What's doctor's schedule like?...

There are about a bazillion threads on this topic. Do a search on any of the forums.

There's no such thing as an "average doctor". Schedules vary widely depending on specialty, and preference of the doctor. There's no good answer to this question.

Basically the avg doctor sits in his office and watches the money come in.. im kidding of course..

Surgeons work 60-80, primary care 50-60, specialists generally work 40-50.

These are estimates and of course most people can just pick and choose how many hours they get to work after residency..

Neurosurg.. 70 hours per week as an attending.. Long long surgical cases...

http://residency.wustl.edu/medadmin...f2031b5573b78a8d86256f8f0073485a?OpenDocument

Much like the salary is wrong so are the work hours.. 65-70 is reality..

No one requires anything (except for you to take some call to get priviledges).

If you think working 6 days a week for 10-12 hours will allow you to have a normal life on the side well then I guess you do. IMO its not normal at all.

As far as vacations and stuff it would depend on what arrangement you had. As you can imagine there are tons of different arrangements.

As they have already said it's dependant on each doc and his practice.

Sure they get called in during the middle of the night, but some take call every 3rd night, some take call 1 week a month all in the same week, and still others if they have a very large partnership or some other agreement for coverage may only take call once every 10 days etc.

On the flip side some doctors are on call every day because the house staff has orders to call them if one of their patients comes into the hospital no matter who is on call.

Many of the doctors I know are from rural areas and they are at work 24/7 because even when they are away from the office they are surrounded by their patients at the grocery store, ball game, church etc. Also, if they are in a rural area like that they may be the only doc in town which puts them on call every night as well.

Also keep in mind that while docs can set their schedule we are still in the service business. If it's too hard for your patients to get appointments then they will go elsewhere. If you don't see patients you don't get paid.

Everything has it's checks and balances.

For the most part, doctors can find a practice that suits their prefs.

I found this to be one of the hardest things in medschool since we are exposed mostly to residency hours and academic staff, which is <30% of total practice.

Each field, group, and even state influence your options some. For instance, Indiana has low malpractice and high payout for radiologists, so most groups offer 15+ weeks of vacation. OB call schedules are usually humane. In other places you may have to apply for part-time to get these deals. Trauma surgeons or ED docs often have built-in vacation with several days off followed by several days on.

I know surgeons who work 70 hours a week, and surgeons who work 3 1/2 days a week.

Common sense tells us:
hospitals are open 24 hours: work in house --> variable hours. Trauma is hotter on nights and weekends.
patient continuity means work builds up: do FM and shoot for fewer days per week but miss out on long vacations.

Do the kind of work that interests you and do not base this on hours. You can choose your hours later.