Night Float

Night float is one of those things that you just have to love to hate. It's a system that swamped out after the ACGME's so-called "80-hour rule" came into effect in 2003 and now has been adopted by a lot of residency programs. Instead of having the same resident staying overnight during call, there is one designated floater who works just night shifts - usually for 5-7 days (sometimes this can be 2 weeks or more depending on the program). The great benefit is that most of time you won't have to stay in the hospital for 24+ hours continuously. What sucks, of course, is when you are the floater and have to work during the darkest hours. Trying to sleep in the morning is no fun but it's such an necessity and the sleeping eye cover becomes my best friend. You'll end up feeling tired all time too with your now messed up sleep pattern. Even during down time, I can't sleep well because I am always afraid that one of those suckers will go off when I am asleep. I keep the room light on to prevent falling too deep into sleep.

That said, I enjoy walking around the hospital during my down time - imagine having the clean, brightly-lit corridors all by yourself... where you can hear your echoing footsteps and a time where you can just sit anywhere and read. It's the only time you can stand behind the windows and stare at the stars and totally infuse yourself into this moment of solitude...

...until the call phone goes off again. Back to work.