Income during Residency

[BobBarker]

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Went to an ER club luncheon this afternoon. The doc was talking about the program at my home institution, and somebody asked about moonlighting. She said they highly encourage it and in fact her last two years of residency she cleared 150K in income, so approximately 110K extra from moonlighting. In gas do the residents get much of an opportunity to make some extra cash? I remember someone posting that at OU they paid their interns $70 per hour for every hour past 3PM..

 

[amyl]

oklahoma and virginia commonwealth both pay $70 after 3pm.... cleveland clinic pays $80 past 5 pm... alabama (don't remember specifics). kentucky pays $40 per hour for friday night call. i recall uthouston and scott and white also had moonlighting opportunities.

 

[Jeff05]

topic recently covered. do a search.

 

[buckhorn]

Went to an ER club luncheon this afternoon. The doc was talking about the program at my home institution, and somebody asked about moonlighting. She said they highly encourage it and in fact her last two years of residency she cleared 150K in income, so approximately 110K extra from moonlighting. In gas do the residents get much of an opportunity to make some extra cash? I remember someone posting that at OU they paid their interns $70 per hour for every hour past 3PM..

ER residency is tailor made for making money moonlighting. If you only have to work to 12-15 12hour shifts per month you can find plenty of time off to moonlight around the shifts. Anesthesia Resident will be unlikely to make as much as an ER resident could. You need to check the programs policy on moonlighting since many places frown on moonlighting. The hours you spend moonlighting count in toward the work hour rules that say you can't work more than 80 hours per week. That great gig covering the ER in a tiny hospital all night long or all weekend long, I.E. sleeping for dollars, where you seldom do much work, will easily put you over the 80 hour rule and get the chairman upset unless you keep it a secret.

 

[Winged Scapula]

ER residency is tailor made for making money moonlighting. If you only have to work to 12-15 12hour shifts per month you can find plenty of time off to moonlight around the shifts. Anesthesia Resident will be unlikely to make as much as an ER resident could. You need to check the programs policy on moonlighting since many places frown on moonlighting. The hours you spend moonlighting count in toward the work hour rules that say you can't work more than 80 hours per week. That great gig covering the ER in a tiny hospital all night long or all weekend long, I.E. sleeping for dollars, where you seldom do much work, will easily put you over the 80 hour rule and get the chairman upset unless you keep it a secret.

Actually the hours worked moonlighting only count toward the 80 hrs if they are in a hospital affiliated with your program.

Programs may very well make it a stipulation of your contract that you cannot moonlight at all (even on vacation or weekends off, as mine did), but they cannot count those hours toward the work restriction unless you are at your home hospital or other affiliated ones.

But yeah, easy to moonlight as an EM resident, not so easy in other fields.

 

[scotchnwater]

When I was interviewing, the ability to moonlight ranked right up there with having a night-float system and having sweet on-call rooms: they all would increase the quality of life at the program, but didn't really factor in to my overall decision-making when forming my rank list.

At one program I even had a resident warn me that "if you start chasing the almighty dollar in your spare time during residency, it'll be hard to change that mentality once you're done with your training." I kind of saw his point, although I'm sure I would undoubtedly appreciate the extra fund$ in the coming months/years...

I'd be curious to hear from someone who has a different perspective on this.

 

[Pilot Doc]

"if you start chasing the almighty dollar in your spare time during residency, it'll be hard to change that mentality once you're done with your training."

That's horse $%^&. An extra $500 goes a lot farther to a resident than an attending, particularly anybody supporting a family. To say that someone who makes $45K a year and wants to work more is "chasing the almighty dollar" is silly. The difference between a "high pay" and "low pay" attending job is gravy. The difference between moonlighting or not can mean your kid gets a backyard.

 

[amyl]

i agree with pilot doc...moonlighting figured in my rank list somewhat....all of my top choices allowed moonlighting in some way. I didn't pick my program because if it but i am not sure it would have been first if it wasn't an option. the flexibility is nice. if you are burnt out or need to study then you don't... but if you want a nice vacation, an extra loan payment, special christmas gift or whatever the opportunity is there if you want it.... if someone is going to pay you more thats better. the extra $ can add up quick...like pilot doc said a little extra money can make a huge difference in QOL for a resident/their family...

 

[scotchnwater]

I'm not saying I wouldn't appreciate/use/need the extra money (I even said so in my first post on the matter) - we can always use the money. My point was that - and I believe AmyL agreed to a certain extent - in the end the moonlighting wasn't a make-or-break deal for deciding between residency programs.

It's easy to be dazzled by the earning potential when you're finishing up third year and even through your first few interviews. But in the end (in my experience and opinion) moonlighting drops down in importance to other factors, including location and the needs of family/significant others.

For someone in the process of deciding where to apply next year, I think that information is helpful.

 

[Pilot Doc]

My point was that - and I believe AmyL agreed to a certain extent - in the end the moonlighting wasn't a make-or-break deal for deciding between residency programs.

I'd agree with that - except for the situation of someone with multiple kids and a stay at home spouse - anyone who makes moonlighting a big priority in picking a program does have some questionable priorities.

 

[Bertelman]

I'd agree with that - except for the situation of someone with multiple kids and a stay at home spouse - anyone who makes moonlighting a big priority in picking a program does have some questionable priorities.

Count me in that category.

I wouldn't say it was a major factor in my decision, but miraculously, 3/4 of my top picks offered moonlighting. That said, I wouldn't have made my rank list any differently by ignoring moonlighting. And having said that, I'm VERY glad I ended up at a place offering moonlighting.

 

[Leverage]

I hardly think optimizing your financial situation falls into a questionable priority.

 

[Pilot Doc]

I hardly think optimizing your financial situation falls into a questionable priority.

Favoring a mediocre program with great moonlighting over a great program with mediocre moonlighting is questionable unless you have a big family. Likewise being close to your family, etc.

Using moonlighting as a tiebreaker between otherwise equal programs is fine.