Confessions of a Cranky Call Girl

So, week two of Neurology, down. For a while there, I was actually really enjoying it. But then the month changed and so the team changed, and now? Now I'm just crabby.

On the whole it hasn't been a bad month. Initially, there were two of us off-service types - me, the psych intern, and a Physical Med and Rehab intern I'll call Liz - as well as three second year Neuro residents and one senior, about to graduate in July-type Neurology resident. The six of us got along well. Our chief was laid-back and practical. Our attending for the first week was very cool and also really liked me, which was a plus. Our attending this week (they change weekly) is a very nice guy, quiet, soft-spoken, very easy going, but with this very disarming razor-sharp dry wit. Prior to Wednesday, I'd had two very easy calls. Ahhh.

And the system, as it is, is very nicely set up. Whenever the second year takes call, they're on by themselves. So they do consults, admissions from the ER, stuff on the patients already admitted, whatever. And they wind up being on a little bit less than q4, although not much. When Liz or I - who are strict q4, on every 4th night - are on, there's an upper level resident with us. So we take care of the patients already on service, up on the floor, and we do any direct admissions (transfers, clinic patients, whatever). The upper level, who theoretically knows something about Neurology, handles consults and makes decisions about admitting people down in the ER. Plus, they're available for any point at which the off-service intern finds themselves in a situation where they need guidance. It's actually quite pragmatic and useful, plus, we both have an easier night than we would've alone.

Oh, and did I mention how much better it is that being the only medical doctor overnight in a state psych hospital that has over 500 patients? And isn't always staffed by the most competent medical providers during the day?

But then November first came along. And we lost four residents, and only gained three. Liz and I are still there, and I'm so glad, because holy cow do I like her. She's a good egg and a very good co-intern. But we now only have a chief and two second year neuro residents. Our chief is high strung and intense and micromanaging and, while very nice, is kind of a lot to handle. And, AND, she does things like decide we need to round at freakin' 8am (we'd been rounding at 9:30 prior to this), which means I have to leave my house by 6 to get there in time to preround on all my patients, which totally bloody sucks. And then yesterday she made the whole team stay until after she was done with clinic, so we didn't leave until way too late, despite the fact that the two of us who could leave (Liz was on call) had been done for some time. And while one of the new 2nd years is actually a really nice guy whom Liz and I both really like, the other one is a condescending jackass. Which, we all know how well I take to condescension. Arrrrrrrrgh.

But at least I have today off. Which is nice, because I need the chance to catch up on my sleep, because of course I'm on call again tomorrow. Such a good time. I'm on with one of the second years from our old team, who's a great guy, but always admitted a ton of people on call. We'll see how it goes.

Incidentally, the title of today's post comes from my habit of answering the question, "Are you on call tonight?" with something along the lines of, "Yep, I'm your Call Girl this evening." I said that on Wednesday, and the nurse and the RT I was talking to (both men), were all shocked and scandalized and giggly. I, on the other hand, was like, it's kind of a corny joke, y'all, calm down.

There are many ways in which I whore myself out for this job. That? Is not one of them.

In other news, in what spare time I do have I've been reading a lot, which has gotten in the way of me knitting a lot, which I hope to remedy soon. And all the people who told me my wool stash was useless down here? Oh, you lied. Lied like a hand-crocheted rug (you know, like the one in my bathroom). I may not need quite the same level of woollen insulation that I did in the Chi, but, it's gotten sort of chilly down here. You can tell because Maggie, who usually looks like this when she naps:

has started sleeping like this:

And the leaves are starting to change for real, which is very pretty. I'm told the Carolina springs are even more gorgeous. I have to say, I have yet to meet a season which isn't lovely in this part of the country (even if the summer was sort of steamy). We'll see how I feel about winter.