It’s a BIG week – our first round of residency interviews start (!), and I’m running that show (along with our interim coordinator) for the first time. Though I did get plenty of experience in our last 2 recruitment seasons, it’s different to feel entirely responsible for the process and its outcome. Definitely more stressful, and I will be relieved when this week is over.
Hopefully we will continue to recruit the kinds of candidates we currently have. I feel like our overall yield has been incredibly kind and hard-working residents and so . . . hopefully this will perpetuate itself. Fingers crossed.
Today, however, is a clinical day. So I will be focused on wrapping up my call week (prepping the list!) and seeing patients. I actually don’t mind the compartmentalization that is now a given in my schedule. It’s almost like my clinical work is a break from the GME side and vice versa . . .
WEEKLY WORKOUTS (last week)
M – BB 21 DF, Total Body Cardio (8 / 10 / 12 lb weights)
T – 4 mi easy, 9:56/mi, 73F felt lovely in comparison to the usual
W – BB 21 DF, Upper Fix, 8 and 12 lb weights. Pushups: 18 up / 6 down, 12 up / 7 down. I seem to plateau at 30 total ‘regular’ pushups.
R – off (too tired so cashed in Friday’s “flex” day)
F – 4 mi with 6 x 30 seconds at zone 4-5 (a bit faster than 5K race pace) with 1 minute rests between. Total = 10:11/mi.
S – BB 21 DF Pilates
S – 6 mi long, 81F and humid (ugh), 10:17/mi. The heat definitely impacted me on this one!
DINNER PLAN (this week)
M – Salmon, rice, green beans (kids liked this last week)
T – Fartlek chili from RFES, tortilla chips
W – leftovers
R – Green curry tofu noodles from this month’s Real Simple. Not sure how the kids will feel about this one but I feel like we need to branch out once in a while . . .
F – Leftover (if kids hated it they can have pasta & jarred sauce)
S – dinner party @ our house (work colleagues)
S – cook something or out as a family (sushi perhaps)
7 Comments
I love that you have goals outside of medicine, like writing a book. I feel like for the first time in years recently I’ve been able to think about what I want to accomplish with my life. I would like the research to work out, but the reality is I can see myself being happy and fulfilled in other ways as well. Congrats on almost being done with call for the next 4 months!
thank you- i’m excited!
Love the retrospective workout / prospective food! Am curious how the curry goes too :).
Maybe you’ve done this before, but I’d love a post explaining what call is and why it’s so terrible (I believe you – I just don’t understand the details!). I’ve tried googling it, but its a little complicated and am curious your perspective. Are you at home until you’re called in? Is there a certain amount of time you need to reach the hospital by? Do you always get paid? Do practice have different rules about call?
Love the blog, as always.
– Anisha
Hi! Every single specialty and hospital/practice does call differently so it’s definitely not something you can google. Where I am, call is taken 1 week at a stretch (meaning 168 hours from a Tuesday morning to the next Tuesday morning). During that time, you are responsible for seeing all of the inpatients each day, writing their orders or making recommendations (in the case where you are consulting ), getting new consults. Pediatric Endocrinology is typically not that heavy inpatient, so most of us (including me) also see some outpatients when on call. You also have to answer the phone for any parent that calls the emergency line outside of office hours. Generally I do not have to come to the hospital outside of relatively normal hours but just deal with things on my computer writing order and on the phone.
Many nights are not busy, but it’s unpredictable. Last night I was up at 3am with a fairly complex case. Unlike shift work, there’s no break the next day – you just work your regular next call day. There is no pay specifically for call or anything you do on call; it is part of the job. (A job that is pretty well paying so I recognize that — although peds endo recently ranked 3rd to last of all medical specialties when it comes to pay scale. Good thing I picked it for other reasons!).
Sarah, thank you for the time and explanation. That sounds REALLY stressful – especially given there’s no “off” the next day, just keep going. The not knowing would be hard for the planner in me, and I imagine you as well. Thanks again.
Yay for being almost done with call! Mine is opposite, stacked together in the middle of the (academic) year—one week per month from Nov-March, but then not again until September 2020. I wish my kids would eat salmon. Or chili. or anything. meals were going well for a while but now they have taken firm stands against pretty much any food outside of tacos, pizza, and pasta.
Love the hobonichi pic – makes me super excited for my new one to arrive! I’ve gone back to the cousin after a few years with the A6 – in theory I love the smaller size but in practice it just isn’t big enough… even though I can look at old cousins and know I never filled them, and even though I have a job where all meetings are booked in an electronic calendar…for now I just want more space!