Thursday, March 5, 2009

head meets pillow


One of our docs told me today that our ER is now busier than the regional trauma center an hour or so down the road - my old stomping grounds, as a matter of fact. I couldn't believe that, and said so, but he was on sure ground. He started pulling out facts and by the end of the discussion I realized that he was telling the whole, crazy truth. I was horrified, but I believed him.


I don't know why I'm surprised. We used to work hard, but at a tolerable pace. Now we just flat out run for twelve hours in a row. Lately we're always packed, always overflowing into the waiting room, always accompanied by the sounds of the medics calling in report on the patients they're bringing in any second. Our staff is working sick a lot of the time, because we're so busy that people feel guilty about calling in - even when they really should. Considering what we get exposed to on a daily basis, it would be shocking if we didn't get sick. And all it takes is a few days of running at this pace when you're sick and should be home in bed to make you even sicker for even longer...and nothing in the world you can do about it. When my co-workers finally face the fact that they're falling over it takes a lot more than one day off to get them back up to snuff. The people I work with are fabulous. It's the pace that's gonna kill me.


This is all a long winded way of saying that I've got nothing tonight. The brain drain has done me in.I've just finished the longest run of my schedule. Three straight, one off, one on. Four days on out of five. And now...


Four days off.


Back to the regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you could use a certain tax guy to give you a good old back massage. Take it easy darling, you deserve it.

Irene said...

I object to any references made to a certain tax guy who is not even in the picture. I say we ignore him until further notice.

Have a good 4 days off. Rest and enjoy yourself.

Maggie May said...

Four days off sounds good to me. Make sure you enjoy them!

Potty Mummy said...

Have a good rest before 5K day... (sorry, was I not supposed to mention that?)

Susan said...

Get some rest!

Unknown said...

I really hate to say this, but I think staffing and the pace is going to get worse. I don't have the "get-up-and-go" to go any faster or multi-task more. I seem to spend all my off days recovering. So ENJOY your time off, let the answering machine pick up, and rest. I know you deserve it.
PS. We're trying to figure out and design some kind of "stripper pants" to cover the nether regions of our more flexible and mobile patients. When we make our bazillions$$$ I'll send a few bazillion your way.

Akelamalu said...

Make the most of your four days off, rest up!

lebanesa said...

enjoy the rest
hugs