Prisoner's dilemma

After a long hiatus, On-call Liveblogging returns! Yes, tonight I'm on call with the Ophthalmology service. But the stakes are high, because tomorrow is the ophthalmology exam. Med school exams are generally no fun, and this one carries a particularly brutish reputation.

Hence, my dilemma. On the one hand, as a budding emergency medicine doc I would relish a night of being called to the ER for burst and bloody eyeballs, horrific pus-dripping ocular infections, and mysterious cringe-inducing presentations of disease in that most squeamish-making of organs, the eye. On the other hand (and if there's one thing I've learned in medical school it's that there's usually another hand), the big test is tomorrow and I really do need to hit the books. As always, failing one of these tests is easy to do and has dire consequences.

Of course, there's actually very little that I can do to influence the outcome. (Powerlessness, thy name is Medical Student.) But deep in my heart of hearts, what do I root for -- the ER or the library?

And in any case, thus far I seem to be opting for choice number three -- blogging.