Sleep? How hard???

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for all the interns, residents, and attendings:

how hard is it to adjust your sleep schedule? (going from days to nights)

the days you have off do you spend more time sleeping or spending time with family and friends?

and how much do you love EM? 😀

 

[kungfufishing]

Go rotate through and you'll have an idea pretty quickly. You spend some of your free time jet lagged. It is hard. It doesn't really get easier although you do become more accustomed to it. Most medical fields deprive you of sleep a little in one way or another.

 

[WilcoWorld]

If by "adjust to" you mean "not have your life disrupted by" then it never happens.

Even so, I still love practicing EM.

As KFF suggested - it's probably best to just spend a couple months doing it and see how you do with it. If it's intolerable as a student you shouldn't count on it being better as an attending.

 

[jbar]

Still beats the heck out of Q4 call. I was thinking the other day that I'd much rather work a 12 hour overnight then have that overnight be part of a 30 hour shift where I'm lucky to get 3 hours of sleep.

 

[omgwtfbbq?]

I agree. I spent days groggy during my EM rotation due to shift change, but it didn't do anywhere near the damage that q3 call did to my body. And I love being in the ED, so the good trauma's at night give that necessary adrenaline push.

 

[RustedFox]

Not to start another "shift hours" debate, but I find that it really depends on shift length, schedule, etc.

When I was an MS-3/4, I did 12 hour shifts (7am-7pm) and there was some serious fatigue going on, especially after say 4-5 night shifts in a row. I spent all my time outside the hospital sleeping. Now as a resident, we do 10-hour shifts and life is way better. It also helps that we use a 'western progression' schedule. For example; I'll work two morning shifts, two afternoon shifts, have a day off, then have two night shifts, and have a day off after that. Repeat. Its awesome because you're always "working later" and "getting to sleep in". Correct me - all those out there in attending-land, but schedule is going to be a big consideration when I take my first gig out of residency.