Age

[motox]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Does anyone know how old is too old to be working in the ER? After residency I would be about 49. I plan on working a long long long time!

 

[RNtoMD2011]

Never too old. As long as you can meet the physical and mental demands of the job. Go for it!

 

[Arctic Char]

i can't answer your question. but i will say that one thing that is scary to me about EM is the idea of burning out by age 50 (i'll finish residency at 32) . . . but on the other hand i'm kind of hoping it will keep me young . . .

anyone care to comment?

 

[SoCuteMD]

i can't answer your question. but i will say that one thing that is scary to me about EM is the idea of burning out by age 50 (i'll finish residency at 32) . . . but on the other hand i'm kind of hoping it will keep me young . . .

anyone care to comment?

EM burnout is a myth - a throwback to the days when those staffing the ED were not EM-trained physicians and many had actually burned out from other specialties. You are at no more risk of burnout in EM than you are in any other specialty. I mean, come on...3 12 hour shifts/wk=full time? With that kind of downtime how COULD you burn out? (And yes, I realize that not everyone is set up that way, but EVERY practicing EP I have met has had amounts of free time that were the envy of many other specialties!)

 

[corpsmanUP]

Age is relative as we all know. The hard part about being a 49 year old attending will be being a 46, 47, and 48 year old resident. I am 35 and an intern and some days I just pass cold out when I get home and sleep until it's time to go back to work. I used to have trouble sleeping soundly when I was younger. Residency cured that!!! Offservice rotations flat out stink!!!!! How could any of these medicine or surgery people dedicate their residency lives to 1 day off per week at best and 80 hours a week? EM months are like a vacation compared to this.

 

[motox]

So the light at the end of the tunnel is a train isn't it??? O well at least I had fun while I was younger.

 

[iatrosB]

Does anyone know how old is too old to be working in the ER? After residency I would be about 49. I plan on working a long long long time!

Ask grandpa BKN

 

[BKN]

Ask grandpa BKN

👎 (well we don't have one with the appropriate gesture).

Finished EM residency at 28, now 56 so I guess i've been doing it half of my life (more if you count residency). I still learn something every day, I still enjoy the residents and the patients. The night shifts are definitely harder and I don't want to work all the time in the ED. The administration is duller, but I feel like I'm accomplishing something in planning for the department and teaching the next generation.

 

[Hayduke]

I'll be 41 when I finish if I don't do a fellowship.

I know the lifestyle is a lot harder than when I was in my 20s. As a medic and nurse I would swing a 12h shift in the ED then drive to the firehall and pull a 24. I sometimes would come-to on calls, but get me 4 hours of zs and I would be ready for more. I now see this for the life affirming craziness it was. I could not do it now.

As a 3rd year student (last year) I had 6 weeks of q2 surgery call. At my training site there are no surg. residents so I was the rounding, scut and lucky procedure boy. About 4 weeks in I noticed my hands were sweating at weird times, and my pulse got a little irratic. On the monitor I would throw a ton of pacs and found that my questionable intellect got a lot more....questionable.

My plan for a long career include staying in the best shape I can while trying to perform at least as well as my younger colleagues. I do some weights, but distance running seems to keep me sharper longer. I watch the EtOH, am keeping a pretty great marriage, and get as much surfing/snowboarding in as I can. IMO having a big extra-EM life is a large chunk of the battle.

There is a small, but interesting study from Scandinavia (I think) about the cardiac costs of swing shifts. This profession is expensive in myocardium toxicity.

I am planning on a minimum 25 yr. career, but it will take more health awareness than my post-adolescent peers. Lucky schmucks.

 

[Hayduke]

This looks like a pretty cool euro book on shiftwork if you're interested.


http://www.eurofound.eu.int/pubdocs/2000/09/en/1/ef0009en.pdf

 

[beyond all hope]

I'm at my first job and I only work 2 nights/month. Our older docs work 1 or no overnights. I also have asked our scheduler to give me only swing shifts the rest of the time, so I never have to wake up in the morning.

I have my day off to exercise/hang out/write, go to work at 4 or 5, get off at midnight or 1, and go to sleep.

 

[lateness]

Age is relative as we all know. The hard part about being a 49 year old attending will be being a 46, 47, and 48 year old resident. I am 35 and an intern and some days I just pass cold out when I get home and sleep until it's time to go back to work. I used to have trouble sleeping soundly when I was younger. Residency cured that!!! Offservice rotations flat out stink!!!!! How could any of these medicine or surgery people dedicate their residency lives to 1 day off per week at best and 80 hours a week? EM months are like a vacation compared to this.

comon
35 is young.. its like 25 these days. and 49 is like being 39,,its just a state of mind..

 

[VeerTheTIGuy]

along the same line - would a 23 year old resident bother you? if all goes according to plan (so far), I would be done with residency at 25/26...thoughts?

 

[Hayduke]

along the same line - would a 23 year old resident bother you? if all goes according to plan (so far), I would be done with residency at 25/26...thoughts?

Well at that point you should be at least a Tanner IV. The voice change may be a little disconcerting during your interviews, but as long as you are okay with the PD checking your pubes things will work out fine.

Hey, Doogie did very well.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

(well we don't have one with the appropriate gesture).

How's this?

 

[SoCuteMD]

along the same line - would a 23 year old resident bother you? if all goes according to plan (so far), I would be done with residency at 25/26...thoughts?

Honestly it really depends. Some of my classmates are 23 and I think that judging by their current maturity levels some of them should NEVER be allowed to practice medicine. One of my best friends came to med school fresh out of college, and will graduate at 25 and I think she's incredibly mature and could probably handle residency at this point (she's 23 now). I am 25 but look really young, so it's probably a good thing I'm not going to be a super-young doctor - I'd have no credibility!

 

[VeerTheTIGuy]

Honestly it really depends. Some of my classmates are 23 and I think that judging by their current maturity levels some of them should NEVER be allowed to practice medicine. One of my best friends came to med school fresh out of college, and will graduate at 25 and I think she's incredibly mature and could probably handle residency at this point (she's 23 now). I am 25 but look really young, so it's probably a good thing I'm not going to be a super-young doctor - I'd have no credibility!

I know the kind of people you're talking about, we have them at my school too. I'm fairly mature (or at least I like to tell myself this) - I started my entire schooling early and was with kids a couple years older than me my whole life, so I guess I just had to mature quicker than most. I'm also a pretty big guy (6'3", 260lbs), and when I'm shadowing in the ER everyone guesses I'm 26, so I'm hoping that will just continue.

 

[BKN]

I know the kind of people you're talking about, we have them at my school too. I'm fairly mature (or at least I like to tell myself this) - I started my entire schooling early and was with kids a couple years older than me my whole life, so I guess I just had to mature quicker than most. I'm also a pretty big guy (6'3", 260lbs), and when I'm shadowing in the ER everyone guesses I'm 26, so I'm hoping that will just continue.

SoCute is right, it really does depend. I have a picture of myself in my graduation robes at age 24 with a big red circle and slash, captioned "DO NOT RECRUIT!"

 

[motox]

Be careful for what you wish for Veer! I was the same way when I was younger. Married and 3 kids by 21, now everybody guesses my age 10 yrs older than I am.😡 So I dye the hair and shave the beard.🙂 😳 Ahh young again!!!

 

[VeerTheTIGuy]

Be careful for what you wish for Veer! I was the same way when I was younger. Married and 3 kids by 21, now everybody guesses my age 10 yrs older than I am.😡 So I dye the hair and shave the beard.🙂 😳 Ahh young again!!!

haha, i'm not sure how i'd look with dyed hair, but i'm sure one day i'll shave my goatee in hopes to look younger (that or i'll just get sick of it!) 😛