Little Black Box

Last night was the first night ever that I have been woken up by my best friend for the weekend...the pager. It went off at 3:46 am. I listened to the recorded message and called the lady back. It was a lab tech calling about some abnormal values. She sure was chirpy!! Of course, then I couldn't go back to sleep until almost 4:45. The worst part about it was that it wasn't even about my patient.

We share weekend call with three other doctors. That way, one person doesn't have to always be on call. Within our office (1 doc and 2 PAs) we pass the pager around for our turn. This weekend, is mine. It basically works out to being on weekend call 4-5 times a year. Not bad, really, except for when you wake up in the middle of the night! :)

I will just carry my friend, the little black box, everywhere I go and hope that it doesn't go off. You don't have to do much when it does, but it is a little stressful trying to make sure you always have it with you, your cell phone is charged so you can call them back, and then having to make a split second decision about what to do with a patient that you have not seen in person.

Now that we (the other PA and I) are here, my doc has been more willing to go out of town at times during the week. When she does that, we will have it during the week as well. That is not that often. I guess I am blessed that I only have to do it 4-5 times a year...I know that it could be much worse!