wait is 3 hours, or you were 30 minutes delayed in your GP surgery.
What is more ludicrous is hospitals are fined for missing targets - How counter productive is that - understaffed, underfunded = fined, just think of the potential impact of this to public health because there is pressure to process patients quickly.
Doctors and Nurses are the unsung heroes please please remember and acknowledge them for it
References:
Gerada, C. (2018). Doctors, suicide and mental illness. BJPsych Bulletin, 42(4), pp.165-168.
Kay, A. (2017). This is going to hurt. Pan Macmillan.
Mail Online. (2018). Women doctors are four times more likely to commit suicide than public. [online] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6124989/Suicide-rates-doctors-rising-400-suicides-past-five-years.html [Accessed 9 Sep. 2018].