i am sure there are plenty of jobs that run 24 hours...but hospital jobs have to be the worst. when i first started doing ultrasound, i thought it was so cool to wear the beeper and be called out from my dinner to do a stat patient from the emergency room, WOW, so neat! well, after 15 years, i am OVER it! this has to be the biggest cause for burnout in techs, i am sure (other than obstetrical patients, which i have spoken about before).
i was "on call" a couple fridays back and after taking a one hour nap...was called out three different times. first at 11:00pm, then as i was driving back home at 1:00am....called back in. i got home at 3:00am, got nice and toasty in my bed only to be called out at 3:30am. now, if i get called in i start getting grumpy and i am not too pleased when my patient arrives eating mcdonalds cheerfully and asks me how i am doing. these are the patients who say they have a pain somewhere that has been there for a couple years. i ALWAYS want to say, "and you decided 2am on a saturday nite was high time you came in to check it out??" ughhhh!
yesterday i worked a full day and then was on call after, luckily i only had to stay two hours overtime and never got called back in, YAHOOOOO!!! that is why i am not in a total coma as i write this.
time for my "second shift" as my friends without kids often say as we head home from work. family is calling!
No comments:
Post a Comment