Overnight Call

As part of my pediatrics rotation we are scheduled for an overnight call once a week. To date I have done two. And they have been very uneventful. Normally we are scheduled to leave at 4pm. Whoever is on call, however, stays and is literally "on call" that night. Chicago Hope Hospital provides on call rooms for each department, and we, the students, are permitted the use of one of the rooms. The rooms are very basic, but have a bed and satellite TV (which is great for me because it allows me to catch up with Roland Garros) so they are perfectly adequate. So, in essence, when the night MD trots off to the call room, the student does as well. I usually lag behind the MD a few minutes just in case something happens the minute the doctor leaves. Then I head over to the call room where I promptly change out of the clothes I've been wearing all day, and into a pair of scrubs. It is much more comfortable to sleep in scrubs (which is the point of the call room) and your clothes also don't get wrinkled--essential because you will be wearing them the next day during your rounds and commute home. My fellow students have apparently had more night action than I have, because during both of my calls the phone did not ring between the hours of 8pm and 6am, and as such I slept. Not being a night owl I am perfectly fine with being allowed to sleep all night. The next day, however, I feel grimy and gross and just want to take a thirty minute shower. Perhaps next week I will get up a few minutes early and take a quick shower before morning rounds resume. Usually "post-call" students leave around 11 the next morning.