Anesthesia Residency Quality of Life

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I would like some personal experience on this question:
What anesthesia residencies offer the best quality of life? Who is happy? Thanks

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most anesthesiology residencies offer a pretty cush residency life. Now by cush, I mean 60 or so hours a week at a good program. This is in comparison to an 80+ hour week as a surgical resident. There are programs out there that offer less hours but I dont think the training will be nearly as good. It seems that the major programs average somewhere around 60 hours a week which leaves you time for a life, moonlighting, whatever it is you like to do.
 
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do a search with cushy...i think it was discussed before. of the places i interviewed i have to recommend VCU. they get paid $70/h past 3pm, the call was super reasonable, etc. (after the intern year which seemed typical of a medicine heavy intern year), nice COL, attendings seemed cool...
Oklahoma also seemed cushy...intern year was SUPER cush while still offering a good experience. they had a similar deal with moonlighting past 3pm. these were the only cushy places i think i interviewed...neither offered a lesser quality experience, imho.
 
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Being in your shoes last year, i would raise one warning. I am not a big fan of working my tail off, but my biggest fear last year and still today is that I will find my self 5 years from now alone at 4am in an OR thinking "god I wish I was better prepared for this in residency" A program can't prepare you for everything, and some "cush" programs I interviewed at still gave great training, but some really did not IMO. Granted I may be more sensitive to this as most likely I will be working in one of those godforsaken "rural" areas that no-body in their right mind would live in, and thus may not have as large as support staff. just something to think about
 
do a search with cushy...i think it was discussed before. of the places i interviewed i have to recommend VCU. they get paid $70/h past 3pm, the call was super reasonable, etc. (after the intern year which seemed typical of a medicine heavy intern year), nice COL, attendings seemed cool...
Oklahoma also seemed cushy...intern year was SUPER cush while still offering a good experience. they had a similar deal with moonlighting past 3pm. these were the only cushy places i think i interviewed...neither offered a lesser quality experience, imho.


Quick question about VCU, do they accept COMLEX? Even just for an away rotation?
 
Quick question about VCU, do they accept COMLEX? Even just for an away rotation?

my friend who only took comlex got an interview there without an away rotation. The do need to see step one and two by january to be ranked...so take step two early.
 
When I first became interested in gas I started looking into cush programs and I'd get turned off if residents worked ~65 hours a week. Then I did my surgery rotation where I was working 80+ a week. It was bad, but I could handle it. So when you put things in perspective, even a supposedly workhorse program can't be that bad.
 
I think I've commented on this before but, if not, I'll comment again...

What makes anesthesiology residency tough is that you are a slave to your room. You hit the door at 6:15 AM and you don't stop working until you leave, minus your couple of breaks. This is what a lot of residents on other services don't realize. Medicine residents can take a break from rounding. Surgeons often get substantial breaks between cases. When you're done with a case, you have to take the patient to the PACU, make sure they're okay, go back to your room and finish set-up for the next case, go to the holding area, get your patient, start the next case, do the next case... repeat until your cases for the day are done.

It can be exhausting. You start to relish your breaks during the middle of the cases because that's pretty much it. You can't just simply step out if you want to, like in between rounding on patients, and you aren't "done" at 11:00 AM when rounds are finished to do other things and kind of have your own plan for getting the rest of the work done the rest of the day. When you're in the OR, you have to remain vigilant even if the patient seems to be on auto-pilot. And, that is mentally taxing. It is truly 1:1 critical care. Even surgical residents aren't in the OR as much as we are.

Having said that, programs that routinely keep you until 5:30-6:00 PM (sometimes later) every night start to wear on you. By the time you get home in the evening, after doing post-ops and prepping for next day's cases, you are completely wiped out. I often get home after 7:00 PM, eat dinner, and am pretty much too tired to do much else. I still try to make time to work out, but even that is hard. And, my call days are brutal because we are often running OR's late into the night, and we still have to do all the add-on pre-ops, cover traumas, codes and airways, and do a whole host of other things (like manage patient's on the pain service) that most people don't realize. You literally cover every inch of the hospital if you are an anesthesia resident. I tell people this and they find it hard to believe, but when I explain our responsibilities I usually get a "wow, I never knew you guys did so much."

An anesthesia program that is routinely working you 65+ hours per week is, in my opinion, sacrificing a large part of the academic mission simply to get the work done. In my program, we have been routinely pushing 75+ hours per week lately. It's too much. Sure, I'm getting great training with a phenomenal case mix, but right now I'm just wishing it was over. :(

That's the key question I would ask on the interview trail. Ask residents what in-house time they are providing primary coverage per week. During our 1:1 months, when attendings have to be in the room the whole time they realize how brutal it can be. That's why getting out at 3:00 PM seems like a luxury, but when you're up at 5:15 AM every morning and have to be in the hospital, dressed, and ready to go by 6:15-6:30 AM, you realize that even working until 3:00 PM you're putting in a solid 8.5-9 hour day. Now, add call to that and you're already pushing 55 hours per week.

I think a program that averages 55-60 hours per week is ideal. If you're going over 65+ hours you're pushing it and something will start to suffer (i.e., your time to engage in research and keep up with academics). I would flat-out avoid programs that work you greater than 70 hours per week on average. While this is under the ACGME rules, it's still excessive for the type of work we do.

You think this sounds whiny, consider that top executives are considered to be really busting their balls if they're regularly working 50 hours per week.

-copro
 
I think I've commented on this before but, if not, I'll comment again...

What makes anesthesiology residency tough is that you are a slave to your room. You hit the door at 6:15 AM and you don't stop working until you leave, minus your couple of breaks. This is what a lot of residents on other services don't realize. Medicine residents can take a break from rounding. Surgeons often get substantial breaks between cases. When you're done with a case, you have to take the patient to the PACU, make sure they're okay, go back to your room and finish set-up for the next case, go to the holding area, get your patient, start the next case, do the next case... repeat until your cases for the day are done.

It can be exhausting. You start to relish your breaks during the middle of the cases because that's pretty much it. You can't just simply step out if you want to, like in between rounding on patients, and you aren't "done" at 11:00 AM when rounds are finished to do other things and kind of have your own plan for getting the rest of the work done the rest of the day. When you're in the OR, you have to remain vigilant even if the patient seems to be on auto-pilot. And, that is mentally taxing. It is truly 1:1 critical care. Even surgical residents aren't in the OR as much as we are.

Having said that, programs that routinely keep you until 5:30-6:00 PM (sometimes later) every night start to wear on you. By the time you get home in the evening, after doing post-ops and prepping for next day's cases, you are completely wiped out. I often get home after 7:00 PM, eat dinner, and am pretty much too tired to do much else. I still try to make time to work out, but even that is hard. And, my call days are brutal because we are often running OR's late into the night, and we still have to do all the add-on pre-ops, cover traumas, codes and airways, and do a whole host of other things (like manage patient's on the pain service) that most people don't realize. You literally cover every inch of the hospital if you are an anesthesia resident. I tell people this and they find it hard to believe, but when I explain our responsibilities I usually get a "wow, I never knew you guys did so much."

An anesthesia program that is routinely working you 65+ hours per week is, in my opinion, sacrificing a large part of the academic mission simply to get the work done. In my program, we have been routinely pushing 75+ hours per week lately. It's too much. Sure, I'm getting great training with a phenomenal case mix, but right now I'm just wishing it was over. :(

That's the key question I would ask on the interview trail. Ask residents what in-house time they are providing primary coverage per week. During our 1:1 months, when attendings have to be in the room the whole time they realize how brutal it can be. That's why getting out at 3:00 PM seems like a luxury, but when you're up at 5:15 AM every morning and have to be in the hospital, dressed, and ready to go by 6:15-6:30 AM, you realize that even working until 3:00 PM you're putting in a solid 8.5-9 hour day. Now, add call to that and you're already pushing 55 hours per week.

I think a program that averages 55-60 hours per week is ideal. If you're going over 65+ hours you're pushing it and something will start to suffer (i.e., your time to engage in research and keep up with academics). I would flat-out avoid programs that work you greater than 70 hours per week on average. While this is under the ACGME rules, it's still excessive for the type of work we do.

You think this sounds whiny, consider that top executives are considered to be really busting their balls if they're regularly working 50 hours per week.

-copro

I 100% agree with this and another thing to remember is that with anesthesia your workload(meaning hours spent in the hospital and difficulty of the cases) and responsibility increase the further along in training you get.
 
Fully agree with Copro...
Residency is HELL! Its stressful, the day starts early, and the workday can go late. I'm in the OR setting up by 6:15am, and either finishing cases or in lecture until 5:30 EVERYDAY... sometimes later.
There are NO short days...
After you've worked all day, the most annoying thing to is doing pre-ops for the next day; finally driving home, and paging/calling attendings to discuss the next day's cases. Pre-op can take up to 30-45 min. Some of our attendings keep you on the phone for up to 30-45 minutes (they have no life...). These attendings just like to annoy us, because they know our families are sitting there tapping their feet, waiting for "work" to finally be over, while they "wax poetic" about some crap that can be elaborated upon the next day. But that would mean that they'd have to actually stay in the room and "talk" to us the next day. Not hang out in the hall/lounge/computer rooms with fellow "teaching" attendings.
The ACGME should take into account all of these "extra" post-work hours that are apart of our training in anesthesiology.
This afterhours crap doesn't happen in any other field. Surgery residents don't call attendings to discuss the next day's patients. They show up, and do the case. I think we should be able to do that too.
 
Thanks Calilove & Copro, I appreciate the grim truth. Would you mind telling me where you both are? Have you heard any of your buddies/former classmates being involved in a program that has a lighter hour requirement?
 
Every specialty has its worst day. Go to do Trauma or Vascular surgery for 3 months and you will thank your lucky stars that you're an anesthesia resident.
 
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Every specialty has its worst day. Go to do Trauma or Vascular surgery for 3 months and you will thank your lucky stars that you're an anesthesia resident.

Totally agree!!! When I did my trauma month during my prelim surg year, I worked a full 24 hour shift that included having to help assess all trauma codes that came through the doorway (car accidents, gunshot wounds, stab wounds, etc.) as well as having to work up all lower acuity surgical complaints (abdominal pain, minor cuts...our program did not have ER residents). After my 24 hour shift (6am - 6am), I would then have to go up to the floor and help with surgical scut until noon!!!!:barf: I usually fell asleep while trying to dictate discharges.:laugh:

Let's not even talk about my vascular month which was Q-TWO "HOME CALL".:eek: That meant going home on my non-call days at 7:00 pm and by ~11:00pm on my call days only to be called back in by 2:00am....LIFE SUCKED:thumbdown:

I'm looking forward to anesthesiology :clap:
 
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I think that hours worked may not be the most accurate way to determine if a program is cush or non-malignant. I think rather than looking for a 'low-hours' program, I would ask the residents in privacy if the majority of attendings treated you like future colleagues vs 9 year olds. I can handle long hours (call factored in), but I would try to avoid programs where you get treated like dog feces.

I am finishing my training at OU, and I will agree that the intern year is cush, but as for the rest, it is a workhorse program, and lets just say the seniors are ready to get the heck out of dodge. One graduating senior last year had his car/uhaul packed, and it was parked outside while he got his diploma!
 
agree with copro

ive averaged it out here, and my hours are rght at 58 a week. im pretty diligent about record keeping, and that includes my three weeks of vacation, two weeks of "3-11" which end up being a 40 hour week, three months in the unit (close to 80 a week) and so it really isnt that bad. When Im in the main OR its pretty much 55 hours +/- call hours too, so some weeks are obviously worse than others, but as was references above. Id take my training here even if I were averaging 65 hours a week, just because of the relative freedom I feel we have and because of the facilities, opportunities, faculty, etc. Im sure there are lots of places just as good/better, but the point is to make the best experience for yourself, regardless of hours.
 
do a search with cushy...i think it was discussed before. of the places i interviewed i have to recommend VCU. they get paid $70/h past 3pm, the call was super reasonable, etc. (after the intern year which seemed typical of a medicine heavy intern year), nice COL, attendings seemed cool...
Oklahoma also seemed cushy...intern year was SUPER cush while still offering a good experience. they had a similar deal with moonlighting past 3pm. these were the only cushy places i think i interviewed...neither offered a lesser quality experience, imho.

Okla's not as cushy as it seems. Yes, the intern year is supposed to be awesome, but the guys I know there work a pretty decent amount and they're there after 5p a fair bit of the time (they do get xtra for it though). I'd say it's probably in the middle to upper as far as work hrs go. (Still cushy as compared to all residencies as a whole though)
 
I'd say it's pretty cush to be making >$70,000 as a resident. Come join the Air Force:rolleyes:
 
:scared:
Just think about my life currently as an OB intern. I have seen the light. I often drift off even during deliveries thinking about anesthesia. Can't wait!
 
I think that hours worked may not be the most accurate way to determine if a program is cush or non-malignant. I think rather than looking for a 'low-hours' program, I would ask the residents in privacy if the majority of attendings treated you like future colleagues vs 9 year olds. I

Could not be said better. The liklihood of me having a good or bad day has little to do with the type of surgery, who the surgeon is, or how sick the patient is, but has much more to do with whos staffing my room. I learn more in one day with an attending with the attitude of developing a future colleague than a month with the type that is there only to evaluate, criticize and does little to explain why the only way anesthesia should be done is his/her way and any deviation is reckless.
 
just curious, asides from OB, do anesthesia residents work weekends? If you're pulling 6am-6pm x 5 days a week that's 60 hrs, so i'm gonna guess that at least you get weekends off, esp since ORs are usually closed except to emergencies? i think the hardest part of my rough rotations so far in med school have been that 1 day a week is not enough to recover. i feel like i'm willing to work the weekdays hard as long as you get a good 2 mornings a week to sleep in
 
just curious, asides from OB, do anesthesia residents work weekends? If you're pulling 6am-6pm x 5 days a week that's 60 hrs, so i'm gonna guess that at least you get weekends off, esp since ORs are usually closed except to emergencies? i think the hardest part of my rough rotations so far in med school have been that 1 day a week is not enough to recover. i feel like i'm willing to work the weekdays hard as long as you get a good 2 mornings a week to sleep in

weekends are filled with semi urgent (often surgeon convenience in reality) cases and plenty of trauma, appys, bowel perfs, etc. That keeps 2-3 residents (home call resident often gets called in for a while + 2 in house all day) every weekend day at my place, and that is not uncommon among residency programs. There is also CT call on weekends and many places have transplant and other specialty call on weekends. Counting all that we spend less time in hospital than the medicine and surgery people on average. What your describing above is called a regular job, you're not gunna find that in any residency (ok maybe path or derm)...and not necessarily after residency either.
 
just curious, asides from OB, do anesthesia residents work weekends? If you're pulling 6am-6pm x 5 days a week that's 60 hrs, so i'm gonna guess that at least you get weekends off, esp since ORs are usually closed except to emergencies? i think the hardest part of my rough rotations so far in med school have been that 1 day a week is not enough to recover. i feel like i'm willing to work the weekdays hard as long as you get a good 2 mornings a week to sleep in

this is how i feel too. i hate working six days a week. i like to take off for the weekend often. some residency programs seem week heavy/weekend light but you do still work weekends just less - i think the program i am going to is somewhat like that (CCF)... from the interview trail VCU seemed weekend light and UF too.

beware the programs that are q4. this ruins three of the four weekends, the free weekend is a three day weekend but still you are working three of the four weekends. my mental health is better if i can get away for two days.
 
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I really think the whole "cushy" or "easy" program idea is overrated. You can work 40 hour/wk and be miserable. On the other hand, it is definitely possible to HAPPILY work 60+ hour/week.

There are two things that can defintely make your life way worse as a resident, 1) maligant attendings 2) lazy/slacking co-residents. Unfortuantely, it is impossible to predict any of these, especially #2.

Moreoever, if you think/expect your rotation/year/program is easy/cushy, it is more upsetting when you find out it is not the case. I was full of joy after three-month-trauma because I got to do a plastics month next. Cushy, right? Well, my PLS attending only does free flaps and craniofacial recons. My working hours were shooting up through the roof due to all these 10+ hour cases. The first week was like hell. However, the PLS surgeon and PLS fellow are super nice and great and I enjoyed the rest of the rotation despite the looooong hours.
 
anesthesia residents most definitely work weekends.

at my program we work at least 2 weekend days/month (saturday 8am-sunday8am, or sunday 8am-monday 7am) - each shift 24 hours in house. some rotations more - liver transplant, sicu...


usually in by 6:45 and out by 5, but may have to see preops. some nights stay later till 8:30 (but, get $300 for that). starting second year call is 4pm-7am. we can work pre-call 7-4pm and make 800. can do a saturday at our city hospital and make 1400. lots of other opportunities that can push up the hours (always within regulation, strictly monitored by program director and clinical coordinators), but can make lots of extra cash. hard workers make 6 figures. this is not extravagant, however, as cost of living in NYC is very high. this is one of the reasons, among many, why my program is the most competitive program in nyc, and likely top 10 in the country.


i agree, that it's not all about the hours worked. if you have attendings and surgeons, as well as OR staff that are pleasent to work with - you can bang out 60 hours and go home smiling.

overall, i don't feel overworked most of the time and have plenty of free time and money to enjoy life.
 
I'm finishing up my CA-1 year, and it seems like I've averaged between 60-65 hours a week. In my mind, pretty doable. For most of the year, unless I was on call Friday, and got off Saturday at 0700, we had weekends off. This was huge, as it allowed 2 full days to recover. I felt the pain of the straight q4 schedule as an intern, and believe me, having some semblence of a week makes all the difference in the world. We still have to take 1 to 2 24 hour calls during the week, but postcall starts at 0700, so you can still go home and sleep, but have most of the afternoon to do whatever. I actually preferred this compared to our intro month when we weren't taking call at all. Working 10-12 hours in the OR for five days straight breathing in sevo that the scavenger wasn't picking up can be really tiring.

Its important to ask residency programs is how weekends are handled. It's good to have some sort of protection. Now, we work Saturdays about once a week, but then we have Monday off, and get paid moonlighting money as well. We never work sundays. I've heard of some programs where residents really the get the shaft, and have to take Friday AND Sunday call OR Saturday call each week. I would much rather be at my 65 hour/week residency program where we work hard during the week, but get weekends off, compared to a less call heavy 65 hour/week program where most of your calls are on the weekends. Just my 2 cents.
 
What anesthesia residencies offer the best quality of life? Who is happy? Thanks


Vanderbilt and Virginia

250px-Lovers.jpg
 
I would ask the residents in privacy if the majority of attendings treated you like future colleagues vs 9 year olds.

Huge, dude, huge! Sorry I missed that in my initial rant. That's truly another part of the problem: lack of trust. Ask the old timers about when they were in residency. They did everything on their own, often with minimal supervision. And, anesthesia residency was only two years. The attending was mainly there to get their back and help them out if they got stuck in a situation that they couldn't get out of.

I'm nearing the end of my CA-2, and I still get babied by some attendings on simple ****. Why? Because they fear their *ss is on the line if I do something wrong. Why? Because people get routinely sued these days. I think that's what's changed the most since people who've been doing this for 20+ years have experienced since they were in residency.

But, trust. Trust is key. When I see that I'm working with certain attendings the next day, I now just groan. I do this because I know they are going to stand behind my shoulder and give me a 20 minute play-by-play about what I should be doing during a case set-up. After that, they sign the chart and then leave the room. And, I know I won't see them again until we're ready to extubate (even if it's a six-hour case). You work with a different attending the next day, and they'll tell you everything the attending yesterday told you to do was wrong. Someone said on here recently, and I thought it was great, that there is only fact, fiction, and fetish in making medical decisions. Seems that a lot of attendings confuse their fetishes with facts.

-copro
 
weekends are filled with semi urgent (often surgeon convenience in reality) cases and plenty of trauma, appys, bowel perfs, etc. That keeps 2-3 residents (home call resident often gets called in for a while + 2 in house all day) every weekend day at my place, and that is not uncommon among residency programs. There is also CT call on weekends and many places have transplant and other specialty call on weekends. Counting all that we spend less time in hospital than the medicine and surgery people on average. What your describing above is called a regular job, you're not gunna find that in any residency (ok maybe path or derm)...and not necessarily after residency either.

Do your residency at a large program that doesn't have a trauma center and your weekends will be on the lighter side. I CAN'T REMEMBER the last time I worked a weekend call. I know I have a saturday coming up soon though.
 
I'd like to add my 2 cents to this thread.

For our colleagues out there that havent reached anesthesia residency yet, Copro's thoughts, feelings, descriptions, and emotions about what its like to be an anesthesia resident are SPOT ON.

Dudes got cred' in my book.

If you're looking for an anesthesia resident reality blog, read his posts.

His eloquent metaphor of being a slave to his assigned OR.....totally concur. Minimal downtime except for the cuppla breaks.

Reminds me of a night on call with an attending....who eventually made Chair of the department :)eek:)....who now I believe took a job at my alma mater, Da U...

Anyway, attending dude comes in after several hours...its around 9 pm...tells me theres dinner for me in the residents lounge....be back in 20 minutes or so...

WOW! I thank him and leave, ravenous...looking forward to whatever he's got waiting for me....

Pizza Hut?

Some chinese takeout?

I'm salivating on the way to the lounge.

I arrive to find..

ONE UNPREPARED PACKET OF LIPTON CUPPA SOUP. :bullcrap:

Thanks, Doctor Melvin Gitlin.

Your generosity is remembered to this day. :barf:

I would add though, that the autonomy I received as a CA-3 made me a better anesthesiologist.

(But I REALLY learned my trade during the first five years of my private practice life.....fortunately selected a busy group....and was paid a premium at the same time)

ANYWAY,

just agreeing that you live and die by your breaks, albeit sometimes disappointedly so.

Timtye's post about seniors salivating to finish echoed in my head as well.

My last case as a resident at Tulane was an abdominal hysterectomy....typical 4 hour ordeal of academics....

Did the case by myself (except for attending signing papers during induction), extubated at the end, rolled to PACU gave report,

and that was it.

Residency done.

No goodbyes. No thank-yous.

Cleaned out my locker and drove into the setting sun.
 
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Jet,

How soon after you finished did you start your new job?

What did you do in between finishing res and starting said job?

This may be the wrong thread for that question...

I'd like to add my 2 cents to this thread.

For our colleagues out there that havent reached anesthesia residency yet, Copro's thoughts, feelings, descriptions, and emotions about what its like to be an anesthesia resident are SPOT ON.

Dudes got cred' in my book.

If you're looking for an anesthesia resident reality blog, read his posts.

His eloquent metaphor of being a slave to his assigned OR.....totally concur. Minimal downtime except for the cuppla breaks.

Reminds me of a night on call with an attending....who eventually made Chair of the department :)eek:)....who now I believe took a job at my alma mater, Da U...

Anyway, attending dude comes in after several hours...its around 9 pm...tells me theres dinner for me in the residents lounge....be back in 20 minutes or so...

WOW! I thank him and leave, ravenous...looking forward to whatever he's got waiting for me....

Pizza Hut?

Some chinese takeout?

I'm salivating on the way to the lounge.

I arrive to find..

ONE UNPREPARED PACKET OF LIPTON CUPPA SOUP. :bullcrap:

Thanks, Doctor Melvin Gitlin.

Your generosity is remembered to this day. :barf:

I would add though, that the autonomy I received as a CA-3 made me a better anesthesiologist.

(But I REALLY learned my trade during the first five years of my private practice life.....fortunately selected a busy group....and was paid a premium at the same time)

ANYWAY,

just agreeing that you live and die by your breaks, albeit sometimes disappointedly so.

Timtye's post about seniors salivating to finish echoed in my head as well.

My last case as a resident at Tulane was an abdominal hysterectomy....typical 4 hour ordeal of academics....

Did the case by myself (except for attending signing papers during induction), extubated at the end, rolled to PACU gave report,

and that was it.

Residency done.

No goodbyes. No thank-yous.

Cleaned out my locker and drove into the setting sun.
 
Jet,

How soon after you finished did you start your new job?

What did you do in between finishing res and starting said job?

This may be the wrong thread for that question...

I finished that last day of June, 1996.

I cant remember exactly when the written exam was, but I took the cuppla weeks before it to prepare for it....studied every day, all day...

....took the exam....

started my job within a few weeks of finishing residency.
 
Totally agree that wherever you go for residency, even if it's a "good quality of life" program. you will still think your quality of life is crappy. There's no such thing as a residency with a "nice" lifestyle. You're going from fourth year medical student who has most weekends and works 3-8 hours a day (typically, by the end of the year) to a job which requires nights and weekends and 12-30 hour days. No residency, no matter how cush, will seem cush to you. It'll be harder than you think no matter how cush the residency is.

I'm still very happy working 60-65 hours a week at a very well known, quaternary referral center hospital with nice faculty and solid cases. And would rather do that than work 40 a week with snooty faculty anywhere else.
 
Seems to me that any anesthesiology residency is better than intern year :) July can't come quick enough, some days..

Totally agree that wherever you go for residency, even if it's a "good quality of life" program. you will still think your quality of life is crappy. There's no such thing as a residency with a "nice" lifestyle. You're going from fourth year medical student who has most weekends and works 3-8 hours a day (typically, by the end of the year) to a job which requires nights and weekends and 12-30 hour days. No residency, no matter how cush, will seem cush to you. It'll be harder than you think no matter how cush the residency is.

I'm still very happy working 60-65 hours a week at a very well known, quaternary referral center hospital with nice faculty and solid cases. And would rather do that than work 40 a week with snooty faculty anywhere else.
 
and that was it.

Residency done.

No goodbyes. No thank-yous.

Cleaned out my locker and drove into the setting sun.

This is how I wanna leave my residency as well, it almost sounds like an ending to a movie.
 
Seems to me that any anesthesiology residency is better than intern year :) July can't come quick enough, some days..

I'm already itching to pack my car in mid April just so it's ready for late June. There will be no goodbyes or thank yous... just the strong smell of burning rubber in the parking lot. OR slave >>>>>>>> wards slave.
 
...all I know is, is that as an intern who will be starting CA-1 in July :

1. Any call that doesn't involve admitting five patients, guaranteed, with rounding minutes after finishing the final admit note, is a good one.

2.Any day that doesn't involve having to talk to social work about said five patients' ( not so ) imminent discharge in addition to the other 5-7 patients hanging out on my board, is a good one.


3. Any day that doesn't involve fielding pages from twelve different nurses on six different floors about such and such 's blood pressure/family member is here to speak to you/just fell out of bed and needs the incident report filled out ASAP , is a good one.


Every day in medicine reinforces the fact, and makes me relieved that I chose gas. There is nothing worse than dreading waking up in the morning because you positively loathe your job. I'll take the ORs/ codes ANY day over what I deal with now. The pain management side...well..I'll just have to deal with those months....
 
...all I know is, is that as an intern who will be starting CA-1 in July :

1. Any call that doesn't involve admitting five patients, guaranteed, with rounding minutes after finishing the final admit note, is a good one.

2.Any day that doesn't involve having to talk to social work about said five patients' ( not so ) imminent discharge in addition to the other 5-7 patients hanging out on my board, is a good one.


3. Any day that doesn't involve fielding pages from twelve different nurses on six different floors about such and such 's blood pressure/family member is here to speak to you/just fell out of bed and needs the incident report filled out ASAP , is a good one.


Every day in medicine reinforces the fact, and makes me relieved that I chose gas. There is nothing worse than dreading waking up in the morning because you positively loathe your job. I'll take the ORs/ codes ANY day over what I deal with now. The pain management side...well..I'll just have to deal with those months....

YES!!!
 
3. Any day that doesn't involve fielding pages from twelve different nurses on six different floors about such and such 's blood pressure/family member is here to speak to you/just fell out of bed and needs the incident report filled out ASAP , is a good one.

No, but if you have an active pain service, you can expect these calls all night long to manage blocks. Calls from nurses from any of six floors on patient's you've had no real contact with before fielding a host of complaints from sleeping patients complaining of "10/10 pain" to "I can't move my leg" to "my patient is hypotensive, can you turn the epidural down?" will fill your nights instead. Now, factor in traumas and airways and codes, and you'll be lucky to get an hour or two of sleep.

We have our own set of woes. Trust me. It's not all champagne and roses being a gas resident.

-copro
 
Has anyone heard anything about the quality of life at UAB or Scott&White ?
 
I think residents at both uab and scott and white are very happy. i can't speak specifically about uab but I have heard good things.
i interviewed at scott and white and was really impressed by how happy the residents were. they were on a first name basis with the attendings, col is very nice, very family friendly program...attendings and residents kids play soccer, etc. together...I definately got the feeling residents there were treated like junior colleagues not slaves.
 
Getting out at 7am post-call has got to be huge.

After clearing my pager three times because of floor calls, capping out with admissions, and getting maybe 20 minutes of sleep at a time, the thought of starting a new day at 7am and writing notes on 12 patients is a killer. Then its rounds at 10am-noon, discharges like a mad-man and out the door after 33hours.

I don't know how those Medicine people do it for three years.
 
No, but if you have an active pain service, you can expect these calls all night long to manage blocks. Calls from nurses from any of six floors on patient's you've had no real contact with before fielding a host of complaints from sleeping patients complaining of "10/10 pain" to "I can't move my leg" to "my patient is hypotensive, can you turn the epidural down?" will fill your nights instead. Now, factor in traumas and airways and codes, and you'll be lucky to get an hour or two of sleep.

We have our own set of woes. Trust me. It's not all champagne and roses being a gas resident.

-copro

...man, I hear you...some of the myriad reasons I could nevah, evah do pain...I am much too fundamentally misanthropic and un- sympathetic..especially to the 10 out of 10 pain patient who is watching TV and laughing it up with friends when you arrive...
 
Let's have a GIANT pity party for all you residents whose lives all suck sooooooo bad that you only have time to come here to complain....and don't have time to eat, bath, and sleep.

Like all us attendings NEVER had to do a residency.....oh wait....

we DID....AND BEFORE these ridiculous ACGME hour limitation rules!!!!
 
Let's have a GIANT pity party for all you residents whose lives all suck sooooooo bad that you only have time to come here to complain....and don't have time to eat, bath, and sleep.

Like all us attendings NEVER had to do a residency.....oh wait....

we DID....AND BEFORE these ridiculous ACGME hour limitation rules!!!!



Damn Lifestylers! :laugh:
 
I know that the previous gen worked longer hours, but straight from an attendings mouth, they didn't have to deal with all the crap that we have to these days meaning non-work hour issues. Scrutiny is much higher these days. Plus, patients are bigger A-holes nowadays. At least the previous gens got the respect they deserve. I find many academic attendings who liked medicine 10-20 years ago versus now.

Also, the previous gen have a highlight we won't. Protected jobs and lucrative practices which make hours as a resident more bearable. I don't think anybody these days would complain if politicians and CMS weren't out to cut us down. Also, how were trial lawyers back in the day meaning even 15 years ago? Things are out of hand these days, and medicine is not as golden as before. I assume such things make people complain.

Finally, our gen has other cultural issues including work balance and family life. Why would derm be so competitive? I don't know too many people who think acne is their passion, but the good hours are. The idea of previous gen criticizing us is similar to my parents talking about when they went to school, they had to walk 2 miles back and forth.

Life is different now. Issues then are not issues now while there are issues now that weren't around then. However, I do respect your perspective militarymd and you deserve everything for what you had to go through.
 
relax....I'm just having some fun needling you guys.

I know that the previous gen worked longer hours, but straight from an attendings mouth, they didn't have to deal with all the crap that we have to these days meaning non-work hour issues. Scrutiny is much higher these days. Plus, patients are bigger A-holes nowadays. At least the previous gens got the respect they deserve. I find many academic attendings who liked medicine 10-20 years ago versus now.

Also, the previous gen have a highlight we won't. Protected jobs and lucrative practices which make hours as a resident more bearable. I don't think anybody these days would complain if politicians and CMS weren't out to cut us down. Also, how were trial lawyers back in the day meaning even 15 years ago? Things are out of hand these days, and medicine is not as golden as before. I assume such things make people complain.

Finally, our gen has other cultural issues including work balance and family life. Why would derm be so competitive? I don't know too many people who think acne is their passion, but the good hours are. The idea of previous gen criticizing us is similar to my parents talking about when they went to school, they had to walk 2 miles back and forth.

Life is different now. Issues then are not issues now while there are issues now that weren't around then. However, I do respect your perspective militarymd and you deserve everything for what you had to go through.
 
Last day of residency was ,without a doubt, one of the best days of my life... I was on call, 3AM get a call from burn unit to emergently intubate a big guy that had been 50% burned upper torso with smoke inhalation. Half a stick of STP and 100 o' sux-- all edema. I told myself I wasn't goin' out like this. Just rammed a 7.5 where I thought it should be and it slid in. BS bilateral and PCXR was solid. O2 sats golden and RT lady all happy. No procedure note, no charge sheet. Beeper left at OR board when no one was lookin'. Slid out hospital at 0645 with no goodby's, thank you's or gonna miss you's. Got to the apt. and loaded up U-Haul with 100% VA disability, 100% SS disability uncle( Vietnam, agent orange, PTSD--you know the bogus gig). Letter and keys in an envelope dropped in the apt. night box. No change or forwarding of address with post office, no cares about apt. or electric deposits. ZIPPY DONE EVAPORATED! Roll on out at 1700 with floorboard boom box playin' "Comfortably Numb", and a bottle of chilled Wild Turkey in the ice chest. Uncle drivin' and on outskirts of town we light up a big fat doober. I told him not to shut off the old biitch until we were home. Ole Hunter Thompson didn't have a thing on us that night... Regards, ---Zip
 
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Last day of residency was ,without a doubt, one of the best days of my life... I was on call, 3AM get a call from burn unit to emergently intubate a big guy that had been 50% burned upper torso with smoke inhalation. Half a stick of STP and 100 o' sux-- all edema. I told myself I wasn't goin' out like this. Just rammed a 7.5 where I thought it should be and it slid in. BS bilateral and PCXR was solid. O2 sats golden and RT lady all happy. No procedure note, no charge sheet. Beeper left at OR board when no one was lookin'. Slid out hospital at 0645 with no goodby's, thank you's or gonna miss you's. Got to the apt. and loaded up U-Haul with 100% VA disability, 100% SS disability uncle( Vietnam, agent orange, PTSD--you know the bogus gig). Letter and keys in an envelope dropped in the apt. night box. No change or forwarding of address with post office, no cares about apt. or electric deposits. ZIPPY DONE EVAPORATED! Roll on out at 1700 with floorboard boom box playin' "Comfortably Numb", and a bottle of chilled Wild Turkey in the ice chest. Uncle drivin' and on outskirts of town we light up a big fat doober. I told him not to shut off the old biitch until we were home. Ole Hunter Thompson didn't have a thing on us that night... Regards, ---Zip

Nice.

You definitely needed a convertible white caddy circa 1965 and, of course, your attorney.

edit: and some adrenochrome!
 
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