Average day of a radiologist?

[geneticclone]

Can someone tell me the average day of a radiologist?

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[Packamylase]

Can someone tell me the average day of a radiologist?

Radiologists average ~24 hours a day. (give or take...)

 

[f_w]

As with any question regarding the workload of a physician, the 'average' is pretty meaningless in this setting. How much you work depends heavily on the practice setting including:
- the size of your group
- whether you cover a hospital and what services you offer there
- whether you have a nighthawk company cover overnight hours
- interventional vs diagnostic

If it helps you, on average private practice radiologists work 58hrs/week. Most radiologists I know work pretty much a 8-5 type schedule with at least 1 weekend/month on-call.
Typically you will come in in the morning, sit down at your workstation and keep dictating studies that are being done by the RTs while you work of the queue. If you work in a hospital, you will be interrupted at times to do various small procedures (US guided biopsies, fluoroscopy studies, fluoro guided injections). Every once in a while you go through the transcribed reports and sign-off electronically either sending them to the autofax or into the hospitals electronic medical record. Depending on your practice, you will also get interrupted to consult on imaging studies done elsewhere or you go to conferences such as tumor-board or transplant conference. But again, this is highly variable.

 

[geneticclone]

Thanks guys. it sounds ok

 

[finallyMS3]

is it possible to work 40-50hrs/week in rads? is it not that common??

 

[healthcare]

Does anyone know the salary of radiologists? Is the salary based on 40 hours per week? Thanks for the info.

 

[f_w]

Does anyone know the salary of radiologists? Is the salary based on 40 hours per week? Thanks for the info.

It is very good. Do a google search for the relevant physician salary surveys (e.g. on the NAPR website).

 

[umsami]

My Dad is a radiologist with a large group that covers many hospitals. He's 75, and still works insane hours. The 40-50 hour thing is a MYTH. At the hospital at 7 am.... home by 7 or 8 p.m. Still pulls call. Only difference is that now call can be done from home thanks to teleradiography... but not a cushy life at all. The way things work, these days people are afraid to move until the radiologist reads the films....

 

[ScooterBanks]

You are very naive based upon your father's job as to what is out there.

The MAJORITY of private practice radiology jobs average around a 45-50 hour work week with a call every 7 to 14 days. There is also the 8-12+ weeks of vacation a year.

There are PLENTY of situations out there where you don't have to work the crazy hours that umsami's dad does. He likely either does it because 1) he absolutely loves his job so much that he doesn't mind those kind of hours, or 2) he/his group want to maximize their earnings and are willing to sacrifice lifestyle to do so.

As for me (and the majority of other radiologists out there), I really like what I do, but I also enjoy too many other things in life to be at work more than 50 hours a week. I also think getting paid 500 year is plenty, and don't see a point in committing myself to work to make 800 a year.

 

[f_w]

My Dad is a radiologist with a large group that covers many hospitals. He's 75, and still works insane hours. The 40-50 hour thing is a MYTH. At the hospital at 7 am.... home by 7 or 8 p.m. Still pulls call.

Your dad either:
- works for the wrong group
- likes to work 'insane hours' for some reason or another.

This schedule is certainly not typical of what you can expect from a regular private practie radiology job these days.

 

[MossPoh]

Your dad either:
- works for the wrong group
- likes to work 'insane hours' for some reason or another.

This schedule is certainly not typical of what you can expect from a regular private practie radiology job these days.

Agreed, even though my father is the same way as his. (More to do with a small practice in a midwestern town nobody wants to live in) But 40 hours is still a bit low regardless don't you think? Even 50 isn't that much....at least to me. It doesn't surprise me or anything if it is. I suspect my viewpoint is skewed with workhours.

I was surprised this thread randomly started back up. (I'm such a damn lurker)

 

[Docxter]

Actually, the hours he mentioned is not atypical where I am. I am about 58-60 hours at work per week, and that's excluding call, and I'm in a major city. It just shows that there is wide variation in the working hours and the typical day in a radiologists workday.

 

[f_w]

Agreed, even though my father is the same way as his. (More to do with a small practice in a midwestern town nobody wants to live in)

Again, there is lots of choice involved here.

I too could work a lot longer hours. I am in a single practice, but to keep my workload manageable I have agreements with other providers to take some of my work. In todays world of daytime teleradiology you can find other practices to pick up certain types of studies or just plain overflow.

 

[hopefulmed]

I also think getting paid 500 year is plenty, and don't see a point in committing myself to work to make 800 a year.

Somehow, I don't think this is the norm

 

[digitlnoize]

I highly recommend that the OP go shadow someone. I too am interested in rads and I have read tons of these threads, but I still didn't have a good idea until I had shadowed a few people at a few different institutions. The average day can vary quite a bit, it seems.

The salary discussions can be quickly solved by a quick search of current job listings on places like locumtenens.com. If you're curious, it seems that avg starting salaries are 300k and 500k+ for partners after a few years. I'd be more worried about shadowing someone and seeing if you enjoy the field. All the money in the world won't help if you hate your job.