One of the worst things about this job is coming in to discover that a patient that you least expected to run into problems, died overnight.  You backtrack through the chart notes reading what happened while you were off, seeing the whirlpool unfold, sucking in more physicians, tests, data, as the lab numbers and vital [...]

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GURNEY TALK Nurses pushing a gurney down the hall. Nurse 1:  “I hate going down to the ER.  When I work there, it’s just organized chaos.” Nurse 2:  “If you don’t, it’s just chaos.” — LIKE A LADY The old lady with endstage emphysema goes on and on about her family and her “genius” nephew [...]

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My mind keeps turning over as I turn over in bed once again, feeling one sinus empty as another sinus fills up, like secretions though the hourglass. “Take something so I can go to sleep,” Amy says from her side of the bed. “So you can go to sleep?” Did I hear something?  Those windows [...]

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“What are you still doing here?” my colleague asked. “I’m waiting for my last patient.  She’s been in MRI all afternoon.  I just need to say hi and touch her.  With one finger,” I answered. “Maybe you could … just go down there.” (That’s what she said.) “Yeah.  I should.” It’s rare to venture down [...]

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“I don’t think I’m going to keep doing this,” an older colleague and partner for the evening shift says to me. He’s the third person this year who has decided to opt out of the hospitalist thing here.  There’s no need to ask why.  It’s just a question of what’s next. “You know, I used [...]

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