A book recommendation

I have just read an outstanding book - unputdownable!

Direct Red by Gabriel Weston, an ENT surgeon in London, is about her reflection on her surgical training experiences over the last 13 years. As a piece of writing it is up there with my favourite writers, and is poetic and moving. As a piece of reflective practice it is awe inspiring.

I have always had great respect for the surgeons I meet, most of whom manage to combine what I see as a pretty mutually exclusive set of skills - patient empathy and removed dispassion; decisive action and reflective consideration. Gabriel is also aware of these conflicting requirements of the surgeon's skill set, and even, I think, subconsciously questions what is essentially a nature/nurture question regarding the approaches to surgical action and the evolution of the 'surgical personality.'

Part of my job is to encourage and develop the reflective, trainee centred element which lurks in most surgeons, and whilst I doubt many trainees could produce as eloquent a piece of reflective writing as this is, the book provides a great starting point for the encouragement of that additional skill.

It ought to be on the syllabus for all medical schools around the country.