Nights like these...

It’s 1 am, and I’m sitting at my work station here at the hospital. I’m on night float for the next 2 weeks from 5pm to 6am.

We just finished night time rounds with our nurses. All of the patients are safe and stable. I’ve put in orders left and right and have responded to countless pages throughout the night. There are no pending admissions in the ED. My senior and co-resident have snuck off to the call rooms to get some rest.

I'm blogging.

Residency is all about taking grace when you get it. I may regret this later, but I’m staying up to blog instead of getting more rest in anticipation of a late night admit. I'm doing this because I really love writing and reflecting. It's important to me.

I'm realizing that work life balance isn't always about separating work and life. They're intertwined. I mold my personal life around work and vice versa. Right now, work is slow so I’m going to blog. But on another day, if work is busy or I get off late then I won’t blog that night so I can get a good night’s rest to be my best at work the next day.

Judy Oranika