I feel that I should contribute back to the medical society. Give my share of the experience in the many..er.. months of all posting Ive been in (and repeated). Now one of the biggest problem every medical intern faces is admission day or in some colleges they call it duty day (whatever makes them feel cool). For all the non medical people who are reading this. An admission day is the day where they admit all the patients in that ward and you literally have to work for 24 hours and then get up and work the next day. Sounds intense right? This comes once a week.
You know what's even worse than a 24 hours duty? A 48 hour duty! I mean...why would they even invent something like that? It's like the college Dean was dressed up like doctor evil "Looks like the interns are starting to adjust to the 24 hour duty. Now let's make it 48 hours! Muahahaha" So during those times the postgraduates will be your seniors
There's no point bitching about it now. The whole point is survival. So ladies and gentlemen without further ado. Here are 10 survival tips for Admission Day!
1.Energy Conservation;-
A normal day is like an arcade mode in a video game. They'll be a time limit and you'll want to finish off the enemy/work in the given time. Same way here. You'll want to finish the work as quickly as possible so that you can go back and recharge your health meter (sleep) But an admission day is not like that. An admission is like survival mode in a video game. There is no time limit. There is no competing the level and go home and heal. The goal of survival mode/admission day is do as many tasks as you can with your energy meter until the level is complete.
So you have to learn to save energy and bring health potions (snacks) for the full day. Some people get all unnecessarily sincere in the morning itself and go run about and do extra work in the ward and they lose all their energy by afternoon and boom! It's game over by the evening!
2.Style factor:-
As we all know we are stuck at work for more than 24 hours. So that means people would be having to look at you for all that time. So give them something good to look at. Wear that really good shirt which you got for your birthday on admission day. Let everyone have a look. Or you can workout or go the parlour the day before. There's no point wearing a great outfit on Sunday when it's just rounds or if it's half a day. If you feel the professor will notice and point out your fabulous shirt in the morning just wear the invisibility cloak for fashion -the white coat so that it won't be that noticeable
3.Om Nom Nom;-
Now one interesting part of admission day is that the pgs asks you go to eat in 10 minutes and come. Now you got to realise that it'll take atleast 3 minutes to walk there...wash hands for 30 seconds (wait. Make that 40 seconds) and by the time you sit it'll be already 10minutes. Just remember that eating is essential to charge your energy meter so don't hold back (at the same time don't stuff it). So when your postgraduate calls after 10 minutes and 21 seconds just say "Wait sir. Aaalmost done. Want me to get you something? Ya...but it's on your account only sir!"
4.Motivation partners:-
Your colleague's are an essential part for the functioning of the ward. At the same time everyone needs a drive. A motivation for us to perform as well as we can. That will definitely happen if you're crri is hot girl/guy (hey I'm not judging)
But that's not a good thing at the same time if you got a good looking colleague. You'll tend to overperform in the hope that something can happen between you guys
....and you will be doing all the ward work for the rest of the posting....and your life with that lost hope of a small spark between you two (lucky patients will get extra care)
So the best remedy for that is if you have a hot PG in your ward. You will do all the work you can without complaining as long as you can which as a bonus includes buying her refreshments and at the same time you won't overperform and hit on her.........because you know her husband won't like it.
5. Footwear:-
Divas! We need to go shoe shopping! You are going to be on your feet for a full day. It's best that you be comfortable (and fabulous) for the full day.
So if you are wearing shoes (which they demand from you) Don't be getting those tight pointy shoes. They may look great but will hurt like a bitch after 3 hours. So best you go for loafers. It's got some ventilation and it easy to slip into.
Or just do what I do. If you have a car after the morning rounds just go and change to your slippers and be free for the rest of the day!
6. Hydration:-
Make sure that you're water bottle is full all the time. Do not be thirsty on duty. Have a water bottle or a juice bottle. Just is useful to freshen you up (health potions). At the same time the more you drink the more you can go for bathroom breaks (genius na?) Come on! A PG can't say no to you going to a bathroom! "No! I will not give you permission to take a peak! You are to suck it in and put the catheter for this patient!
7.Headphones:-
Now this something which I do. As you know you have a lot of walking work as an intern. They'll make you go get blood, take the patient for x-ray or walk the stretcher, buy biscuits Etc etc etc.
What I do is I carry my headphones all the time so whenever they ask me to go somewhere I just relax listening to music and go do the duty. I'll be listening to "Gasolina" while getting blood packets for a patient and you wont see me complaining. So you'll be relaxing and doing the work at the same time. Two pidgeys with one pokeball! Double genius na?
8.On the dot:-
We have limited alloted time to sleep. If there are two people then one will sleep for 3 hours each. One will sleep from 12 to 3 and the other from 3 to 6.
So if you are going to going to sleep at 12 then you go by some 11 55 (make that 11 45) because its like a law of duty days that if you stay up more than your alloted time then some work will turn up. A patient correctly get sick at 12 01.
An another important note is to not sleep where patients can see you. Because they will wake you up to ask you all sorts of questions "You told to give only fluids...but ice cream is a kind of fluid right?" Or "You told to give food after 20 minutes..but i gave in 25 minutes. Nothing will happen right?" Or "last time the tablet cover was pink! Why is it yellow now?!
9.Dont skip leg day!:-
There will be a lot of standing up in postings so you should train your body accordingly. Go do some leg exercises - squats, leaps etc. Train you legs to prepare yourself for some 6 hours of standing! Ask the bus conductor what workout he does. What? Oh you think this is dumb advice? If your veins go all blue dont say i didnt warn you!
10.Abandon ship!:-
The hardest part of admission day is not the 24 hour duty. Its that after working that long you wont get to sleep off next day. You'll have to get up the next day like its a normal day. That called a post admission day. That is the day of the week where you curse the most than you ever have in your life. The main aim of post admission day is....to not fall unconscious midway. So during the afternoon time when the afternoon work is dome just get your ass out of the ward as fast as you can like you evacuating a burning building! GO GO GO! Dont stand and check your message in the hall or talk with that good looking crri from another unit. Because if some PG sees you then theyll be like "Youre here? I thought you left. Its ok. Theres this new patient which came..."
So thats what im saying "If you see your boss standing near the door then just jump out of the window!"
"But your in the second floor!"
"Dude! We are in a hospital! Im sure there are people to take care of us!"
11.Inner peace:-
Telling that there are 10 tips but adding a 11th tip. I like to live dangerously ;). Now the main thing is you need to change your mindset. Do not start complaining like "Omg. How many more patients?? It's not even night time? It looks dark..oh it's the tint from the window? It's only 3?! Time isnt going! We all going to do...".OH SHUT UP!
The main trick is to keep your mind blank. Don't think about what time or how many patients or when we are going to sleep. Just be cool and wipe every thought on your head! Woosaa! Inner peace! Relaaax. Just focus on the patient or that good looking co crri and let everything go in the flow. The main thing is you won't be disappointed about how slow time is going. We may be doctors but we are not doctor who or doctor strange to do something about how time moves. Like the famous dialogue in Frozen "Let it go" and "Chill!"
I hope these tips come in handy for all thr medical interns out there! For all those havig duty day today! Best of luck! Im sure you can pull it off! May the force be with you!
You know what's even worse than a 24 hours duty? A 48 hour duty! I mean...why would they even invent something like that? It's like the college Dean was dressed up like doctor evil "Looks like the interns are starting to adjust to the 24 hour duty. Now let's make it 48 hours! Muahahaha" So during those times the postgraduates will be your seniors
There's no point bitching about it now. The whole point is survival. So ladies and gentlemen without further ado. Here are 10 survival tips for Admission Day!
1.Energy Conservation;-
A normal day is like an arcade mode in a video game. They'll be a time limit and you'll want to finish off the enemy/work in the given time. Same way here. You'll want to finish the work as quickly as possible so that you can go back and recharge your health meter (sleep) But an admission day is not like that. An admission is like survival mode in a video game. There is no time limit. There is no competing the level and go home and heal. The goal of survival mode/admission day is do as many tasks as you can with your energy meter until the level is complete.
So you have to learn to save energy and bring health potions (snacks) for the full day. Some people get all unnecessarily sincere in the morning itself and go run about and do extra work in the ward and they lose all their energy by afternoon and boom! It's game over by the evening!
2.Style factor:-
As we all know we are stuck at work for more than 24 hours. So that means people would be having to look at you for all that time. So give them something good to look at. Wear that really good shirt which you got for your birthday on admission day. Let everyone have a look. Or you can workout or go the parlour the day before. There's no point wearing a great outfit on Sunday when it's just rounds or if it's half a day. If you feel the professor will notice and point out your fabulous shirt in the morning just wear the invisibility cloak for fashion -the white coat so that it won't be that noticeable
3.Om Nom Nom;-
Now one interesting part of admission day is that the pgs asks you go to eat in 10 minutes and come. Now you got to realise that it'll take atleast 3 minutes to walk there...wash hands for 30 seconds (wait. Make that 40 seconds) and by the time you sit it'll be already 10minutes. Just remember that eating is essential to charge your energy meter so don't hold back (at the same time don't stuff it). So when your postgraduate calls after 10 minutes and 21 seconds just say "Wait sir. Aaalmost done. Want me to get you something? Ya...but it's on your account only sir!"
4.Motivation partners:-
Your colleague's are an essential part for the functioning of the ward. At the same time everyone needs a drive. A motivation for us to perform as well as we can. That will definitely happen if you're crri is hot girl/guy (hey I'm not judging)
But that's not a good thing at the same time if you got a good looking colleague. You'll tend to overperform in the hope that something can happen between you guys
....and you will be doing all the ward work for the rest of the posting....and your life with that lost hope of a small spark between you two (lucky patients will get extra care)
So the best remedy for that is if you have a hot PG in your ward. You will do all the work you can without complaining as long as you can which as a bonus includes buying her refreshments and at the same time you won't overperform and hit on her.........because you know her husband won't like it.
5. Footwear:-
Divas! We need to go shoe shopping! You are going to be on your feet for a full day. It's best that you be comfortable (and fabulous) for the full day.
So if you are wearing shoes (which they demand from you) Don't be getting those tight pointy shoes. They may look great but will hurt like a bitch after 3 hours. So best you go for loafers. It's got some ventilation and it easy to slip into.
Or just do what I do. If you have a car after the morning rounds just go and change to your slippers and be free for the rest of the day!
6. Hydration:-
Make sure that you're water bottle is full all the time. Do not be thirsty on duty. Have a water bottle or a juice bottle. Just is useful to freshen you up (health potions). At the same time the more you drink the more you can go for bathroom breaks (genius na?) Come on! A PG can't say no to you going to a bathroom! "No! I will not give you permission to take a peak! You are to suck it in and put the catheter for this patient!
7.Headphones:-
Now this something which I do. As you know you have a lot of walking work as an intern. They'll make you go get blood, take the patient for x-ray or walk the stretcher, buy biscuits Etc etc etc.
What I do is I carry my headphones all the time so whenever they ask me to go somewhere I just relax listening to music and go do the duty. I'll be listening to "Gasolina" while getting blood packets for a patient and you wont see me complaining. So you'll be relaxing and doing the work at the same time. Two pidgeys with one pokeball! Double genius na?
8.On the dot:-
We have limited alloted time to sleep. If there are two people then one will sleep for 3 hours each. One will sleep from 12 to 3 and the other from 3 to 6.
So if you are going to going to sleep at 12 then you go by some 11 55 (make that 11 45) because its like a law of duty days that if you stay up more than your alloted time then some work will turn up. A patient correctly get sick at 12 01.
An another important note is to not sleep where patients can see you. Because they will wake you up to ask you all sorts of questions "You told to give only fluids...but ice cream is a kind of fluid right?" Or "You told to give food after 20 minutes..but i gave in 25 minutes. Nothing will happen right?" Or "last time the tablet cover was pink! Why is it yellow now?!
9.Dont skip leg day!:-
There will be a lot of standing up in postings so you should train your body accordingly. Go do some leg exercises - squats, leaps etc. Train you legs to prepare yourself for some 6 hours of standing! Ask the bus conductor what workout he does. What? Oh you think this is dumb advice? If your veins go all blue dont say i didnt warn you!
10.Abandon ship!:-
The hardest part of admission day is not the 24 hour duty. Its that after working that long you wont get to sleep off next day. You'll have to get up the next day like its a normal day. That called a post admission day. That is the day of the week where you curse the most than you ever have in your life. The main aim of post admission day is....to not fall unconscious midway. So during the afternoon time when the afternoon work is dome just get your ass out of the ward as fast as you can like you evacuating a burning building! GO GO GO! Dont stand and check your message in the hall or talk with that good looking crri from another unit. Because if some PG sees you then theyll be like "Youre here? I thought you left. Its ok. Theres this new patient which came..."
So thats what im saying "If you see your boss standing near the door then just jump out of the window!"
"But your in the second floor!"
"Dude! We are in a hospital! Im sure there are people to take care of us!"
11.Inner peace:-
Telling that there are 10 tips but adding a 11th tip. I like to live dangerously ;). Now the main thing is you need to change your mindset. Do not start complaining like "Omg. How many more patients?? It's not even night time? It looks dark..oh it's the tint from the window? It's only 3?! Time isnt going! We all going to do...".OH SHUT UP!
The main trick is to keep your mind blank. Don't think about what time or how many patients or when we are going to sleep. Just be cool and wipe every thought on your head! Woosaa! Inner peace! Relaaax. Just focus on the patient or that good looking co crri and let everything go in the flow. The main thing is you won't be disappointed about how slow time is going. We may be doctors but we are not doctor who or doctor strange to do something about how time moves. Like the famous dialogue in Frozen "Let it go" and "Chill!"
I hope these tips come in handy for all thr medical interns out there! For all those havig duty day today! Best of luck! Im sure you can pull it off! May the force be with you!
