Night 4

I am more or less halfway through my week of nights at the moment, and paradoxically, I am writing this entry on the busiest night so far. I stepped into the Emergency Medical Admissions Unit with a slight spring in my step (ok, I'm lying) and my heart pretty much sank when I saw the 5 admissions waiting to be clerked. I have been pretty much on my feet all night 'till about 20 minutes ago, and we (registrar and myself) have seen about 12 patients between ourselves so far. Thankfully, the wards have been relatively quiet.

Not too bad for a Monday.

I've been told numerous times (by a variety of individuals) that the medical night shift is the place that'll cause the most stress but is also an excellent learning opportunity. To a certain degree, I agree with the statements. It's definitely busier and more taxing than any other shift I've done so far (cue panda eyes) and it definitely makes you think harder and do all you can to ensure the patient remains alive 'till the morning. I've yet to have a oh-fuck-what-do-I-do moment, but that's probably a reflection of the great support I've had from Kosar, my Iraqi registrar. The really sick patients that I've seen so far have either gone to ITU or have (expectedly) died.

The poor reg's actually unable to sleep during the day, so I tend to tell him to take a nap for 2-3 hours around this time (5am) so that he'll be able to at least rest for a bit. I, on the other hand, have the ability to sleep whenever I'm tired. I remember sleeping on a rock and the road back during one of those BTN courses. I prefer staying awake during my shift though, 'cause I get really annoyed when I drift off to dreamland and then get woke up by the incessant sound of the bleep. Hence the nightly ritual of sipping on a mug of coffee at 3 in the morning for the sole purpose of attempting to make sure my mind does not stray too far from the conscious.

Coincidentally, Omar and Karin have started their first set of nights at the same time with moi (in surgery and O&G respectively) and we've faithfully kept to meeting up for breakfast and bitching about the previous night's events. It's actually quite fun 'cause we're all in the fields that we actually intend to make a career of, so hopefully we'll have an idea of what awaits us.