A Long Call Shift

As a fellow I take night call at least once per week. I've only had a hand full of call nights so far, and they've mostly been fine. We get to take call from home and most things can be responded to on the computer without going to the hospital. 

Last night, I got a call from the ED letting me know that an oncology patient had been brought in by ambulance and needed to be admitted. I completely agreed and suggested that our hospital medicine team, which is in house all night, admit the patient. This is our usual practice. The hospitalist called me a half hour later and declined the admission since the patient was just recently on our service. This meant I had to go in and admit the patient myself.

Around 12:30 am, just as I was climbing into bed, I got the message from our nursing team that the patient had arrived to the floor. I was at the hospital by 1:00 am. I evaluated the patient, placed admission orders, and wrote my H&P. I was back home and in bed by 3:00 am. But then my pager went off a few more times during the morning with questions for this patient as labs came back abnormal. Long story short, I didn't sleep much last night and was tired all day.

Late this afternoon I found out that we would be direct admitting a patient from clinic to start chemotherapy. Unfortunately, there was a delay in getting a bed ready, so the patient had not made it to the floor by the time I was ready to leave for the day. I gently approached our overnight fellow to see if he would mind staying late to get this patient admitted. I offered to write the H&P as best I could in advance to save him time. My colleague was not excited, understandably, but definitely agreed to help out.

About four hours later, I got an e-mail from this co-fellow thanking me for helping get things prepped for the admission. He said that it saved him considerable time and that he was very grateful for my help. He also said he had heard last night was long for me, too, and expressed additional gratitude because of that.

Today was long, but I had the satisfaction of doing the right thing for my patients and my colleague. The e-mail I got at the day's end made it all worth it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Whirlwind of Service, Scholarship, and Gratitude

Image
Today was supposed to be an academic day—a chance to recharge, catch up on work, and make progress on scholarly projects. Instead, it turned into a whirlwind of commitments, unexpected challenges, and a few bright spots that reminded me why I do what I do. The morning started with a short meeting for the health, safety, and nutrition subcommittee of our daughter’s daycare board. From there, I jumped into a 45-minute interview with a journalist writing a story for the American Medical Association. By 10 a.m., I was catching up on patient messages before heading to the university campus to serve as a judge for an undergraduate poster session. While I was engaged with the students, messages piled up about a patient at our treatment center whose orders needed urgent attention. As soon as I left the session, I put out fires and made it back to my office just after noon. I thought I’d have time to regroup before my 2 p.m. meeting—but life had other plans. A colleague, a head and neck surgeon...
Read more

Full Circle: Reflections on 20 Years in Research

Image
This week, I’ve had the privilege of attending a research conference in beautiful Flagstaff, Arizona—an event co-sponsored by Northern Arizona University, the University of Arizona, and the University of New Mexico. The goal of this gathering is clear and inspiring: to increase exposure, interest, and opportunity in the fields of science and medicine, particularly for students from underrepresented backgrounds. It has been a joy to speak with several of these students—each bringing fresh energy and curiosity as they consider careers in research, medicine, or both. Yesterday, I participated in a small group discussion, and someone asked me how I first got started in science. That question sparked a memory I hadn’t reflected on in quite some time: my very first research experience, exactly 20 years ago. That summer, I was a rising junior at Austin College, a small liberal arts school in Sherman, Texas. I spent 10 weeks in a biochemistry lab, working closely with one other student and a...
Read more

Final Day of Fellowship

Image
This morning I saw the last patients of my fellowship. It's been a fun three years! The Scripps hem/onc fellowship program was the perfect place to train to be an oncologist, and it helped set me up for a really exciting university position. I will start as a melanoma and sarcoma specialist at the University of New Mexico in August. The people in the picture below (and the two classes that preceded them) were great colleagues and friends during my journey, and I will remember all of them fondly.  This is also the end of my journey as a Chief Fellow. I really enjoyed giving back to the program this year and helping to make it a better place for all of us. Our program director announced a few months ago that she is also leaving to take a new opportunity at the University of Minnesota. We are all very happy for her, but she will be missed. She did an exceptional job leading this program and advocating for the needs of trainees.  It seems like just weeks ago that I was writing my ...
Read more