Free time as a Physician

[Ibuprofen]

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Hey guys, I'm currently in high school and I'm really getting involved in band with playing french horn, and I'm beginning to look at it as a possible life long activity that I could do, and possibly major in for my Pre-Med.

I just wanted to wonder if I'd have enough time to play as a part-time section horn (considered a part time job at about 16 hours of rehearsal/concert/practice a week?), a physician, and most likely a family thrown in there too. I'm not planning on going into anything crazy schedule wise like Emergency Medicine, but I'm currently thinking Rad Onc or Path, something of that nature.

Think it'd be pull off able, or will be pushed for time?

 

[BestDoctorEver]

Hey guys, I'm currently in high school and I'm really getting involved in band with playing french horn, and I'm beginning to look at it as a possible life long activity that I could do, and possibly major in for my Pre-Med.

I just wanted to wonder if I'd have enough time to play as a part-time section horn (considered a part time job at about 16 hours of rehearsal/concert/practice a week?), a physician, and most likely a family thrown in there too. I'm not planning on going into anything crazy schedule wise like Emergency Medicine, but I'm currently thinking Rad Onc or Path, something of that nature.

Think it'd be pull off able, or will be pushed for time?

Actually, most Emergency physician have a fine schedule. Where I live in south FL, the ones I know work 3-4 days/wk...10-12 hrs/day making 200k-250k. By physician standard, this is very reasonable. Other specialties that have good working hours are Anesthesiology,Dermatology, Radiology.

 

[nlax30]

How MUCH free time you have is certainly going to depend on which field you go into, where you work, and just flat out how much you want to work and how you setup your practice.

That said, I'd say most of the physicians I know have some sort of hobby that devote a decent amount of time to. There's a group here locally that have a cover band and they play out pretty regularly.

Whether or not you can devote something like 16hrs/week to this will just depend on you and your priorities. Especially if you have a family and other responsibilities then if this is still something that is very important to you then you'll find the time for it.

 

[Terpskins99]

Hey guys, I'm currently in high school and I'm really getting involved in band with playing french horn, and I'm beginning to look at it as a possible life long activity that I could do, and possibly major in for my Pre-Med.

I just wanted to wonder if I'd have enough time to play as a part-time section horn (considered a part time job at about 16 hours of rehearsal/concert/practice a week?), a physician, and most likely a family thrown in there too. I'm not planning on going into anything crazy schedule wise like Emergency Medicine, but I'm currently thinking Rad Onc or Path, something of that nature.

Think it'd be pull off able, or will be pushed for time?

I think you would be able to do this with most any specialty.

You'd probably have to cut down on that time with some of the surgical specialties, of course. But when there's a will there's a way. I wouldn't let your hobby dictate what specialty you eventually choose. The majority of entering medical students eventually change their minds about their chosen specialty. Odds are you will too.

 

[indya]

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[Zoom-Zoom]

I'll second the comment about emergency med. They work the least hours of any medical specialty and have arguably the best "lifestyle." If you ask, they will gladly tell you 😛 I know several EM docs with very active hobbies and even second jobs.

Specialties to avoid if you want to toot your horn: Any surgical field, radiology, anesthesia, OB/GYN, cardiology. There are others. Those are the ones with longer hours. But even in those fields, i'll note that there are many physicians who have hobbies and a good family life.