These threads always have lots of people jumping on doctors and their decisions/callousness/lack-of-reason/etc.etc.etc. My wife is a physician (OBGYN) at a major city hospital that primarily serves a very poor population. I'd like to share her schedule, and see if you think what kind of care you could perform under these circumstances:
Monday - Friday
- Wake up at 4:30 AM
- Get to hospital by 5AM to start rounding on patients
- Sometimes work inpatient all day sometimes clinic thrown in, but usually not done working until 7 PM, without even a 15 min break or a chance to eat a meal (15 hour day)
- Come home and do about an hour of notes
- At least once per week, wake up in the middle of the night to deliver a patient who asked for that kind of continuity of care.
Saturday:
- Wake up around 5am to be in by 6am to start the day
- Work inpatient, usually without time for a 15min break for food, until 10AM SUNDAY (28 hours shift)
Repeat 49 weeks/year (days of 24/hr shift can vary and she usually gets one weekend off/month). Her average time at the hospital last year was 96 hours/week.
How much confidence do you have that you'd be able to take care of a complicated pregnancy at the end of a 28 hour shift, having not eaten for more than 24 hours, having 10 other patients on your mind, and having had only a couple of hours sleep the night before? It's no wonder to me anymore to me birth outcomes are so bad in understaffed hospitals in poor areas...
Monday - Friday - Wake up at 4:30 AM - Get to hospital by 5AM to start rounding on patients - Sometimes work inpatient all day sometimes clinic thrown in, but usually not done working until 7 PM, without even a 15 min break or a chance to eat a meal (15 hour day) - Come home and do about an hour of notes - At least once per week, wake up in the middle of the night to deliver a patient who asked for that kind of continuity of care.
Saturday: - Wake up around 5am to be in by 6am to start the day - Work inpatient, usually without time for a 15min break for food, until 10AM SUNDAY (28 hours shift)
Repeat 49 weeks/year (days of 24/hr shift can vary and she usually gets one weekend off/month). Her average time at the hospital last year was 96 hours/week.
How much confidence do you have that you'd be able to take care of a complicated pregnancy at the end of a 28 hour shift, having not eaten for more than 24 hours, having 10 other patients on your mind, and having had only a couple of hours sleep the night before? It's no wonder to me anymore to me birth outcomes are so bad in understaffed hospitals in poor areas...