Becoming a doctor. Surviving and thriving in the early postgraduate years. Jo Burnand, editor. Sydney: Churchill Livingstone, 2007 (xii + 216 pp). ISBN 978 0 729 53758 2.

This compact all-Australasian volume is written by experts in their field who are both knowledgeable and passionate about junior doctor education in Australia. The topics covered are all those that later-year medical students and early-year postgraduate doctors need information about when planning their initial career movements (such as transition from student to intern/junior hospital doctor, career planning and organising, what to do when things go wrong, and having a family or a life).

The book is not as appealing to the expected audience as it could have been. It is written by doctors and other experts who have not been new medical graduates any time recently; they write from authority rather than from the recent graduate’s perspective of survival.

Although the chapters are all very relevant, they are written in a uniformly dense style with few tables and charts and no cartoons — there isn’t an instant visual appeal to Gen Y readers. The appendices are useful, especially the Junior Doctors Curriculum Framework, but this material (along with much of the material on orientation and how the health service works) is available on health service and hospital websites, which are possibly less likely than printed material to become out of date.

I see this as a useful reference book for medical education officers and supervisors of training, particularly those new to their positions. It is valuable for ideas on orientation programs, education sessions and assistance when confronted by junior doctors exhibiting stress at work. It should also be a staple in medical school and hospital libraries for students and junior doctors to consult in their spare moments.