As fate would have it

So we have been busy trying to clean out the trauma service since Thanksgiving and things were slowly but surely getting back to a good looking census. So when the cheif resident asked if I'd be okay with the intern having the weekend off I thought it might be okay. I figured better for him to get his days off now than over New Years, right? Well, I guess I still think that (because, really, how is New Years weekend going to be anything but complete craziness???) but I would feel better about it if we didn't have to get slammed this weekend. Ugh! Things weren't too bad on Saturday during the day, but then I came in on Sun and see my list 3 times as long. What the heck, people?

So there was good news and bad news in that. The good news was that most of them were "trauma specials." That means they'll get to go home. But also, therein lies the problem. Technically someone staying in the hospital is less work than dc'ing someone. So I had over 15 c-spines to clear, and of course you wait, wait, wait for final CT c-spine reads to come back...and then they all come in at once. And of course everybody wants the collar off since the second it was put on them (now probably 24 hrs later). But obviously I can't see all 15+ people at the same time, so people toward the back of the clearing list are even more cranky than they already were. Anyways, going around to a dozen different floors to get collars off is only half the battle. There's of course the infamous "paperwork" to actually dc them. No small feat there. Plus the pager going off non-stop about other issues, like true medical problems. So as you see, it turned out to be quite the day. But I'm sure I'll be happy when I have an intern to help see people come New Years. Lord knows I'll need it more then than I did this crazy weekend.