30 hours of fun
aaaaaaaaaaaaand i’m back on call. i haven’t had to work 30 hours in a row since january, and let me tell you — the past few months were some good times. there were days when i came home drained, but i haven’t been sleeping through conferences, hallucinating about soft mattresses and blankets throughout the day, or fixating on the exact moment when i will get to lie down and cycle into REM.
i hate sleep deprivation and sleep deprivation hates me. physiologically it sucks, and for me there’s also an undercurrent of annoyance/anger that goes along with each call night, because i have grown to detest the system itself. now that i have experienced night float — not ideal, but so much better — i just don’t get why it’s a good idea to force people to stay awake for 30 hours at a time.
however, there is nothing i can do about it, and that attitude is not going to make the nights go any faster, so i am just acknowledging it now in attempt to move on. the comforting factor in all this is that my call days are numbered — literally. i have just 16 30 hour shifts on my schedule this year, which means 16 call nights ever.
16 x 30 = 480 hours, but since only the last 12 of each shift are truly painful, that’s only 192 hours of torture left. let the countdown begin!
an omission
aimee‘s brilliant post yesterday reminded me of a serious omission in my new tips for new interns.
where would JD, turk, and elliot be without carla??
this tip is in regard to nurses. listen to me (and aimee): it doesn’t matter whether you’re a trembling new intern or a tired old senior — the nurses are one of the most valuable resources you have. trust me, experienced nurses know about 10,000 times more than a brand-new intern, and they have a lot to offer to seasoned residents as well.
BE NICE TO THEM, appreciate that they work really hard, ask for their input, and remember that they are on your team — ie, Team Get-The-Patient-Better-So-They-Can-Leave-The-Godforsaken-Hospital. perhaps then you will avoid getting an embarrassing nickname like aimee talks about. i really hope i am not known as anything other than ‘sarah’ on our wards, but who knows . . .
yes i did
i debated not getting up early to run today (since i’m on call) but decided the endorphin rush would be worth missing an hour of sleep. i suppose i’ll find out whether this was the right choice later today. something tells me i am going to need some extra caffeine tonight!
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7.1.09
workout: rest day
reading: 20 minutes on hypothyroidism in the latest peds in review
2 Comments
Gahhh, good luck!
aww that's great that you appreciate nurses! i'm not seasoned yet (not even close), but i totally agree with your sentiment. Nice blog! (this is sharon, btw)