I have spent the last month working the night shift, or "Owl Team" as we call it. Which is why you haven't heard from me in a while (at least, I'd like to blame it on the schedule, and not me being a crappy friend). Despite the fact that all I did when I got home was sleep until my next shift, and the fact that I spend my weekends trying to switch back to a normal schedule only to switch back to nights again, I think it was one of my favorite months.
We had the best team. It's a lot of time to spend with 6 other people, and I couldn't have asked for a better group. We not only had fun, but I felt like I learned a lot from my seniors, trusted my fellow interns, and felt like a part of the team. Between the movies, board games, potluck dinners, and coffee martinis...oh wait, we were supposed to be working? In all honesty, it was a slow month in terms of overnight admissions (not sure it was the same during the day), and even on the days when it seemed like the pager would never stop beeping, we had it pretty good.
It was really surreal to be the ones in charge of the teams at night. There are ICU and ER docs in house overnight, but basically, we're covering most of the hospital. I was the one getting paged about patients, putting in orders on new patients, following up on lab results, and deciding whether to wake up the attending for those middle-of-the-night-could-be-an-emergency issues. All of a sudden, I feel like a real doctor--when did this happen?!?! Of course, my wonderful seniors were also there every step of the way, for those kids we had to send to the ICU, or the ones who routinely had CO2 levels over 100 (okay, that was just one patient), or the ones going home on hospice. I learned a ton from them and am starting to feel more comfortable making decisions on my own. Trust me though, when I get to the PICU next year, all of this comfort will turn to utter terror. We'll jump off that bridge when we get there. For now, Owl Team, I will miss you.
Next up: Red Team
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