unbelievable

Today I experienced one of the most condescending things a doctor has ever said to me. The worst part is he isn't actually a doctor yet. He's what we call an MSI-medical student intern. So, let me set this up. I was taking care of a man who had been in the ICU for a while. Strangely we're not exactly sure what is wrong with him. He clearly has neurological deficits that were not present before he came into the hospital. He is NOT sleeping. And I don't just mean not sleeping for long periods of time I'm talkin' full on insomnia. No sleep ever. We are doing rounds which really just means 9,000 people standing around talking about a patient and their progress. (We do this everyday, sometimes twice.) So rounds is going on and on and I pipe in saying, "oh yeah, he's not sleeping. Do you think you could order a sleeping pill?" to which the Attending physician says, "I'm not convinced sleeping affects the outcome of patients in the ICU" to which I say, "what?! so the single most healing thing our body does isn't actually that important". This then begins a long discussion between me and the Attending whom I have known for a long time. The discussion ends with, "well clearly you and I are not reading the same critical care research studies." THEN....from out of nowhere, the MSI says, "maybe you could just dim the lights at night." ARE YOU KIDDING?!!! Dim the lights? I never thought of that. Maybe I should turn my own lights off at night. Wow, that explains so much! So friends, if you are having trouble sleeping just dim the lights. The almost doctor says so.