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is it possible for a psychiatrist to solely do ECT all day, Monday-Friday? If so, how is the compensation?
ECT psychiatrists?
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no; if nothing else, you need the availability of the anesthesia team/recovery room; in the real world, most ECT's are done in early AM's (like between 6AM-8 or max. 9AM), and pt. stays in the recovery unit to recover from anesthesia up until about noon; after he does the ECT, the psychiatrist typically has tons of other stuff to do during the rest of the day, and the anesthesia team also has tons of other stuff to do with the other scheduled surgical pts. that are rolling in throughout the day; remember, the pts. also have been NPO since midnight the night before, so you can't keep the poor pts. hungry all day either; it's primarily a combination of logistics and pt. safety;
reimbursement varies depending on whether the psychiatrist is in private practice (reimbursed by insurance for the specific procedure), or salaried (then it's part of the whole salary/job description, so it doesn't matter);
realistically, there are not too many ECT patients; sure, in a major regional center with lots of pts. coming through there might be 5-10 pts. each AM typically 3 days/week, and 1-2 docs doing the ECT, but in smaller hospitals, typically either there is no doctor certified to do the ECT, or there aren't enough pt. candidates too frequently, so if one comes along they still tend to refer him/her out to a larger hospital where they do ECT routinely, and where the logistics and the anesthesia team are all set up already;
maintenance ECT can also be done as outpt. (meaning the pt. is not hospitalized, and they come in early AM and leave home about 1 PM), but the procedure still pretty much takes place in the same facility and with the same team that does the inpt. ECT's too; so, basically the psychiatrist comes in early AM, does his ECT's then he goes back to his outpt. office or to the inpt. unit to work on the rest of his day;
reimbursement varies depending on whether the psychiatrist is in private practice (reimbursed by insurance for the specific procedure), or salaried (then it's part of the whole salary/job description, so it doesn't matter);
realistically, there are not too many ECT patients; sure, in a major regional center with lots of pts. coming through there might be 5-10 pts. each AM typically 3 days/week, and 1-2 docs doing the ECT, but in smaller hospitals, typically either there is no doctor certified to do the ECT, or there aren't enough pt. candidates too frequently, so if one comes along they still tend to refer him/her out to a larger hospital where they do ECT routinely, and where the logistics and the anesthesia team are all set up already;
maintenance ECT can also be done as outpt. (meaning the pt. is not hospitalized, and they come in early AM and leave home about 1 PM), but the procedure still pretty much takes place in the same facility and with the same team that does the inpt. ECT's too; so, basically the psychiatrist comes in early AM, does his ECT's then he goes back to his outpt. office or to the inpt. unit to work on the rest of his day;
