Sunday, December 21, 2008

Work Ethic

I met a junior resident who hasnt left the hospital in two months. He has literally lived here for the last 60 days, working from 6 in the morning to 12 at night. Rinse. Repeat. He said next week, he switches rotation and gets half a day off on saturday. He was giddy with excitment. I could only stare.


He then introduced me to a senior resident who once returned home only to discover that his lights werent working.. or his stove ..or his heaters because the power had been cut.. as had his phone and internet. The man hadn't been home in so long that he forgot to pay his bills .. the several reminder notices they sent out remained unopened stuffed into his overflowing mailbox.


Many of the surgeons` wives and children live in Tokyo so they often only get to see their family once or twice a month, as explained by Sensei K, chief of surgery.. who sees his family less often because the man is an awesome genius of a Machine powered solely by surgical procedures.


These people put the rest of us mere humans to shame making eating and sleeping seem like a luxury.



9:00pm. Someone broke their spleen.
worth noting that the scrub bays and theatre doors are entirely hands free, motion activated swish.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lol priya. The contrast to here is incredible, not saying they don't work at all here but I will judge the culture and say that sounds sick and wrong lol.

I think everything about my elective is opposite from yours... Will be great sharing stories on return. Later :)

Priya S. said...

10-4 on the story sharing.. plus we're gonna be buddies again next year! g times.