Being on call for neurosurgery Christmas Eve kinda sucks. The night of anticipation and eventual culmination is something to be excited about usually, but when you're getting hammer paged by the ER and the slew of patients that have become paranoid with their recent surplus of time to ruminate about their surgeries, it just kinda sucks. So, I went down the street and bought a Santa Claus hat and the rest of the night was pretty awesome.
Not really, but, when you get to walk into a patient's room and say "Hello, I'm Dr. Kim, the neurosurgeon on call," and have them look at you, and then the santa hat, and then back at you... it's almost worth the consult.
The magic of the holidays for the on call resident is not in the gifts or the fact that there are no elective surgeries (only emergencies), but rather in the simple fact that everyone wants to go home. I had a man come into the ER with a subdural hematoma. Granted it had been stable for 24 hours now on repeat CT scans, but he had been taking aspirin, had a low platelet count, and coagulation problems to boot. We would normally admit this guy, give him blood products, hook him up to EEG and watch him for an additional 24 hours. But hey, it's Christmas. We sent him home. (It was still sound from a medical-legal standpoint, but I won't get into the details). Our service stays light, rounds stay quick, and it feels like we're on vacation despite having to stay in the hospital.
Amusingly, the Santa hat seemed to almost become an extension of the white coat. Not only did my patients have to listen to me regarding their neurologic status and health, but I was telling them to have a Merry Christmas. Yes doctor, we'll be sure to take the antiepileptics. Yes doctor, CT scan before the next clinic appointment. Yes Dr. Kim, we'll have a good Christmas. I guess it was nice getting a few smiles despite me telling them they had a brain bleed. At one point I got a little carried away and tried telling a confused/disoriented patient that she was at the North Pole... it's ok though, beats thinking you're in a hospital.
Merry Christmas everyone.
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