The Night Shift [Hardcover]

Hidden somewhere in the book's introduction is the sobering sentence, "Sooner or later most of you are going to need the services of someone like me." For me, that statement has been verified more than once. And so, I'm grateful to Dr. Goldman for sharing in such a clear and engaging format what it's like "on his side of the gurney".

The E.R. experience is tense enough without the exaggeration we witness in TV dramas. Even though the night shift depicted in the book is really an elaborate composite, I would think it's a good a sample as any. Being recounted in the first person, as opposed to the common alternative (reporting/journalism style) lends it a much deeper, humane aspect.

I particularly like the balanced and highly empathetic view Dr. Goldman takes in his book. He doesn't pander to gore and unlikely theatrics, and uses few literary mechanisms such as "little did I know". Humour and seriousness are well blended. He balances empathy and respect with reasoning and calculated choices. The story is easy to follow and it gets into medical details only to the extent they are needed to explain situations. And in more than one place the story surprisingly digs into Dr. Goldman's own personal history and sometimes painful experiences, which heighten my appreciation for his truly demanding work.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever been or might be an E.R. patient. And if you have been a regular listener of his "White Coat, Black Art" show on CBC, let me assure you this book does not duplicate what you heard there. You might recognize a few details or a couple of stories, but this book is something else!

I have read a great deal of medical nonfiction and find accounts of life in the ER to be of particular interest. It's difficult to find such books written by Canadian authors, so I was excited to hear Dr. Goldman's perspective on our health care system. I found it to be an absorbing read, and well-written aside from a few typos. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who's a fan of this genre.

Anyone visiting an ER is probably frightened & in pain & the last thing on your mind is an inept or sleep-deprived doctor who is not up to the task of making you better.

Dr. Goldman has written a medical text that is easy to read by any non-medical person. Told in a conversational style he imparts some of his experiences as an ER night shift doctor in a Toronto hospital - he explores the inner workings of a big city ER that patients & outsiders never see. He does so with a touch of humour & a show of compassion which is admirable. Explaining what goes on behind the scenes may not make you feel any better, but at least you may have a better understanding of the enormity of what the doctors & nurses are faced with on a regular basis.

I am grateful to Dr. Goldman for confirming my belief that there are doctors who suffer from a "God-complex". Doctors who should not be doctors in my view. `First do no harm' is not a concept they grasp.

My logical mind says that doctors are human & thereby are prone to make mistakes, but that's the last thing I want to think about when I'm sick. This book is a revelation about how many mistakes can/do occur & why some of these mistakes happen. It puts into black & white, a very frightening fact right from `the horse's mouth' so to speak.

This book relates to an Ontario hospital & makes clear that that system is in desperate need of repair. Not an uncommon view for some time now which has, to date, only attracted lip-service from those charged with making the system better. However, it would not be outlandish to suppose that similar circumstances exist elsewhere.

Going to an ER is really much like buying a Lottery ticket. If you are lucky you get a doctor like Dr. Goldman & hopefully at a point before he/she is feeling the effects of sleep-depravation. If not, who knows? It is, by the way, not the fault of the doctor that he/she is sleep-deprived; it is 99% the fault of the system. Reading this book may give you some insight into what to expect if you should ever find yourself in an ER at midnight.