Congrats on another good blog ZebyK. But I hate to break it to you that 12 days in a row is not unusual for doctors. As an FY1 in paediatrics I worked 4 x 9-5, followed by 3x13hrs (9-10) followed by 5 x 9-5 one week in 6. As an FY1 in general medicine I worked 4x 9-5 (M-T) then 7x 13 hour nights (Fri-Fri) then the weekend off to recover and back to work on monday. I know it seems to unfair but try to look on an out-of-hours experience as just that - an experience. At nights and weekends the hospital becomes a different place - fewer specialists to ask, fewer tests immediatley available and quite often fewer staff to help deal with the sick. Theres also no GPs to contact to check collateral history or confirm medications with. With pharmacy shut you sometimes have to improvise with what meds the ward has, or beg and borrow from neighbouring wards. Nights and weekends are the time that the medical student can step upto the plate and start to get a feel for these differences. Otherwise the first time you experience this is when you are there for real. And trust me... thats no fun. Think of it as a challenge, not a chore - offer to help the doctors with blood tests and paperwork to get a feel for how it works. Spend some time with the nurses and support workers and see what they face at out of hours. Take sweets / chocolate / crisps to share with the weekend staff and become part of the team, rather than an observer. And at the end of the day one weekend in 6 isn't really that bad once you get into the world of work. In an A&E job I worked we worked 2 and a half weekends out of every 4 and a half week of nights every other week for 4 months. And we all came out the other end with our sanity in tact, and better doctors for having treated patients despite the hurdles of out-of-hours.