This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Discuss the anecdotes you found most amusing and most poignant in Kay’s memoir.

2. The author protects the identity of his former patients by using pseudonyms. Nevertheless, many of the incidents he describes are distinctive and memorable. How would you feel if you were a former patient of Kay’s and recognized yourself in the memoir? Do you consider the book a breach of patient confidentiality?

3. Are you a healthcare worker, or are you close to someone who is? If so, how do Kay’s experiences compare to healthcare situations that you have witnessed or heard about? 

4. Were you surprised by Adam Kay’s decision to leave medicine? Why or why not?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. How does Kay’s account of the UK’s NHS compare with your experience or knowledge of the American health care system? Does it sound better or worse from a patient’s perspective? Do you think the author’s warning concerning the “skyscraper-high bills of America” is valid (137)? 

2. Discuss Kay’s portrayal of gender dynamics within the field of obstetrics and gynecology. Do you think his perspective as a male doctor influences his experiences and observations?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Analyze Kay’s use of diary entries to construct his narrative. Did you find this an effective form of storytelling?

2. Discuss the impact of Kay’s job on his physical and mental well-being. Did you find him more or less relatable as the memoir progressed?

3. Explore the significance of the memoir’s title. What are its literal implications, and how does the title reflect the book’s deeper themes and concerns?

4. Discuss the emotional climax of the memoir when Kay faces an unexpectedly traumatic delivery. How does this event encapsulate the book’s broader themes, and how does it shape Kay’s decision to leave medicine?