controllable lifestyle

[Dr34566]

I've heard of some doctors, usually anywhere from mid-career to semi-retired, that seem to have managed their work-life balance well. I've seen or heard of:
1-2 OR days, 1-2 clinic (many times half) days a week
3 half day clinics a week
2 attending weeks / year, 1 clinic / week, the rest admin/teaching/research
I think Sanjay Gupta does something like 1 OR and 1 clinic day every other week, with his journalism job scheduled around it.

What specialty do you think has the most controllable lifestyle?
Which will continue to have the most controllable lifestyle?

Are there any where you could earn a 6 figure income working <10 hrs a week?

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[yaah]

Ah, the american dream, the shortcut to fame and fortune and minimal work for maximum pay. You're not going to get anything like this starting out, so drop the dream. People who get these situations earn it through paying their dues in other ways or they have a compelling outside means of income. Anybody can control their own hours (to some extent) if they get their own funding (through grants, other funding, whatever). You can't just do it because you want it.

Do you really think if you could earn a 6 figure income working less than 10 hours a week that there would be a specific residency path to this?

 

[Winged Scapula]

You won't find anything in medicine that gives you a 6 figure income for < 10 hrs per week. A Sanjay Gupta, Tim Johnson, etc. are exceptions - rare exceptions. As noted by yaah, you can control your career to some extent but in general, the fewer hours you work in medicine the less pay you receive.

I did just see a piece about a webmaster/developer who runs plentyoffish.com (a dating site) who works an hour per day and makes millions from ad revenue. Maybe that would work for the OP.

 

[deleted87716]

You won't find anything in medicine that gives you a 6 figure income for < 10 hrs per week. A Sanjay Gupta, Tim Johnson, etc. are exceptions - rare exceptions.

Sanjay Gupta is working in television journalism these days, not medicine. If he maintains any kind of practice, it's incidental. I imagine he's working considerably more than 10 hours per week.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Sanjay Gupta is working in television journalism these days, not medicine. If he maintains any kind of practice, it's incidental. I imagine he's working considerably more than 10 hours per week.

Sure. I suppose I should have clarified this...as the OP notes, Sanjay Gupta spends less than 1 day each week doing medicine, likely only incidental as you say simply to maintain his license.

My comment was directed to the OP who seemed to think that HE could be a Sanjay Gupta and only work a few hours per week and make a 6 figure income. As you note, Dr. Gupta likely works more than 10 hrs per week, and the vast majority of it isn't in medicine.

 

[sirus_virus]

Okay, enough of this nonsense already. <10 hours a week? You've got to be kidding me right? and a 6 figure income? SDN is a strange place.

*edit*
I am still trying to imagine what a <10 hr schedule will look like.

 

[plastikosmd]

I am still trying to imagine what a <10 hr schedule will look like.


thats easy...it is called monday (wasnt on call..

 

[Faebinder]

Dear OP,

Please, understand what you are doing. Consider the negative implications on your life as a doctor who aspires for a higher level of learning. It's not good for you and I have seen many suffer from it's addiction. Lay off the marijuana and crack mix and just go for regular cigarrettes. At least they wont make you hallucinate till you start your chemotherapy at 50 of course.

Sincerely Yours,

Faebinder.

 

[Trismegistus4]

My comment was directed to the OP who seemed to think that HE could be a Sanjay Gupta and only work a few hours per week and make a 6 figure income. As you note, Dr. Gupta likely works more than 10 hrs per week, and the vast majority of it isn't in medicine.

What, you mean there are no residency programs in television personalitology?

 

[badgas]

I've heard of some doctors, usually anywhere from mid-career to semi-retired, that seem to have managed their work-life balance well. I've seen or heard of:
1-2 OR days, 1-2 clinic (many times half) days a week
3 half day clinics a week
2 attending weeks / year, 1 clinic / week, the rest admin/teaching/research
I think Sanjay Gupta does something like 1 OR and 1 clinic day every other week, with his journalism job scheduled around it.

What specialty do you think has the most controllable lifestyle?
Which will continue to have the most controllable lifestyle?

Are there any where you could earn a 6 figure income working <10 hrs a week?

I'm pretty sure that this specialty goes by two names. Derm and rad onc.

 

[sirus_virus]

I'm pretty sure that this specialty goes by two names. Derm and rad onc.

Even derm and Radoncs will work way more than 10hrs a week. The only people in medicine that have this type of schedule are the HMO CEOs.

 

[Dr34566]

You guys focused way too much on Sanjay Gupta, I was merely using him as an example, and yes I know he works more than 10 hours a week. Although I bet if you exclude his journalism and look at only his medical practice (which I believe is 2-4 days a month including OR/clinic), he probably still makes close to 6 figures alone from that.

Let's look at the others though:
1) 1-2 OR days, 1-2 clinic (many times half) days a week
2) 3 half day clinics a week
3) 2 attending weeks / year, 1 clinic / week, the rest admin/teaching/research

None of these are <10 hrs a week. But some come close.

Doc #1 is probably the easiest for you to envision, and probably what most of you hope to aspire to. It's not 10 hours a week, but it's much closer to the 40 hour standard, possibly 30 some hours.

Doc #2 works probably 18 hrs a week, with home call once a month, and maybe has to go in for something once a year. She makes about $150k a year base, plus other various bonuses, book spending, conferences, etc. However she does not work in a metropolitan area and I suspect the relative 'underserved' area allows her to monopolize that stream, balanced with a steady but not overwhelming amount of patients.

Doc #3 really is only directly bringing in revenue to the hospital through his 2 attending weeks a year and 1 clinic week a year. All of the rest is somehow something he's managed to control. I'm sure he brings value to the hospital, but he could probably earn them more by working as a clinician full time. In what specialties could you do this?

yaah, there isn't a specific residency path for it but there are definitely some specialties that have a better chance of that schedule and income. Derm and rad onc you probably work more than 10 hours a week, but like they say cancer doesn't grow on weekends.

 

[radonc]

Are there any where you could earn a 6 figure income working <10 hrs a week?

its called day trading.

 

[mgdsh]

its called day trading.

Sorry but even day trading takes more than 10 hours a week. Most traders I know are very hard working and are often up well before the opening bell, and are working for another hour or 2 after the close (Almost 10 hrs a day).

Plus there are times the market just moves sideways and it's very hard to make money when the market isn't moving or your screens aren't hitting. Not to mention that trading is a zero sum game. Every time you're making money, someone else is losing money and vice versa.

As far as $100k and less than 20 hours a week (average), you could easily do that as a hospitalist. You could just work 1 out of every 4 weeks instead of 1 out of every 2.

 

[GuP]

I've heard of some doctors, usually anywhere from mid-career to semi-retired, that seem to have managed their work-life balance well. I've seen or heard of:
1-2 OR days, 1-2 clinic (many times half) days a week
3 half day clinics a week
2 attending weeks / year, 1 clinic / week, the rest admin/teaching/research
I think Sanjay Gupta does something like 1 OR and 1 clinic day every other week, with his journalism job scheduled around it.

What specialty do you think has the most controllable lifestyle?
Which will continue to have the most controllable lifestyle?

Are there any where you could earn a 6 figure income working <10 hrs a week?

Man you are asking for it.

 

[sirus_virus]

Man you are asking for it.

 

[Tigger14]

1) 1-2 OR days, 1-2 clinic (many times half) days a week
2) 3 half day clinics a week
3) 2 attending weeks / year, 1 clinic / week, the rest admin/teaching/research

Doc #1 is probably the easiest for you to envision, and probably what most of you hope to aspire to. It's not 10 hours a week, but it's much closer to the 40 hour standard, possibly 30 some hours.

Doc #2 works probably 18 hrs a week, with home call once a month, and maybe has to go in for something once a year. She makes about $150k a year base, plus other various bonuses, book spending, conferences, etc. However she does not work in a metropolitan area and I suspect the relative 'underserved' area allows her to monopolize that stream, balanced with a steady but not overwhelming amount of patients.

Doc #3 really is only directly bringing in revenue to the hospital through his 2 attending weeks a year and 1 clinic week a year. All of the rest is somehow something he's managed to control. I'm sure he brings value to the hospital, but he could probably earn them more by working as a clinician full time. In what specialties could you do this?

yaah, there isn't a specific residency path for it but there are definitely some specialties that have a better chance of that schedule and income. Derm and rad onc you probably work more than 10 hours a week, but like they say cancer doesn't grow on weekends.

Doctor #1 is NOT going to be working 30 hours per week. Cases take longer than planned, patients get added to clinic, rounds have to be done a minimum of once daily, but usually twice, and that does not even consider the 10-20 hours/week of paperwork and other administrative duties that surgeons do.

Doctor #2 is going to have to look carefully for this job and has to be in a specialty with a severe shortage in their profession. It is rare for a group to take someone who will work so rarely, because they still have to pick up the slack, and there is a significant amount of slack.

Doctor #3 does not exist, unless he is doing locum tenens. Teaching people to be clinicians involves being a clinician yourself, and two weeks a year and/or one clinic a week is simply not enough. Research that has any meaning requires far more than 10 hrs per week, and ditto for administration.

If you are looking for a 6 figure income with almost no work, marry rich. Or win the lottery. If your goal is to work as little as possible, medicine could not possibly be a WORSE career for you.

I wrote this and then went back to a previous thread:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=5013796#post5013796

It sounds like you are looking for a career with no drawbacks, and that does not exist.

 

[Llenroc]

LAWL. You boob. You'd be lucky to get a 40 hour a week job in medicine.

 

[bwells46]

Even derm and Radoncs will work way more than 10hrs a week. The only people in medicine that have this type of schedule are the HMO CEOs.

Yeah, for the two whole weeks before they get fired by the Board of Directors.

 

[mgdsh]

Almost anything that can pay well in this society will have you working hard. Most of those CEOs work their tails off, thats how they got there and thats how they keep their jobs.

I figure as an MD you could probably join a group or something as part time, but you'd have to be fairly seasoned and have a good excuse to do that. If they see someone at a young age wanting to barely work any hours I'm not sure they'd really care to hire someone like that. On the other hand if you had kids or something and were actively involved in their care and thats the reason you're working less than a full time job, more people would be understanding. They'd also be more understanding if you were a seasoned doctor who had worked a majority of his/her life and now wants to take it easier.

I know MDs who are in both situations, making well over the salary you've described.