I've frequently been asked what it's like being at work. Well, that would take a longer explanation than a day could cover but I can certainly explain what it feels like the day after a bad on-call.
Generally speaking, an on-call for the doctors over here means holding responsibility for a certain department's duties ( e.g. paediatrics, medicine, surgery ) for a period of 24 hours - and being on-call if needed in the hospital. Needless to say, the 24 hour call means running around ragged like a madman, attending to numerous patients - new incoming patients and also patients already warded, giving replies to separate referrals and barking out curt orders like a martinet. Obviously there's hardly any time to sit around twiddling our thumbs.
After a really awful day of such acute stresses, there is a sense of overwhelming relief especially when I see the next day's poor bastard coming to work. Could almost kiss the damned bugger. Doing rounds on that day feels like floating on a dream state of fugue. Almost like a hangover, my head feels like it's been doused in heavy-duty gin and wrapped up in wool. Every move I make feels pathetically slow almost as if by slow-mo and cautious, and when I speak, it feels like I'm talking underwater with the words feeling almost like a foreign tongue to me.
2 comments:
I understand medical doctors work like that in many countries around the globe, right? It's really crazy, and I'v never understood why.
I think it's a way of torturing doctors. :)
Mostly I think it's because hospitals are usually understaffed. Too many patients, not enough doctors and nurses.
Paul
Post a Comment