Pager fatigue is hitting a new level tonight
I am currently sitting in the resident lounge staring at at the wall because I just finished a fourteen hour stretch and my brain is basically mush. You know that specific sound the pager makes when you are right in the middle of something critical. I was in the ICU helping with a difficult intubation on a patient who was crashing hard. It was one of those moments where everyone is focused and the tension is so thick you can feel it. Then my pager starts screaming. I had to have a nurse check it for me because I was busy. It was a page from the surgical floor asking if I could put in an order for a stool softener for a patient who hadnt gone in two days. Two days. Like that couldnt wait until I was finished saving a life. I dont blame the nurses because I know they have their own checklists and boxes to tick but the lack of situational awareness is just wild sometimes. It feels like we are expected to be in five places at once and still have a smile on our faces.
Then I finally get back to my desk to catch up on notes and the same thing happens again. This time it was a family member who wanted an update at 4 AM. I understand people are worried about their loved ones but calling the resident line in the middle of the night for a non-urgent update is just exhausting. My attending is going to be here in two hours for rounds and I still have six notes to finish and a discharge summary that I havent even started yet. I am drinking my fourth cup of coffee which is now cold and tastes like battery acid. Residency really teaches you how to function on pure spite and caffeine.
The worst part is that when I try to explain this to my friends who arent in medicine they just dont get it. They think I am being dramatic or that I should just set boundaries. How do you set boundaries with a pager that literally controls your life for eighty hours a week. I love being a doctor and I love taking care of paitents but some nights the system just feels like it was designed to break us. I just want one night where I can sit down for twenty minutes and eat my soggy cafeteria sandwich without being summoned to deal with something that could have been an email or a morning task. Anyway I should probably get back to these notes before the sun comes up and the chaos starts all over again.