Home Call

Got my first real taste of home call this week.

So far my experience has been with in-hospital call, which is a bit more onerous, but also a bit more predictable. I lucked out and got a very light call shift this time around, basically never getting called in. The previous shift was hectic, going until late at night. If home call was just bad-vs-good shifts, I wouldn't be concerned, since who's really going to complain about a light workday, especially when you get to spend much of it at home? Well, home call means no guaranteed post-call day. If the home call turns out to be light, or at least not horribly bad, it means a full day the next day.

I hate that level of uncertainty. I really like to know when I'm showing up and roughly when I'm leaving. If an extraordinary situation occurs, then of course I'll stay longer and I come in early when I think it will help. Yet, sitting around not knowing whether or not I'll have to rush into hospital, not knowing when I'll get to go home once I'm there, not knowing how long I'll get to sleep, not knowing whether I have the next day off to rest.

In-hospital call isn't exactly enjoyable, but at least I'm aware of what's coming. I expect to be up all or most of the night. Any sleep is bonus. I expect a day off the next morning.

I'm starting to realize that while I do want a specialty with shorter hours, consistent hours might be more important. It's hard to plan your life when your time truly isn't your own and the scope of your obligations change on a whim.

On-Call Thoughts

Random thoughts from the middle of the night on-call:

1) Call rooms are like mini-hotel rooms and I love them. They're not much (pretty small, not overly fancy), but just the fact that they have a bed, a bathroom, a place to plug the phone in, and some privacy is awesome.

2) Call in Peds is completely different than call was in OB. OB call was basically just working at night - sleep was an unexpected luxury. Peds call still involves a fair bit of work, but sleep is more plentiful and much easier to predict.

3) The city looks oddly serene at nearly 3 am. My call room has a window and it truly looks like the whole place is asleep.

4) While maybe not the best idea, taking advantage of a middle-of-the-night wake up to do some homework feels oddly productive, though I'm not sure I got as much learning out of my efforts as I should have!