Funny how, for a profession which more and more prides itself on a solid foundation in science, outcomes, and evidence based treatments and therapies, medicine still functions in the shadow of superstition. For example, you never comment on how well a surgery is going, only on how well it went. You never tell a member of a on-call crew, "I hope it's quiet for you tonight." You never ask, "Is the ER quiet?" It's just not done. Full moon, same way.
I do the call schedule for my group and, somehow, it seems I'm always on for the full moon. I've never done the calendar research to confirm this notion, but it just seems I wake up to a big round moon more often than not when I'm on call. Not that I'm superstitious.
Yesterday, however, is a case in point. I have been busy as heck over the past week with several irons in the fire. To top it off, I started call this week. By 12 noon yesterday I actually made the statement to the OR crew, "This must be a full moon today." I had seen enough weird stuff, been called on enough weird stuff, happening to enough weird people that I felt it just couldn't be anything less than a full moon. But, I never checked, I never confirmed the phase of the moon. Not that I'm superstitious.
No that I'm superstitious but, let me just tell you, when I got up this morning and saw that big ol' full moon shining in the window I was not the least bit surprised. It's good to know, though. Not that I'm superstitious, but I know things will be getting better in about three or four days. Just don't ask me how it's going until then.
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