My Life as a Call Girl

I spend 1/4 of my life on call. With 10 years of private practice in OB/GYN under my belt that's 2.5 years that I've been tied to my phone. Some nights I sleep peacefully through the night, but more often than not, I get to trek in at 3 am to catch a baby or two. Over the years, I've come up with my own set of on call rules to help navigate the chaos that can be a call night.

"Don't"s:

Don't dread it. Obviously, I don't wake up on my call day with a spring in my step, open the windows and shout for joy for all to hear "Yeah, I get to be on call today!" But I don't dread it either. I've learned to deal with it and enjoy it the best I can. If I didn't make peace with being on call then, I end up wishing away a quarter of my life.

Don't complain about it. When I chose OB/GYN I chose a crazy, sleep deprived life. Sometimes when I'm working postcall I will "explain" to people why I look hot mess of disheveled craziness (ie I delivered 17 babies last night). I try to keep it in a upbeat joking tone and not a "Woe is me! I work all the time" tone. We all know those providers who claim that every single call is the"Worst call ever" and that is simply annoying.

Don't indulge in the 3 am donuts. When you are up all night, the 3 am donuts can look so very tempting. Sometimes I delude myself into thinking "I deserve a treat" for having to work all night, however my 40 year old metabolism does not agree and I regret it later. I always keep healthier snacks like almonds and trail mix with me for just such emergencies.

Don't schedule appointments. After getting called in half way through a haircut once, I learned this lesson the hard way.

Don't socialize. If my leaving the event will be awkward, I won't schedule it when I'm on call; like dinner with just one other couple. If it's a bigger group of friends, I will sometimes try to go if I can. Also having people over is definitely out as well. Having to rush out half way through cooking dinner is not a great plan.

"Do"s

Do live your life. I can't put my life on hold completely when I'm on call. I still go to soccer games and church, I just drive separately in case I get called in. I still exercise, I just make sure when I'm running I have my phone on me and am always less than 10 min from my house. Sure this means that occasionally I have to race into the hospital all sweaty and get amniotic fluid on my Lulu tights but there are enough excuses not to exercise and I won't let call be one of them.

Do keep some entertainment close by. A lot of call can be "hurry up and wait." I often spend time waiting for an OR to open up or waiting for patient to deliver. I use this time for catch up charting and CME and reading.  This is actually my one bit of call superstition: I always keep a novel with me in hopes I won't need it.

Do Bathe. My biggest pet peeve is getting called to the hospital stat when I'm in the middle of a shower. Yes, the ruptured ectopic pregnancy is far more important than me having a bad hair day, but still it's annoying. I wish I could get away with not bathing on call but that would not be socially acceptable. Instead, I keep extra toiletries handy to throw in bag a the last minute as needed to get ready at the hospital.

Do know your limits. I am human. Occasionally, I need to ask for help. If a call is particularly awful I will get one my NPs to field phone calls. There are times I've cancelled part of my afternoon postcall to go home and rest. So no, I don't complain about every single call, but when I'm dangerously tired I listen to my body and rest.


So there are my call survival tips. I'd love to hear from the other MIMs on how they maintain sanity while juggling their pagers.