Product Description

If you're going to be ill, it's best to avoid the first Wednesday in August. This is the day when junior doctors graduate to their first placements and begin to face having to put into practice what they have spent the last six years learning. Starting on the evening before he begins work as a doctor, this book charts Max Pemberton's touching and funny journey through his first year in the NHS. Progressing from youthful idealism to frank bewilderment, Max realises how little his job is about 'saving people' and how much of his time is taken up by signing forms and trying to figure out all the important things no one has explained yet - for example, the crucial question of how to tell whether someone is dead or not. Along the way, Max and his fellow fledgling doctors grapple with the complicated questions of life, love, mental health and how on earth to make time to do your laundry. All Creatures Great and Small meets Bridget Jones's Diary, this is a humorous and accessible peek into a world that you'd normally need a medical degree to witness.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64532 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Review
'Painfully funny.' --Boris Johnson

'Very funny and frank account of his time working as a juniro doctor in the NHS.' --Independent

'Reads like Scrubs: The Blog... This diary-style account of Pemberton's first year on the wards is funny and awful in equal measure.' --Maureen Lipman

Review
'TRUST ME I'M A JUNIOR DOCTOR is painfully funny.' (Boris Johnson )

'very funny and frank account of his time working as a juniro doctor in the NHS.'

(Independent )

'Reads like Scrubs: The Blog... This diary-style account of Pemberton's first year on the wards is funny and awful in equal measure.' (Observer )

'Reading his absurdly funny, beautifully observed, day to day, horror stories from the wards, made me laugh and shudder.' (Maureen Lipman )

Synopsis
If you're going to be ill, it's best to avoid the first Wednesday in August. This is the day when junior doctors graduate to their first placements and begin to face having to put into practice what they have spent the last six years learning. Starting on the evening before he begins work as a doctor, this book charts Max Pembertons touching and funny journey through his first year in the NHS. Progressing from youthful idealism to frank bewilderment, Max realises how little his job is about saving people and how much of his time is taken up by signing forms and trying to figure out all the important things no one has explained yet. For example, the crucial question of how to tell whether someone is dead or not. Along the way, Max and his fellow fledgling doctors grapple with the complicated questions of life, love, mental health and how on earth to make time to do your laundry All Creatures Great And Small meets Bridget Jones's Diary, in this humorous and accessible peek into a world which normally requires a medical degree, a scratch golf handicap and ward-clearing halitosis.

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Customer Reviews

An excellent read
I enjoyed reading the read. It was funny, witty and light reading. I now understand what happens within the NHS and a hospital, life of a junior doctor, disease, old age, death and a better understanding on society as a whole. I am very happy I bought this product.

The life of a house officer laid bare
This is an entertaining and insightful account of Max Pemberton's year as a house officer. Fresh from medical school and faced with real patients, Max's number one fear is that he will kill someone by mistake. But when he actually gets on the ward he realises he doesn't know how to do even the simplest thing, such as prescribing paracetamol. He is on the very steepest of learning curves, burdened by a seemingly impossible workload (though clearly not quite bad enough to prevent the writing of this book) and overseen by ghastly consultants whose attitudes appear to be at least 100 years out of date. As the year rolls on, Max encounters situations of real poignancy, hilarity and horror.

The diary-style entries make this book very easy to read but in places the writing was a little sloppy and there were some grammatical errors which bugged me so I deducted a star (sorry to be such a pedant).

So true...
I am only 3/4's of the way through this book and I think it is brilliant. As many have previously said, it is so very true...and not just for junior doctors but for anyone starting out in the medical profession. I have just qualified as a midwife and got my first job in a large consultant led unit. Max Pemberton has managed to express all the same feelings and experiences that I am currently having as a newly qualified midwife..."Will I ever get a break?", "Have I prescribed the right drug to the right person?" and ultimately "When will I kill my first patient?". All joking aside this book is nothing but fantastic and Max Pemberton has managed to add humour to the dark and depressing days that are the first year as a newly qualified in the wonder that is the NHS.