The reason why I lost a few days on this blog was because of "Jeopardy." I had thought the worst part of intern year was cross-cover, but I was wrong. The worst part of intern year is definitely jeopardy. Jeopardy is our back-up system. Since housestaff are critical to patient care, we have backups in place in case a resident has an unforeseen absence. Residents on "light" outpatient or elective rotations - where we are not essential - act as backups for those on rotations that depend on us. Unfortunately, in the last two weeks, there have been a rash of illnesses and family emergencies and all the backups have been activated twice.
The uncertainty of it makes it the worst thing. I don't mind taking call or doing extra work, but the fact that I could be activated at any time is awful. I carry my pager around with me 24/7. It is on my nightstand. I check it compulsively at restaurants. I wonder whether I should go farther than a 30 minute radius in case I get called to come back immediately.
Of course it happened. I was jeopardized to the emergency department for the graveyard overnight shift. It was a little tough since there are only two residents in the emergency department overnight, and I had not had been in the ED before. But the resident and attendings eased me in, and at least in the ED, I did not need extensive signout and could cover another intern's shift pretty easily. The ED (I am sure I will write about this in February when I have that rotation) is a fascinating place. It is all about efficiency, multitasking, and figuring out where patients will go (observation, inpatient admission, home) as soon as possible. Unlike what is often depicted in TV shows, the majority of things I saw were not serious and not emergencies. Most of what I saw were sore throats, pain management, musculoskeletal injury, COPD exacerbations. In any case, it's never fun to cover extra shifts, but I do not mind helping my cointerns out. It is simply the uncertainty - that our lives aren't our control and that the hospital can call us in on a whim - that makes jeopardy so hard.
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In ancient Greece, the asclepion was a healing temple dedicated to Asclepius, the God of Medicine. Asclepius learned the art of surgery from the centaur Chiron and had the ability to raise the dead. The Rod of Asclepius is a roughhewn branch entwined with a single serpent.
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Hi! I am Craig Chen, a third year resident physician in anesthesiology at Stanford Hospitals and Clinics. I went to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco. Prior to medical school, I studied philosophy and biology at Stanford University, along with a minor in creative writing.
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