I just graduated from medical school, and my new hospital has some very strange rules

**Senior Resident Erika Barnes, Internal Medicine.**<br><br><br><br>That’s a mouthful, and honestly, I still get a thrill whenever I hear it. After eight years of schooling, I made it. I’m finally a doctor. Now I just have to survive the next three years.<br><br>My residency could have been assigned anywhere in the nation. Luckily, it was assigned near home. I was born in Nashville, Tennessee, but I grew up just outside of Paducah, Kentucky, in a small town called Mayfield. That’s where I applied, and that’s where I was accepted. It’s a small hospital, but it’s where I can be close to my family. It’s also a shorter drive to Nashville, if I need anything a bigger city has to offer.<br><br>I just moved into my new apartment in Mayfield yesterday, and I still have a lot to unpack. I have to be at the hospital early this morning, so I’m planning on working on that a bit later tonight.<br><br>Right now, I’m reading through a 10-page list of hospital policies, and I have to take a 30-minute video examination at the end. I’m sure this was covered at one of my other two jobs, but I want to make sure I get it all correct.<br><br>Some of these policies seem standard. Confidentiality of patient information. A self-explanatory one that I’ve seen many times before. I’m not to give patient information out, unless I have written consent from the patient. Got it.<br><br>Next up, there’s a procedure for a handful of medical emergencies. What to do in case of a stroke, heart attack, overdose, etc. I’ve seen all of this before, too. None of it is anything like my first experience with a “code blue.” I was only 8 years old, but it’s not something that I’ll ever forget. Still, it’s good that they have this in here, because residents who were more fortunate than me might not know what to do.<br><br>Then, there’s a very unusual one. It’s presented just as bluntly as the others. It even sounds just like them, and were I not reading it myself, I’d never have believed it.<br><br>\*\*\*<br><br>*After 11:00pm, all patients are required to remain in their rooms. All doors to patient rooms will automatically lock at this time. If a patient is found outside of his or her room after 11:00pm, the patient will be subject to removal from the hospital. Patients removed from the hospital under these conditions are not entitled to a refund or reimbursement.*<br><br>\*\*\*<br><br>What the hell? Why on Earth would patient rooms be locked? Was this to keep people from leaving without paying their bills? That can’t be it; patients wouldn’t have the ability to just wander out. What if there’s an emergency? *What if there’s a code blue?*<br><br>I read on, and there are plenty of other unusual policies. Nurses and patient care assistants (PCAs) are required to be on the floor, or the hospital would risk losing federal funding and the licenses of those who violate the policy. However, the nurses and PCAs are not required to be checking on patients after 11:00pm. Special instructions for how to respond in the event of an emergency, a list of emergency numbers, and a very comprehensive, very specific list of what constitutes and emergency.<br><br>I want to know why this is considered normal. I want to know why patients are being locked in their rooms. Was it really just to make sure that they paid their bills? Why aren’t nurses or PCAs allowed to check on patients, not even if they’re back in the room?<br><br>I have so many questions. I hope someone will answer them.<br><br>\*<br><br>\*\*\*<br><br>I just finished the last of the reading. I’m about to take the examination. I’ll send a quick update when it’s over. One of my co-workers, Dr. Burns, is on his way here to help me set up for tomorrow and answer any questions I might have.<br><br>\*\*\*<br><br>\*<br><br>I just turned the last page, and I’ve sent a small prayer to whatever deity will listen. It’s a little after 10:50pm, and apparently, I have to be out of here by 11:00pm. There’s a small list of people who are excepted from this rule. Apparently, patient rooms are locked at 11:00pm, because of some safety concern involving security. The safety concern involving security is so bad, in fact, that the presented solution is locking patients in their rooms, rather than hiring more security or training the people they do have.<br><br>People who are not patients, who must stay in the hospital after 11:00pm, are issued these special, red keycards. Apparently, these keycards will allow us to move through the hospital as needed, without being removed. I see why this would be important for nurses and other people with nightshifts. It doesn’t really make sense, though. Why would the patient rooms lock, but the rest of the hospital doesn’t? The hallways don’t lock until 12:00am, something I should be able to witness first hand, assuming my friend doesn’t get here within the next few minutes.<br><br>If the hallways don’t lock until an hour after the patient rooms, the keycards are issued to anyone who needs to move through the hospital after 11:00pm, and the security presented is presented as a concern for the safety of the patients, then why isn’t the security risk present until an hour after the patients are locked into their rooms? Why is the security crisis only a concern for staff, and then only an hour after the patients are safely tucked away in their rooms?<br><br>I have more questions than I had before, and the only person I know who can answer them is still on his way here. Hopefully, he’s going to get here soon, or I might have to be removed from the only hospital in the small town where I now live.<br><br>I have no idea where I would be transferred to, but I can’t really see it working out. I don’t know of any other hospitals who would take a resident who was fired for breaking the rules. I might have to be removed from the program altogether. Then where would I be? Back to square one. Eight years, wasted.<br><br>I hear the door. It must be Dr. Burns. Thank God, because now I have somewhere to go.