Amount of Sleep 3rd Year

[Roy7]

I was just wondering how much people slept on average 3rd year. First and second, I didnt sleep much because first year I'd be cramming 1 week (we have exams every 2 weeks), and studying the other. And Second year I'd not sleep much just because i'd use my spare time for step 1.

Sooo, what's the consensus? Everyones saying how you read 1-2 hrs a night, get home at 5-6 - does that mean you can sleep at like 8-9 for your 5 am rotation?!

Thanks!

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[Amy B]

I got much more sleep this year than I did during 1st and 2nd year. Plus it is not as stressfull!

 

[AmoryBlaine]

Except for Surgery I got at least 7-8 hours a night. Most of my friends who don't get enough sleep are trying to maintain a party lifestyle while working at the hospital. You can do it, but you aint going to get your 8.

 

[Medikit]

I went down from 8-10 during the first two years to 5-7 during third year.

 

[kito]

Surgery and OB will interfere with your sleep. Otherwise everything is status quo. You may have less free time because you now have floor duties in addition to reading at home, but you should be able to preserve your sleep.

 

[mdphd2b]

Surgery and OB will interfere with your sleep. Otherwise everything is status quo. You may have less free time because you now have floor duties in addition to reading at home, but you should be able to preserve your sleep.

Totally agree w/ OB/GYN and Surgery being my most tiresome in general--less time to sleep, eat, read, whatever Inpatient medicine was probably a close 2nd.

The rest were OK. We get a total of like 3-4mo outpt-type rotations too, so that can balance the other ones.

 

[ChildNeuro]

wow, some of medical schools actually give you time to sleep. During surgery I remember ending rounds sometime around midnight, then having to wake back up around 4 am . . . I didn't sleep alot during medicine, ob/gyn, peds, or anything except maybe psych. I though a good 5 hours was very nice to have, what is this talk about 7-8 hours!

 

[Dr JPH]

During surgery I remember ending rounds sometime around midnight, then having to wake back up around 4 am

 

[cdql]

 

[Roy7]

wow, some of medical schools actually give you time to sleep. During surgery I remember ending rounds sometime around midnight, then having to wake back up around 4 am . . . I didn't sleep alot during medicine, ob/gyn, peds, or anything except maybe psych. I though a good 5 hours was very nice to have, what is this talk about 7-8 hours!

Your third year med school experiences scare the hell outta me.... sigh.. 3 more weeks of summer.

 

[Dr JPH]

Your third year med school experiences scare the hell outta me.... sigh.. 3 more weeks of summer.

Dont let is scare you, he is full of crap.

True, there are some rotations that take their toll more than others. Surgery and OB/GYN especially.

But dont listen to the "round until midnight" BS.

Im a surgical intern and have worked on surgical services at several different hospitals. No surgeon rounds until midnight unless they are in the OR until 10pm, and for most surgeons thats certainly atypical. Even then most surgeons wont go around that late and wake up patients to look at abdominal wounds.

Count on 7a-7p 5 days/week max for most rotations.

5a-7p 5 days/week for surgery.

Students generally dont take call more than Q4-5 days, and even then its only for the time they are on that clerkship.

But there is no student schedule that compares to an intern schedule.

If you want to be scared ask me about my schedule.

 

[TxMed]

i am currently on vascular surgery (and loving it).my sleep/work status is as follows.
-3am wake up
-4am on the ward;preround, write notes, PE on all vascular patients
-6am round the chill momentarily
-630 or 7am to the OR, or start on floor work and consults
-work, work, work,
-clinic, clinic, clinic
-generally leave by 7pm (somedays by 6pm)

we have surgery MWF and clinic TTh. i know the above seems like alot of hours, but it is an amzing service. i read and night and sometimes during the day, and i get my one day off a week. bottom line...most of us here are in our mid 20's so sleep just shouldn't be a big deal. BUT exhaustion (physical, mental, spiritual?)can be a serious concern. look out for yourself and hopefully your residents will look out for you too.

-tm

sorry...in addition to what JP Hazelton has above. i work alot. but my interns get there when i do and they are still there when i leave. when i have a moment to read they are still working. even if you have the most heinous surgical clerkship you will ALWAYS work less than your intern. these people are the eternally crapped upon scut-monkeys of the service. massive props to ANY intern that can get through their day and also teach the MIII's a little something.

 

[bjackrian]

I started my first rotation (surgery) this week and they have it worked out pretty well for us to balance clinical experiences and sleep.

On weekdays, we get there around 5, have work rounds at 6 and then spend the day in the OR, clinic, or on the floor with the intern (we have a rotation among the med students on the team). We have afternoon rounds usually around 5. If they haven't started by 6, we can just go home unless we're on call. Otherwise, we go home when afternoon rounds are done, as the on-call student and intern are usually responsible for making sure things discussed during afternoon rounds get done unless there is a very long to do list, so we go home at 5-7 p.m., depending on the day.

On weekends, we get there at 7 for work rounds at 8. We finish checking up on patients and unless there are a lot of emergent cases, we generally go home by mid afternoon, again, unless we're on call.

Call for us is q4 (overnight, in house), and we go home by noon the next day (the schedule for call is essentially identical to the surgical interns' schedules). My only call so far, I got about 3 hours of sleep, broken in half by a trauma case.

We get 1/7 or 2/14 days off, worked out with your team, again following the interns' work hour rules.

Overall, it's not terrible. Yes, you're very tired after a 30 hour call day, but you can go home and sleep during the afternoon, be awake and do whatever you need or want to during the evening, and still get enough sleep for the next day. My point is just that the difficulty/sleeplessness of surgery rotations definitely varies by school, so don't take what you read here as gospel for all med schools everywhere.