When we were in residency training I once heard my friend Queenie mumbling to herself while staring at a piece of paper:

“Okay, rounds ng 7 patients, 30 minutes, walk to social service, 2 minutes, talk to radiology, 3 minutes… I can finish everything before my report!”

I thought she was trying to be funny, but when I got to be in her place I became as obsessive with the schedule minutiae as she was. Of course, the schedules would rarely go exactly as planned, and it always drove me bonkers.

Years of insanity later I have just accepted that the best way to deal with ruined schedules is to just assume that it will never happen as planned. For instance, this morning, I was planning to finish rounds on four patients in thirty minutes, but I failed to avoid Dr. X who is a total conversation trap.

I was also planning to do chemo and give advice to patients and all that in two hours, but while I was fixing my things in my clinic, which was situated on the second floor, I heard two people fighting outside. I peered through the window, and from above saw the two people fighting! They were fighting about their relationship… but we had no idea that they were in a relationship in the first place! So of course I eavesdropped.

Some things are worth ruining your schedule for.

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