'Slow Night'
Nothing quite like a 16-hour shift when the hospital is dead. Thank God for my laptop, which allows me to get some other work done.
The cool thing about our profession is that things can turn around instantly. There's really no way of predicting how the day will go. In the midst of the almost-midnight calmness of our department, I get a call for a continuous neb. Continuous neb turns into BiPap. BiPap turns into ventilator. Ventilator turns into me spending two and a half hours in a hot room, working my butt off on this "slow night." Coming out of the room, covered in sweat and mucus (pulmonary edema shooting out of the tube, always a fun thing to happen in the middle of a double), the ER doc approaches me.
"Hey, thanks for your help. I think she's going to do well," he said.
"Yeah, the gas looked great. I think the tube will be out tomorrow morning," I replied.
I may be new to this, but in my experience, it's not too ofen you get a "thank you" from a doctor. Especially not for just doing what your job. But there's nothing more gratifying for me than a doctor looking at me and asking me "What do you want to do?", and then thanking me afterward.
So sometimes it's nice to hurry up and enjoy the "slow nights."
-- B.J.