Digging In Well, I've got six shifts coming up in the next seven days. The ER is great, I'm happy to be there, it's just that I get pretty tired after a 12-hr shift. Seems I have to sleep 12 hours just to make up for it.

Yesterday, CHIEF RESIDENT told me that about hours regulations in the ER. You may have heard about 405 regulations, where residents can't work more than 80 hours in a week, averaged over 2 weeks. Well, ER programs have taken it upon themselves to restrict residents' hours to 60 per week--the rationale being that working 60 hours in a week is like working 80 hours on the floors. Damn, so true.

I wish I had one of those portable phones that the upper level residents carry. I keep missing callbacks from consultants. Doesn't look good. Looks bad, in fact. One of the attendings I was considering asking for a letter of rec mentioned that I missed a call from a consultant. Well, scratch him off the list. I even told him why I missed it--I was getting a bite to eat. I had paged the consultant 1/2 an hour ago, and finally went to eat for 10 minutes. Crap.

On the up side, however, there is a fun, good looking patient representative I'm thinking about asking out. We'll see.  ¶ 3:27 PM