Take Days

Take days are my most dreaded day of the week. Take days are when its my unit's turn to admit all the surgical cases which come through emergency. So one day a week, and one in every four Fridays and weekends, each of the surgical units has this pensive experience. Now by chance or design, my surgical unit's regular take day is a Monday. For some reason, Mondays tend to be THE day of the week when all and sundry decide to troop into the hospital's ED with anything from bellyache to ruptured appendicies. We get hammered every Monday. The game is then to fix and discharge as many patients as we can by Friday, in anticipation for the following weeks take. Its a never ending cycle - a game, if you please - a big merry-go-round that is modern medicine. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm sounding bitter, I do love the job I'm in - I just wish that there were less patients on my list. It'd make such a difference if I could sit down in the Cafeteria for lunch a couple of days a week. I know what you're thinking, 'Shut up and suck it in; eat a teaspoon of concrete and harden up' - but so bad was our last take day, that the night surgical registrar had mercy on us and decided to slow up the last two admissions by a couple of hours so they would come under the next surg unit. No joke. So, if you're out there reading this, please avoid coming in on a Monday - any other day of the week would be fine ;-)