Chiefing is hard work. It is a great learning experience, and unfortunately, one of the frustrating lessons is that work is inequitably distributed – the harder you work, the more work you get. In case you can’t count, that’s a 10:2 patient ratio in a span of two hours.
Administratively, this is one of the strengths of the chiefing system – it allows one side to absorb the work of the other side. In a sign-me-up system, no one would be foolish enough to sign up for ten patients while seeing the other physician sign up for two patients; even in a eat-what-you-kill system.
Kudos to the chiefs. We feel you. And double kudos to the PGY-3 who absorbed this pain.