A festive diary style look into working in the NHS, this has all the wit, heart and humour of Adam’s previous book, This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor with added tinsel and fairy lights. As before, some of the entries are hard hitting and difficult to read about, mixed with some other, more light hearted entries, that had me laughing out loud. I can see a lot of myself and my colleagues in Adam’s writing style, with an almost stoic approach to life with certain patients and situations that stay with you forever. There were many, many anecdotes and scenarios I’ve seen firsthand myself, and I could relate a lot to Adam’s thoughts and feelings on the NHS and working over the Christmas period. Unfortunately for the author, during his stint as a practicing doctor, he pulled the short straw six years in a row. His Christmas day consisted of plundering the fridge for leftover sprouts at 11:00 p.m. before crashing from exhaustion.

On labour ward you get through a particularly large number: it’s hard to emerge from any delivery unsplashed. You’re basically front row for Shamu at SeaWorld, except Shamu has eaten a dodgy kebab and is suffering from chronic fin rot.” NHS staff spend their lives in the emotional equivalent of the brace position, prepared for disaster at any time. The responsibility they carry, after all, is unimaginable. They hold people’s lives in their hands, and sometimes those hands haven’t rested for twelve, thirteen, fourteen hours, or more. Medical detachment is something some healthcare professionals acquire after many years of experience. Would you believe there’s a medical term specifically and exclusively for a mass of undigested sharon fruit in an intestine? No wonder medical school takes so long, learning all this s...”I read the author’s debut while I was studying for my final tests in med school and now I read this while I am officially a doctor! I received the license test results on the same day I received this book so that was definitely a sign! The book didn't live up to it's initial promise by never developing. It remained a selection of anecdotes taken from the Christmas shift every year from 2004 (afair) to the present. Occasionally it is laugh-out-loud funny or a broad smile, as in: "Full marks to the anaesthetist wearing a badge that says, "He sees you when you are sleeping, he knows when you are awake," but mostly it's just mildly amusing. Or not. Another misguided attempt at creating a festive feel in the ward led to a whole room having to be evacuated and deep cleaned. The cinnamon and mulled-wine scented diffuser mingled with the hospital smells of blood, placenta, and feces to produce a stench as potent as noxious gas. And I can officially say that I was not disappointed! The stories are eye-opening, sometimes hilarious and provide an insight into the humanity of the NHS. I loved that Government Health Secretary’s were compared to Defence Against the Dark Arts Teachers in Harry Potter, you know they will be evil but you have to wait out the year to see how they are going to be evil! We are experiencing delays with deliveries to many countries, but in most cases local services have now resumed. For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin.

Like many people i really loved 'This is going to hurt', it was hilarious, gross and had plenty of heart to it, and was certainly eye opening!. So when i saw that he was bringing out a second book, again , like many i was really looking forward to more!. But I still enjoyed this author’s unique brand of humor and turn of phrase. And if you have spent anytime in a hospital over the Christmas season (whether as a patient or visitor) you will probably be able to relate in some way. Review to come, once I finish this horrible essay. Seriously, no one tells you that once you get a good grade, you have to work twice as hard to make sure your work will be up to the standard you've set. Also Ethics, I have to find the energy to study for Ethics. U ovoj knjizi ipak ima i teških dijelova, posebice jedna priča koju nije uvrstio u svojoj debitanskoj knjizi. Razlog tome je bio što je događaj bio izuzetno težak (toliko da je dodao i napomenu da se slobodno može preskočiti taj dio knjige zbog uznemirujućeg sadržaja), te mu se nije lagano bilo prisjećati, ali je svijestan da je važan trenutak. U tom dijelu ponovno prikazuje one svoje emocije koje mi zaboravljamo da doktori imaju. Iako se nad njime nije radila operacija jedva je podnio raditi. To nam samo govori da nikad ne smijemo zaboraviti da su i doktori ljudi.It will be challenging to see the funny side for some readers who are not familiar with the gory side involving many complications that Medical professionals have to face in their professional life. But still, Adam Kay manages to make many readers smile regarding the remarkable Christmas eve he had in his life. Of course, there are some touching moments to be found as well. There was a tradition in the author’s ward for the head surgeon to slice a turkey in the break room while asking a nurse to pass him each utensil one at a time as though performing surgery – “Knife please.”

I like that the author still has a message to deliver despite all the humor! This was less serious than book 1 and it has less Gynecology ward entries but I liked the ending and I guess it is kind of true. As the author says, thanks to all the doctors and nurses and medical staff working day and night and sacrificing their social life to keep the rest of the people healthy! Who knows, maybe in few years, I will publish my own medical diaries! People winding down for the holidays hardly tempers the number of accidents and emergencies – far from it. Doctor-turned-comedian Adam Kay takes us on another hilarious and heart-warming journey onto the NHS wards in Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas, giving audiences a peek behind the blue curtain during the festive season at the Palace Theatre. Truly a brief and ribald rant by Adam Kay. Audible experience enticed laughter in many en route to an architectural paradise by the sea. Kayes’ style imparts a unique view and classification of the morose nature of holidays when experienced through the eyes of medical professionals. Learned what “G-y” dumping is and how “Turkeybone” in a trachea is a quotidian occurrence on Satan’s merry go round (aka “The ER”).In my first book, This is Going to Hurt, the most common reasons for entries being omitted included ‘too disgusting’ or ‘too Christmassy’. Here I make amends for both. Having listened to the audiobook for Kay’s amazing account of life as a junior doctor, This Is Going To Hurt, earlier in the year, I was very much excited to read this little festive book in the run-up to Christmas. Would you believe there’s a medical term specifically and exclusively for a mass of undigested sharon fruit in an intestine? No wonder medical school takes so long, learning all this shit.” I ask why. then remember why most people do most things, and thus find myself introduced - at the tender age of twenty-four - to the sexual kink of mummification.” Full marks to the anaesthetist wearing a badge that says, “He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake.””

Following on from the massive success of This is Going to Hurt, based on the book of the same name, former junior doctor Adam Kay delves deeper into life on the wards during Christmas. What for most of us is a time for family, feasting and presents brings all kinds of new challenges for the hard-working staff of the NHS as new Christmas miracles are born and foolish people partake in a few too many Christmas spirits and end up in all kinds of trouble.

Thankfully this festive spin off was just as good/heart-warming/heart-breaking and kept me thoroughly entertained. A short warning before we begin: These blinks contain descriptions of blood, death, miscarriage and abortion. Adam Kay narrating makes this hilariously entertaining and think it's worth listening to it on audio instead of reading it as you can really feel the happy emotions and the miserable from being a junior doctor working in a obstetrician and gynaecology ward. While wishing for a third book, I can definitely see myself listening to this again next Christmas season. Most people in Britain realize that the NHS is underfunded. What they might not realize, however, is just how much of an understatement “underfunded” is in this case!