My partner plans to apply to a radiology residency program. I was hoping that someone might share personal stories/experiences related to what life is like as a radiology resident. I asked an Internal Medicine physician who said that radiology residents have a balanced life as a resident. That IM residents had much more overnight call hours. I asked a radiologist and he said that once my partner begins the program that I will never see her again because of program demands. He stressed that radiology is one of the hardest programs with lots of overnight call - which of course makes me very anxious. I was under the impression that a radiology career provided work-life balance (little call and normal hours). Is this a myth?
Life as a radiology resident
- Thread starter Bill08
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The answer, both for residency and afterwards, is, "it depends." If she's in a program with two or three residents a year, then she'll be taking a painful amount of weekend and overnight call. If her program has ten residents a year, it won't be as bad. There is a lot of variation between programs. In general the non-call days are more reasonable in terms of the time you come in and the you leave. It's a bit easier to control than it can be in other specialties.
Out in practice, I guess there are some people who work all weekday hours and don't take call. But that doesn't describe the majority of radiologists. Read through a few threads here and you'll see why some feel the description of radiology as a "lifestyle" specialty is a bit overblown. You are still working as a physician and work more hours than some and less than others. Of course, it's still the best specialty regardless.
Out in practice, I guess there are some people who work all weekday hours and don't take call. But that doesn't describe the majority of radiologists. Read through a few threads here and you'll see why some feel the description of radiology as a "lifestyle" specialty is a bit overblown. You are still working as a physician and work more hours than some and less than others. Of course, it's still the best specialty regardless.
thank you for your reply. what you write makes sense. I did take your advice and read through some of the other threads. I'm prepared (as much as I can be at this point) to support her decision. I'm fearing the unknown. In reading the other threads (even outside of the radiology thread) the theme that resonated the most with me is you have to love what you are doing...As long as she's following her passion I'm all for it. Thanks!
