Guest satsumargirl Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 medicine housestaff reading EKG's post-call vs. pre-call, and that often-quoted statistic that 24 hours without sleep dulls your attention span/motor reflexes (or something like that) similar to a 0.08 blood alcohol level. This is true! I was told a story by a prof who was sleep deprived due to him having a new born. He is in the psych dept and studies reaction time. So he was setting up an experiment and trying it out on himself to see if everything was working. But the results he was getting were WAY off and he thought his machines weren't calabrated. But in fact they were. And his reaction times compared to someone who was drunk! He was shocked. I think when you become chronically tired, it is possible that you just forget what it is like to be rested and be functioning "at your best". So maybe you perceive that you are functioning fine. Others around you may disagree! Is neurology considered a lifestyle career? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 Hey there, On the sleep deprivation topic, although one of the Plastics residents had noted that sleep is over-rated, one of the more prominent staff surgeons refuses to operate if he feels overly tired. He's been in the surgery business for umpteen years and is well respected, so I imagine he knows about what he talks. Although I think I could handle some less challenging tasks around the ward, I don't know if I'd be keen on some surgeries on an iota of shut-eye given the bit of dexterity required to brandish some of those wee saws. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 I'm actually not particularly familiar with Neuro, as I've never done any rotations in it (nor will I ever in the future, most likely). Lifestylewise, I think it's a pretty middle of the road field in general; lots of the work can be outpatient, and many of the diseases you are dealing with are chronic in nature. It doesn't have the notoriety of being a ridiculously cushy job like outpatient derm, radiation oncology, or pathology, but also generally isn't mentioned as one of the fields that really rough on the hours (like many surgical fields). The inpatient stuff which can get you busy in my experience come in two flavours: 1) Cerebrovascular, and 2) Seizures. The cerebrovascular stuff is basically strokes, sub-arachnoid or other intracranial hemorrhage, aneurysms and the like. Seizures from epilepsy or other unknown etiologies are another potential problem that can get you woken up out of bed. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest endingsoon Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 Neuro is busy here b.c of all the acute strokes/tPA stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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