Advise

[Yellow mellow]

So I am using a recruiter who says that during the week, each day is 1200 and 187 for overtime after 8 hours. With one weekend per call per month, it's 325 for first three hours and 187/hr after that or I could choose a flat rate of 1496/day but no overtime pay after 8 hours. She says that because I'll be the only psych doc there, it's likely that I will be there pass 8 hours so according to her, most doctors prefer the 325 for first three hours and 187/hr thereafter because docs have potential to make more. I haven't worked with recruiters or as locum so I don't know if this is true and what I should do. My first thought would be to do the flat 1496 (187/hr) and hope that I don't have to stay pass 8 hours. Thoughts?

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[TexasPhysician]

How fast are you?

I once had a job in which there was a 48 hr call shift at a 145 bed facility. One doc did a single shift and quit. At hour 40, I saw him, and he looked like death. Doc #2 I know regularly does the same shift and finds it so easy that he also schedules rounding of 80 patients the same weekend.

If you are very fast, take the flat rate. If average, take hourly.

 

[vistaril]

Unfortunately I've worked jobs like this before and they seem to be popping up more and more(not the pay which is fine, but I can picture exactly what this job us...I may have even worked it before)

But anyways...back on track- you will see psychiatrists of all quality levels express a big range in how 'fast' they are. Some of it is efficiency and knowing what is and isn't important, and to be honest some of it is just not giving a f......psychs who see these enormous numbers of inpatients(and I mean actually see them...not just be present or on call in case something bad happens) on weekends and in some cases even weekdays are not actually practicing psychiatry in any real sense of the word. And I'm not criticizing....hell I've worked weekend jobs where I saw insane numbers as well. I saw 56 outpts one Saturday as a pgy4 moonlighting......but I'm not going to bs you and tell you I was able to see that many because I'm 'fast'.

My point is that psychiatry is different....a surgeon can be 'fast' amd it actually mean something because if the gallbladder comes out the gallbladder is out. You can't bs that. But if you give a psychiatrist the right emr with the right boxes already checked and have the inpatients lined up....well that will be one 'fast' psychiatrist. And the codes will even get submitted too.

That's not to say that being able to work efficiently and quickly isn't a skill of value. It is. But when you start to hear of psychiatrists 'seeing' 90+ inpatients in a day(and 12 admits on top of that), the numbers by that point have no meaning. You aren't practicing psychiatry- you are simply herding patients together and checking a bunch of boxes in the process. Which is fine....if someone wants to pay someone to do that and the person is ok with doing it, more power to them. But for god sakes don't call it psychiatry....

And that's my rant for the day.

 

[Yellow mellow]

Thanks guys. Got my answer