Do radiologists have to work night shifts?

[deleted1095841]

I mean once you're an attending. And if so, how often? And does this depend on academics vs private practice?

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[SeisK]

Depends entirely on the specifics of the practice. Most all private practices contract out their overnights to national tele radiology groups, with the exception maybe being some large groups? The rads working for the tele group get the perk of 100% remote jobs with good pay / relatively minimal skimming for the amount of productivity. It’s also common for practices to hire night guys specifically but this again is subsidized and is usually a 1 on 2 off gig with high pay, pure remote, and fast track to partner.

Academics usually provides night coverage, but this is usually a handful of people who are ok doing so and get a pay bump for it and/or some other perk like 100% pure remote reading, no teaching, etc. Usually in academics the shift is worth considerably more than an equivalent daytime shift, so again it amounts to fewer shifts they work throughout the year than the daytime guys, by a lot.

Alternatively the academic group has residents / fellows cover their nights, but after the recent nuclear lawsuit against an overnight resident misread, this might start going away.

 

[deleted1095841]

Thanks! Does this mean that I can avoid nights entirely if I take a little bit of a pay cut?

 

[SeisK]

Thanks! Does this mean that I can avoid nights entirely if I take a little bit of a pay cut?

Yes absolutely. Just make sure to avoid jobs with pooled nights, pretty easy to avoid in this market. I wouldn’t even call it a pay cut, just the absence of a pay bump.

 

[Kuratz]

Avoiding deep nights is possible for the reasons SeisK mentioned. A couple of the larger practices I interviewed with had their partners take a week or two of nights a year out of staffing necessity and not wanting to go external with nighthawk. Plenty of practices who don’t take deep nights. I’d say avoiding weekends and evenings would be a much different story. Definitely still possible, but would be something like daytime tele (paycut) or certain breast-only practices.

 

[deleted1095841]

I'm fine with evenings and weekends. It's just that I have health issues that make inversion of sleep schedule difficult.

 

[Cognovi]

Short answer is most never, some occasionally, some all the time by choice.

 

[vm26]

I mean once you're an attending. And if so, how often? And does this depend on academics vs private practice?

Good question as its a major QOL issue...I'm assuming you are referring to overnights?...Most PP groups will cover internally until 10pm-MN and then send everything out to night hawk-though these companies have been jacking up prices and dropping contracts. Plus turn around time and quality varies quite a bit which can be an issue for multiple reasons...Academic/pseudo-academic/employed rads won't randomly have to work overnights. Typically covered by residents, dedicated overnight-rads, or night hawk.

I'm in a small/mid-sized group. We cover overnights internally. Main reason why this still works is that the bulk of these shifts (>90%) are performed far, far away, a few time zones behind, in a beautiful condo located in a tropical location. With this said, many rads still do not take part-which I understand...Covering overnights locally is pretty brutal-busy/hectic shift plus sleep disruption etc

 

[SeisK]

Good question as its a major QOL issue...I'm assuming you are referring to overnights?...Most PP groups will cover internally until 10pm-MN and then send everything out to night hawk-though these companies have been jacking up prices and dropping contracts. Plus turn around time and quality varies quite a bit which can be an issue for multiple reasons...Academic/pseudo-academic/employed rads won't randomly have to work overnights. Typically covered by residents, dedicated overnight-rads, or night hawk.

I'm in a small/mid-sized group. We cover overnights internally. Main reason why this still works is that the bulk of these shifts (>90%) are performed far, far away, a few time zones behind, in a beautiful condo located in a tropical location. With this said, many rads still do not take part-which I understand...Covering overnights locally is pretty brutal-busy/hectic shift plus sleep disruption etc

As the rads shortage worsens the overnight coverage is going to become a significant issue. I worry the lifestyle in rads is going to get significantly worse in the next ten years.

 

[Steve_Zissou]

As the rads shortage worsens the overnight coverage is going to become a significant issue. I worry the lifestyle in rads is going to get significantly worse in the next ten years.

I mean, I have to imagine the lifestyle for those doing 1 on 2 off from the west coast and reading for the east coast is pretty solid. Now reading for the west coast and Hawaii overnight probably sucks though.

 

[vm26]

As the rads shortage worsens the overnight coverage is going to become a significant issue. I worry the lifestyle in rads is going to get significantly worse in the next ten years.

I see your point but so many variables at play here. A lot of mega-HC systems have taken over smaller satellite community hospitals so their overnights are already either covered by residents and/or dedicated overnight rads...If current trajectory remains unchanged, I can see private groups negotiating contracts where they cover from 7 am-MN and let hospitals figure out overnights. Of course hospitals can look for another group but thats not going to be easy (particularly if they need 5-10 on-site rads daily), and if they do find one its certainly not going to be cheap.