A Typical Week for a Second-Year Psychiatry Resident
Sunday
I’m currently on Night Float 2 (NF2), which means I work Thursday through Saturday, 7pm to 7am. Sundays begin just as the night ends. I usually get home around 8am, enjoy breakfast with my partner and our two young kids, and then we all head to church by 9:30am. After returning home around 11:30am, I take a short nap from 12 to 4pm—just enough to recharge without completely resetting my sleep cycle.
Once I’m up, I call family and friends, tackle light chores, and spend the evening out with my family. One of our favorite weekend traditions is exploring new restaurants in Durham and Raleigh. The food scene here is pretty good actually. My personal favorite spot is Thaiangle, where I almost always order their Beef Thai Basil or Mongolian Beef (no financial disclosures!). We often end the evening at Durham Central Park, letting the kids run around and make new friends. It’s a relaxing, joy-filled way to transition back into family life after nights.
Monday – Wednesday
These are my post-call recovery days, and I don’t return to work until Thursday evening. My partner and I start the mornings together by getting the kids ready and dropping them off at preschool by 7:30am. The quiet that follows is golden. We use that time to study, catch up on reading, or meal prep for the week.
On Tuesdays, residents have Academic Half Day from 12 to 5pm. Although it’s optional during night float, I try to stay connected by catching up on didactics or working on ongoing academic projects. By this point in my rotation (NF2), my circadian rhythm has usually flipped back to normal, so I get to enjoy full nights of restorative sleep.
Around 5pm, I pick up the kids from pre-school, my partner prepares dinner, and we all eat together before winding down with a movie or cartoon. The kids are usually asleep by 8pm, leaving us a bit of quiet time to reflect and reset.
Thursday – Saturday
By Thursday evening, I’m back on service. I leave home around 6:30pm and arrive at Duke Regional Hospital by 6:45pm for sign-out from the day team. I receive updates on all Behavioral Health Inpatient (BHIP) patients from the on-call resident and then connect with the Behavioral Health Emergency Department (BHED) attending psychiatrist to discuss patients boarding in the BHED and pending ED consults.
Overnight, we cross-cover BHIP, Psych CL, and BHED. I work alongside another psychiatry resident and an LCSW, with the option to activate extra support if needed. Nights are unpredictable; some are quiet, while others are a whirlwind of new consults. But phone staffing with the on-call overnight attending psychiatrist and clinical decision support makes it bearable. As a PGY-2, this rotation represents a major step in developing clinical autonomy, supervising interns, and honing confidence in rapid, independent assessment and triage.
On a quiet night, I sometimes manage to get some “shut-eye” in one of our two dedicated psychiatry call rooms. We’re also given a $15 nightly meal stipend, which goes a long way when the cafeteria options start looking especially appealing at 2am. The final consult typically wraps up around 5:30am, and by 7am, the day team arrives for morning sign-out. I’m usually heading home by around 7:30am, ready to start the cycle again with gratitude for another night of meaningful work.
Read other Week in the Life narratives:
- Julia Tucker, MD, PhD (PGY1)
- Abdelrhman “Rooma” Elnasseh, MD (PGY3)
- Molly Fessler, MD (PGY3)
- Rachel Landrum, MD (PGY3)
- Carolina Nadal Medina, MD, MS (PGY3)