Back to the Land of the Living!

For the entire month of March, my life consisted of "night float." In the residency world, "nightfloat" defines your work schedule in a way similar to this: Sunday 8am-Monday 7am; Monday 5pm-7am, Tuesday 5pm-7am, Wednesday 5pm-7am, Thursday 5pm-7am. This is a total of 79 hours/week. I literally felt like I lived in the hospital, which in a way, I did. In our call room there is a bed and some bulletin boards. I brought my own sheets from home (a bright red set) and pictures to decorate the bulletin boards to make it feel more "homey." I am so glad to be done with this experience, but there are a few things I learned about myself that I don't think would have been as clear otherwise.

1) I am a super people person. When the only people you interact with are PCU (Progressive Care Unit) patients (who are usually quite sick, and not all that chatty), and nurses (who are usually quite busy), you can get quite lonely. I didn't realize how much I thrive on interacting with others. I knew that I like people, but I didn't realize how much.

2) I could never have a job that takes you away from home for extended periods of time (business trips, etc). I guess I always knew that, but I learned that I really like sleeping in my own bed at night. When I was a medical student, there was a resident I worked with who said something that has stuck with me ever since. "People don't realize how lucky they are to sleep in their own bed every night." It's true.

3) I can't sleep efficiently during daytime hours. My only time off during the week by the time I got home was 7:30am-4:30pm. I spent some time with my husband in the morning (til about 9 or 9:30) which leaves not that much time for sleep. I couldn't seem to get to sleep and stay asleep when I needed to.

4) I really like Skype. My mom and I had Skype conversations via video several times a week if I had decent enough nights at work that allowed me to rest overnight. It was like visiting her house or having her over without the two hour drive.

I am so excited to be done with the nightfloat world. It is something I'll never have to do again, and believe me, I'll shed no tears over it. The things you learn from work.

"People don't realize how lucky they are to sleep in their own bed everynight"