"Intern year makes you callous in a way that you'd never imagine yourself being" ~2nd year resident.
Wise words, and oh, so true. Is it the long hours, the feeling of helplessness, that what you are doing has so little effect on a person's ultimately outcome? Or is it the rude patient, the inpatient nurse, the demands of too much to do in too little time? Or is it simply the exhaustion that wrings your temples, turns your brain is a fog. All you can do it stare at little blue check boxes and check them off.
We are all preparing for the holidays, a time in the hospital where residents work at half staff. It means double the work for everyone. It's so half of us can get a few days off while the other work. We call it a "war." It is not a good time to be in the hospital.
But I was reminded today by an attending, in a simple email. That however hard it is for us to be in the hospital during the holidays, it's even harder for the patients. So wear a jolly hat and stuff your pockets full of little candy canes.
That's exactly what I'm going to do.
