Call as an Attending

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Regrettable

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What is it like? I realize it'll probably depend on your practice type and how many docs are in your group, but what is typical?

I'm considering anesthesia - 3rd year student here, and due to the ridiculous scheduling policies at my school, I haven't and won't get any direct anesthesia exposure this year (yea yea observe while on other rotos...) - but I'm worried about the call schedule. From what I can gather most attendings have in-house call. Is that right? Depending on how often you're on call couldn't that almost be like an eternal residency? I realize that's the worst case, but what are most of you doing? A few days a month? And what is a few? 2-3? Or 7-10?

Thanks a lot.
 
What is it like? I realize it'll probably depend on your practice type and how many docs are in your group, but what is typical?

I'm considering anesthesia - 3rd year student here, and due to the ridiculous scheduling policies at my school, I haven't and won't get any direct anesthesia exposure this year (yea yea observe while on other rotos...) - but I'm worried about the call schedule. From what I can gather most attendings have in-house call. Is that right? Depending on how often you're on call couldn't that almost be like an eternal residency? I realize that's the worst case, but what are most of you doing? A few days a month? And what is a few? 2-3? Or 7-10?

Thanks a lot.
Ivory tower. One 1st call/month from home (if all the cases are done), sometimes 1 2nd (home), usually 3 or 4 late shifts, one weekend every 2 months. 2 (ultra low volume) home OB calls/month, sometimes no 1st call and an extra OB call or 2. Very nice.
 
Personally, I'm on call 1 out of 6 nights. My group covers a community hospital. It's home call. I've been on call all this weekend, and have not been paged to do anything since leaving the hospital at 7 pm Friday night. (It's now Sunday @ 1145 PM). It's not usually quite this slow on call; it varies.

It does depend a lot on what type of practice one gets into. In-house call is typical at university settings, but it's generally a large department with maybe 2 calls/month. Some jobs at ambulatory centers have no call, and for a few jobs out there, one anesthesiologist takes all the call.
 
One out of three weekdays and one out of three weekends. Cover both OR and OB. Yes I take more call than as a resident although it is rare to work late at night.
 
Level I hospital, Academic Institution. Call 2 weekdays/mo, 1 weekend/mo. More if desired. In house. +OB. Second Attending comes in if cardio or liver transplant.

Supervise residents. Can be busy on call. Post-call day off.
 
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