13 Comments

A month off??? How dare you :-). I took off two weeks from the ED and felt weirdly relaxed, rested, and anxious to return. Despite my fears, I didn’t forget everything I knew and no one seemed to notice that I was gone. I’m thinking of taking off a month next year, but I’m afraid I won’t be missed and might receive a surprise retirement party. Great story once again.

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It's funny what happens when our brains actually get to shut down for a bit. It's an odd addiction, this job. So much so that it can feel weird to feel normal...

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My current position is with a large, multi-specialty medical group that operates 3 city hospitals. Due to my past, having had several brief military deployments to Germany, my application required me to authorize an investigative company to inquire about any criminal records from the German Police. And, of course, a new set of digital fingerprints were also requested. For some reason, combat tours to Iraq, Kuwait, Sauli Arabia and Afghanistan never became a focus of these inquiries. Go figure!? As always, love your writing, Dr. Leap.

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Thanks Jon! That's funny. I guess you never know what will happen in...Germany? I've applied to do some locums with the VA and I had to have electronic prints; having had them done twice already for my commission application. You can't check doctors too thoroughly I suppose.

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Good as always

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Thank you Kim. You're such an encouragement!

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Very well written.

Carry on.

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Absolutely will! Thanks!

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ditto -- love the writing

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Thank you! That means so much to me!

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Saw this over on MedPage Today also! Congratulations!

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1993 was the first year that the FMLA laws came into being; I, however, had the audacity to get pregnant before they became law so I was still only allowed 6 weeks maternity leave. Heaven forbid a NURSE should take off 12 weeks! (If I remember correctly, our nefarious HR department made rules about how much time was allowed for diagnoses and worked around it that way...pretty sure I was still only allowed 6 weeks for second daughter’s birth 4 years later. And no extended time off for the 2 miscarriages in between.)

I have long held if nurses and doctors were allowed sabbaticals like college professors are, the burn out and number of people leaving the professions would drop dramatically.

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I can't imagine how frustrating that must have been! I think you make a great point. I took a sabbatical once, but it was to do locums and I never went back to my original job. I think it would be very therapeutic.

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