Home Call

Home call is an odd concept. On the pain rotation, four of us took turns taking call. When on call, we'd stay late to tuck patients in but go home, available by pager. It's an odd feeling, having that loom over us. We carry our pagers around like a leash. We sleep in our beds, but never soundly. And the following day is a full work day like any other. It makes me respect what fellows and attendings do, because they often have pagers with them all the time. True, they get paged less often, but since the buck stops with them, I imagine the pager still gets checked impulsively.

On pain, most of the time, we are able to address pages remotely. We can troubleshoot certain issues and enter orders at home. But occasionally, especially if it is a problem related to an epidural, we have to come in, and that can be a little painful in the middle of the night between two full days.