In an industry where most people (no offense intended
to Cameron)
have a VERY high opinions of their own abilities and their own levels of
professionalism, it's amazing that this kind of crap happens.
The surgeons have it worse. My kid sister is a trauma surgery resident,
for example.
And they don't think there's something wrong (and unprofessional)
about this practice? It looks (to the layperson) that it's so deeply
ingrained in the culture that it has become acceptable and expected. Do
the people involved just view it as an acceptable risk, or do they think
there just isn't any risk?
I'm certainly not going to defend it. But I'll say this as devil's public
defense attorney bucking for a reduced sentence in return for a guilty plea
that there is an old joke in surgery residency:
"Why does being on call q2 [every other night] suck?"
"Because you miss half the cases."
For concentrated, high-pressure experience, the overnight call is still the
way that residents learn, particularly those low on the totem pole such as
interns and sub-i's, because during the day there are attendings and senior
residents and other services competing for what's on the schedule. At night
it's you, maybe the senior, and you're first on the battle lines. You learn
quickly and you get to do more because you're there.
There has been some consideration of night float programs, but daysleeping
has its own unique issues, and as I say I'm concerned about shift work in
residency translating into doctors with poor followthru as offendings, I
mean, attendings. I'm saying that not just as ye primary care doc shooting
off his mouth, but also a former chief resident and the academic program
coordinator in my particular department.
--
------------------------------------ personal:
http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems *
www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at
floodgap.com
-- Microsoft Windows is the IBM 3270 of the 21st century. ---------------------
