How Much Do You Have to work as an MD

[MaximLA]

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Hi, I am interested in finding out if it is possible to be a specialist or a primary care physician and work normal hours like other professions such as 8-5 M-F or something. Which specialists demand less hours because I am very interested in being a Doctor yet I do not wish to become a manic who looses his family because he spends his whole life at work. Can anyone tell me about the different work schedule possibilities?????

 

[DrBowtie]

One word: Dermatology.

On a side note, you can virtually work any hours for any specialty if you are willing to sacrifice pay.

 

[MaximLA]

One word: Dermatology.

On a side note, you can virtually work any hours for any specialty if you are willing to sacrifice pay.

Say you are a cardiologist who works 40 hrs a week how much can you make?

 

[synapse lapse]

you can work as many hours as you want. Depending on your specialty, you may or may not make decent money doing so. If you really want good money with little work, go into dentistry or pharm. Dentistry is ideal, you can make 150k plus and work 30 hours a week. If you were a cardiologist working 40 hours a week I am sure you would make over $100k, but the problem is that as a doctor (well, depending on specialty) your responsibility extends beyond your "office hours". Anyhow, you can always be a radiologist, work from home, and make a killing. Or you can do any of the number of specialties that give you great freedom in practice (Anaesthesia is great for some people, you can "freelance" and make a lot working almost none at all. Derm is a nother great field, and family practice has good hours, little pay. Almost anything you do 40 hours a week is gonna pay atleast $100k, so its not that big a deal.

 

[Mike59]

The best fields for such hours are:

Derm
Pathology
Radiology
Anesthesia (if you're in the right job)
Psychiatry


To have completely predictable 9-5 in other fields comes with a sacrifice in salary though. You can do it through Family Practice, Internal Med (after residency) or even some specialties but you'll be sacrificing major $$$, especially if you don't take call for a group or have privileges in the hospital.

 

[efex101]

I have never ever heard of cardiologist just working the 40 hour work week...actually they tell me that there are hours are very similar to some surgical specialties so beware. The only folks that I know of that have the nice hours are derm/optho/psychiatry and possibly anesthesia...not sure about rads for some work very long hours depending on if they are interventional versus not. You can always go part-time but still may need to spend days working past five and then you may have days completely off. Medicine is probably not the best profession for someone that really wants the 40 hr/week hours. I do hear of many folks talking about short hours but for the most part first you have to get through residency which is for sure not 40 hrs/week but double that, and then as a new grad you have to find a 40hr/week job which IMHO will not be that easy. Also, those specialties mentioned are pretty competitive and until you actually start medical school, take the boards, and apply you have no idea if you will even get one of those. Not trying to be negative but just realistic.

 

[MeowMix]

I don't know any well-paid professional in any field who works 40 hours a week in a full-time job, except maybe a dentist or two with a well-established practice. Most engineers, managers, professors, scientists, etc. work more than that.

Bear in mind that if you're like most residents, you will have enough student debt that money will drive some of your decisions, and you may find yourself working all kinds of hours to pay off that $200,000.

 

[efex101]

So true, also unless you have a lot of $$$ to start your own solo practice right out of residency I do not see how someone new can possibly join a practice and demand the easy workweek usually the partners that have been there longer will be the ones with less call and whatnot...even if you start your own practice you *first* have to build up your patient base which can take years and you may be facing an uphill battle if you are only working from 8-5...remember that before and after you see your patients there is a TON of paperwork to do so if you wanted the 8-5 it means that you would more than likely have to open around 9 or 10 and close shop around 3-4...not very conducive to building up a practice. I gues the only for sure 8-5 would be working with your local health department...

 

[LMNOPeter]

And also keep in mind that if you go into any medical specialty, you have to go through residency, which is definitely not 40 hours a week and lasts for several years. Dentistry/Pharm don't have that requirement. I'm going into psych, generally considered the most benign residency. In psych, you can work M-F 8-5 and earn about $120-140K.

 

[Andrew_Doan]

Hi, I am interested in finding out if it is possible to be a specialist or a primary care physician and work normal hours like other professions such as 8-5 M-F or something. Which specialists demand less hours because I am very interested in being a Doctor yet I do not wish to become a manic who looses his family because he spends his whole life at work. Can anyone tell me about the different work schedule possibilities?????

It all depends on how much money you want to make.

Most students do not realize that physicians need to be entreprenurial in private practice. Private practice physicians must keep their overhead low, and profit margins high.

If you're happy making less, then you can work 8-5 M-F. Most physicians get stuck in the rat race of buying big houses, expensive cars, and fancy toys, which requires a high influx of income. This cycle of spending prevents physicians from working less hours, particularly when Medicare and insurance reimbursements are lowered.

The key to making money in medicine is offering procedures. As an ophthalmologist, I can afford to work 4 days a week if I can offer quick, effective procedures for patients.

In private practice, you make what you put into it. So if you're happy with less, then you can work less. If you want more, then you must work more. It's your choice.

 

[skypilot]

There is also the opportunity to do locum tenens (temp doctor). My sister has been doing this for many years. She only works about 9 months out of every year. She works pretty hard when she is working but the company supplies her with a car and an apartment gratis!

There are plenty of FP opportunities with approximately 40-50 hours of work a week. The use of hospitalists has made FP pretty attractive for those who want a more sane lifestyle.

 

[Sureshot83]

You've gotta consider emergency medicine. Though each shift is kinda long (maybe 10-12 hours), you can schedule as many as you want. Obviously, you get paid more if you do more shifts, but I think an average number is about 12-15 per month, which gives you a pretty high salary.

My school has an EM interest club and there was a doctor from our hospital's EM department who came in and give a talk to the first and second years about the field, and all this info came from his talk.

 

[YouDontKnowJack]

And also keep in mind that if you go into any medical specialty, you have to go through residency, which is definitely not 40 hours a week and lasts for several years. Dentistry/Pharm don't have that requirement. I'm going into psych, generally considered the most benign residency. In psych, you can work M-F 8-5 and earn about $120-140K.

so how many psychopaths do you need to see to make that kind of money?

 

[deuist]

so how many psychopaths do you need to see to make that kind of money?

Only the rich ones in South Florida or Southern California.

 

[MaximLA]

You've gotta consider emergency medicine. Though each shift is kinda long (maybe 10-12 hours), you can schedule as many as you want. Obviously, you get paid more if you do more shifts, but I think an average number is about 12-15 per month, which gives you a pretty high salary.

My school has an EM interest club and there was a doctor from our hospital's EM department who came in and give a talk to the first and second years about the field, and all this info came from his talk.

I have heard that being an ER doctor is extremely demanding, here you say that you can work 40 hrs a week. Is this not including being on call?

 

[DrBowtie]

I have heard that being an ER doctor is extremely demanding, here you say that you can work 40 hrs a week. Is this not including being on call?

ER has no call. Once you leave the hospital you have no pts. They are turned over to the next doc.

 

[MaximLA]

ER has no call. Once you leave the hospital you have no pts. They are turned over to the next doc.

So it seems that althought u might have a schedule that is a bit weird...it will be within the range of 40-50 hrs a weekas an ER doctor?

 

[NRAI2001]

Would it be possible just to get a job (with kaiser, a hospital, as an employee in someone elses practice.....etc) and not have ur own practice and work those hrs? Then you could probably choose ur hours to be less.

I m sure if u want ur own private practice u ll need to work more than 40 hrs a week just to stay afloat.

 

[Lonestar]

I can shed some light into this for you'all. First of all, I am a second year anesthesia resident. Just so you know where I am coming from. OK, lets get to some business.

Most specialties in medicine can work 9-5 with cut in pay. Some, however, exceed others. The aforementioned ROAD specialties are very popular (Radiology, Optho, Anesthesiology, Dermatology). You can make a good living in these specialties with very little work (35-45 hrs/wk). I'll give example of anesthesia since i know the most about it.

Anesthesia: if you want work 40 hrs/wk, you can with surgery centers. There are multiple surgery centers popping up everyday as we speak. you would bring home around 250K depending on the practice. some pay for malpractice while others don't. some offer partnership, some donot. most have hours from 7am to 3 pm. few have 9am to 5 pm. most surgery centers you would be supervising nurse anesthetists. some you would be doing everything. if you want to be clinically inclined, you can do everything; if you don't, then you can have an "administrator" type of job and just chill out. Now here comes the hard part; in order to get to this, you have to go through residency. In anesthesiology, residency averages 60-65 hrs/wk with taking call around once a week with going home at 7 am post call. so unlike dentistry, you have to suck it up and go through residency. In the plus side, if you work 55 hrs/wk (1 call every 7-10 days) your income goes up significantly. Partnership in anesthesia is usally 2 yrs after residency. Partners are averaging around 300-350K with 401K retirment plans, malpractice paid, etc in these practices. Hope this helps.

 

[Sureshot83]

I can shed some light into this for you'all. First of all, I am a second year anesthesia resident. Just so you know where I am coming from. OK, lets get to some business.

Most specialties in medicine can work 9-5 with cut in pay. Some, however, exceed others. The aforementioned ROAD specialties are very popular (Radiology, Optho, Anesthesiology, Dermatology). You can make a good living in these specialties with very little work (35-45 hrs/wk). I'll give example of anesthesia since i know the most about it.

Anesthesia: if you want work 40 hrs/wk, you can with surgery centers. There are multiple surgery centers popping up everyday as we speak. you would bring home around 250K depending on the practice. some pay for malpractice while others don't. some offer partnership, some donot. most have hours from 7am to 3 pm. few have 9am to 5 pm. most surgery centers you would be supervising nurse anesthetists. some you would be doing everything. if you want to be clinically inclined, you can do everything; if you don't, then you can have an "administrator" type of job and just chill out. Now here comes the hard part; in order to get to this, you have to go through residency. In anesthesiology, residency averages 60-65 hrs/wk with taking call around once a week with going home at 7 am post call. so unlike dentistry, you have to suck it up and go through residency. In the plus side, if you work 55 hrs/wk (1 call every 7-10 days) your income goes up significantly. Partnership in anesthesia is usally 2 yrs after residency. Partners are averaging around 300-350K with 401K retirment plans, malpractice paid, etc in these practices. Hope this helps.

Wow, anesthesiology sounds like a pretty good deal.

Damn it, there are so many different specialties, how are you supposed to know which one to pick? 😛 Whatever happened to the good old days when there was only one type of "doctor" and no one had to worry about all these specialties and subspecialties....

 

[humuhumu]

I can shed some light into this for you'all. First of all, I am a second year anesthesia resident. Just so you know where I am coming from. OK, lets get to some business.

Most specialties in medicine can work 9-5 with cut in pay. Some, however, exceed others. The aforementioned ROAD specialties are very popular (Radiology, Optho, Anesthesiology, Dermatology). You can make a good living in these specialties with very little work (35-45 hrs/wk). I'll give example of anesthesia since i know the most about it.

Anesthesia: if you want work 40 hrs/wk, you can with surgery centers. There are multiple surgery centers popping up everyday as we speak. you would bring home around 250K depending on the practice. some pay for malpractice while others don't. some offer partnership, some donot. most have hours from 7am to 3 pm. few have 9am to 5 pm. most surgery centers you would be supervising nurse anesthetists. some you would be doing everything. if you want to be clinically inclined, you can do everything; if you don't, then you can have an "administrator" type of job and just chill out. Now here comes the hard part; in order to get to this, you have to go through residency. In anesthesiology, residency averages 60-65 hrs/wk with taking call around once a week with going home at 7 am post call. so unlike dentistry, you have to suck it up and go through residency. In the plus side, if you work 55 hrs/wk (1 call every 7-10 days) your income goes up significantly. Partnership in anesthesia is usally 2 yrs after residency. Partners are averaging around 300-350K with 401K retirment plans, malpractice paid, etc in these practices. Hope this helps.

Great info. I'm curious -- at what age do anesthesiologists typically retire? Seems like they tend to be young -- the oldest one I've met is in his 50's. Maybe it's just a biased sample. On the other hand, maybe it's technically more challenging to practice anesthesiology as you get older, compared to say, neurology or radiology?

 

[skypilot]

Great info. I'm curious -- at what age do anesthesiologists typically retire? Seems like they tend to be young -- the oldest one I've met is in his 50's. Maybe it's just a biased sample. On the other hand, maybe it's technically more challenging to practice anesthesiology as you get older, compared to say, neurology or radiology?

I am curious about this too as it may be relevant to my situation. 🙂

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

ER has no call. Once you leave the hospital you have no pts. They are turned over to the next doc.

People act as if this is some absolute truth, but it really depends on the hospital you work at. At the hospital where I work, there is always an ER doc on call in case things get really heavy. Now for him/her to actually be called in, the moon has to align with the sun and the big dipper for enough trauma to necessitate calling in the extra doc, but it is possible.

 

[NRAI2001]

I can shed some light into this for you'all. First of all, I am a second year anesthesia resident. Just so you know where I am coming from. OK, lets get to some business.

Most specialties in medicine can work 9-5 with cut in pay. Some, however, exceed others. The aforementioned ROAD specialties are very popular (Radiology, Optho, Anesthesiology, Dermatology). You can make a good living in these specialties with very little work (35-45 hrs/wk). I'll give example of anesthesia since i know the most about it.

Anesthesia: if you want work 40 hrs/wk, you can with surgery centers. There are multiple surgery centers popping up everyday as we speak. you would bring home around 250K depending on the practice. some pay for malpractice while others don't. some offer partnership, some donot. most have hours from 7am to 3 pm. few have 9am to 5 pm. most surgery centers you would be supervising nurse anesthetists. some you would be doing everything. if you want to be clinically inclined, you can do everything; if you don't, then you can have an "administrator" type of job and just chill out. Now here comes the hard part; in order to get to this, you have to go through residency. In anesthesiology, residency averages 60-65 hrs/wk with taking call around once a week with going home at 7 am post call. so unlike dentistry, you have to suck it up and go through residency. In the plus side, if you work 55 hrs/wk (1 call every 7-10 days) your income goes up significantly. Partnership in anesthesia is usally 2 yrs after residency. Partners are averaging around 300-350K with 401K retirment plans, malpractice paid, etc in these practices. Hope this helps.

To do the supervising of centers, would u need an mba or business experience?

 

[akpete]

People act as if this is some absolute truth, but it really depends on the hospital you work at. At the hospital where I work, there is always an ER doc on call in case things get really heavy. Now for him/her to actually be called in, the moon has to align with the sun and the big dipper for enough trauma to necessitate calling in the extra doc, but it is possible.

I second this. It depends completely on where you are. For example, at my small hometown hospital (town population is 3000, serving ~3 town area), the general practice docs run the clinic, the er, and are the docs for the in-patient hospital. They see patients all day long and take turns doing the overnight, and I think a 2nd one is on call at home. Keep this in mind for rural medicine.