#23: 25% done

Last call night was my 23rd call night and it was the last call night after three straight months of call on the same general surgery service. Since I've rotated through 3 of the 4 services that share the same call pool I've really gotten to know most of the patients that I cover on call. Also, with three months of intern year finished, I'm 25% of the way through intern year! When I think back to all of the days and nights that I've spent in the hospital it's completely amazing how much I've learned and the amount of confidence I've gained in taking care of patients in the hospital.

Still, there is so much more to learn - I started helping to take care of a really sick patient in the intensive care unit this week. I was totally terrified the other day when my chief resident told me to leave our pre-operative planning conference to go take care of the patient while he finished presenting patients for the conference. I went over the ICU and the patient's heart rate was racing, his blood pressure was falling, and all of the nurses were asking me what to do. I really didn't know what to do - what medicine to hang for him - because every medicine drip that we adjusted changed the patient's heart rate and blood pressure. I felt like we were walking this very fine line between keeping the patient going and watching him crash. I have a lot to learn about how to manage really sick patients like this one. Thankfully, my chief showed up after a while just as the patient was starting to stabilize and I felt a lot of relief.

I ran out of moeny on my meal card on my last call night so I could buy coffee at midnight like I usually do. As a result, it took me until 4 am to finish the amount of work that I would normally finish by 3 am and as a result I only got 60 minutes of sleep before the 5 am pages started rolling in.

Next month I'll be working at a private hospital affiliated with our university hospital. Everyone who works there says it's such a nicer experience and as interns we actually get to operate all day and call nights are not a rough as there are less pages and less acute problems. It'll be a nice change.

Last call nights Wednesday, September 27rd
Amount of sleep last call night: 60 minutes, .
Currently reading: Greenfield's Chapter on Ulcerative Colitis
Currently watching: Heroes Premier Episode (recorded) I've always wanted to have super powers.
Next call night: Monday, October 2nd.