Hospitalist work hours?

[soxman]

How long do Hospitalist docs work? Is it a really stressful job?

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[Sundarban1]

How long do Hospitalist docs work? Is it a really stressful job?

Usually they work on some sort of "on/off" schedule, like 12 hr days (normally 7am-7pm) seven days on, seven days off. Call depends on the group I guess. From what I've read the average career is 2 years for a hospitalist, so it must be fairly stressful to work those long hours.

 

[gutonc]

From what I've read the average career is 2 years for a hospitalist, so it must be fairly stressful to work those long hours.

I've been wondering about this. Almost all of the people I know who have/are going into hospitalist medicine are doing it as a way to make some cash for a few years before doing a fellowship, almost as an alternative to a chief year. So I wonder if the average career is 2 years because it's stressful or because a lot of people are using it as a waystation/launching pad for something else.

BE (now PE)

 

[AJM]

I've been wondering about this. Almost all of the people I know who have/are going into hospitalist medicine are doing it as a way to make some cash for a few years before doing a fellowship, almost as an alternative to a chief year. So I wonder if the average career is 2 years because it's stressful or because a lot of people are using it as a waystation/launching pad for something else.

BE (now PE)

That's exactly right. Most people who take up hospitalist jobs straight out of residency are planning on working for only 1-2 years until they start fellowship. It seems like recently people have been deciding later on in residency as to what specialty they want to pursue, so they don't apply until their 3rd year or after they finish. By waiting until 3rd year to apply, they have to take a year off before fellowship, since the regular application time is the 2nd year. Hospitalist jobs are very well suited for short-term work, since they are pretty much shift-based, you don't have to spend time building a patient base, and you can quit any time you want without worrying about who will pick up the care of your patients. Plus the jobs are easy to get and present in abundance, so it's an obvious choice for new residency grads who want to make some money before starting their fellowship.

As far as burnout, I don't think it's much of an issue. The people who choose to be hospitalists without future fellowship plans tend to stay in it for the long term. That said, because it's such a new specialty, most hospitalists are still relatively new grads, so we don't really know what the career length tends to truly be.

 

[Sundarban1]

Thanks for the info AJM. I've been hearing from others that a plan for required residency or fellowship to become a hospitalist is in the works. Is there any written truth to that? I figure prehaps someone working in the field would know.

 

[AJM]

Thanks for the info AJM. I've been hearing from others that a plan for required residency or fellowship to become a hospitalist is in the works. Is there any written truth to that? I figure prehaps someone working in the field would know.

I haven't heard about any future plans for required hospitalist fellowships, but then again, I'm not in the hospitalist field. I just have alot of residency classmates who are hospitalists now, so I get most of my current info from them. I'll ask about this next time I run into one of them.

 

[studentdoc29x]

How long do Hospitalist docs work? Is it a really stressful job?

what is a hospitalist?

 

[deleted87716]

what is a hospitalist?

http://www.acponline.org/counseling/hosps.htm

 

[Annette]

You can also try out Society for Hospital Medicine

There are people working to get ABIM to recognize hospital medicine as a separate entity. Whether it will require fellowship or not remains to be seen. If the insurance company decides to set separate rates for hospitalists, it is very likely that it will require a fellowship. I would expect that there will be grandfathering, though.

 

[Miami_med]

Ok, I still don't understand this. Isn't IM residency about taking care of patients which are primarily in the hospital? What would a hospital fellowship involve? It seems like it would essentially be another year of the same thing without a continuity clinic.

 

[Sundarban1]

Currently there is no fellowship to become a hospitalist.

 

[augmel]

no required fellowship. I got some stuff in the mail about a U of Nevada fellowship. I think UCSF might have one. I wouldn't be surprised if they make a fellowship requirement. After all, if being a hospitalist is popular enough, then the powers that be can squeeze another low-pay training year out of us.

 

[gutonc]

Ok, I still don't understand this. Isn't IM residency about taking care of patients which are primarily in the hospital? What would a hospital fellowship involve? It seems like it would essentially be another year of the same thing without a continuity clinic.

Basically, yes. it would be something like being a junior inpatient attending only you'll get paid 1/3 as much as you otherwise would. There's already such a thing as a General Medicine Fellowship which is basically a Chief year w/o the administrative responsibilities. You would definitely get a chance to further hone your skills in a relatively protected environment. Not quite sure what it offers beyond that though.

BE (now PE)