Supplemental Income?

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locitamd

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I'm a 2nd year surgery resident and earnestly looking for ways to supplement my income (legally).
Moonlighting is disallowed by my program and since I'm always at 80 hours 😉 anyway, it really isn't a feasible option.
Anyone have ideas for other ways to make some extra money?
 
If you're planning on going into the lab to do research, moonlighting is an option then.

If not, I've heard of people doing things like H&Ps, discharge summaries, etc. for private attendings at other hospitals. I'd probably check to see if this is considered "moonlighting," however.

I've also heard of people doing medical transcription.

It's tough, though. Being a surgery resident really doesn't leave that much time for other pursuits.

Best of luck!
 
Kimberli Cox said:
Dominoes here is advertising $20/hr for delivery drivers.

Except for the possibility of being robbed, seems like pretty decent money.😀
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Since I've started, we've already had one KSW and two GSWs of patients here who were pizza deliverymen. 🙁
 
Kimberli Cox said:
Dominoes here is advertising $20/hr for delivery drivers.

Except for the possibility of being robbed, seems like pretty decent money.😀
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If I could know in advance when I'd be off, I'd be first in line as a Dominoes' (or Papa John's or Pizza Hut) girl. Unfortunately, since I never know my hours and/or days off, can't do anything that conforms to a schedule.

Anyone heard about chart reviewing for insurance companies?
 
Blade28 said:
You mean the ATL is more dangerous than Snottsdale?

The horror!

🙂
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my preliminary medicine year I actually got offered to do discharge summaries for this trauma surgeon. I did a trauma month and am pretty efficient and was alwasy 'caught up' with my own from internal medicine and we were just talking about it. At first I think he was joking, then realized he was kinda serious, but I reaaaaally hate doing discharge summaries. He was offering like 5 or 10 bucks a pop, thought it was actually a good deal, if I could get 3-4 good discharge summaries done every hour (and that means not a crappy job).

Believe me this guy works in the community and had plenty to do, I saw his list had like 300 (although he had a PA that did most of them)
 
JackBauERfan said:
my preliminary medicine year I actually got offered to do discharge summaries for this trauma surgeon. I did a trauma month and am pretty efficient and was alwasy 'caught up' with my own from internal medicine and we were just talking about it. At first I think he was joking, then realized he was kinda serious, but I reaaaaally hate doing discharge summaries. He was offering like 5 or 10 bucks a pop, thought it was actually a good deal, if I could get 3-4 good discharge summaries done every hour (and that means not a crappy job).

Believe me this guy works in the community and had plenty to do, I saw his list had like 300 (although he had a PA that did most of them)
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Gosh how come I never find any of these people around my hospital. I am so good at those things now I can do them half asleep. I dont even bother dictating I just straight up type them and upload them.
 
Sometimes you just luck up on supplemental income. I lucked up on helping out a family member with a business venture that requires me to do some minor work "telecommuting" by connecting to his businesses' computer system remotely. I have almost doubled my residency salary because of it, and I'm putting in a quarter of the work of residency. I'm not sure if I will continue it when I start my attending job in six months.
 
Unfortunately many programs consider ANY other job "moonlighting". You might literally be locked out of having any other job.
 
Anything that won't require professional malpractice insurance will likely be more kosher than something where you need to bring your own malpractice insurance.

While I normally do not advise it, especially to someone with a busy surgical resident's schedule, an app-o-rama and balance transfers to a high-yield savings account can yield some money. You do have to watch the minimum payments and due dates and with an 80 hour work week this isn't a low risk venture.

One other thing to consider is looking to see where you could potentially earn some small amount of money plus get some benefit in exchange. Perhaps a local food co-op will allow you to work a couple of hours per week and give you an employee discount on food purchases. Assuming their prices are competitive you can get a bit of extra money and spend a little less on something you need anyway (food).
 
Annette said:
Try SERMO. Not alot of money doing the surveys, but it is a few extra bucks.
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On that note, you could set up with imedexchange, too. They're like sermo but really new and still giving away stock options to be an adviser with them. I guess you might make money doing surveys for them in the future.
 
Bobblehead said:
While I normally do not advise it, especially to someone with a busy surgical resident's schedule, an app-o-rama and balance transfers to a high-yield savings account can yield some money. You do have to watch the minimum payments and due dates and with an 80 hour work week this isn't a low risk venture.
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Please explain.

Me interested...😎
 
I assume they mean get a new credit card with a very low/no interest. Max out the card. Take the money and put it into a high yield CD or savings account while just making the minimum payments on the CC until it has to be paid off.
 
I am kind of interested in what licensure someone needs in the states I applied to in order to do laser hair removal. Units can be picked up dirt cheap, takes little training, and its good cash.
 
Doowai said:
I am kind of interested in what licensure someone needs in the states I applied to in order to do laser hair removal. Units can be picked up dirt cheap, takes little training, and its good cash.
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what "units" are you referring to?
 
prominence said:
what "units" are you referring to?
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The laser delivery system. A licensed physician has to be the purchaser of the "unit".

You must take a course (costing a few thousand dollars, generally) and pass an exam to do the procedure (usually done by nurses, aestheticians, cosmetologists).

Its not difficult, but you can hurt someone and its certainly not an easy way to make extra money during residency.
 
Sperm donation....$40 bucks a pop, 2x per week....$320 a month

Plus it's stress relief, and it doesn't require a lot of time (depending on how good that months issue of Playboy is).
 
gida said:
Sperm donation....$40 bucks a pop, 2x per week....$320 a month

Plus it's stress relief, and it doesn't require a lot of time (depending on how good that months issue of Playboy is).
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Last year I saw in the news there was a case of a woman trying to sue the supposedly anonymous sperm donor for some child support.
 
hhhhmmm........

selling my sperm.......

well at least i can get paid for something i do everyday.......

😀
 
What about being a personal trainer on a PT basis?
 
unless you're gonna be on steroids go for it

but being a resident alone is plenty

lets try something less strenuous......

like doing one of those work at home packages....like answering medical questions on your computer
 
Doowai said:
What about being a personal trainer on a PT basis?
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I took a year off between med school and residency and found getting a job much harder than expected. Specifically I tried the PT thing. No, I hadn't doing IT before, but jeez, how much more would an M.D. actually need to know?

Like just about everything these days, they regard you as a really, really, really smart guy that doesn't know anything. You have to take all the specific PT certification classes, etc. Work from the ground up. I suppose you could try to start something on your own...but to work for 24-hr fitness, etc, you need to be certified and M.D. is worthless.
 
Honestly Doowai, I know you have a valid reason for the financial concerns, but I think you're underestimating the lack of time you will have for part-time work. Residency isn't just about the 80+/- hrs per week you clock; outside of those hours, you'll have to study for your ITE, you'll have conferences to go to, sleep, eat, travel, and a regular life with your family.

There are very few jobs physicians can get without a license which earn a significant enough income in few hours a week you have available. And let's not forget that your residency program may forbid ALL outside work, regardless if you are under 80 hrs or if that work is non medical in nature.
 
Kimberli Cox said:
Honestly Doowai, I know you have a valid reason for the financial concerns,.
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WTF? I am not the one who posed the question. I was just brainstorming to help the OP think about it. I am not the one asking what to do about supplemental income.
 
There are some nice ideas here admittingly. Years ago people never even did residency and worked.... how did we get to this situation were you cant even be a phlebotomist cause you are not "certified"?!🙁
 
Doowai said:
WTF? I am not the one who posed the question. I was just brainstorming to help the OP think about it. I am not the one asking what to do about supplemental income.
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I am truly sorry if I misunderstood, but your reply above here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=480339 sounds as if you are considering such options yourself.

Given that you have asked the very same question before: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=5928529#post5928529 and have mentioned on several occasions your concerns about supporting your family on a resident's salary, I think that one could see how I could easily be confused that you are also thinking about moonlighting.

If I was wrong, please accept my apologies.
 
Faebinder said:
There are some nice ideas here admittingly. Years ago people never even did residency and worked.... how did we get to this situation were you cant even be a phlebotomist cause you are not "certified"?!🙁
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Yeah this is one of the real drawbacks to earning an MD. You could conceivably complete undergrad, then medical school successfully and have something happen during your first year of residency - and then not even be able to work as a medical assistant.
 
Doowai said:
Yeah this is one of the real drawbacks to earning an MD. You could conceivably complete undergrad, then medical school successfully and have something happen during your first year of residency - and then not even be able to work as a medical assistant.
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Very true. As an example, follow this thread and ponder what options this surgeon - 7 months out from graduation - has available to him: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6027678#post6027678
 
If you become an ATLS instructor you may be able to teach ATLS during your clinical time, and get paid. I imagine you could do the same with ACLS or PALS. Its not much but...
 
If you still remember any of that basic science stuff you can offer to tutor
 
I am a bit sad that the moonlighting issue is now such a strong factor in my choice of residency. There are 3 residencies I applied to that allow and encourage moonlighting after the intern year, and several of the residents claim to have made 6 figures from it. 2 in one program claimed to have made $200K. With a wife and 4 children, this is now a primary factor in my ROL. Giving up 6 figures to do this medical school martyrdom has made me very tired of financial sacrifice. I want to buy my oldest son some of the cool video games he can only play at friends houses, I want to be able to afford all the lessons my other children want, for my wife to see her family whenever she wants. They never complain, but time and money are two thorny issues that do not get easier in the course of ones life.

A number of the programs I interviewed at had many other people who transfered from other specialties (including general surgery) largely due to lifestyle. The person I did my med school gen surg rotations under only cleared about $200K at the end of the year from what they said. I guess in your twenties 5 years of gen surg residency does not seem like a life-sentence, at my age there is absolutely no way I would do 5 years of that stress at $50K /annum to then spend the rest of my life taking out gallbladders, thyroids and doing breast biopsies. I am hoping for only one more year as a poverty stricken intern and then $70/hour moonlighting to make life a bit more soft and smooth.
 
Hold on a sec - are they making that much during their clinical years, or during lab time?

I can't imagine having the time (outside the 80+ hours you'll work every week) to moonlight and make $100k.
 
Doowai said:
I am a bit sad that the moonlighting issue is now such a strong factor in my choice of residency. There are 3 residencies I applied to that allow and encourage moonlighting after the intern year, and several of the residents claim to have made 6 figures from it. 2 in one program claimed to have made $200K. With a wife and 4 children, this is now a primary factor in my ROL. Giving up 6 figures to do this medical school martyrdom has made me very tired of financial sacrifice. I want to buy my oldest son some of the cool video games he can only play at friends houses, I want to be able to afford all the lessons my other children want, for my wife to see her family whenever she wants. They never complain, but time and money are two thorny issues that do not get easier in the course of ones life.

A number of the programs I interviewed at had many other people who transfered from other specialties (including general surgery) largely due to lifestyle. The person I did my med school gen surg rotations under only cleared about $200K at the end of the year from what they said. I guess in your twenties 5 years of gen surg residency does not seem like a life-sentence, at my age there is absolutely no way I would do 5 years of that stress at $50K /annum to then spend the rest of my life taking out gallbladders, thyroids and doing breast biopsies. I am hoping for only one more year as a poverty stricken intern and then $70/hour moonlighting to make life a bit more soft and smooth.
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As I recall, you are an FMG so make sure you check the requirements of the states you are considering for a full an unrestricted medical license before making a decision based on being able to moonlight. To moonlight, you have to have a full and unrestricted medical license and most states require FMGs to have 3 years of GME before you are eligible. There are a couple which only require 2 years.

Therefore, there are very few states in which you could moonlight before the 3rd or 4th year of residency (if residency is that long). Here is the link: http://www.fsmb.org/usmle_eliinitial.html
 
Blade28 said:
Hold on a sec - are they making that much during their clinical years, or during lab time?

I can't imagine having the time (outside the 80+ hours you'll work every week) to moonlight and make $100k.
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Yeah I hear ya, but several of the programs have very non-malignant curricula. I had classmates graduate from some of them, and verify 50-60 hour weeks are pretty common in the 2nd and 3rd years. I mean we are talking FP here, I am not born to do surgery (my momma did not raise me to be some whipping boy, THANK YOU SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER). That leaves 20-30 hours a week to moonlight - at $75/hour , that is an additional $70-120K a year (on top of the $50K of residency). At one, a 3rd year resident already had a previous professional healthcare license before entering residency; which they combined with medicine, and the program allowed them to work their own practice 2 nights a week in their previous license - so that when they finished the residency they had an existing practice already going. Anyway, in their private practice 2 nights a week they billed on their own and collected fees for service.

yeah states vary quite a bit regarding licensing laws, hunh? That was a big issue for me when picking which states to apply to in the first place. Some programs provide internal moonlighting the second year.
 
Kimberli Cox said:
Yeah, I don't believe anyone, in any specialty, who says they made $100K, let alone $200K per year, while moonlighting in residency.
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I don't know any resident at my program (in the past couple of years) who hasn't made over $100k a year by their senior year (although I can't think of anyone who has made $200k).
 
DrMom said:
I don't know any resident at my program (in the past couple of years) who hasn't made over $100k a year by their senior year (although I can't think of anyone who has made $200k).
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$100K IN ADDITION to his residency salary? I guess its possible with some of the shorter hour residencies, but that just seemed like a lot of money for moonlighting.

I wasn't aware that people were routinely moonlighting 30 extra hours per week outside of residency. Then again both my residency and fellowship restricted it...none during residency and only on weekends for fellowship (and then, only on Friday nights or Saturdays).
 
Yes, in addition to residency.
We have some well-paying gigs available to us so it doesn't take ultra-crazy hours to get to $100k over residency salary (approx 50-70 hrs/month).
 
DrMom said:
Yes, in addition to residency.
We have some well-paying gigs available to us so it doesn't take ultra-crazy hours to get to $100k over residency salary (approx 50-70 hrs/month).
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Can I ask what residency specialty you are or were in?

My favorite programs emotionally are ones that do not provide internal or external moonlighting - but emotions don't pay bills. 2 years with an extra $200K is finishing with no debt, letting my wife see her parents more often, buying my children a few video games, and maybe even buying myself a Starbucks coffee.
 
no wonder... 3 or 4 12-hour shifts per week leaves lotsa space.
 
DrMom said:
I don't know any resident at my program (in the past couple of years) who hasn't made over $100k a year by their senior year
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DrMom said:
Yes, in addition to residency.
We have some well-paying gigs available to us so it doesn't take ultra-crazy hours to get to $100k over residency salary (approx 50-70 hrs/month)
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Let me get this straight:

One, you guys get paid $140/hour to moonlight? (60 hrs/month x 12 months = 720 hours x $140/hr = $100K/year)

Two, am I to understand that the field of EM is so cush and/or easily mastered that it's normal and unremarkable for residents to spend 50-70 hours/month not working and not reading? You guys have boards, right?

Up 'til now, you guys almost had me convinced that there's more to EM than consulting medicine, surgery, or psych. 🙂
 
swpm said:
Let me get this straight:

One, you guys get paid $140/hour to moonlight? (60 hrs/month x 12 months = 720 hours x $140/hr = $100K/year)

Two, am I to understand that the field of EM is so cush and/or easily mastered that it's normal and unremarkable for residents to spend 50-70 hours/month not working and not reading? You guys have boards, right?

Up 'til now, you guys almost had me convinced that there's more to EM than consulting medicine, surgery, or psych. 🙂
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Although definitely possible, many programs do not allow that much moonlighting. We have to report our moonlighting to the program director, and she doesn't allow anyone to exceed the 80 hour rule. Although the RRC doesn't include external moonlighting, my program director does and its an institutional policy that you cannot exceed that with either internal or external moonlighting.
 
We are expected to report our moonlighting for the 80 hour rule, too. As long as we're under 80 total between residency and moonlighting we're okay.

We also have a lot of residents who use vacation time to moonlight. That doesn't go into our hours simply because we can use our vacation as we choose.
 
Is there employment available seeing patients in walk-in clinics?
 
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