Hours during residency

[vashka]

Are residency hours in dentistry anthing like they are in medicine? Are there 30 hour shifts and 80 hour weeks?

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[Bifid Uvula]

Depends on the specialty:

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery hours are like medical surgical hours...80+ hours/week.

GPR/Hospital Dentistry residencies can range from 50-80hrs depending on where you are at and the amount of on-call responsibilities.

Prosthodontic residents put in a hell of a lot of time...perhaps on some weeks even more than surgery residents, because they have to make just about everything for their patients.

the remaining specialties are pretty much 30-50 hours/week in terms of physical work. Those are much closer to the typical hours put in by private dentists.

Of course you also have to ad on the necessary study, preparation, and lab time. as well.

 

[toofache32]

Are residency hours in dentistry anthing like they are in medicine? Are there 30 hour shifts and 80 hour weeks?

I wish. I have spent way more hours on oral surgery than general surgery. Those limits are for ACGME accredited specialties, i.e. medical specialties. Those limits don't currently apply to oral surgery because it is accredited by ADA/CODA. However, I hear that oral surgery will be be included in the 80-hour week in the next year or two.

 

[drhobie7]

Many medical residencies do not adhere to the 80 hrs/week rule. I have a friend doing ENT at Columbia who says the 80 hr/week rule is meaningless. They work them much longer. I'd have my doubts as to whether dental residencies would follow an 80 hr/week rule if passed. Who would you complain to if the rule was violated? Your superiors/chief? Unfortunately, you can't just leave the hospital once the 80th hour rolls around and leave your patients unattended.

 

[OMFSCardsFan]

I wish. I have spent way more hours on oral surgery than general surgery. Those limits are for ACGME accredited specialties, i.e. medical specialties. Those limits don't currently apply to oral surgery because it is accredited by ADA/CODA. However, I hear that oral surgery will be be included in the 80-hour week in the next year or two.

This is true. I worked between 100-110 hours/week last month. To be honest, I think the 80-hour rule would be detrimental to the residency. If the ADA/CODA rules change, I hope that we are one of the program that puts 80 on paper and goes on working 100.

 

[toofache32]

If the ADA/CODA rules change, I hope that we are one of the program that puts 80 on paper and goes on working 100.

I have to agree...I've thought this before myself. As a co-resident said, "The only problem with q2 call is that you miss half the cases."

 

[omfsres]

Many medical residencies do not adhere to the 80 hrs/week rule. I have a friend doing ENT at Columbia who says the 80 hr/week rule is meaningless. They work them much longer. I'd have my doubts as to whether dental residencies would follow an 80 hr/week rule if passed. Who would you complain to if the rule was violated? Your superiors/chief? Unfortunately, you can't just leave the hospital once the 80th hour rolls around and leave your patients unattended.

Did you use the words ENT and Columbia together? Man, that's gotta be the weakest pairing of two words ever. The only other combo I can thing of that comes close is Harvard and Perio.

 

[drhobie7]

Did you use the words ENT and Columbia together? Man, that's gotta be the weakest pairing of two words ever. The only other combo I can thing of that comes close is Harvard and Perio.

HA! Hey, it's not my life! (Thank god) But if they're working that hard the general surgery residents are probably zombies.

 

[Bifid Uvula]

I'm going on 30hours with no end in site. 3 mandible fractures came in tonight and I have the pleasure of accompanying them to the OR tomorrow. I'm on call till Monday morning. All the college kids are back in town, doing stupid things...God help me!

Yah, the 80hr thing doesn't fly here... we work till we're done. We have not ENT/Plastics, so its trauma call every night. Great for experience, crap for a social life.

I think I'm averaging 95-100 hours per week... but that's because I'm q2. My senior residents have it a little better now that they've paid their dues. I don't mind it as long as the calls are legit, and thankfully we have a pretty good ER that sends the crap out the door. As the first year, this means its my time to play and do more and more of the case in the OR.

 

[Bifid Uvula]

The other thing is, you've got 4-6 years to learn all you need to learn... and if you cut your hours by 20-30 hours/week... add that up and you'll see, it'll be like losing a year or two of training over the duration of your residency...

 

[Jediwendell]

I dunno man. There is certainly a limit to the number of simple mandible fractures you need to reduce to "learn" how to do it. I mean, arch bars, occlusion, plate, etc. really isn't that hard once youv'e done it thirty or so times. The simple fact of the matter is that the general community has gotten onto this thing and people want residents treating them that aren't falling asleep on their feet. There is the "get real factor", though. If there isn't anybody to see the patient but you, and you've been awake for two days, guess what. I guess the main point of this is that trauma gets really old really fast and will begin to cut into the more important procedures that you might get some good learning from. That is where a good program director comes in.

The other thing is, you've got 4-6 years to learn all you need to learn... and if you cut your hours by 20-30 hours/week... add that up and you'll see, it'll be like losing a year or two of training over the duration of your residency...

 

[toofache32]

U consulted me for Tori?

I've had that call before from a medicine team wanting a biopsy. The team had a resident, an intern, and 3 med students. I looked in the patient's mouth and told them that statistically, one of them should have the same thing. Sure enough, one of the med students had lingual tori and got nervous until I told them it was nothing.