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I am currently the head of a two person ops team, so we effectively share on-call all the time. In reality as the buck stops with me I am on call constantly. It

by ErrantX 11y ago

I am currently the head of a two person ops team, so we effectively share on-call all the time. In reality as the buck stops with me I am on call constantly. It's a drag and I really wish I hadn't been backed into this corner (partly my fault, partly the company). With that said; my Fiancee is a trainee nurse. She works three thirteen hour shifts a week. Which totally destroys your sleep pattern. Working two thirteen hour days in a row takes you out for a couple of days (she gets in at 9, has about an hour to shower and eat and is in bed for a 5am start). All of this for a wage which is about half of mine. And with the massive responsibility that if she's tired and makes a mistake it's not a computer that dies but an actual person. Puts it in perspective.

davedx 11y ago
Yeah, I am constantly amazed and terrified of the kinds of shifts doctors and nurses do. I really do not understand how they manage to not make mistakes in such an environment. In Grey's Anatomy, you often see people taking a couple of hours sleep mid shift; is this generally accurate?
- eitally 11y ago
  My wife is a nurse, too, and it definitely takes a special kind of person to do this work. She moved into pharma about a dozen years ago to escape the crazy and irregular hours/shifts and has been much happier & less stressed ever since, and much higher pay.
- chriskanan 11y ago
  My fiance is a child neurology resident in Boston. Last year she was on 28 hour call every 4 days, which means she was forced to stay up at least 30 hours if things were busy at the hospital. Depending on the rotation, she would catch 0-4 hours of sleep at the hospital if it wasn't that busy at night. I think they only make the residents work 28 hour shifts, with attending working more like 9-15 hours per day.
- rayiner 11y ago
  They do make mistakes. Hospital errors are the third leading cause of death in the U.S.
  - exhilaration 11y ago
    That's... crazy! Where can I read more about this?
- joesmo 11y ago
  They make a ton of mistakes. This is by far, the worst feature of the American health care system and it shows up as bad care, lives lost, and huge costs. Every single American who pays for healthcare is essentially fucked by our ridiculous system. And this is a system set up by doctors, mind you, doctors that should and do know better.
rmc 11y ago
I suspect they only make the trainee nurses and doctors do that. Once you get higher up the pecking order, you don't have to do it anymore (many in my family are nurses/doctors). Less so with tech.
Spooky23 11y ago
The difference is your fiancé will not be a trainee forever, and as an RN will be able to get pick between money/schedule/speciality. If you like long hours and chaos, work in the ER. if 5A-2P works, be a surgical nurse. There are lots of options that you can study for and get into. Also, in many states you're hourly, so you get paid.
kamaal 11y ago
>>Puts it in perspective. 2000's, I worked at a call center and then a large software company in Bangalore. Late nights, weekends and sometimes even doing consecutive days(2-3 days) at office were common. Some people I known of have clocked a record 7 days at office, sleeping in dorms for 4 hours per day. None of us complained, because merely getting a job in those situations was a blessing. Who would mind atrocious working hours, where the next option is bankruptcy. My father was a truck driver, then a bus driver and is now a taxi driver. Most of his life he pretty much went perennially sleep deprived, tiring work driving all time. With no access to food, good sleeping conditions or even a rest room. In fact this is pretty much how bulk of world works to make a living. Recently, in the last 4-5 years. I had a day job and was doing my start up on the side. 10-11 hours at office and 6-9 hours of start up work at home was common. Getting barely 5 hours of sleep after a grueling day of very hard work, tense situations and routine crippling failures are common. I would say human life is very hard. That's how it is by default.

by ErrantX 11y ago

davedx 11y ago

Yeah, I am constantly amazed and terrified of the kinds of shifts doctors and nurses do. I really do not understand how they manage to not make mistakes in such an environment. In Grey's Anatomy, you often see people taking a couple of hours sleep mid shift; is this generally accurate?

eitally 11y ago
My wife is a nurse, too, and it definitely takes a special kind of person to do this work. She moved into pharma about a dozen years ago to escape the crazy and irregular hours/shifts and has been much happier & less stressed ever since, and much higher pay.
chriskanan 11y ago
My fiance is a child neurology resident in Boston. Last year she was on 28 hour call every 4 days, which means she was forced to stay up at least 30 hours if things were busy at the hospital. Depending on the rotation, she would catch 0-4 hours of sleep at the hospital if it wasn't that busy at night. I think they only make the residents work 28 hour shifts, with attending working more like 9-15 hours per day.
rayiner 11y ago
They do make mistakes. Hospital errors are the third leading cause of death in the U.S.
- exhilaration 11y ago
  That's... crazy! Where can I read more about this?
joesmo 11y ago
They make a ton of mistakes. This is by far, the worst feature of the American health care system and it shows up as bad care, lives lost, and huge costs. Every single American who pays for healthcare is essentially fucked by our ridiculous system. And this is a system set up by doctors, mind you, doctors that should and do know better.

rmc 11y ago

I suspect they only make the trainee nurses and doctors do that. Once you get higher up the pecking order, you don't have to do it anymore (many in my family are nurses/doctors). Less so with tech.

Spooky23 11y ago

The difference is your fiancé will not be a trainee forever, and as an RN will be able to get pick between money/schedule/speciality. If you like long hours and chaos, work in the ER. if 5A-2P works, be a surgical nurse. There are lots of options that you can study for and get into. Also, in many states you're hourly, so you get paid.

kamaal 11y ago

>>Puts it in perspective. 2000's, I worked at a call center and then a large software company in Bangalore. Late nights, weekends and sometimes even doing consecutive days(2-3 days) at office were common. Some people I known of have clocked a record 7 days at office, sleeping in dorms for 4 hours per day. None of us complained, because merely getting a job in those situations was a blessing. Who would mind atrocious working hours, where the next option is bankruptcy. My father was a truck driver, then a bus driver and is now a taxi driver. Most of his life he pretty much went perennially sleep deprived, tiring work driving all time. With no access to food, good sleeping conditions or even a rest room. In fact this is pretty much how bulk of world works to make a living. Recently, in the last 4-5 years. I had a day job and was doing my start up on the side. 10-11 hours at office and 6-9 hours of start up work at home was common. Getting barely 5 hours of sleep after a grueling day of very hard work, tense situations and routine crippling failures are common. I would say human life is very hard. That's how it is by default.