Working over major holidays brings together a pretty unique camaraderie among healthcare workers. Physicians, nurses, techs, and ancillary staff support each other to get through these long and often difficult shifts away from their loved ones.
At this point, I’ve been up over 30 hours and spent well over half of that in the hospital. The shift was filled with operative cases non-stop, but at some point, I paused to reflect on perspective. With the widespread groaning about having to work over a holiday weekend, we must keep our patients in mind.
Being sick in the hospital or having to undergo an operation are considerably worse situations during the holiday season. We’re lucky to work with patients during these vulnerable moments in their lives to spread some cheer and ensure their safety.
Gotta try to get some sleep now. Back on call tomorrow!
Happy holidays everyone! 🙂
30 hours up? Don’t you get what’s called in french “compulsory rest”? i.e: after being on call for 12/24 hours you usually don’t work the day after…?!
We do, but I have a lot of difficulty sleeping before and after these shifts. I use that time to get other things done. 🙂