On call!

I didn't think I should post yet again with no photo, so here is what I look like when I'm on call. Except tonight I'm lugging a reflex hammer and a tuning fork in addition to a stethoscope. I'm taking call with the neurology ER resident: she is a senior (4th year) resident who is responsible for seeing all the neuro cases that come through the ER and deciding how to treat them and whether they warrant admission to one of the inpatient services (general neurology, stroke, or neuro ICU).

Since her shift started at 6 PM (I've been here since 7 AM for my regular service as well), I have:
-studied for a couple of hours
-cleaned out two email inboxes and sent some emails (still not totally caught up, sorry...)
-read about human research subject protection and taken an online quiz so that I can access the Institutional Review Board site and do some work on my upcoming research project (my classmate Beth is doing all the heavy lifting on our project right now, so I can't complain a bit).
-scavenged a brownie from the on-call kitchen and realized that I'd much prefer Rachel's chocolate mousse
-reviewed the comments on a journal article critique I wrote for my OB-GYN rotation
-updated my PalmPilot
-posted twice to this blog!

I should've brought my gym clothes and gotten in a workout after leaving the stroke team around 4:30. You may ask why I can't just wear my scrubs and sneakers to the gym...Well, Mayo has a strict dress code, not just for clinic (business formal) but for the gym as well. Scrubs are strictly not allowed. Though, the gym dress code has recently been liberalized from forbidding sleeveless things altogether, to allowing sleeveless shirts if they were designed sleeveless (no cutoffs) and if the shoulders themselves are completely covered (no skinny straps). Shocking! They're still chasing down naked people in the new sauna, so clearly some folks aren't getting the modesty message.

Pretty soon I think I may try to take a nap. This shift lasts till 6 AM, then I need to go and "preround" (check labs and test results and do a physical exam) on the patient I picked up today. Also hoping to get a minute to dash across the street to Caribou and get some caffeine. Then lecture from 7-8, rounds (discussing the patients with the supervising consultant...known as an attending at most other hospitals) from 8:30 to whenever. I should be done by noon or 1:00 and headed home for a drowsy afternoon.