«The doctor can only choose: he will ignore his own needs or that of his patients. The latter means that someone will die »[FRAGMENT OF THE BOOK]

«Some of my friends and some of my friends already have children. They live in constant guilt. Very often in the ward, their heads are so high that they fail to even call home. A friend of mine could not come to the hospital where his son underwent an emergency operation because he himself had to perform an elective operation in another hospital and there was no one to replace him “, writes Adam Kay in the book” It Will Hurt “.

1. »After five years of unconditional obedience to strict rules, staying at work late, arriving early in the morning and taking replacements for colleagues has become a habit for me» – writes the author
2. “The health care system is based on a minimum staffing and dedication of doctors who agree to stay at work after hours to do what should be done” – we read
3. “It will hurt” is the notes of Adam Kay, who, when he was a young doctor, worked in hospitals of the British health service as a gynecologist, obstetrician and surgeon. Below we present an excerpt from the book that was published by Insignis Media
4. Adam Kay quit his job after many years and bluntly described the difficult reality in which young doctors function – burdened with huge responsibility, overworked, unable to count on a decent remuneration
5. Kay’s book was also used to create a series with the same title, broadcast by Canal +
6. More holiday information can be found on the TvoiLokony home page

Resident – first job

The interns think that the resident is someone who is always right, someone with unfathomable wisdom like God or Google, someone who must under no circumstances be disturbed. For older trainees, a resident is a port where they call with every problem, a support network at their fingertips (hand reaching, of course, for a pager). And suddenly, before you see yourselves, you have that honorable role.

In the case of a specialization such as gynecology and obstetrics, this usually means that you will be the most experienced doctor in the hospital clinic. Most often it will be you who will walk around the ward. Patients will be addressing you for “sir “and not” doctor “, which will lead you to conclude that the last ten years of study have been a waste of time. You will conduct classes for medical students. You’re going to be carrying out the bloodiest operations. More importantly, it will manage the work of the maternity ward. Admittedly, there are elderly residents and even medical specialists working in the hospital who will help you if you declare the highest level of danger, but you will be responsible for the life and health of mothers and their children in the ward.

This woman needs a caesarean, these two won’t give birth without forceps or a vacuum tube, this woman has a hemorrhage. You will become great at prioritizing. Your life will turn into a logical puzzle – the one with a boat, a fox, a chicken and a sack of grain. Except in your case the boat will be made of sugar, there will be twelve hens, and each of them will give birth to triplets.

It became a habit for me to stay late at work

It sounds horrible – and sometimes it is – but on the day that I became a resident, I went to work with a springy pace. Since graduating, I hadn’t felt such a surge of optimism – I was almost puking rainbows. I was halfway to becoming a medical professional, it was a metaphorical Wednesday of the metaphorical workweek. In a few years I was supposed to take up the position of senior resident – I saw myself in this role and assumed that I would be good for it.

Moreover, I felt that everything in my private and professional life had finally clicked into place. It was as if I had turned the map upside down previously held upside down. Finally, my life didn’t feel so depressing compared to the lives of those of my friends who weren’t doctors. I had an apartment, I had a new (actually newer) car, I was in a stable (more or less) relationship. I felt content. Not joy, not bliss – contentment. This feeling was in stark contrast to my feelings from previous years, mainly dissatisfaction with various aspects of my life.

I realized that most of my colleagues were not as lucky as I was when it comes to private life. My relationship lasted mainly because of my partner’s inexhaustible tolerance and understanding. As a rule, other physicians’ relationships fell apart after a year, much earlier than the statistical relationship fell apart – it looks as if all of these relationships were contracting some strange disease like premature aging.

Long working hours certainly contribute to this. After four or five years of unconditional obedience to strict NHS rules, it has become a habit for me to stay late at work, show up early in the morning and replace my colleagues. There is a widespread belief among non-doctors that it is up to the person concerned whether he or she returns home at ten or ten; it is a matter of choice. Meanwhile, doctors can only choose whether to ignore their own needs or the needs of their patients. The former is sad, but the latter means someone is going to die, so we really have no choice.

The health care system relies on a minimum staffing and dedication of doctors who agree to stay at work overtime to do what needs to be done. By knowingly putting the patient at risk of losing health, you would compromise your own values, so you prevent this from happening by staying at the post almost after every shift.

Of course, not only doctors work late. The same can be said of lawyers and bankers, but at least on Friday night they can turn into weekend partygoers, abandoning social conventions in a forty-eight-hour eruption of unbridled hedonism. Meanwhile, doctors usually spend the weekends at work. But it’s not just about overtime. When you come home after a long, stressful day, your partner has no use for you; you are exhausted, allow yourself to make rude remarks and deny him the right to complain to his colleagues.

Physicians’ life partners know that as soon as they start talking about their troubles at work (usually none of these issues is a matter of life or death, unless someone works as a tightrope walker, firefighter, or drive-thru cashier at Burger King), you instinctively want to outrun them and you start talking about how terrible your day was.

It is your subconscious mind that makes decisions for you. Either you fail to forget about work, and you become distracted and even when your body is at home, you stay with your patients in mind, or you create a hard emotional armor that your partner does not have to be happy about.

Some of my friends and some of my girlfriends already have children. They live in constant guilt. They can add remorse to the rich collection of emotions associated with practicing the medical profession. I don’t have children, but I can guess what it feels like to call your toddlers in the evening instead of wrapping them in a duvet and reading to them gruffalo. Very often in the ward, their heads are so high that they fail to even call home. A friend of mine who used to work in a general surgery department was unable to come to the hospital where his son was undergoing emergency surgery because he himself had to undergo elective surgery in another hospital and there was no one to replace him.

When I became a resident, I saw an interesting paradox. The better you are at setting priorities at work, the worse you are at setting priorities in your private life. For a moment, I felt like the exception to this rule – I was the only guy who managed to hold ten magpies by the tail. I just had to make sure that none of them flew away …