hello everyone,
I am a fourth year and deciding between anesthesia and IM. I'm a mom and don't know a single real world attending to ask my questions and I'm not sure the info from my mentors in academics is entirely correct.
Like >99% of moms in medicine, I am concerned about possibly going into a specialty with little flexibility in terms of hours. From what I understand, finding jobs with little call/weekends is harder to come by these days--and if you do find these jobs you may be losing your skills. So I'm gearing up for the possibility of working ~55-60 hrs/week as an attending. Correct me if I'm wrong but it is my understanding that it would be somewhat more difficult to join a group and earn decent money (>$200k) without taking a moderate amount of call.
What worries me about the lifestyle of anesthesia is having little option to not take call in the case that it is unsustainable for my family and I. (I'm the type of person who regularly needs >6 hrs sleep). To me, if call was a light duty job then I feel like I could handle it. If call is typically more the pace of working a shift in the ED then I think anesthesia is not the specialty for me.
I know jobs vary in the non-academic world, but I'm trying to get a glimpse of the typical call in anesthesia. So tell me how it is! Are you exhausted after a night of call?
Also, any comments on the typical amount calls per month would be helpful.
I am a fourth year and deciding between anesthesia and IM. I'm a mom and don't know a single real world attending to ask my questions and I'm not sure the info from my mentors in academics is entirely correct.
Like >99% of moms in medicine, I am concerned about possibly going into a specialty with little flexibility in terms of hours. From what I understand, finding jobs with little call/weekends is harder to come by these days--and if you do find these jobs you may be losing your skills. So I'm gearing up for the possibility of working ~55-60 hrs/week as an attending. Correct me if I'm wrong but it is my understanding that it would be somewhat more difficult to join a group and earn decent money (>$200k) without taking a moderate amount of call.
What worries me about the lifestyle of anesthesia is having little option to not take call in the case that it is unsustainable for my family and I. (I'm the type of person who regularly needs >6 hrs sleep). To me, if call was a light duty job then I feel like I could handle it. If call is typically more the pace of working a shift in the ED then I think anesthesia is not the specialty for me.
I know jobs vary in the non-academic world, but I'm trying to get a glimpse of the typical call in anesthesia. So tell me how it is! Are you exhausted after a night of call?
Also, any comments on the typical amount calls per month would be helpful.