when residents don't go to sleep:

Yesterday as D read a patient note he had written (a note is the doctors assesment that goes in s patient's file), he realized he had made a funy blunder. He had been on call Friday night, didn't get any sleep and was busy all Saturday morning. At about 1:00 P.M. he finished his work, except that he had 8 patient notes to dictate (to dictate a note, there is a phone number he calls into and a transcriptionist uses the recording to generate a written file).

Later that day, D was telling me how difficult it was to dictate notes while running on no sleep in 32 hours. He said he fell asleep several times and had to rewind or start over. Little did he realize how out of it he really was because as he was reading a note on a newborn baby who had hydrocephalus and bowel issues, he realized he had left a funny line: "The patient says he loves his parents very much and wishes them a happy new year."

D totally doesn't remember saying that and called the transcription service to ask them if it really was right. They said they had rewound the tape several times to make sure that they got that particular line right--I'm sure they also had a few laughs at his expense.