When I mention that I work in an emergency room, people usually say,
1. Are you a nurse?
2. Wow. That must be really hard.
3. What’s it like?

This is what it’s like to be an emergency doctor.

That teenager puking up two liters of vodka and his stomach lining at triage? Yup. Blood pouring out of a terrified pregnant woman? Call me. And, of course, the patient who no longer has a nosebleed screaming at me across the department, “You. Are. The Most. Unfeeling doctor. I have ever met!”

The thing is, though, mostly people come to the emerg because they’ve got a sore throat or potentially broken arm. So this is a book about the lighter side of the ER. Less Grey’s Anatomy, more Nurse Jackie, minus the drug addiction.

Let me peel back the curtain for you. It’s not an iron curtain. In the emerg, it’s most likely a crummy fabric curtain that too many other people have sneezed on.

Come on in.

Also available on Amazon.ca. International Amazon link here.

Now an AUDIO BOOK! Buy on Audible or at Gumroad. Newsletter subscribers get a chance to win a free copy!

Chosen for The Ultimate Reading List for Nurses.
“One of the hardest environments to practice medicine in is the emergency room and to work in critical care. Melissa Yuan-Innes provides a valuable look into what it’s like to work in the profession in the book The Most Unfeeling Doctor in the World, specifically in this incredibly demanding environment.”

“Wonderful. [A] great collection of essays in the vein of Montaigne—a personal reaction to the world, which leads to a reflection on larger issues. Yuan-Innes is funny, witty, dry, and compassionate. She’s harder on herself than anyone, and the essays are by turns wry, reflective, and startlingly poignant. A window into the realities, joys, frustrations, and contradictions of Canadian medical training and practice.” —Greg Smith, M.D.