How much call can one expect in an FP residency? Are there programs were you can take call from home? How much call would one expect working in a smaller town (population ~10,000) after residency is completed? Thanks.

Good questions. Call in FP residency is less taxing than, say, surgical specialties, but really varies. During 2nd and 3rd years, there is a lot of call taken from home. Of course, this is a generalization. Depends on the individual programs. I interviewed at a place where one worked about 50 hours on an average throughout residency, and another where they had you on roughly q4-5 call for the duration.
As for #2, usually, in a small town, FPs are often the only doc in town, so hours can be rather long, but, the renumeration is much better, sometimes twice of what one would be offered in a metropolitan locale.
hth

I'll sound like a complete idiot now but.......

What exactly does q4 and q5 mean? Is q4 if you're on call every fourth night?

Thanks,

Bellkicker

ja, Herr Bellkicker.

Why thank you, General.

So what's the lowest q one can go? I suppose q1 would be kind of tiring after a couple of days.

under the new ACGME work hour restrictions, call cannot be taken by a resident more frequently than 1 in 3 nights averaged over a four week period.
www.acgme.org -> click on Resident Work Hours in the nav bar

I had the mistaken impression call would necessarily be lighter in fp and was woefully mistaken. if that is important to you-no shame in my view-family life is important-real life is important-I would be very careful about investigating this because programs can be very creative in disguising how difficult their call is. (this from an fp intern just getting off a call with 26 admissions):(

SO, it looks like call in FP will be about the same as other general specialties, like IM or Peds right?

Then my question is, how is call after you begin a practice. What is the difference between rural vs city, solo vs group practice. Will you always have to take call no matter where you practice?

Also, another ?---What are the typical hours for a FM physician, is part time an option? The FP physicians that I worked with seem to work their butts off in a solo practice, working at least 12 hours a day and on call every 4th night and every 4th weekend..is this typical.

Please, any help would be appreciated..I am trying to decide between EM and other specialties such as Peds and FP.

Thanks
Pegasus