Get a Grip! How to Cope Without Letting Go

“Beep, beep, beep.” The alarm sounds at 5:15 a.m. You shower, get ready, grab a packed lunch and run to the car. It better not be later than 5:45 a.m., otherwise you will not make it to the hospital in time. Before turning on the car, you make sure you have everything needed for the day. Suction, oxygen, airway … oh wait, wrong checklist. You drive to the hospital, quickly change into scrubs, methodically organize your room and introduce yourself to the first patient. Maybe the day involves supervising three O.R.s, rounding in the ICU, seeing patients in the pain clinic, carrying the code pager, assessing risk during perioperative visits or performing various regional techniques throughout the hospital. When the day is over, you sit down, read about the cases for the next day and refresh your knowledge on anesthetic |implications of a disease process. Then you are off to...