Intense swelling of the uvula (caused by ranting!) . Slowly my week of call is ending. I often am puzzled by the meaning of emergency. This is a result of having to answer emergency calls in the middle of the night. My favorite is the call that comes in at 2:00 am from the patient who can not sleep. I try my best not to say "I know the feeling".
Even when it is not that busy at night I find that I am always tired. It is the anticipation that any minute that I might have to rush in. I can't imagine what it must be like to be a fireman, police officer or EMT. How do they ever sleep on those long shifts? Well, off to sleep hoping that it will be quiet. Long live EMTALA!
Somewhere in Dr Schwab's Surgeonsblog he mentions this as being part of the reason for early burn out. He described his weekends on call anticipating the ER to call - even if there weren't any calls.
ReplyDeleteHe also shared what he would do differently if he were starting again. I don't recall everything he said but I think that is the gist of it.
I think it was something he posted this past winter but then again I have gone back to the beginning of his blog to read all of his posts. Obviously, I had a lot of time to kill, but I had a ureteral stent and was pretty much grounded. Now I am just hooked- great hobby. :)
BTW - it's fun to go to your favorite bloggers and read their very first post. I think it is interesting to see where they began and why and then to see how they have evolved.
Welcome to the blogosphere! :)