How Do You Sleep???

[dm22]

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okay let me get this straight - 110 HOURS A WEEK!!!!!!!!!! WTF????!!!! how in the world can a human being be expected to work that many hours a week? there are only 168 hours in a friggin week. now if you sleep 8 hours a day (which i know is unheard of) then that leaves approximately, hmm TWO HOURS A WEEK NOT WORKING!!!!!!!!!
someone needs to be shot. residents should be paid 60,000 AT LEAST a year. cause they still working the equivalent of two full time jobs.

no but really, do doctors beyond residency even get weekends off? is it like being a prisoner to your office?

do you work every day? or just long shifts? (for those dr.s that work alot)

 

[Law2Doc]

okay let me get this straight - 110 HOURS A WEEK!!!!!!!!!! WTF????!!!! how in the world can a human being be expected to work that many hours a week? there are only 168 hours in a friggin week. now if you sleep 8 hours a day (which i know is unheard of) then that leaves approximately, hmm TWO HOURS A WEEK NOT WORKING!!!!!!!!!
someone needs to be shot. residents should be paid 60,000 AT LEAST a year. cause they still working the equivalent of two full time jobs.

no but really, do doctors beyond residency even get weekends off? is it like being a prisoner to your office?

do you work every day? or just long shifts? (for those dr.s that work alot)

I don't think residents work 110 hours every week (and by law I don't think they can anymore), although that probably occurs some weeks at some places. I also doubt many residents sleep 8 hours a day with any regularity -- you will learn that you can get by on 6 hours or less for a fairly extended period of time without getting too punchy. Not healthy but you can certainly survive on that.

 

[njbmd]

okay let me get this straight - 110 HOURS A WEEK!!!!!!!!!! WTF????!!!! how in the world can a human being be expected to work that many hours a week? there are only 168 hours in a friggin week. now if you sleep 8 hours a day (which i know is unheard of) then that leaves approximately, hmm TWO HOURS A WEEK NOT WORKING!!!!!!!!!
someone needs to be shot. residents should be paid 60,000 AT LEAST a year. cause they still working the equivalent of two full time jobs.

no but really, do doctors beyond residency even get weekends off? is it like being a prisoner to your office?

do you work every day? or just long shifts? (for those dr.s that work alot)

Hi there,
One of the things that went with medical school for most folks is getting eight hours of sleep per night. While we are limited to 80 hours of work, you are expected to keep up with your reading (huge amount of study and reading) on a daily basis. While you are not in the hospital, you may be at home with a book in your hand.

In many ways, residency is more hectic than medical school and you are held to a higher standard. Each year, you are required to take an in-training exam. If you do not keep up with your reading (texts and journals), you are going to be kicked out of your residency for poor academics. All of my attendings are working far more than 80 hours. In addition, they are required to recertify and keep the CMEs going. You are a life-long learner in any branch of medicine.

If you find that you cannot function on less than eight hours of sleep per night with even less on call nights, you are going to struggle with medicine. Better study hard and hope for a match in Derm.

njbmd 🙂

 

[dm22]

no i really have no problem with 6 a night, really; and i work in an office job and can still stay awake. last nite i got 5 and im buzzing this morning.

but i guess i would like to get married, or at least date, and have a life! my question is i guess, how many hours do doctors put in past residency? weekends? holidays?

thanks

 

[GenSurg]

During residency, you are limited to 80 hours averaged over 4 weeks. Some weeks are more, some are less. Most residents I know get used to < 6 hours of sleep a night, less on call. When on home call every other night, I get less sleep than during an in-house month. Sleep is interrupted and not very restful. I have learned to deal with it, although I am not happy about it. Getting no sleep makes me a little hard to deal with.

What you deal with after residency depends on your specialty and you. I know attendings in academics and private practice that work much more than me as a resident. Attendings are not limited to an 80 hour work week and are usually working all day after a night on call.

http://www.freeiPods.com/?r=20049323

 

[closertofine]

Yeah, I'm really worried about this as well...I'm going into MS2 and am working at a research job this summer...and even with 8 hours of sleep a night, I'm always tired and sleepy, even when highly caffeinated 😛 . Sometimes I manage to catch up on the weekends (by sleeping sometimes upwards of 14 hours a day), and then I feel OK by Monday, but I slowly deteriorate over the course of the week. I have no idea how I'm going to survive 3rd year, much less residency. 🙁

 

[njbmd]

Yeah, I'm really worried about this as well...I'm going into MS2 and am working at a research job this summer...and even with 8 hours of sleep a night, I'm always tired and sleepy, even when highly caffeinated 😛 . Sometimes I manage to catch up on the weekends (by sleeping sometimes upwards of 14 hours a day), and then I feel OK by Monday, but I slowly deteriorate over the course of the week. I have no idea how I'm going to survive 3rd year, much less residency. 🙁

Hi there,
You might want to get rid of the caffeine. It is very dehydrating, which makes you more tired. I use almost no caffeine (a Diet Coke now and then) and I drink plenty of water. The more you sleep, the more tired you are. Try not to do the marathon sleep sessions.

When things are busy, the nights go by pretty fast on call. When things are dragging, the night drags too. I am sure that you will survive third year and residency. You really get used to the hours and the work is very interesting. I am happiest when I am operating all night. The night flies by and I have great powers of concentration. I get totally lost in the case and hardly realize the time going by.

Try to keep hydrated. Try to get some aerobic exercise daily and try not to oversleep on the weekends. I am sure that you will adjust and adapt to sleeping less than 8 hours per night. Try to go to bed at the same time each night and set your clock for the maximum sleep that you can get. Do not hit the snooze button but get up and walk around. Eat low fat food too. Too much fatty food just makes you more tired ( food coma). Get the TV out of the bedroom and sleep without radio too.

I have used melatonin when I only have a few hours to sleep. Melatonin gets you into REM sleep faster and you get shorter hours but more quality sleep. You also do not wake up groggy.

Good luck and don't worry about this.
njbmd 🙂

 

[thehomez66]

I have used melatonin when I only have a few hours to sleep. Melatonin gets you into REM sleep faster and you get shorter hours but more quality sleep. You also do not wake up groggy.

Sounds yummie, where can i get some!

 

[DieselPetrolGrl]

2 hrs
wth do u need 2 hrs for
u eat while u slep - hello they dont give you all that free access to IVs to keep u eating
stick one in while you sleep
and why bathe when you can sponge bath in style like you patients - between cases - so you still keep the 2 free hrs!

now what do you need 2 hrs for ?? HMM???

 

[dm22]

what do i need those extra hours for?

hmmm.....

sex

 

[musiclink213]

I've heard it's better to sleep in I guess patterns of 3 hours, so if you sleep for 3, 6, 9 hours, you'll feel more rested than you would have if you had 2, 4, 5, 8 hours. Don't know if it's true or not.

 

[Blade28]

80 hours? Not at my program! 🙂

It's true, though, you're expected to read for the ABSITE (if you're doing General Surgery) when you're at home - especially post-call, which I think is tough since every part of your body just wants to crash.

 

[DukeDoc08]

We were told today that as medical students there are not any hour limits for us like there are for residents....
They said they "try" not to work us longer than the residents but that it doesn't always work that way.
it's OK, I still can't wait to get on the wards!

 

[rpkall]

Oh jeez!

It depends what specialty you're in; I'm pretty sure.

Everyone who's been through the hell that is medical training in the US wants to **** on everyone else just because "they had to go through it." Attendings **** on residents. Residents **** on interns. Interns **** on medical students. HMOs **** on everybody, and make docs all work harder just to get paid the same as they used to.

"Work harder! No one's dead this week because of your negligence... yet!"

Personally, I think you're nuts if you really want to work 80+ hours a week for the rest of your life; I don't care if you're God's Attending and the Almighty himself gives you Jesus's throne to sit in when you die. But that's just me! ahaha 😉

To each his own.

That said, the people who are NOT nuts should pick a specialty where their lives OUTSIDE the hospital can be balanced with their professional lives more easily--so that patient care is NOT compromised. I'm not advocating laziness, just common sense. 😉

 

[akpete]

Wow, you all make me so worried. At my pre-M1 physical, I discovered that I have borderline low thyroid function. Looks like I'd better get that checked out, otherwise I'll never make it!!

 

[thackl]

Wow, you all make me so worried. At my pre-M1 physical, I discovered that I have borderline low thyroid function. Looks like I'd better get that checked out, otherwise I'll never make it!!

Pick/choose were you go and what you go into. Most places aren't as bad as what's being represented here.

 

[8744]

Hi there,
One of the things that went with medical school for most folks is getting eight hours of sleep per night. While we are limited to 80 hours of work, you are expected to keep up with your reading (huge amount of study and reading) on a daily basis. While you are not in the hospital, you may be at home with a book in your hand.

In many ways, residency is more hectic than medical school and you are held to a higher standard. Each year, you are required to take an in-training exam. If you do not keep up with your reading (texts and journals), you are going to be kicked out of your residency for poor academics. All of my attendings are working far more than 80 hours. In addition, they are required to recertify and keep the CMEs going. You are a life-long learner in any branch of medicine.

If you find that you cannot function on less than eight hours of sleep per night with even less on call nights, you are going to struggle with medicine. Better study hard and hope for a match in Derm.

njbmd 🙂

You need good time management skills. I am in my intern year at Duke (Family Medicine) and am currently doing a surgery rotation. The hours are long but they are pretty strict about keeping you under 80 hours per week. (averaged over four weeks, of course).

You just need to learn how to go to bed. In other words, if you get up at 4:45AM to get in by 5:30 and don't get home until 7:00PM, you need to go to bed around 9 or 10PM and eschew TV, going out, or anything else that deprives you of sleep. When you are on call, the new rules require you to be sent home before noon so in that situation you need to go home and sleep.

Naturally we all have other business to take care of (banking, shopping, etc) but again if you manage your time you can do all these things on your mandatory one day off per week and get in a lot of your reading.

Family Medicine actually has pretty good hours second and third year, 50 to 60 hours per week I am told, but our intern year is like anybody else's.

If you prioritize sleep you will be all right. I can't speak for surgery interns who work long hours for their entire residency. They are just screwed. Then again nobody holds a gun to your head and forces you to match into surgery. I didn't even consider surgery only because I have a family and I don't care to sacrifice them to a career.

There is no reason to lose sleep in medical school, especailly in first and second year. Considering that attendance is optional anybody who can't find seven hours at night for sleep has got nobody to blame but themselves.

 

[PostalWookie]

Sleep in multiples of about 1.5 hours. If you manage to wake up right at the end of a sleep cycle, you feel much more awake and refreshed than if you get woken up while in deep sleep.

 

[akpete]

Pick/choose were you go and what you go into. Most places aren't as bad as what's being represented here.

The problem is that I want to do orthopedics. I think I'm officially insane. No, I take that back. I AM insane.


<--- pete

 

[thackl]

The problem is that I want to do orthopedics. I think I'm officially insane. No, I take that back. I AM insane.


<--- pete

Your first two yrs will suck, then the residency gets steadily better until yr 5. The Sr's in our program suposedly don't have it that bad.... just survive intern yr and 1st yr of residency. I've looked at the program too as it looks interesting and I'm told engineers make good ortho's....... then again, I'm not sure if my family could survive the first two yrs.

 

[fullefect1]

Do any of you get to hit the gym 3-4 times a week (hour sessions or so)? I don't know what I would do if I started loosing my strength. It has taken me so many years of hard work to gain.