3am

Today was an extremely slow call day. But I got to help out with the interview of a new doc that we are possibly looking to hire. She’s a fourth year resident who will be finishing up her program in May. She seemed nice. Driven. Smart. But I will be completely surprised if she chooses our practice. I was so embarrassed by how her interview was run. Very informal, held in a public space, the two docs that were there were getting paged during the interview and choosing not to return the page in another room but instead, taking the opportunity to use the phone right next to where the interview was being conducted and proceed to talk louder than the interview that was continuing in the same room. They took every opportunity they could to talk about themselves instead of asking the applicant about her own passions and interests. They talked up the practice, they got distracted by the nurses, by the phones, by each other…I was devastated. And the sad part is, I think they were really interested in this woman. But they couldn’t truly show it! At least not in a way I thought would have been way more appropriate. I tried to balance them out by only asking her about her personal experiences. I asked her about her residency program, what role she plays in groups (the older sibling, of course), what she likes doing outside of work (not surprisingly she runs marathons), what her favorite parts of OB are, if she has had any experience working with midwives…

I have to admit, she was a little hard to read. But she had a healthy dose of nervousness. Not too much. And not overly proud of herself. Which was nice. Less likely she will treat me like shit.

But one comment the doc made has stuck in my head all day. At one point she pauses and looks as if she is thinking sort of nostalgically about her job (and I think she was trying to be inspirational here) and she says, “Well, if I’m going to be up at 3am, there is nothing I’d rather be doing.” And the applicant says “True. Very, very true.” And I wanted to shake them out of their trance. What??!! There are SO many things I would rather be doing if I was up at 3 in the morning. Talking with friends, making out with someone I love, at an all night dance party that’s playing really good music, looking out the window of a train and headed to a place I’d never been before….I mean the list goes on and on here. Is it me or them? Should the only thing I want to do at 3am be deliver babies? I honestly think it’s one of the LAST things I want to be doing if I am up at 3am.

Sigh. Off to bed.