Breaking and Mending: A junior doctor's stories of compassion and burnout
Joanna Cannon
Sep 2019 · Profile Audio · Narrated by Joanna Cannon
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4 hr 58 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
The unforgettable memoir from the bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep and Three Things About Elsie
A few years ago, I found myself in A&E. I had never felt so ill. I was mentally and physically broken. So fractured, I hadn't eaten properly or slept well, or even changed my expression for months. I sat in a cubicle, behind paper-thin curtains and I shook with the effort of not crying. I was an inch away from defeat... but I knew I had to carry on. Because I wasn't the patient. I was the doctor.
No sleep, skeleton support, a head full of anatomy lectures and idealism: this is life for our junior doctors in their first few years on the wards. Here, Joanna Cannon tells her own story in visceral, heart-rending snapshots.
We walk with her, facing extraordinary and daunting moments and meeting her patients: from attending her first post-mortem, learning the overwhelming power of a well or badly chosen word, sitting with a young woman in her final hours, to small sustaining acts of kindness and connection. These moments teach her that emotional care can be just as critical as restoring a heartbeat - and eventually lead her to her true home in
psychiatry.
Deeply moving, warm, compassionate and beautifully written, Breaking & Mending shows us why we need to better care for mental health - and for those who care for us.
A few years ago, I found myself in A&E. I had never felt so ill. I was mentally and physically broken. So fractured, I hadn't eaten properly or slept well, or even changed my expression for months. I sat in a cubicle, behind paper-thin curtains and I shook with the effort of not crying. I was an inch away from defeat... but I knew I had to carry on. Because I wasn't the patient. I was the doctor.
No sleep, skeleton support, a head full of anatomy lectures and idealism: this is life for our junior doctors in their first few years on the wards. Here, Joanna Cannon tells her own story in visceral, heart-rending snapshots.
We walk with her, facing extraordinary and daunting moments and meeting her patients: from attending her first post-mortem, learning the overwhelming power of a well or badly chosen word, sitting with a young woman in her final hours, to small sustaining acts of kindness and connection. These moments teach her that emotional care can be just as critical as restoring a heartbeat - and eventually lead her to her true home in
psychiatry.
Deeply moving, warm, compassionate and beautifully written, Breaking & Mending shows us why we need to better care for mental health - and for those who care for us.
About the author
Joanna Cannon is the author of the Sunday Times bestsellers, The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, which was published in fifteen languages, and Three Things About Elsie, longlisted for the Women's Prize. Her novels have sold over half a million copies in the UK alone.
Her love of narrative had always drawn her to psychiatry, but it wasn't until her thirties that she decided to go to back to university to study medicine. Before specialising in psychiatry, she rotated through a series of hospital jobs, from A&E to palliative care.
Her love of narrative had always drawn her to psychiatry, but it wasn't until her thirties that she decided to go to back to university to study medicine. Before specialising in psychiatry, she rotated through a series of hospital jobs, from A&E to palliative care.
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