For interns, cam we live >30 min away from hospital?

[future_MD_doc]

Hello,

I am soon going to be an intern. Matched in internal medicine in NJ. I am looking to buy a condo/townhouse and the ones I like are about 35-40 min drive from the hospital. I wanted to know if there is a rule whereby interns are not allowed to live more than 30 min away from the hospital. I have heard about it from my friends, but don't exactly remember the details. Can someone please throw some light on it? Thank you.

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[deleted87716]

It's program-dependent. In my program, we could take call from home after the first half of our second year (family medicine). In order to do that, however, you had to live within a 30-minute drive of the hospital.

 

[Cowboy DO]

Where in NJ? Traffic may have a major influence, depending on the time of day.

If you leave home early enough a 30 minute drive is no big deal, but if you leave the hospital between 4-6 in the afternoon, you may just have doubled the commute time home...that may or may not drive you clinically insane.

 

[sophiejane]

I'm going to be living about 3 blocks from the hospital...I'm not sure I could deal with a long commute on top of all the other stressors.

Even if you have to live someplace that's not your dream home, it's temporary, and you may appreciate having less of a commute.

 

[Samoa]

yeah, but if you have school-age kids, there may be other considerations than just the commute to work.

I hate to commute as well, but if I had to, I'd do it so that my kids (if I had kids) could grow up in a safe neighborhood with good schools.

 

[Miami_med]

yeah, but if you have school-age kids, there may be other considerations than just the commute to work.

I hate to commute as well, but if I had to, I'd do it so that my kids (if I had kids) could grow up in a safe neighborhood with good schools.

I've got a commute in medical school now that is 20 minutes in the early morning down and about an hour in the afternoon back (Loving the Miami Traffic ). Just like you, I've got a family, and there is just only so much that you can do in a high cost of living metro. It's terrible, but I'll atleast give you one of those "You're not alone" pats on the back.

 

[atsai3]

Hello,

I am soon going to be an intern. Matched in internal medicine in NJ. I am looking to buy a condo/townhouse and the ones I like are about 35-40 min drive from the hospital. I wanted to know if there is a rule whereby interns are not allowed to live more than 30 min away from the hospital. I have heard about it from my friends, but don't exactly remember the details. Can someone please throw some light on it? Thank you.

Hospital dependent. Typically this rule applies if you are going to be taking home call (ie., answer pages and call in med orders, come in to the hospital if your physical presence is needed to evaluate or admit a patient). Most intern rotations are in-house call, but you will just have to check with your program to see what the specifics are. If I were you, I would also check to see whether there are home-call rotations during R2 and R3.

Please note: say your program either doesn't have the rule or doesn't have home call rotations, and you pick a place that is 45 minutes away. Then your program makes a change, say either puts the rule in place or gives you the opportunity to take home call. Doesn't matter. On the rotations where you are taking home call, you can get around it by just spending the night at the hospital. (That's not anybody's favorite, but if you are wedded to your geographical choice, then it's just a price you're going to have to be willing to pay.)

-AT.

 

[EctopicFetus]

Dont forget that after you work your 30 (yeah right) hour call you will be tired as hell and the longer the drive and the faster you will travel (highway) the higher your risk for bad things happening.

 

[Bitsy3221]

There is a surgery resident at my school who lives close to an hour away, and does the commute (for family reasons stated above). He has had to spend more nights in the hospital than others, especially on rotations where days run long and start early, but he has done it for four years intact.

Like someone said above, you have to make your priotities. If you have family and are looking for better schools, it can be a no-brainer. On the other hand, if you are just making vague decisions based on realtor websites, you may find yourself wanting to sacrifice the bigger place for a closer location, particularly if you are single.

 

[eastcoastyall]

I was thinking about living about a 30 minute commute away from where I'm going to work. When the hospital is in a @#$#ty neighborhood, you've got to go somewhere else for sanity and safety. Not a big deal

 

[Tigger14]

Don't forget the power of fatigue. There may be some very good reasons for not living in the neighborhood of your hospital. However, if you can sacrifice any of them temporarily and you have any concern about driving post call, you should do one of two things: (1) make a promise to yourself to sleep at the hospital if necessary, or (2) live closer to the hospital. I think our residents have had 6 or 7 car accidents while post call. I had two, and one was into an ATM (hard to hit a stationary object unless you are asleep at the wheel). One of our residents had 2 in about a 2 week period, and one was post call the day after our PD reminded us to be aware of fatigue.

Weigh the factors you have in mind with the inconvenience of totalling a car or landing yourself in the hospital. Good luck.

 

[DeLaughterDO]

Right now, I have a 20-30 minute drive to and from the hospital. Personally, I don't think I could do without it. I'm so glad we ended up living a short drive away. It gives me time after I get off to decompress before I get home and have to start cleaning house or whatever. It also gives me time to rock out a bit and get out some stress listening to heavy metal. Great stress relief after a long shift.

I do have to agree that after a night on call, it can suck. Or if the roads are icy, it would be nice to only have to go a few blocks. But overall, I think it was probably the best decision we could have made.

best of luck,

jd

 

[sophiejane]

I do have to agree that after a night on call, it can suck.

I could potentially not only suck for you, but for whomever or whatever you run into as a result of being sleep-deprived.

Remember, the brain behaves as is it is intoxicated when it is sleep deprived, and residents die or kill others every year on the road as a result of exhaustion.

Please be careful.

 

[Adam_K]

I could potentially not only suck for you, but for whomever or whatever you run into as a result of being sleep-deprived.

Remember, the brain behaves as is it is intoxicated when it is sleep deprived, and residents die or kill others every year on the road as a result of exhaustion.

Please be careful.

I hate to say it, but one of the factors that might change residency work hours will be a lawsuit by a car crash victim of a sleep deprived resident naming the hospital as a co-defendant and winning big time.

Does anyone else think that the fatigue lectures are an example of the worst kind of hypocrisy?

The hospital/residency program demands that you work insane hours, as a result of which you are fatigued. Then, should a law suit come their way, they'll point at their fatigue training to reduce their liability.

 

[mig26x]

I just separated an apartment 15 minutes away from the Hospital I'll be training at. I dont see myself dead tired and having to drive my car 30-40 minutes.

Also, remember that there're snowstorms in NJ which a 30 minute commute can become an hour long commute or even longer!!

I'll be in MA and thats one of the reason I picked to live 15 minutes away from the hospital!!

 

[jennyboo]

At our hospital, most live within 30 minutes, which means that some of us live further away and commute an hour or more. It is not ideal, but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. Compromise is part of being a grown-up.

We do not have home call, so it doesn't really matter as a resident how far away you live in terms of "rules" as long as we're not late. But our fellows have "home call" and some of them spend the night in a nearby motel (I think the department may actually pay part of it) when on home call, as they would otherwise be more than 30 minutes away. Ask your residency program whether that is a requirement for residents. Interns almost never do home call.

In terms of whether it makes life hard, I do a 30 minute commute and I will say that I'm very glad my commute next year is 5 minutes instead. 30 minutes is very doable, but it does grate on you after a while as an intern. A shorter commute that allows you to sleep in for an extra half hour is precious -- but you don't absolutely need it.

 

[DeLaughterDO]

Does anyone else think that the fatigue lectures are an example of the worst kind of hypocrisy?

I think I may have been so tired that I slept through those lectures..

gimme those ribs, you...