8 > > > 30

February 25, 2009

as in, 8 hour shifts = much, MUCH more enjoyable than 30! although i was nervous going into my shift (i really have very little experience going IN to work at 11 pm!), it really wasn’t so bad. it went by very quickly, probably because i stayed busy with a steady stream of patients the entire time. i’ll even admit that i might have actually enjoyed it a little. i like the variety of the acute care setting, running the gamut from laceration-in-a-belligerent-drunken-teen to cute li’l coughing baby to moaning appendicitis. i like having a decent amount of autonomy (especially in the hours from 2 – 7 am, when there is no peds-specific attending and i’m the only MD in the vicinity).

as for my goals . . . i did NOT do any IVs, which was bad because there were at least two in teens that i could gotten in from across the room. part of the problem was that i was very busy and doing other things while the nurses got access. the other problem was that i just kinda forgot. next time, though! i did do a few hands-on things (who knew it was so easy to reduce a nursemaid’s elbow??), but nothing fancy.

[here’s how to reduce a nursemaid’s elbow. FYI, i totally felt the palpable pop that they mention! and it worked. disclaimer: don’t try this at home. instead, bring your child to the ER at 2 AM, so that i can be your hero and feel like a total badass! pic from contemporarypediatrics.com]

and now, it’s time to sleep. i was completely awake driving home (in direct contrast to how i usually feel after a 30-hour stint) but i think i’m starting to get a little tired. hopefully bit of murakami’s night-themed after dark will lull me to dreamland. then it’s up in 7 hours or so to start a new day! weird, but so far . . . not so bad.

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2.24.09

workout: 10 miles, 8:57/mi, 0.5% incline except for 4 0.25 mi segments of 2-3% incline (hill intervals). and no, i didn’t get bored. i had some good magazines, and the new m. ward album.

doin’ time: prior to my working shift, i made sole with lemon-butter sauce, accompanied by green beans with caramelized shallots and some challah bread left over from the-french-toast-that-wasn’t (ie, valentine’s day, when we got too tipsy/lazy to actually make what we had planned). i liked this meal but felt the lemons were a touch too bitter. also, i had to use broth instead of wine because i couldn’t justify opening a bottle with my current schedule (what, am i supposed to drink it 8 am upon arriving home? uh, no.).

reading: 25 board prep questions & explanations, plus a case-based article from feb’s peds in review. that little magazine is not quite as riveting as us weekly, but it’s close!

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