How many with a decent commute to work?

Started by TrumpetDoc
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TrumpetDoc

TrumpetDoc

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Wondering if those who have a sizeable commute to work can shout ot their distance/times per one way?

While my primary gig is local, I part time at a facility that is a few hours one-way. While I know that is a bit much, I have met a few folks here that say they travel 1.75-2 hours one way to their full time gig. That seems a bit much..wondering how many people do similar and are happy with that?
 
TrumpetDoc said:
Wondering if those who have a sizeable commute to work can shout ot their distance/times per one way?

While my primary gig is local, I part time at a facility that is a few hours one-way. While I know that is a bit much, I have met a few folks here that say they travel 1.75-2 hours one way to their full time gig. That seems a bit much..wondering how many people do similar and are happy with that?
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My commute is 1hr 40 minutes, 81 miles, one way on clear days. On snowy days, add 10-15 minutes. I never work more than 2 shifts in a row. They are 12 hr shifts. The ED sees ~50 pts/day, with usually (5/6 of the time) 12 hrs of midlevel coverage, so that is 50/36 = 1.4 pph. On the other 1/6, without a mid level, it is a doc, but they're only there for 8 hours, so that is 1.6pph, but you don't have to worry about their patients along with yours.

One guy lives in town, but everyone else is, at a minimum, 1 hr away. One of the PAs lives 3 hours away in OH, and he does 3 shifts in a row in 4 blocks ('cause he has 6 kids, and this amount of time is the most he can do away from home).

So, it's not bad, and the job is hooked up with, possibly, the best situation I could get (it's all well and good about Arizona and Texas, but there are no options for $300/hr here, working 96 hours/month, and being in the 1% - there just is no "there", there). It is leaps and bounds ahead of TeamHealth, which, in my area, is the worst of the worst.
 
The doc group I work with owns a house so they don't have to go home between shifts. Most of them live 90-120 minutes away, some even further.

This seems to work well for a hospital in a not particularly desirable area.
 
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Out of curiosity (and not that it matters since I hopefully match in 2 weeks one way or the other), but is the job market really that bad in desirable areas that people are commuting 90+ minutes to work? Or is there another reason?

I figured the big cities would be competitive but didn't think our job market looked like rads quite yet.
 
sanityonleave said:
Out of curiosity (and not that it matters since I hopefully match in 2 weeks one way or the other), but is the job market really that bad in desirable areas that people are commuting 90+ minutes to work? Or is there another reason?

I figured the big cities would be competitive but didn't think our job market looked like rads quite yet.
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My example is a good job in an area you wouldn't want to raise a family or have to live on your days off.
 
10 minute drive one way without traffic, 20 minutes with. I live in a big city near water and mountains. You can do it if you want to--job market isnt that bad yet, dont worry.
 
SeekerOfTheTree said:
I would love this. I would sell my soul for this.
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There's benefits and downsides to everything. I've done this and it worked for where it was.

I have friends who do this at every single job and end up with the worst neighborhood myopia ever.

Why pay the $$$ to live in NYC if you never leave the upper east side? Or Chicago and never leave little Italy?
 
10-15 min. Love it.

Anything more than that, you have to factor into your work hours and calculate a new effective hourly pay rate. If you're on the road 1.5 hr each way for a 10 hr shift, that's not a 10 hour shift. It's a 13 hr shift. If your driving 1+ hour for 20% extra in pay, you're probably making the same as if you stayed close and worked an extra shift.
 
Birdstrike said:
10-15 min. Love it.

Anything more than that, you have to factor into your work hours and calculate a new effective hourly pay rate. If you're on the road 1.5 hr each way for a 10 hr shift, that's not a 10 hour shift. It's a 13 hr shift. If your driving 1+ hour for 20% extra in pay, you're probably making the same as if you stayed close and worked an extra shift.
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I never looked at it that way. That's a good point.
 
njac said:
There's benefits and downsides to everything. I've done this and it worked for where it was.

I have friends who do this at every single job and end up with the worst neighborhood myopia ever.

Why pay the $$$ to live in NYC if you never leave the upper east side? Or Chicago and never leave little Italy?
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Word. Little Italy is kinda crummy anyway.
 
45 miles each way...takes about an hour to my primary job. Soon, I'll be trading it in for a 15-20 min commute and I'm super excited to get a lot of life back not sitting in the car.
 
Daiphon said:
Word. Little Italy is kinda crummy anyway.
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Yeah, but Pilsen's pretty cool, and it's just about as close to Rush/Stroger/UIC/the VA.

When I was in Chicago my commute varied from 25min to 1.5+ hours, depending on the time of day. I hated it.

Now I put on my shoes 15 min before my shift starts and walk to work. It would take a major incentive to go back to the old way.
 
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I live 15 minutes from the hospital. it's nice for residency. When I'm done I wouldn't mind living ~30 min away to have a house with acreage and privacy.

I enjoy driving; light traffic, a couple fun 3rd gear corners, beautiful countryside and some tiesto = good pre-work routine.
 
e30ftw said:
I live 15 minutes from the hospital. it's nice for residency. When I'm done I wouldn't mind living ~30 min away to have a house with acreage and privacy.

I enjoy driving; light traffic, a couple fun 3rd gear corners, beautiful countryside and some tiesto = good pre-work routine.
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Tiesto and blackmill are the only thing that make driving bearable.
 
Less than 2 mins with only one light between me and the hospital. Kids school is 5 mins away. Family available to help with the little ones. Gym is attached to the hospital. Can get to a grocery and a drugstore without leaving the neighborhood. That may not be what everyone else is looking for but it's pretty much locational nirvana for me.
 
Unbeatable: 6 min walk. I live so close that my apt is closer than the farther out spaces of the doctors parking lot. Unfortunately, my wife wants to buy a house that will make us a 12 min walk away. I will enjoy the good times while they last.
 
Sounds like you should be!

I'm 6 miles, which takes 10-20 minutes depending on the time of day.
It's pretty sweet, really. I was a good 25 min on dark country highways and never knew when a deer would jump out, so I like my tidy commute. Doesn't hurt that I live on a lake and have a gorgeous view...
 
Moved to Seattle and took a job that is 30 min highway driving with no traffic, but up to an hour during rush hour. 26 miles one way.

After working a few years, have broken into the more local gigs. Now mostly dividing my time between a 10-15 minute commutes to 2 different hospitals. One is about 5 miles away, the other 3, but they're mostly city street driving.
 
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main site is 25 min w/o traffic, worst 45 min with (post-nights). straight up an interstate. work mostly 12's there so i go there an average of 3x/week
also work at 5 others in the same hospital system, 15-45 min away. do another 2-4 shifts at these sites a month.

i REALLY like not living in the same neighborhood as my patients... i see people wandering my neighborhood w/ my hospital system's bracelets/bags and am VERY grateful i don't work closer to home. not in a bad area but... awkward conversations as mentioned above.

also doing a temp travel internal locums for the $$, travel for chunks of time, in-state. small town so no real drive at all.


in residency in Chicago - 2.2 miles, 10 min drive, 18 min max my door to the ED (parking deck and almost 2 blocks in the hospital - idiot designed the place). PRICELESS given the amount of time i spent at the hospital. not as big of a factor now.
 
@la gringa makes a good point about not ****ting where you eat (or some variation of that phrase). I just started a new gig at a hospital 3 miles from my house. It's also affiliated with the same doctor's office our family doctor is at. I'm going to be talking with my personal family doctor about his other patients he sends to the ER, or conversely, about his patients that I want to admit.
 
la gringa said:
i REALLY like not living in the same neighborhood as my patients... i see people wandering my neighborhood w/ my hospital system's bracelets/bags and am VERY grateful i don't work closer to home.
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I agree 100% but where the heck do you live that a significant amount of your neighbors are, "wandering your neighborhood w/ hospital system bracelets/bags" with appreciable frequency?

Seriously, is your neighborhood ground zeroof the coming Zombie Apocalypse or do you just need to upgrade to McMansionville?


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I drive 30 min.

On the way to work, I actually like it. Time to shift mindset and wake up. Love listening to podcasts and other things on my way. But I have two toddlers at home and work nights

On the way home I usually wish I lived closer. Just want to be in bed.
 
Bumping this old thread for a similar question, and am curious as am starting to tentatively look into attending jobs. TH job that is 8 min/3 mile drive away for ~2.5 pph in TH environment, RVU based pay system which probably equals to ~200/hr, and is 8 or 9 hour shifts. Or other CMG (better than TH for now) that has flat hourly rate of $195+ some RVU incentive ($5-25/hr) with ~1.8 pph but is very far drive (can possibly move in the future to closer drive) at 1.5-2hour drive/85 miles, and is 12 hour shifts.
 
Everyone has to decide what’s important for them, but I would axe the 2nd one based on the 12 hour shifts alone. Not to mention the fact that you’d be losing 3-4 hrs commute time each time you worked there. Assuming 12 shifts that would be 36-48 hrs/mo—ouch!
 
Birdstrike said:
10-15 min. Love it.

Anything more than that, you have to factor into your work hours and calculate a new effective hourly pay rate. If you're on the road 1.5 hr each way for a 10 hr shift, that's not a 10 hour shift. It's a 13 hr shift. If your driving 1+ hour for 20% extra in pay, you're probably making the same as if you stayed close and worked an extra shift.
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Pardon the necro-quoting, but this is key. If the job requires a 3 hour total commute time, then it might not be lucrative enough given the time and cost of the commute...
 
12 hour shifts, you want to be very, very close. Otherwise, if you work 2 days in a row, you're spending 4 hours between your shifts commuting. Don't do that.
 
I work at a couple of different places, none further away than 20 min. Used to do a place that was 1 hr+. That lasted exactly as long as my contract did.

Regarding the necrobumper's dilemma... there is no dilemma. An 85 mile commute is completely insane and should not even be considered unless there are extreme extenuating circumstances.
 
I'm 3.9mi from work. <10m commute. It's glorious and I've been enjoying it for 5 years now. I will freely admit that I don't always expect to be this close to work but damn is it nice while it lasts.

If you have long commutes, don't forget to add those hours into your hourly rate as that is time you aren't getting paid. Anything over an hour would be a deal breaker for me. I tried that working 12h shifts at an ED an hour away and it was horrible.

I prefer 10h shifts but we currently work 9h.
 
I love my commute. 17-22 minutes depending on which vehicle I use.

Great roads, hairpin corners, lake views, little to no traffic, rarely have to stop at a light from door to door.

Super fun or relaxing ride depending on the ride.

Do I take the vintage bike, the fast bike, the modified BMW, or the new comfy manual trans TRD Tacoma?

Been taking the truck a lot lately but today took the fast bike, definitely the best part of my day cause the shift f$%kin sucked.
 
TrumpetDoc said:
Wondering if those who have a sizeable commute to work can shout ot their distance/times per one way?

While my primary gig is local, I part time at a facility that is a few hours one-way. While I know that is a bit much, I have met a few folks here that say they travel 1.75-2 hours one way to their full time gig. That seems a bit much..wondering how many people do similar and are happy with that?
Click to expand...

Having a short drive home is nice. So is not seeing your patients at Wal-Mart.

In the end, some jobs fall into a category where you're probably going to end up working at several different locations during your career. EM is one of them. It's neither financially wise, nor good for family stability to constantly be paying realtors and moving companies to move around. Pick the place you want to live, settle down, and go to work where you need to.

It's just as likely that you'll move somewhere for a job and then have a new CMG come in and tell you "I am altering the deal, pray I don't alter it any further" as moving somewhere you want to live and then finding local employment some years later.
 
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Primary site is a twenty minute bike ride, ten minute drive in winter. I have this far avoided working at the secondary site, which is 30 minute drive.

I'd do something else if I had a longer commute unless I was working just four or five days a month. Not worth it.
 
Well it depends if you are doing shift work which we all are it depends on what days I can have available and the money I can make. one shop is 1.5 hour comments but I block my shifts and stay in a hotel which the CMG pays for they also pay for gas and miles. I also make my schedule so for example the month of April I work no nights

The other two hospitals I work at are 20-40 min depending on traffic

When I’m not working I don’t use my car as resturants, grocery stores, gym, bank, movie theater is only a 5 min walk from my place.
 
It takes me about fifteen to twenty minutes driving to get to one hospital and probably seven minutes to get to the other.
 
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