My last nights...


Oh it feels good. I'm in the homestretch of my last month of night float as a chief resident and I can see then end.  I have just five more nights on night float. Ever.
Don't get me wrong, I do like what I do and have some amazing people that I get to work with every night (mds, rns, mas, lots of important people); the work is never (or hardly ever) boring and most of the time I get to be a part of a lot of new babies birthdays (and who can complain about that)!

However, it means that I get lots of special insomnia time over the weekend and hence, have both a few interesting articles and a few books reviews to post. It is hard to find anything productive to do at home between the hours of midnight and 0400 when I am trying not to wake my whiny dog up....

Articles:
If you haven't read my other one about the Pill, it is worth the time...

Also:
Work hours
My MO about MDs in training is simple; especially if we ever move to a nationalized health care where salaries are less. Education needs to be cheaper and less taxing. I'm not in this for the money, but it would be hard to argue that you could afford a private med school without significant changes in cost if salaries dropped significantly.

Books:

I liked this. It is a series of essays, most of them older, written by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker.  The genre is mostly what I would say social economics; sort of in the vein of Freakanomics.
Entertaining, thought provoking, and fun to read.
I found myself thinking more about everyday things and why they are the way they are; say for example ketchup or mustard :)

Yup. I read this whole thing last saturday night from 0000 to 0400. It was just about perfect for that time of night. Based loosely on the Titanic fiasco and a few key characters, it was entertaining, a bit fluffy, and kept me from being bored out of my mind.
Fancy academic literature? No. Entertaining nighttime read? Absolutely.

I had heard a lot about this book, and honestly, was a bit dissapointed. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the story and the characters didn't captivate me and I found myself rushing to finish it (this is because I hate not finishing books even if I don't like them-left over from my mom telling me that I had to at least read the first 100 pages; which, when the book isn't long basically means you read the whole thing whether you like it or not). Anyways, lukewarm from me.

I had high hopes for this one; it sounded intriguing; and although I liked the plot I found the characters to be too simple for me; not enough development for such complex decisions.
I think I felt disconnected from them and it made it hard for me to relate to their decisions and instead of identifying with them I felt myself mostly judging them for their actions; because of this I found it hard to have sympathy for their actions/outcomes.
This one is worth the time because the premise of it is unique; especially given the changes in our understanding of obstetric care; but for many people, the surprise that is felt at the birth of one of these children is still the norm (this will make sense if you read it, but if I elaborate then I will ruin it...)

Anyone have any other suggestions for me?
Going into the weekend and need at least two midnight reads....