Saturday, December 18, 2021

Every Minute Is a Day: A Doctor, an Emergency Room, and a City Under Siege

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Every Minute Is a Day is an honest and well told memoir of an ER doctor and his experiences on the front lines of the pandemic. Released 3rd Aug 2021 by Crown Publishing, it's 256 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a compelling, honestly written, and sobering look at life on the front lines for healthcare professionals during the early days of the pandemic. He discusses the bewilderment and frustration of supply and support scarcity, insecurity about how covid would develop, and burnout from stress and overwork.  He also does a good job of explaining the finite resources they work with on a normal basis and how they have been stretched beyond the breaking point by the demands from the pandemic. 

I work in healthcare in Northern Europe and although I'm not on the front lines (I work in a lab with zero patient contact), I certainly recognized many of the overwhelming feelings of doubt and fear he relates. How would we take care of the non-covid patients? How should we prioritize resources and treatment for people who don't have covid? How do we prevent covid patients from spreading infection to the healthcare staff and other non-covid patients? How can hospitals care for these patients without necessary supplies?

Five stars. This is not always a comfortable read, but I feel it's an important one. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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