It’s my last night shift of the month, and also the last one before going on vacation. It hasn’t been that many months since the last time I took a vacation, but the pace of work I’ve been keeping is quite exhausting, so I couldn’t wait for the break to come again.
In hospital settings, or at least where I work, they say that the last shift before vacation tends to be very busy, working even through the whole night without stopping. This time, the outlook is a bit grim, since in less time than it takes for a coconut to hit the ground, I’ve already been assigned four surgical cases. At the moment I only have one left, but the night is still young enough for more patients to appear out of nowhere.
These superstitions are a bit annoying, because no matter how much you try to convince yourself that none of it is true, reality insists on punishing you and proving that this matter is established science. There’s one phrase you should never say during a medical shift: “the shift is easy” or “the shift is quiet.”
It sounds like a joke, but once those words are spoken, an airborne brigade of patients seems to invade the emergency rooms. Seriously, it happens often. The best thing is not to talk about it—just like you don’t talk about a perfect game in baseball once you realize one is unfolding.
Then there are the “cursed people.” They’re simply those colleagues you’d rather not share a shift with, because you know that with them there will always be complications, complex cases, or a million patients to treat.
In fact, not long ago I did three shifts with one of those characters. He’s not a bad guy, but he definitely carries a terrible energy for these things—it’s frightening. Anyway, I just hope everything ends well today and nothing gets complicated.
English isn't my native language. Text translated with DeepL