Playing Doctor by John Lawrence

 

To become a doctor requires a sensible, responsible, and studious person, correct? I guess John didn’t get the memo. Having worked in a number of different professions, all completely removed from medicine, he decided to have at it. And have at it he did—with no less than two mountain bike crashes and injuries which caused short-term memory loss before starting med school.

 

The self-deprecating humour really kept me going through the book. It was definitely an original take on a doctor’s experiences and gave a new meaning to warts and all. TV shows have glammed up the road to the degree and this book breaks down the first four years of med school and shows you the piles of paperwork, studying, and lack of sleep. However, it also shows you the parts of the practical rotation I never expected! In the back of your mind you understand that a doctor should know a little about everything before they specialise, but reading about the experiences they have to go through in all the departments like OB-GYN was hysterical! To realise that they sometimes had to practise on colleagues had me cringing. The road through the different departments was described with fun yet with sensitivity – especially in the burn and psychiatric wards. The cardiology comparisons were brilliant, like if you were a proficient water-skier, you had a higher chance of being able to keep the retractors open correctly because you had the stance down pat! After all the drama he went through and the experiences just to get to residency, I’m not sure whether to applaud him or admonish him for putting me off going to the doctor ever again . . .

 

The author has a brilliant style of writing that keeps you engaged and doesn’t bog you down with technical details. There were some punctuation errors but they didn’t detract from the overall mad journey of med school. A thoroughly enjoyable book, able to be read in one sitting as you join the doctor-to-be in celebrating his successes and . . . well, let’s not talk about the other shall we  . . . 

 

Thanks to ReedsyDiscovery for the advanced readers copy. 

https://reedsy.com/discovery/book/playing-doctor-john-lawrence