Twenty-Three Steps to Get a Vacation

They say time flies when you are having fun, so is the opposite true? Is it like that last scene in that X-Files episode where the former speed-addicted teenager watches the second hand creep, creep, creep and then skip back a beat and creep another second forward? The agonizing passage of time...

I bought my ticket for vacation in Colorado. I hope to be there for the birth of my new little cousin and I hope its warm and pleasant. Not surprisingly, given my incredibly regimented schedule, I have most of my vacations planned through the next 12 months. All except the last. My last vacation of the year has been exceedingly hard to manage. See, the residency gives us our schedule for the next full year at one time. Then it's on us to try and find a time during one of the few rotations where its allowed to vacation to find coverage for our work and maybe get it approved to go.

I want to go to my 10-year college reunion very badly. I miss my college friends and they think they might be able to make it. This could potentially be a very fun reunion and I could get some QT with Boston and my friends that live there. (Picture of Obama speaking at this year's May Commencement and Reunion - will be hard to top next year).




So here are the hoops I have to jump through to make it happen:

1. I have to swap my rotation week. I need to find a person to be willing to take on a week of in-patient pediatrics that week in exchange for their out-patient rotation. DONE
2. I have to make that week as equivalent as possible in call days, call points and days off. DONE.
3. I have to make sure that our swapped out-patient weeks are also as equal so we don't end up taking unequal back-up or hospital call. DONE
4. I have to get a signature from said person. DONE
5. I have to submit it to the Chief Resident for approval. DONE
6. It has to then be submitted to the scheduler for approval. FAILED - now onto #7
7. It has to be documented that the during said swap we are actually covering for each other - me covering for her out-patient duties and her for me (The whole idea of a "swap" apparently not obvious enough to get authorization). DONE.
   
8. I have to get my faculty advisor to sign the swap request. DONE.
9. I have to get the other resident's advisor to sign it. KINDA - he signed conditionally, adding step #10 to the mix.
   
10. I need approval from the in-patient hospital service involved in the switch. This is now going to be discussed in the meeting for the service faculty, if it is appropriate for the switch to occur. PENDING.
    
11. I have to resubmit to the chief resident.
12. Then back to the scheduler.
13. Then to the clinic director. - if this is approved then the swap is for sure and I will have an out-patient week the week of reunion.
14. Then I have to request the week off.
15. Find coverage for my colposcopy clinic
16. Find coverage for my procedure clinic.
17. Find coverage for my obstetrical patients.
18. Find coverage for my patients that may be admitted to the hospital while I am gone.
19. Find coverage for my in-basket and mailbox and any patient calls or concerns while I am gone.
20. Get signatures on the request from each person covering 15-19.
21. Submit this signed request to the chief resident.
22. Then on to the scheduler for approval.
23. Then to the clinic director for approval...

And then, after step 23, the vacation might be approved and I can attend my 10-year college reunion.

All this for 7 days off in May 2009. I wasn't kidding when I told my college friends that I may have to move mountains to go to attend.

On a positive note, only three weeks left of OB. That means only three weeks left of this endless 16 weeks of inpatient life - on call every 4 days, only 4 days off a month, living by my pager, sleeping little, eating crap and falling out of touch with everyone that matters. Then I get one week vacation, one week of a more relaxing rotation and then right back to in-patient life.

689 days left of residency...