And no, I don't mean because you take your chances and roll the dice when you enter. (Or maybe you do, I don't know what the ED is like in your neck of the woods.) I mean that it's impossible to tell day from night, night from day, day from month, month from millenium, etc.
1) There are no windows. Anywhere.
Except the ambulance bay, and even that isn't as helpful as you'd think- it's essentially a huge open-ended garage, so barely any sunlight passes through it's garish concrete walls. The cherry on top is that you can't tell what the weather is doing either.
2) No clocks in patient rooms.
This is just a heaven-sent promise from the gods that no patient will ever be able to yell at you for being gone "just a minute" when in actuality 10 hours have passed.
3) Loads of bright lights, flashing gizmos, and loud sounds.
Too bad none of them promise payouts.
4) The stale smell of tobacco, alcohol, and depression.
And usually urine too.
5) People down on their luck, just hoping for a payoff- like drugs, food, or a warm bed.
We work in 12-hour shifts, so 6:00 isn't am or pm, it's just always "6 o'clock" in the ED. I forgot I was working days one time and immediately turned into a vampire when I inadvertantly walked into a sunbeam in the waiting room. I cringed, hissed, and cursed the inevitable lowering of my melatonin levels. Then I remembered I was supposed to be working during the daylight, not sleeping, so I got up and gave the old guy with the broken leg his bed back. (It's ok, he was cool about the whole thing. I gave him a sandwich.)
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