The Night Shift: Real Life in the Heart of the E.R.

by Brian Goldman

Dr Goldman found that he was better suited working nights than working days like most folks. Not only was it his time of the 24-hour day, but it allowed him to pursue a career in radio hosting a show on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, “White Coat, Black Art.”

As he takes us through his typical nights in the ER, he goes off on tangents whether it’s a story about his younger days as a new doctor, the healthcare crises in Canada, or how the Canadian healthcare system is run.

Because I would read the book during my lunch break and before I went to bed, there were long gaps in my reading where I would get lost during one of his tangents and by the time he would get back to discussing the patient’s outcome, I totally forgot why the patient was there in the first place. But honestly, that’s a minor quibble.

My main interest are health care professionals and their interactions with patients. I’m really not all that interested in problems with healthcare distribution or how much money it takes to run a hospital. I hope I don’t come off as being callous; I’m not. It’s just that finance isn’t my bag and I don’t really enjoy reading about it (that, and I never took a finance course in my life — again, not my thing).

This was an enjoyable book. Dr Goldman didn’t dwell a lot about his personal life, instead, he concentrated on his medical life giving the readers a really interesting view of what is like being an ER doctor.

If you enjoy this kind of book, by all means, give it a read. I give it 4/5 stars — a good read.