How many hours do MDs spend at work?

[kire]

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Hello all.

This feels like an FAQ but I couldn't find it anywhere so here goes with apologies if this has been beaten dead with a stick already.

What does an MD's week look like in terms of hours spent at the job? I suppose I'm interested in which hours of the day as well and specifically how this differs between the different specialities. I'm thinking General Surgery or Emergency Medicine would be what I want to do but I'd like to hear how much the other guys work as well. Just curious as I'm sure I want to do medicine but I want to be able to spend time with kiddo and wifey after I'm out of residency in a reasonable manner.

I understand that the medical school and residency years are very busy.

Thanks,

 

[ExtraCrispy]

It varies tremendously with specialty, with the region of the country iin which you practice, with the setting in which you practice (community hospital vs. academic vs. private office), and with what roles you take (private doc vs. chairman vs. research vs. role in teaching).

With regard to the two specialties you mentioned - although again, it depends on where you go and how you decide to structure your career - EM is much nicer in terms of hours than Gen Surg. The reason is that in EM, there's no continuity of care, so you can do shift work - come in for X number of ten-hour shifts a month, with some flexibility in your schedule.

 

[kire]

It varies tremendously with specialty, with the region of the country iin which you practice, with the setting in which you practice (community hospital vs. academic vs. private office), and with what roles you take (private doc vs. chairman vs. research vs. role in teaching).

Suppose south-eastern US, hospital, general surgeon.

Or, if you have numbers for another region/setting for different specialities that would be useful as well. Just trying to understand how the different specialities/settings differ in terms of their work hours.

Thanks,

 

[Pir8DeacDoc]

are you a pre-med trying to figure out which field you want to go into?

 

[kire]

are you a pre-med trying to figure out which field you want to go into?

I hope to be pre-med soon. I'm currently a nearly-30 computer programmer with wife and kid and I want to make sure I can be happy as an MD (with a speciality I think I will enjoy). I don't mind hard work and long hours I just want to make sure I get to have a family life.

 

[LADoc00]

I hope to be pre-med soon. I'm currently a nearly-30 computer programmer with wife and kid and I want to make sure I can be happy as an MD (with a speciality I think I will enjoy). I don't mind hard work and long hours I just want to make sure I get to have a family life.

I always cringe when I see this....ans: more time than you would like, regardless of your speciality.

 

[Pir8DeacDoc]

you really have to explore what your motivations are for going into medicine... It can be a long haul and a huge sacrifice both physically and monetarily. Make sure you're going into it for the right reasons..



That said, it's pretty tough to predict what field you'll like once you get to med school. The exceptions I've noted with this are the Peds-type and people that build stuff and wanna do ortho-types. Some people just know..

Be aware that ER and GS are really different fields. They don't really share all that much in common. People link them together (and I did too until clinic rotations) but you'll see how different they are. Best of luck to you 😉

 

[southerndoc]

Most EM docs work 30 hours/week.