BURNOUT: A User's guide for young emergency doctors

This is a raw, brave and personal account of the life of an emergency physician. Diego draws on his military experience as well as his work in the NHS. There is a strong feeling throughout the book of how divorced the public image of emergency medicine is from the grim reality. The author must be commended for his willingness to share his experiences of psychological distress and the constructive way he navigates through the difficult times. Emergency medicine has a unique stress that the doctors, paramedics and nurses are up against literally every potential illness and injury. However, the greatest source of stress in emergency medicine is not usually the patients, but poor workplaces, professional behaviours, distant and unapproachable leadership.
It would be a mistake to think this is only relevant to doctors or even people working in the NHS or in military healthcare. There are clear lessons for anyone in any public sector leadership and management who wants to understand how the workforce thinks and behaves. Some of this is uncomfortable reading, but good leadership requires honesty to ask and answer difficult questions. This book is a timely reminder that unless we look after the workforce, then the workforce can’t look after us.

Dr Adrian Boyle
Past President, Royal College of Emergency Medicine