Attendings Weigh In -- What's Call Like in Practice?

[Robert Loblaw]

Hi,

A fourth year applying in anesthesia. Just curious--what is call like as an attending? I understand this is variable based on the size of your hospital, etc, so I was hoping that some of the attendings could just share their call schedule, how often they are typically called in, what is an average call night like, and so forth. Thanks in advance to all responders...

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[fastosprintini]

ok, i'll give it a try.
call is being taken only if i want, more call means more money, more time off is less money...
we work in a 170 bed regional medical center, five docs and thirteen crna's. night call and weekend call is maximal 14 hours and is being done by us taking first call, with a crna as a back up (however, they have to show up for work the next day..)
we are heavy on trauma, plenty of drink and drive , meth and fight etc.., so there is frequently a crani at night going on or something similar, ob is present as well , slowly people seem to find labor epidurals more and more appealing
on average every other night is messed up, otherwise sleep after midnight.
anyhow, it is way better than anything in my residency, so i'm not complaining
good luck, fasto

 

[Robert Loblaw]

it sounds like you are saying it is basically hit or miss with the good nights and bad nights averaging out over the long haul...i guess that is what i expected--you don't really hear about anesthesiologist burn out, so far as i know. my take on things are colored by my father's job as an ED doc...I feel like taking semi-intense call every fifth to ninth night is better than working 4-5 twelve hour shifts a week, typically all days or all nights.

 

[Laryngospasm]

it sounds like you are saying it is basically hit or miss with the good nights and bad nights averaging out over the long haul...i guess that is what i expected--you don't really hear about anesthesiologist burn out, so far as i know. my take on things are colored by my father's job as an ED doc...I feel like taking semi-intense call every fifth to ninth night is better than working 4-5 twelve hour shifts a week, typically all days or all nights.

Call is extremely variable from job to job, thats why you interview, you can find jobs where you rarely get called in, and take call from home, have no call, or where you work all night every night. Random sampling is useless.