24 (or 28 for some people, luckily not me) is a crazy amount of time to be up, let alone at work for. I’ll go into the ridiculousness of 24 hour calls in a later post, this is all about surviving.

Here’s what I learned over the course of doing this for 4+ years.

1. The night before - do all the prepping you can and most definitely pack a bag of food for the day. Focus on at least some high protein foods. Don’t do what I did and only bring healthy foods - be realistic about what you will want to eat at 3 in the morning. And definitely don’t forget your water bottle.

2. Wear comfy clothes - if your hospital allows you to wear scrubs during the day that is the move. The comfier the better. I always brought an extra pair of socks and sometimes scrubs to change into overnight, too.

3. COMPRESSION STOCKINGS. You’ll thank me later.

4. Stake out the call room early. Make sure there are clean linens in there.

5. Any moment you have to go even just lay down in the call room is 100% worth it. My motto is being horizontal is always better than being vertical while on call.

6. SKINCARE - I have so many thoughts on this I will make it a whole other post, but will leave it for now as bring the things (face wash, tooth brush, tooth paste) that will make you feel like a human.

7. Always have chargers - for both your phone and your laptop.

8. If you have room for a small pillow, bring it. The hospital pillows are like sleeping on sheets.

If that all seems like a lot to remember to pack every time, I got in to the habit of having a special bag that I packed and only used when I was staying for a call.