Sounds like a great job. So you work two weeks of 12 hour days straight and then two weeks entirely off? Do you get exhausted by the 12 hours * 14 days all in a row?
I can't understand why anyone would want to do extra work on the days off. The money is enough, I'd imagine, and the free time would seem to be good for other interests, like family, hobbies, travel, or non-clinical medicine-related work like a bit of research.
Any input on what the trajectory for hospitalists will look like in a declining economy? Also, can hospitalists pick up certain lower-risk subspecialty procedures (i.e. not cardiac cath) and employ them or is it established that subspecialty procedures are only done by those trained in them through a fellowship?
Its not easy at times, but it is fun, exciting, and challenging. The time off is great, two weeks off per month. We all make more than $200 K with bonuses (RVUs), some much more who do the dreaded 36 hour shifts -- never ever for me.
Typically work like say 5 days on and 5 off at times, or 6 on and three off -- and it varies, to equate to say roughly 13-14 days off per month. It is totally flexible, but I never work more than 5 or 6 days in a row without a break in between -- approximately one or two days in between.
Nights are challenging at times (only have to work 1-4 nights per month), I have had more than 10 admits in less than ten hours, with lots of phone calls in between.
You learn on the job, time and energy management. Are you going to answer a floor call while you are seeing an admit, or worry about it? Probably not -- deal with it when you are finished, and do not get distracted.
Its tough getting adjusted in the beginning, but it gets better usually.
I never ever work more than 12 hours in a shift, no matter what.
That is the great thing about it -- no office, no shifts more than 12 hours at a time, no clinic the next day when I am drained juggling between office and hospital, and no phone calls from patients at night. My partner recently took 3.5 weeks off, to travel abroad (used part of one month, another part of the overlapping month).
I did get two full weeks off, but I had to work 13/14 days, and a couple more days. It worked out great in the end.
Typically we take 7-10 days off in the schedule consecutively, the rest interspersed and admixed. I do not know about when we hire more Hospitalists though. They might become more strict. Right now it is great though.
In the declining economy, I believe that Hospital medicine is actually surging.
Procedures, I say forget about it. You can do a biopsy in the hospital, but why bother?? You can work in Urgent Care and do tons of procedures on youre off day if you please, knock yourself out.
Me? I would much rather travel, and enjoy my time off.
There is talk, about Hospitalists doing procedures in the Hospital. Those that profit from these procedures, will work very very hard to not make this possible -- which is even more of an incentive to do it. Colonoscopies, Endoscopies, some cardiac interventions. There are not enough specialists on call in the Hospital at times, to cover all of the necessary critical situations going on. Hospitalists can become trained, and help alleviate some of this shortage, to improve the efficiency, and most importantly medical outcomes of patients who are hospitalized. I would imagine that the ER would love this situation, as they are already overburdened with critical situations, as well as patients using the ED for primary care needs.