November 11, 2006
-
For the Children Last week, I was just coming onto my shift, and I finished check-out in the ICU. There was a woman who was working on a chart, and it was past 5 o’ clock. She was working on a patient transfer. I went about checking on my new patients, and when I glanced at the clock, it was nearly 6 o’ clock, and the woman was still there. Still working on a transfer.
Knowing how the system works, I figured, she was asked to do the transfer at 4:30 PM. That always sucks. I know people wish that docs would transfer patients sooner, but in the ICU, things don’t always go as planned. Nevertheless, I felt for her. It’s past 5 o’ clock. She should be at home.
She finally came up to me, and said, “He’s ready to go.” It was way past 5 o’ clock.
I asked her, “Do you get paid overtime?”
“No, I’m salaried,” she said.
I had flashbacks of some of the times I stayed beyond my required hours before too. Just making sure that a child gets the care that they need. (I haven’t gone over my duty-hours though, thank goodness. Our chief residents are awesome that way.)
But every now and then, most especially when I’m sleep-deprived, or when I miss lunch for the umpteenth time because someone is having some problems with a ventilator or seizing or whatever, or when the ER pages us for a consult at 4:59 PM or even at 6:59 AM, there are still days when I see a patient go home, walking and talking and doing just fine, and I know that this job is worth every sleepless night, and every meal that I miss.
Our nurses *do* get paid overtime though. And they are worth every penny.
I absolutely love our pediatric nurses. They are the smartest, kindest women (and men) I’ve ever met. Every single one of them has the biggest heart. I don’t think people appreciate how often nurses starve themselves too, making sure IV meds/blood/fluids get into patients on time (truly a nightmare in logistics), making sure cerebrospinal fluid isn’t sitting in the tray when it should get picked up and cultured (ASAP), making sure the kids get down to radiology on time, making sure orders are correct, soothing irrationally angry parents, soothing irrationally angry doctors. There have been times when I’m surprised they don’t just tell people to “go to hell,” but they don’t. (At least not out loud.) Bless their heart.
Our Child Life workers are simply the best. Everyone is so experienced with working with the kids, whether they have diabetes or leukemia. They know what they’re going through, and they know each child personally. Their favorite toys, their favorite foods. All the attention to detail makes going through chemotherapy, or recoving from the shock of a new diagnosis, a little bit easier on the child, as well as the parents.
Our pediatric subspecialists are awesome, and since we don’t have fellows in our program, I’ve been able to personally work with every one of them. Pediatric subspecialists don’t get paid nearly as well as adult subspecialists, but even in our small program, our subspecialists are the best! I once asked our neonatologist why he chose to subspecialize, and he said, “I thought I’d make a lot of money.” And he laughed, but I know that he’d never have been happy doing anything else.
So, is it any wonder that this year, I’ve heard we’ve got a bumper crop of applicants to pediatrics? Nah. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
Except maybe sailing. Maybe today.
Addendum: Yes, went sailing today. Someone must have said a prayer for me, because it was sunny and cloudless, and the wind was just perfect — a good 10-15 mph the whole time we were out there. Plus, this is probably one of the last weekends I’ll get to go sailing this year. So, I can at least say I sailed *once* this year. ‘Definitely made my day.
Plus, I got my neighbor hooked on sailing! Yay! A new addict!
Image from http://www2.ac.edu/faculty/pmulligan/images/sailing%20020.jpg
