How to subvert isolation into peaceful solitude
August 2, 2020 3:57 PM Subscribe
I’m a resident physician. On my current rotation, I’m doing 24 hour shifts every three days. For reasons relating both to COVID and to the particular hospital I’m rotating at, if the shift happens to land on a weekend, I’ve got 16ish hours of mostly nothing where I’m by myself in a windowless work room or a windowless call room. Help me brainstorm ways to make this pleasant solitude instead of mind numbing isolation.
Difficulty: there’s no wifi, and so little cell service that websites any more complicated than metafilter won’t load on my phone, and phone calls are a nonstarter. The work computers block streaming services, and my seating options are old and not very comfortable desk chairs in the work room, and an old and not very comfortable twin bed in the call room.
I can’t change out of my work clothes because I might be paged at any time.
I’ve got an iPhone, wireless earbuds, and a Kindle.
Help me come up with a game plan so I never have another day like this one, where my total plan for coping is listening to podcasts and watching a Netflix show that I pre-downloaded, and a little online chatting with friends.
Difficulty: there’s no wifi, and so little cell service that websites any more complicated than metafilter won’t load on my phone, and phone calls are a nonstarter. The work computers block streaming services, and my seating options are old and not very comfortable desk chairs in the work room, and an old and not very comfortable twin bed in the call room.
I can’t change out of my work clothes because I might be paged at any time.
I’ve got an iPhone, wireless earbuds, and a Kindle.
Help me come up with a game plan so I never have another day like this one, where my total plan for coping is listening to podcasts and watching a Netflix show that I pre-downloaded, and a little online chatting with friends.
are you still making quilts? if so, are you ok bringing the supplies to the hospital?
posted by brujita at 4:04 PM on August 2, 2020
posted by brujita at 4:04 PM on August 2, 2020
There are a lot of games you can download for your phone which are more distraction engines than major sagas or whatever. I've been playing Peggle for a while on my phone, and it's been a nice thing to have to pull me away for a little while without being a commitment where I'd be upset if I were torn away by being on call.
I'm not much of a gamer, but that's been fun to have, and it's entirely offline. Maybe there are other things like that you can get that are offline that you can use to pass the time?
posted by hippybear at 4:04 PM on August 2, 2020
I'm not much of a gamer, but that's been fun to have, and it's entirely offline. Maybe there are other things like that you can get that are offline that you can use to pass the time?
posted by hippybear at 4:04 PM on August 2, 2020
Okay, and also, what about using your time for some journaling? Or downloading a mindfulness app? If you're stuck in a space like that, using it for self-reflection and smoothing out of the wrinkles isn't a bad thing to think about.
posted by hippybear at 4:06 PM on August 2, 2020
posted by hippybear at 4:06 PM on August 2, 2020
Is there no medical library? During my years as a resident, I would fill these hours studying, reading and memorizing Harrison’s, Braunwald’s, Mandell’s, and so on (I date myself), and looking up recent literature about the patients I would have to present in morning report, preparing to pimp and be pimped. Or, perhaps you’re further along and should focus on the primary literature of your future fellowship.
Knitting? Video games? Anyway, on preview, I sound like a scold but I guess I was just a nerd.
posted by sudogeek at 4:12 PM on August 2, 2020 [6 favorites]
Knitting? Video games? Anyway, on preview, I sound like a scold but I guess I was just a nerd.
posted by sudogeek at 4:12 PM on August 2, 2020 [6 favorites]
This seems like a perfect situation for working on knitting projects while listening to audiobooks.
If you don’t knit but you would like to start, this recent AskMe has some advice on where to begin. In my comment I recommended Tin Can Knits’ Simple Collection, a series of free patterns and how-to tutorials designed in an order to help you build your skills and learn techniques in a systematic way. You can download the patterns and tutorials to your device so you won’t need wifi. (You’ll need a YouTube download app for the video tutorials.)
Once you feel comfortable with the basics, you can knit while you listen to an audiobook downloaded to your device. I know lots of medical professionals, including my godmother, who took up knitting for exactly this reason and are still doing it many years later!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:13 PM on August 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
If you don’t knit but you would like to start, this recent AskMe has some advice on where to begin. In my comment I recommended Tin Can Knits’ Simple Collection, a series of free patterns and how-to tutorials designed in an order to help you build your skills and learn techniques in a systematic way. You can download the patterns and tutorials to your device so you won’t need wifi. (You’ll need a YouTube download app for the video tutorials.)
Once you feel comfortable with the basics, you can knit while you listen to an audiobook downloaded to your device. I know lots of medical professionals, including my godmother, who took up knitting for exactly this reason and are still doing it many years later!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:13 PM on August 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Given COVID, I don’t particularly want to bring crafting stuff into the hospital. And alas, sudogeek, the library is closed because of COVID, too. (I definitely use some of this time for studying. I’m just not a study for hours and hours on end kind of person.)
posted by ocherdraco at 4:30 PM on August 2, 2020
posted by ocherdraco at 4:30 PM on August 2, 2020
Paper crosswords or Sudoku? Crosswords make me feel inexplicably like I really did something with my time.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 4:38 PM on August 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 4:38 PM on August 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
Maybe ask Dr. Mike He practices in New York and has a lot of social media accounts. I've heard him speak about his routine as a doctor on-call on his YouTube channel with an eating schedule, but he talks about other stuff.
posted by effluvia at 4:43 PM on August 2, 2020
posted by effluvia at 4:43 PM on August 2, 2020
I used to use call suite downtime to read novels with absolutely no medical content. It felt like such a guilty pleasure at the time, but honestly I think I learned more from the novels than from PubMed.
My favorite book of intern year was Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres -- I have such a profound sense memory of lying on the uncomfortable black leatherette couch in the internal medicine workroom just devouring this family being terrible to each other, like so many families I'd seen be terrible to each other in the hospital.
posted by basalganglia at 4:49 PM on August 2, 2020 [16 favorites]
My favorite book of intern year was Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres -- I have such a profound sense memory of lying on the uncomfortable black leatherette couch in the internal medicine workroom just devouring this family being terrible to each other, like so many families I'd seen be terrible to each other in the hospital.
posted by basalganglia at 4:49 PM on August 2, 2020 [16 favorites]
Read a long, meandering, not-too-deep book series that has good, well-structured storytelling. I’m reading a 9-book series about a multi-generational family that lives in an island off the coast of Maine, and it’s just the thing. Or read a 1000-page book that is also not too deep, like Marjorie Morningstar or Shogun.
posted by Melismata at 4:52 PM on August 2, 2020
posted by Melismata at 4:52 PM on August 2, 2020
The closest to that situation I've been in (fieldwork with no internet or electricity), I wiled away my time mostly by reading. Among other things, I reread basically all the classics I was assigned in high school and hated on principle - they're nearly all available for free or very cheap for kindle. Upon reread, I liked nearly all of them better (though Ethan Frome can still get fucked). I also tried to learn how to sketch. Maybe get a book like Drawing on the Left Side of the Brain and practice sketching? You can get a fancy drawing app and maybe a stylus for your iPad. I also journalled a lot, and wrote a lot of very long and rambling letters.
posted by ChuraChura at 5:22 PM on August 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ChuraChura at 5:22 PM on August 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
I would:
- bring nice lighting to live there permanently
- spend a few bucks on flowers each week
- bring a yoga mat and do some stretching (maybe just skip your pants or belt off if you need more room to move- or get some comfier / looser work clothes for these days)
- buy a beater guitar or ukulele, a few beginner books, and practice
- get a colouring book and markers, pencil crayons, or watercolour pencils
posted by nouvelle-personne at 6:01 PM on August 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
- bring nice lighting to live there permanently
- spend a few bucks on flowers each week
- bring a yoga mat and do some stretching (maybe just skip your pants or belt off if you need more room to move- or get some comfier / looser work clothes for these days)
- buy a beater guitar or ukulele, a few beginner books, and practice
- get a colouring book and markers, pencil crayons, or watercolour pencils
posted by nouvelle-personne at 6:01 PM on August 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
Game plan? Why not learn one of the oldest games, backgammon? It's nearly 5000 years old, and still popular for a reason; it's great fun! It involves luck, strategy, and probability, but it's not cerebral and intense like chess; faster, lighter, there's almost a videogame-y feel to it. Unlike chess, it involves risk, and that can be a thrill. It's got deep complexity emerging from simple rules, one of those "a minute to learn, a lifetime to master" deals. Bandwidth and latency requirements are very low for online multiplayer, and singleplayer against the AI can also be very satisfying.
posted by Tom-B at 6:08 PM on August 2, 2020
posted by Tom-B at 6:08 PM on August 2, 2020
Read a long, meandering, not-too-deep book series that has good, well-structured storytelling.
If you haven’t already read it and can tolerate some swords and sorcery and the fact that it is currently unfinished and likely to remain so, A Song of Ice and Fire is actually a good example of this.
posted by jeoc at 6:29 PM on August 2, 2020
If you haven’t already read it and can tolerate some swords and sorcery and the fact that it is currently unfinished and likely to remain so, A Song of Ice and Fire is actually a good example of this.
posted by jeoc at 6:29 PM on August 2, 2020
For reading, I suggest variety. In the past, when I've had slow times at work, I'd bring two books (typically one fiction, one non-fiction) and a graphic novel or two. Give yourself an hour with one, then switch. Helps keep the reading fresh; binge-reading a book seems to make it less interesting to me.
posted by SPrintF at 6:30 PM on August 2, 2020
posted by SPrintF at 6:30 PM on August 2, 2020
Get a really great travel-sized pillow that you can stash in your locker/backpack. If it’s allowable (some hospitals it’s not), get a hotspot because internet. Off-line phone games or suduko/word games. Pre-download movies or tv shows (if using phone, get extra storage). Yo-yoing. Yoga. Stretches, so many of them. Isometric exercise. Meditate. Write neglected notes or your first novel.
Edited to add: yoga mat will add a little comfort to that twin bed and perhaps the chair.
posted by Kalatraz at 6:31 PM on August 2, 2020
Edited to add: yoga mat will add a little comfort to that twin bed and perhaps the chair.
posted by Kalatraz at 6:31 PM on August 2, 2020
Start a meditation practice, download some guided meditations from Audiodharma or dharmaseed, or use an app like 10% Happier, Insight Timer, Headspace, etc.
posted by matildaben at 7:15 PM on August 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by matildaben at 7:15 PM on August 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
Seconding crossword puzzles. Lots and lots of crossword puzzles.
posted by unknowncommand at 7:25 PM on August 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by unknowncommand at 7:25 PM on August 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
I feel better about time like this when I learn something.. Spanish or lockpicking or all the square roots up to 25. Set a goal and spend an hour a day on it. Also, can you put a few posters on the wall? A complex landscape or a cheerful abstract.
posted by CathyG at 9:26 PM on August 2, 2020
posted by CathyG at 9:26 PM on August 2, 2020
*I'd* definitely want music (especially in a somewhat dreary-sounding space), preloaded if you can't stream. Also, listening to fiction on audiobook is relaxing to me, it takes you back to having stories read to you as a kid.
Perhaps you'd like to learn a language, with Duolingo or some other app.
Think of something that is completely away from any interest you've ever had in the past, and challenge yourself to learn about it. E.g., fear of flying? Read all about the history of aviation, and aeronautical engineering. Did some area of history or literature always seem boring to you? Try studying it again.
And agree with the idea of trying to make the space feel personal while you're there. Put out chotchkes/ put up posters. And I know you have pictures accessible on your phone, but maybe place a digital picture frame on the desk, with changing images of your pet/ loved ones / favorite beach.
posted by NorthernLite at 11:04 PM on August 2, 2020
Perhaps you'd like to learn a language, with Duolingo or some other app.
Think of something that is completely away from any interest you've ever had in the past, and challenge yourself to learn about it. E.g., fear of flying? Read all about the history of aviation, and aeronautical engineering. Did some area of history or literature always seem boring to you? Try studying it again.
And agree with the idea of trying to make the space feel personal while you're there. Put out chotchkes/ put up posters. And I know you have pictures accessible on your phone, but maybe place a digital picture frame on the desk, with changing images of your pet/ loved ones / favorite beach.
posted by NorthernLite at 11:04 PM on August 2, 2020
From a member who would like to remain anonymous:
Hi, I work as a consult service in a tiny windowless office in a hospital 40 hours a week. Some days are busy, some days nothing happens so I'm in a similar situation.posted by taz at 1:08 AM on August 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
First, not all mobile carriers are created equal. Ask around. In my case tmobile was awful and at&t worked better so I changed mobile services. THEN I bought the highest mobile data plan I could. Then I bought a game I enjoyed.
That may not be possible. At my hospital, the guest WiFi had less restrictions, and plenty of staff use it for videos in slow times but I'm not comfortable with that so I don't. I've seen people playing videos on work computers just walking around, but it's not something I would do, (my trust of corporate IT is exactly 0) but at least at my hospital it's possible.
In general the higher in the building you are, the better cell service you will get, if you can find another room to be in.
Aside from that, I've worked on second language learning which has been rewarding to me.
Otherwise I do spend some time developing social relationships with other staff not in my department who I interact with. For me this is fairly important and makes the time go by faster. So don't be afraid to check on other teams, areas you are interested In learning more about, making friends with xray techs or nurses.
In my hospital it's not uncommon for residents in different areas to randomly appear when something unusual happens to look at lab results or interesting radiology findings, to see how a rare diagnosis presents. So do keep in the lookout for those things if you can.
Stuff that was helpful:
- collected all the cool (path results/presentations) into a powerpoint that is my go-to Quizzing Med Student For Half Hour source
- catching up on discharge paperwork for the patient who'd been there a year with a lot happening
- sitting down at each ward desk and chatting to nurses and updating (paper) med charts and doing some little things that bug the nurses but that they can't usually rely on having done overnight
- taxes and financial planning and sent emails to refinance a mortgage and get pay deductions sorted (good to be on top of this now at the start of your career), budget
- research the next (minor qualification / ultrasound certificate / mandatory CPR course etc) you want to do, research how to get your employer to pay for it, and apply
- create text autofills for common presentations for your computer system
Stuff that was not helpful but necessary- pencil sketching, novels, bullet journalling, stretching and pushups. If you're going the study route a lot of texts are available as PDFs for download and later access.
posted by quercus23 at 5:07 AM on August 3, 2020
- collected all the cool (path results/presentations) into a powerpoint that is my go-to Quizzing Med Student For Half Hour source
- catching up on discharge paperwork for the patient who'd been there a year with a lot happening
- sitting down at each ward desk and chatting to nurses and updating (paper) med charts and doing some little things that bug the nurses but that they can't usually rely on having done overnight
- taxes and financial planning and sent emails to refinance a mortgage and get pay deductions sorted (good to be on top of this now at the start of your career), budget
- research the next (minor qualification / ultrasound certificate / mandatory CPR course etc) you want to do, research how to get your employer to pay for it, and apply
- create text autofills for common presentations for your computer system
Stuff that was not helpful but necessary- pencil sketching, novels, bullet journalling, stretching and pushups. If you're going the study route a lot of texts are available as PDFs for download and later access.
posted by quercus23 at 5:07 AM on August 3, 2020
OK, yoga and bodyweight exercises, for sure (think of the planks you'll be able to hold after your residency if you do two minutes an hour!).
But here's a strange one: sleight of hand magic. When I had the deadest shift at a restaurant, I learned to palm a card. So fun.
posted by athirstforsalt at 5:23 AM on August 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
But here's a strange one: sleight of hand magic. When I had the deadest shift at a restaurant, I learned to palm a card. So fun.
posted by athirstforsalt at 5:23 AM on August 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
Just a data point of one: if I was the room's next occupant and you'd had aromatherapy diffusers or scented candles in there, I'd feel trapped in the 7th circle of hell. TMMV.
posted by kate4914 at 6:01 AM on August 3, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by kate4914 at 6:01 AM on August 3, 2020 [5 favorites]
Learn tai chi (a book or a video, however you learn best). Maybe there are people in your hospital who know how to practice tai chi and would be willing to give short demonstrations to you and others if there are people interested in learning?
Write physical letters or cards to friends, relatives (especially the very young or old). Prisoner support letters. Are foreign language pen pals still a thing? If you are learning a language, that might be fun.
Refresh your geometry skills or something else you used to know when you were a kid (musical chords?).
Go Google Street View traveling?
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:09 AM on August 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
Write physical letters or cards to friends, relatives (especially the very young or old). Prisoner support letters. Are foreign language pen pals still a thing? If you are learning a language, that might be fun.
Refresh your geometry skills or something else you used to know when you were a kid (musical chords?).
Go Google Street View traveling?
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:09 AM on August 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you everyone! Nine more of these shifts...
posted by ocherdraco at 2:31 AM on August 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ocherdraco at 2:31 AM on August 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
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You could also do a handicraft, perhaps? I just started learning macrame and it is pleasantly mindless, and I can make useful things like plant holders and bags.
posted by capricorn at 4:03 PM on August 2, 2020 [2 favorites]