How many hours/calls are CA-1s working...

[BubbleHead]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm at Cleveland Clinic. I work <65 hours/wk easy, that's with moonlighting 3 times/month when my room runs over. I take 4 calls/month, 2 of them overnight (either in OR or PACU) and 2 of them late calls (until 10-12) with next day off. That late call thing is new last year and everyone is loving it, anybody else have that deal? It is so sweet, get out 10PM most nights and have post-call day off.

So, how many hours are people working? How many calls? I keep hearing from outsiders that our program is tough and I'm wondering how easy others have it if I'm never pushing the work hours envelope. The only thing strict is the 15 minute break in the morning and 30 minutes for lunch.

So, who out there has it so much better?

 

[amyl]

that sounds great. I can't tell you how much i am looking forward to my interview there!!!
and ccf has a reputation of being super hard working....
It is funny how "hard work" reputations get mixed up and messed around. someone working at a program told me the were lighter, like 55-60h/week...but call was q4. you do the math, i don't think is possible. another program i visited with a "cushier" reputation...50-55h/week...no way, residents NEVER went home before 5 and 7 was routine.
this seems to be one of those things were you want to be right in the middle. work enough but not kill yourself so you can have some energy to read. some of the cushier places i know of are just not that good of programs.

 

[usnavdoc]

I'm at Cleveland Clinic. I work <65 hours/wk easy, that's with moonlighting 3 times/month when my room runs over. I take 4 calls/month, 2 of them overnight (either in OR or PACU) and 2 of them late calls (until 10-12) with next day off. That late call thing is new last year and everyone is loving it, anybody else have that deal? It is so sweet, get out 10PM most nights and have post-call day off.

So, how many hours are people working? How many calls? I keep hearing from outsiders that our program is tough and I'm wondering how easy others have it if I'm never pushing the work hours envelope. The only thing strict is the 15 minute break in the morning and 30 minutes for lunch.

So, who out there has it so much better?

At Emory your time as a Ca1 is divided between Grady(Our county/level 1 trauma center) and Emory(6 months each). At Grady we take in house call 6/mo at Emory 2/mo. On the non-call work day you are out of the OR at 3:00 to do 1-2 preops for your next days cases. Usually home by 330-4. Averaging 55-60 hours a week.

 

[coprolalia]

Anesthesiology is one of those interesting fields where call doesn't necessarily get "lighter" as you advance in your program. When you gain more experience, you are able to do a wider variety of more complex cases. Even only as a CA-2, my call load has gone up substantially over last year (longer, more grueling cases). After you've completed, for example, hearts, OB, and peds (as I have), you will be expected to stay and do these cases. And, at least at our program, the first few months of the academic year the CA-1's are not eligible to take call yet as they are still learning the ropes. This puts an additional burden on the "seniors" to take more call, and this makes the period between July and September especially brutal.

Just something to remember. The more experience you get, the more valuable you become. And, if you are going to a busier program (e.g., one where area hospitals routinely refer patients in because of lack of service coverage and/or inability to do complex cases), you are going to do a lot more work once you get more experience. Double-edged sword, needless to say. But, I've worked much harder this year than I did last year, and I'm far more exhausted and mentally drained when I'm off-duty than I was last year too.

So, don't necessarily count the call experience you have as a CA-1 to gauge the kind of workload you're going to have as you get more experience and advance through your program.

-copro

 

[Trisomy13]

@ WVU here, averaging around 60-65 hrs per week. 3-6 calls per month, and that is the 3pm-7am overnight call, with the morning before and day after off. People actually look forward to weeknight calls for this reason. A couple of scattered late calls, similar to that at CCF - usually out between 7-10pm and if it's after 9 there is a chance we won't be needed the next day. Some call nights we're up all night (when it's busy, it's very busy), and on a few rare nights already this year, I've not left the call room after midnight.

Nothing to complain about 😀

 

[halflife94]

Has WVU sent out invites yet?

 

[Idiopathic]

in the main OR at Vandy we are working 55-75 a week, depending on the service and if we have weekend call.

call is about q7-q8 right now, I average 3-4 a month, and Ive only had two weekend calls since July. we get our share during the week, but call is reasonable.

 

[optimus_prime]

at penn state, we generally take 4-5 weekday calls a month and plus one weekend a month (although recently you often get 2). call is 24 hours- so that puts us usually at 60-70 hours a week (more if you are on that weekend)

 

[ghastly75]

At MMC as CA-1 work 6 24 hour calls a month. The breakdown, 2 weekends, Fri, Sun, and a Sat, and 3 weekdays, days about 10-11 hours, about 65-70 hours per week. Medium high I suppose
Lots of cases=experience, nice atmosphere

 

[Tenesma]

i agree with copro

anesthesia is probably one of the few specialties where residents work more call and more hours as they rise in seniority... primarily because of the increased independence

i remember as a PGY-4 being on call 6 times in one month - basically busting my ass because i was always on call with a bunch of CA-1s - therefore getting the major traumas, the ruptured AAAs etc... and i was "SHOCKED" to find out that the ortho senior came in from HOME - the surgical seniors for quite a few services (especially sub-specialties) (and this was at MGH) were taking call from HOME...

internal medicine is the complete opposite - as you progress through residency you have more and more "electives" and less and less call....

kind of oddd....

 

[BubbleHead]

Our CA-3 Chiefs just instituted a resident relief list. Residents sign out as they leave the ORs, when leaving late and not volunteering to moonlight. The last 5 people on the list are the first five people to leave the next day (after pre-call types). This may not make much sense to smaller programs, but we have 30 a year. It is designed to make sure the same few people are not getting stuck cleaning up every night with the call team.

What other types of "Good Deals" are out there in residencies? Has anyone figured out how to make "Saturday Call" a good deal, or at least less painful? I really hate getting Sunday as a post-call day off.