Is fellowship less time consuming than residency?

[Hemichordate]

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I know the amount of time that you have to work varies by program, but in general, do you have more free time in fellowship compared to residency? And are the hours much closer to that of the attendings?

 

[4424]

Highly dependent on the fellowship. I can only speak for surgical retina--no, fellowship is much busier than residency. It's a good busy though since it's what I want to do but there are no ACGME hour restrictions like in residency and I'm on call every other week for 2 years. Depending on the number of fellows the program has, call can be very busy.

 

[MstaKing10]

Really varies. Most residencies have relatively equal call given ACGME requirements but there is no such requirement for fellowships, nor is there work hour restrictions. Thus, depending on the fellowship type and set up, can be much busier than residency. That said, some fellowships (ie. path or oncology and others) are much less busy and they probably don't even take call. So, no good answer to your question. Might be better if you specifically asked what type of fellowship (cornea, glaucoma, peds, retina etc).

 

[Hemichordate]

Specifically I was wondering about retina and oculoplastic fellowship lifestyle. Anyone know about those two?

 

[MR1]

Yes in general both of those are busier. Again it depends. Some residencies are not bad and others very busy. Same goes for fellowship. Again though most are busier

 

[orbitsurgMD]

How busy you are will vary by the fellowship. Mine was very busy: 6:00 am weekday rounds on the consultation service, followed by 7:30 a.m. surgery in the O.R. and afternoon clinics, then late rounding (I covered seven hospitals, including one very busy level 1 trauma center.) My fellowship year was nearly as busy as my surgery internship year.