Working 4 successive nights is something I have just completed for the first time in hospital. It has been a mixed experience. This is because I worked as a registrar for the first two nights and as a senior house officer the next two. During the nights as a registrar, I was carrying the bleeps meant for a middle-grade doctor. This means that I was the doctor responsible for whatever happened those nights - on the hospital campus. One of my colleagues worked as a SHO "under" me. On the next two nights, I held the bleeps for SHO, and another colleague worked "over" me as a registrar.
This allowed me to see the work from both points of view. And, I hope, it made me a better doctor. I think I managed the ward reasonably well, considering that this was my first time as a registrar, albeit as a stand-in.
Working nights means you need to sleep well the day prior to your first night, and then, every day following. In that respect, I guess I am a poor sleeper. I tried to sleep longer hours, but couldn't manage more than five and a half tops. On my third morning, I even took a herbal sleeping pill - but it did not lengthen my sleep time by even a few minutes. All I am saying is - I can get by with a lesser amount of sleep compared to an average bloke.
The other thing that doctors (or other healthcare workers) do when they do night shifts is that they carry with them a lot of food. This can either be a healthy mix of, say, sandwiches, fruit juice or fruit, and some healthy snacks, or, as is more usual, a mix of some healthy stuff and also some unhealthy stuff like potato chips, carbonated beverages, chocolate, and so on. I can admit candidly that my diet goes for a toss when I am on a night shift. My food bag resembles the second type of mix. For example, on my first night, I took rice, paya masala, a bag of low-salt, hand roasted chips and a caffeine-free Pepsi. On the fourth night, I had a white bread chicken mayo sandwich, a Pepsi (the same as before) and orange juice. Thus it goes.
Finally, when the night is full of work, as it was on the last of the four days, one can get really tired. Even so, I managed well, I think, thanks to the 3-4 cups of tea that I had in between running around doing the chores.
And that's about it for now. Thanks for reading. Do share your comments below.
This allowed me to see the work from both points of view. And, I hope, it made me a better doctor. I think I managed the ward reasonably well, considering that this was my first time as a registrar, albeit as a stand-in.
Working nights means you need to sleep well the day prior to your first night, and then, every day following. In that respect, I guess I am a poor sleeper. I tried to sleep longer hours, but couldn't manage more than five and a half tops. On my third morning, I even took a herbal sleeping pill - but it did not lengthen my sleep time by even a few minutes. All I am saying is - I can get by with a lesser amount of sleep compared to an average bloke.
The other thing that doctors (or other healthcare workers) do when they do night shifts is that they carry with them a lot of food. This can either be a healthy mix of, say, sandwiches, fruit juice or fruit, and some healthy snacks, or, as is more usual, a mix of some healthy stuff and also some unhealthy stuff like potato chips, carbonated beverages, chocolate, and so on. I can admit candidly that my diet goes for a toss when I am on a night shift. My food bag resembles the second type of mix. For example, on my first night, I took rice, paya masala, a bag of low-salt, hand roasted chips and a caffeine-free Pepsi. On the fourth night, I had a white bread chicken mayo sandwich, a Pepsi (the same as before) and orange juice. Thus it goes.
Finally, when the night is full of work, as it was on the last of the four days, one can get really tired. Even so, I managed well, I think, thanks to the 3-4 cups of tea that I had in between running around doing the chores.
And that's about it for now. Thanks for reading. Do share your comments below.
Keep it up, Dr Taher
ReplyDeleteThank you Rashidaben.
DeleteLage Raho Taher Bhai...
ReplyDeleteYour encouragement means a lot. Thanks!
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