My crappy day off

[Perrotfish]

So one of the various things that's killing me about Intern year is I feel like my days off are not only rare, they also suck. On those rare occasions when my day off isn't just 24 hours to shift from day shift to night float, its generally on a f-ing tuesday and there is no one around and nothing to do. I have to kill morning running my list of errands: groceries, laundry, clean, bills, read my continuity clinic articles, answer all my emails, and in general un-fk my life. Then I have about 6-8 conscious hours to confront the fact that I have no life at all: the few people I've met here are never off when I am, or if they are they don't want to do anything. At this point I waste the day completely: I not only don't see anyone, I don't even move. I don't read, I don't watch whole movies. I watch snippets of crap on youtube and post on internet forums. I generally get back to work feeling more depressed than I left.

I feel like I need a ritual, something that gets me out of the house that doesn't require anyone else to be free. Any ideas? How do you guys spend your crappy days off?

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[DrAwsome]

So one of the various things that's killing me about Intern year is I feel like my days off are not only rare, they also suck. On those rare occasions when my day off isn't just 24 hours to shift from day shift to night float, its generally on a f-ing tuesday and there is no one around and nothing to do. I have to kill morning running my list of errands: groceries, laundry, clean, bills, read my continuity clinic articles, answer all my emails, and in general un-fk my life. Then I have about 6-8 conscious hours to confront the fact that I have no life at all: the few people I've met here are never off when I am, or if they are they don't want to do anything. At this point I waste the day completely: I not only don't see anyone, I don't even move. I don't read, I don't watch whole movies. I watch snippets of crap on youtube and post on internet forums. I generally get back to work feeling more depressed than I left.

I feel like I need a ritual, something that gets me out of the house that doesn't require anyone else to be free. Any ideas? How do you guys spend your crappy days off?

I don't know how you don't have days off. Don't you have at least 1 weekend day off? Your days should be pretty regular if you have night float. You should also get on a routine to do bills, laundry, errands, etc.
What kind of hours are you putting in during the week? Most programs that have night float have a pretty standard 7-4 or 5pm, so you should be doing a lot of "life" stuff at that time and just hanging out and having fun on your day off.

It also depends what you like to do. I personally go to Broadway type shows, but you can go to the gym movies, hang out with friends/pet, etc.

You definitely need a better routine!

 

[Perrotfish]

I don't know how you don't have days off. Don't you have at least 1 weekend day off? Your days should be pretty regular if you have night float. You should also get on a routine to do bills, laundry, errands, etc.
What kind of hours are you putting in during the week? Most programs that have night float have a pretty standard 7-4 or 5pm, so you should be doing a lot of "life" stuff at that time and just hanging out and having fun on your day off.

It also depends what you like to do. I personally go to Broadway type shows, but you can go to the gym movies, hang out with friends/pet, etc.

You definitely need a better routine!

6 12s a week that are really 13s thanks to sign out and wrap up work. 3 conscious hours outside of the hospital with commute and an article to read every night means no time for errands. Day off is random within the week on many services, though on a weekend for others. I'm within the work our limits, my program is serious about compliance, but they're also serious about having us work all the time we are legally allowed to. I'm on one of only 2 offservice rotations where we have lighter hours so I'm ina decompression and rant phase. I'm thinking about a pet but I don't think its fair to buy a dog you're going to see just twice a day, especially when I'm up to early to rely on doggy day care.. Maybe an old rescue dog? I might be better than the alternative, in that case.

BTW I have no idea how you have a float system that works less than 12s. If the day works 7 to 5 does night work 5 to 7?

 

[DrAwsome]

6 12s a week that are really 13s thanks to sign out and wrap up work. 3 conscious hours outside of the hospital with commute and an article to read every night means no time for errands. Day off is random within the week on many services, though on a weekend for others. I'm within the work our limits, my program is serious about compliance, but they're also serious about having us work all the time we are legally allowed to. I'm on one of only 2 offservice rotations where we have lighter hours so I'm ina decompression and rant phase. I'm thinking about a pet but I don't think its fair to buy a dog you're going to see just twice a day, especially when I'm up to early to rely on doggy day care.. Maybe an old rescue dog? I might be better than the alternative, in that case.

BTW I have no idea how you have a float system that works less than 12s. If the day works 7 to 5 does night work 5 to 7?

If you are on a float system, aren't you on the night float a certain number of weeks out of the year? The rest of the week don't you work regular hours, with the time from sign out until night float taking over covered by short call? that's how we did it. So people would work from 6 or 7am - 4pm or so, 4-8pm short call, and 8-7 am or so for night float. I don't see how you are on every day working 12 of 13 hours.

And again most places I know of people have at least one weekend day off, or 2 days off if they work the 2 previous weekend days. The problem may be that your program schedule kinda sucks.

Most elective rotations I was on had entire weekends off for the most part, except for a few. I don't get how you don't get at least 1 weekend day off but weekdays off, normally weekdays are busier so everyone worked in my program on weekdays but whatever.
Nevertheless, if you are really working these hours I definitely would not get a dog. Dogs suffer if left alone, and if they bark/howl you may have problems with your neighbors.

Do you have anything that you enjoy doing? Movies, shows, biking, gym, exercise?

 

[Perrotfish]

If you are on a float system, aren't you on the night float a certain number of weeks out of the year? The rest of the week don't you work regular hours, with the time from sign out until night float taking over covered by short call? that's how we did it. So people would work from 6 or 7am - 4pm or so, 4-8pm short call, and 8-7 am or so for night float. I don't see how you are on every day working 12 of 13 hours.

And again most places I know of people have at least one weekend day off, or 2 days off if they work the 2 previous weekend days. The problem may be that your program schedule kinda sucks.

Most elective rotations I was on had entire weekends off for the most part, except for a few. I don't get how you don't get at least 1 weekend day off but weekdays off, normally weekdays are busier so everyone worked in my program on weekdays but whatever.
Nevertheless, if you are really working these hours I definitely would not get a dog. Dogs suffer if left alone, and if they bark/howl you may have problems with your neighbors.

Do you have anything that you enjoy doing? Movies, shows, biking, gym, exercise?

There is no short call, there is no one take it. The program is.small. the day team stays for 12 hours, then the night team takes over for 12 hours, plus about an hour of overlap on each end for turning.over and wrapping up. On electives you need to cover weekend call on the smaller services, so that there's someone to take over when the other intern is off. So every rotation is 6 days a week. Some services, though, have a mix of NPs and patients to cover everyone. On those services there are half a dozen people on service, and only one can really be off at a time if the cross cover is going to.be divided up among everyone else. So someone has to take the weekdays off, since only two people can be off on a weekend. I have lots of things I enjoyed but there aren't a lot of hobbies you can do in one half day a week, you know? Most hobbies tend to require a little more.dedication than that.

 

[DrAwsome]

There is no short call, there is no one take it. The program is.small. the day team stays for 12 hours, then the night team takes over for 12 hours, plus about an hour of overlap on each end for turning.over and wrapping up. On electives you need to cover weekend call on the smaller services, so that there's someone to take over when the other intern is off. So every rotation is 6 days a week. Some services, though, have a mix of NPs and patients to cover everyone. On those services there are half a dozen people on service, and only one can really be off at a time if the cross cover is going to.be divided up among everyone else. So someone has to take the weekdays off, since only two people can be off on a weekend. I have lots of things I enjoyed but there aren't a lot of hobbies you can do in one half day a week, you know? Most hobbies tend to require a little more.dedication than that.

I see, I'm sorry to hear that. I guess that is tough. I made the mistake of assuming all programs were similar. The working 6 days a week is definitely hard, and not having short call is a problem too. It's really nice since you get to have a pretty normal schedule for programs that do have it in effect.

I guess you ar edown to movies, trying out new places to eat, shows, gym, dinner with family/friends?

 

[wholeheartedly]

I don't recommend getting a dog. They are very social and I'm not a resident but feel guilty with just the amount of time I'm away from mine between work and class and he does go to daycare twice a week.

Maybe consider this as an option, get two. I have a friend with some and she loves them. I guess they're pretty smart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHrkR4SOdjk

 

[fyfanatic]

I would recommend recording your favorite shows and then watching them on your day off. You can also go to the gym for an hour which might have the benefit of having an antidepressant effect. And regarding pets, I think getting a cat might be a better idea.

 

[peppy]

I agree that a cat (or two cats - they often do better as pairs) would be a better pet option for someone who is that busy. Think about adopting an adult cat or two at the shelter (to avoid the craziness of kittens - again, adults will be easier for a busy person to deal with).
You can look for a cat that is friendly...my two cats are super-friendly and love human attention, but unlike my dog they really don't seem to mind that much when I'm not around for prolonged time periods. As a med student, there were times when I had to leave the cats alone for several days. I just made sure they had a ton of food and water available, cleaned the litterbox right before I left, and they were totally fine being left alone for days at a time (though they did seem to appreciate it when I returned).

 

[Dr. USMLE]

So one of the various things that's killing me about Intern year is I feel like my days off are not only rare, they also suck. On those rare occasions when my day off isn't just 24 hours to shift from day shift to night float, its generally on a f-ing tuesday and there is no one around and nothing to do. I have to kill morning running my list of errands: groceries, laundry, clean, bills, read my continuity clinic articles, answer all my emails, and in general un-fk my life. Then I have about 6-8 conscious hours to confront the fact that I have no life at all: the few people I've met here are never off when I am, or if they are they don't want to do anything. At this point I waste the day completely: I not only don't see anyone, I don't even move. I don't read, I don't watch whole movies. I watch snippets of crap on youtube and post on internet forums. I generally get back to work feeling more depressed than I left.

I feel like I need a ritual, something that gets me out of the house that doesn't require anyone else to be free. Any ideas? How do you guys spend your crappy days off?

Haha...great post. A nice girlfriend would solve a lot of these issues, if you can get one. Bonus if she does some of your household chores for you.

 

[gutonc]

I see, I'm sorry to hear that. I guess that is tough. I made the mistake of assuming all programs were similar. The working 6 days a week is definitely hard, and not having short call is a problem too. It's really nice since you get to have a pretty normal schedule for programs that do have it in effect.

I guess you ar edown to movies, trying out new places to eat, shows, gym, dinner with family/friends?

I'm not sure what kind of program you're coming from, or going into (or what specialty Perrotfish is in), but this is pretty typical for small and even medium-sized IM programs and the rule for most surgery programs (in fact, a lot of surgery programs are more miserable than this).

I went to a medium-sized IM program with NF on all services and we worked 6 days a week on days or nights. We did have a short/long call system but even if you were short call, you were still probably there, getting work done until 6 or 7p. The long-call folks would usually be there until 9 or 10 unless they just dumped their admits on NF. Consult/outpatient months were better but generally involved at least one weekend of coverage for that specialty's consult service and another weekend of nights (to give the NF teams a chance to transition to days).

My friends in Gen Surg (and the program here is relatively large, 15 categorical residents/yr) had a similar schedule with the added fun of no elective months (maybe 1 or 2 during 5 years of residency) and the glory of "home call" for a week or more at a time. So yes, they worked 6 days a week, at least 12h a day...closer to 14 or 16 based on my observation (except maybe the Chiefs who only had to spend a few hours a day on the weekends on the quieter services) for 5 straight years.

 

[DrAwsome]

I'm not sure what kind of program you're coming from, or going into (or what specialty Perrotfish is in), but this is pretty typical for small and even medium-sized IM programs and the rule for most surgery programs (in fact, a lot of surgery programs are more miserable than this).

I went to a medium-sized IM program with NF on all services and we worked 6 days a week on days or nights. We did have a short/long call system but even if you were short call, you were still probably there, getting work done until 6 or 7p. The long-call folks would usually be there until 9 or 10 unless they just dumped their admits on NF. Consult/outpatient months were better but generally involved at least one weekend of coverage for that specialty's consult service and another weekend of nights (to give the NF teams a chance to transition to days).

My friends in Gen Surg (and the program here is relatively large, 15 categorical residents/yr) had a similar schedule with the added fun of no elective months (maybe 1 or 2 during 5 years of residency) and the glory of "home call" for a week or more at a time. So yes, they worked 6 days a week, at least 12h a day...closer to 14 or 16 based on my observation (except maybe the Chiefs who only had to spend a few hours a day on the weekends on the quieter services) for 5 straight years.

Perrotfish is in IM in my understanding. I did prelim IM. So like I said before we would be in at 6 something/7am and then work until like 4pm for regular shifts when not on short call, short call was about 1/week until 7 or 8pm, sure sometimes it went later but that was the "schedule" and the NF came in at 8pm until 8pm or so.

Some electives, such as rad onc, derm, allergy, rheum, etc did not have any weekends at all. For those that DID have weekends such as GI and what not, usually it would be 1 weekend day per week (or you could work 2 weekend days and get the next 2 off), and we would usually just round, not stay the whole day. After rounding, we were off. Rounding would depend on how many patients were on the list, if the attendings came in and helped,etc. Frequently we would leave by noon or earlier. So we would not be on weekends working 12 hours, just rounding.

I am personally not aware of any people in IM programs that actually work the whole day during weekends. But maybe we got lucky, who knows.

General surgery I agree is miserable at all levels, in all programs, in all years and has terrible hours. God bless those people.

 

[michaelrack]

I guess you guys probably aren't interested in hearing about the old days, when we were lucky if we got 2 days off per month, and worked 100 hour weeks.

 

[DrAwsome]

I guess you guys probably aren't interested in hearing about the old days, when we were lucky if we got 2 days off per month, and worked 100 hour weeks.

For sure not interested.

 

[gutonc]

I guess you guys probably aren't interested in hearing about the old days, when we were lucky if we got 2 days off per month, and worked 100 hour weeks.

You kids today. Get Off My Lawn!

And I should point out that the hourse/shifts I quoted went into effect in my residency program after I finished (and the new q45min nap rule for interns went into effect). I had an equal mix of NF months like I described, and Q3 30h calls for 110h/week during residency.

 

[Perrotfish]

Haha...great post. A nice girlfriend would solve a lot of these issues, if you can get one. Bonus if she does some of your household chores for you.

Nice GF is in Med school across the county. Things are nicer when she visits

Also if you can meet someone in Internship with my schedule, and not only successfully date her, but get her to the point where she's doing your housework, hats off to you.

 

[gutonc]

Nice GF is in Med school across the county. Things are nicer when she visits

Also if you can meet someone in Internship with my schedule, and not only successfully date her, but get her to the point where she's doing your housework, hats off to you.

How much can you bench? If you could bench more you could probably have a LD GF and a local one to do your cooking and cleaning.

You just need to bench more.

Also...bench.

 

[DrAwsome]

How much can you bench? If you could bench more you could probably have a LD GF and a local one to do your cooking and cleaning.

You just need to bench more.

Also...bench.

I love how evolved the men in medicine are these days.
I think it'd be easier to get a maid if you just want someone to clean/cook. Will be far cheaper too.

 

[Perrotfish]

I love how evolved the men in medicine are these days.
I think it'd be easier to get a maid if you just want someone to clean/cook. Will be far cheaper too.

I have priced it out and, at least in SoCal, this isn't true. I cannot afford a maid. Not even a weekly cleaning service, let alone a full time cook.

 

[thunder hawk]

Dude you need to get laid. period.

 

[IlDestriero]

Take up golf or some other hobby. If there's a driving range nearby, you can always hit a couple buckets of balls. Also, go to the gym if you're not already going regularly.

 

[shopsteward]

A dog is a great de-stresser and provider of companionship and exercise, but as others have said it wouldn't be fair to you or a dog to get one of your own when you are away for such long hours. You could try volunteering at a local shelter - they are usually happy for someone to help takes their dogs out for a walk/play/socialisation/training. Or a neighbour might be happy for you to walk their dog - if you walk round your neighbourhood, you will soon find people walking their own dogs, and stopping to give a compliment on their dog never hurts, and may lead to something.

 

[ar2388]

get a cat they are awesome (and ive always been a dog person until we got our cats)

 

[samsoniter]

To amalgamate nearly everyone's suggestions (in order of priority):
1. get laid
2. bench more, or blast your quads, or just get your ass to the gym- it always is worth it post gym!
3. BEER, or drinks, even if you have the day off alone consider 1-2 drinks and people watching.
4. consider a musical instrument or some other creative outlet..works wonders.
5. a pet, likely something low maintenance like feline or fish.
6. thank your luck stars we are not training 10 or 20 years ago when 80hrs/wk literally NEVER happened....EVER!
7. look in the mirror occasionally and say something like "doggone it, I am good enough, smart enough, and people like me."
8. if all else fails refer to #3.
9. think about what you are gonna do on your vacation weeks.

 

[ar2388]

To amalgamate nearly everyone's suggestions (in order of priority):
1. get laid
2. bench more, or blast your quads, or just get your ass to the gym- it always is worth it post gym!
3. BEER, or drinks, even if you have the day off alone consider 1-2 drinks and people watching.
4. consider a musical instrument or some other creative outlet..works wonders.
5. a pet, likely something low maintenance like feline or fish.
6. thank your luck stars we are not training 10 or 20 years ago when 80hrs/wk literally NEVER happened....EVER!
7. look in the mirror occasionally and say something like "doggone it, I am good enough, smart enough, and people like me."
8. if all else fails refer to #3.
9. think about what you are gonna do on your vacation weeks.

great advice!!!

 

[Perrotfish]

9. think about what you are gonna do on your vacation weeks.

Only 5 more months!