Working the holidays?

[Doctor Bagel]

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So I'm a lucky person who gets to be on call both Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Feeling just a bad bit bad for myself about this and wondering if anyone else is in the same boat. I keep on telling myself it'll be slow, and that all badness will happen after the holidays (like New Years Day will suck). True, not true? I worked Thanksgiving as well and admitted some people who became suicidal after family rejections like not getting invited to the meal.

The whole holiday suicide thing is a myth, though, right? Judging from the consult service, the suicide peak here was the summer and early fall. We actually have no suicides on our service right now, which is rare.

 

[F0nzie]

I'm hoping for some natural disaster while I'm on call this Christmas so I can sit in the call room, listen to music, and stream videos on my phone all day then go to sleep at an appropriate hour. 👍

 

[sunlioness]

I always used to request being on call Christmas because it was always slow. Thus I was never on call for New Years, but I think that tends to be busier. It wasn't at my hospital last year, but I had this theory that our inpatient census fluctuated according to the fortunes of our local NFL team. And they did really well last year. 🙂

 

[billypilgrim37]

Christmas time is the time when I am most thankful for my Jewish colleagues. And it's so easy to cover for them on their holidays.

That said, I think I've worked every Thanksgiving in residency, but we get extra vacation days for working on holidays, so it's not so terrible.

 

[Chimed]

So I'm a lucky person who gets to be on call both Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Feeling just a bad bit bad for myself about this and wondering if anyone else is in the same boat. I keep on telling myself it'll be slow, and that all badness will happen after the holidays (like New Years Day will suck). True, not true? I worked Thanksgiving as well and admitted some people who became suicidal after family rejections like not getting invited to the meal.

The whole holiday suicide thing is a myth, though, right? Judging from the consult service, the suicide peak here was the summer and early fall. We actually have no suicides on our service right now, which is rare.

Ouch. How did you get stuck working Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and New Years Eve? 🙁
Are you in a small program?

 

[deejayshakur]

I worked Thanksgiving in the PES as a PGY1, Christmas on CL as a PGY2, and neither Thanksgiving, Christmas, nor New Years as a PGY3. Things do get better as the years progress.

 

[Chimed]

I worked Thanksgiving in the PES as a PGY1, Christmas on CL as a PGY2, and neither Thanksgiving, Christmas, nor New Years as a PGY3. Things do get better as the years progress.

Sure, we've all worked Holidays. Through the years, I've worked all of those as well. But working 3 major holidays (assuming you celebrate Christmas and consider it "major") in the same year is a bit much, unless it's only for a year and you get them off during the rest of your training. I'd be a bit pissed off.

 

[sunlioness]

Sure, we've all worked Holidays. Through the years, I've worked all of those as well. But working 3 major holidays (assuming you celebrate Christmas and consider it "major") in the same year is a bit much, unless it's only for a year and you get them off during the rest of your training. I'd be a bit pissed off.

The real kicker too is they're all right in a row. My program tried to make a point not to do that to anybody. Part of the reason I requested Christmas was I knew it was a virtual guarantee that I wouldn't have to work New Years.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Ouch. How did you get stuck working Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and New Years Eve? 🙁
Are you in a small program?

I've got to admit I'm not super thrilled about it, but I guess it's fair. I was on nightfloat for Thanksgiving (no holiday coverage on that service) then call these next two holidays. I did take vacation last week and got the weekends off surrounding the vacation (something we used to always be able to do, but now I guess we are only guaranteed one weekend with the vacation). I got all the major holidays off last year due to being off-service, so maybe it balances out.

As for our size, we've got 8 people in a class, but PGY2s do the bulk of the call work. We have these call points that are supposed to balance out holiday work, but they're a little off in that working Veteran's Day is the same as working Christmas. The good news is that this should only be this year.

It could be worse -- I could be doing New Years Day, which I'm sure is an absolute mess.

 

[peppy]

I would say that at the places I've worked at, it generally has been true that the person on call for the holiday usually has a slow night and the person who works the day after the holiday gets to deal with all the people who waited until the holiday passed to come in.
There definitely is a certain segment of folks who find the holidays depressing, but also a good number who seem to do better with something to look forward to and something to keep them busy.
Kinda surprised that any program would require a PGY-2 to cover two holidays in a row. At my program they typically would try to avoid that, but at least this way you're getting the calls out of the way I guess. Hope it goes by fast for ya.

 

[Chimed]

I would say that at the places I've worked at, it generally has been true that the person on call for the holiday usually has a slow night and the person who works the day after the holiday gets to deal with all the people who waited until the holiday passed to come in. .

I remember working New Years Eve in my intern year at the VA. We had a snow storm that night and I didn't get have single patient come through the ER and very few floor calls. I slept all night and got to leave the next AM to have a nice day off on New Years day. I also got paid extra for working a Holiday. There's a reason we used to call snow "Vet repellent." 😀

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I remember working New Years Eve in my intern year at the VA. We had a snow storm that night and I didn't get have single patient come through the ER and very few floor calls. I slept all night and got to leave the next AM to have a nice day off on New Years day. I also got paid extra for working a Holiday. There's a reason we used to call snow "Vet repellent." 😀

Paid extra! So not fair. I don't think we'll have a snow storm this NYE, but I'm still hoping for a slow night. Our vets, though, are amazing in their ability to make it to the hospital in whatever weather. And our hospital is at the top of a steep hill, making it not so easy to get to in bad weather.

 

[billypilgrim37]

And our hospital is at the top of a steep hill, making it not so easy to get to in bad weather.

They should dig the moat deeper too.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

They should dig the moat deeper too.

I like the way you think. Somehow stopping the bus that makes it up the hill would be useful, too.

 

[Chimed]

Paid extra! So not fair. I don't think we'll have a snow storm this NYE, but I'm still hoping for a slow night. Our vets, though, are amazing in their ability to make it to the hospital in whatever weather. And our hospital is at the top of a steep hill, making it not so easy to get to in bad weather.

Sorry. 😳 didn't mean to make you feel worse. We do have very good benefits, which helps.

I'm really sorry you have to work all those holidays. Good luck and hang in there. 🙂