hospitals are strange places late at night...rather quiet and eerie. Can't quite explain the feeling...everything that happens in teh wee hours of the morning seems strange...oddly enhanced. Maybe b/c I'm more involved w/direct pt care late at night since half the staff is gone. The rooms are all dark with coughing, snoring, restless pts...since I'm here at the VA there's always the occasional moaning or screaming or muttering pt whose doors u quickly pass. All teh visitors are gone and the nurses are mostly at their stations talking and watching blinking flashing monitors. I spend these late evenings wandering around trying to figure out how to manage my cases or trying my hand at procedures like lavages and blood draws or sitting in the company of rather loopy and chronically sleep deprived residents. ¶ 12:45