Lifestyle of Doctors

[crystal02]

Of all the specialties, which are the most conducive to family life? By that I mean being a wife, mother, working fewer hours (40-60?) and less crazy hours? I've heard emergency medicine...true? Others?

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[Legend]

family doctor

 

[Cobragirl]

I'm certainly not an expert opinion since I'm only a first-year student, but I can tell you that I have, so far, identified Dermatology, Urology, Opthalmology and Family Practice as fairly "family friendly". Unfortunately, the first three (I'm not sure about Urology) are EXTREMELY competitive residencies to land. They are competitive because they provide the most income for the least amount of work (relatively speaking, of course). I'm sure there are other specialties that would fit the bill...but I'm not that informed myself, yet! You can do a search on-line or even here on SDN to find out more info on specific residencies....because you have to land the residency to GET that specialty!

 

[Jim Picotte]

Urology is extremely competitive. I'll add to the list of "family friendly" Radiology, Anesthesiology, some of the subspecialties of Internal Medicine (Allergy, Endocrinology, Rheum), and pediatrics isn't too bad. After residency there are many specialties that would allow you to work a 40-60 hour week (even surgery) you'll just have to give up some cash.

 

[lemarck_2000]

Psychiatry is nice. You can work from 8 am to 4pm and not do hospital work. If your patient needs to be in the hospital, the case temporarily gets assigned to an attending that does hospital work. You don't have to take crisis calls, you can refer patients to the ER. I have friends that do all of this. They don't take crisis calls at all, not even during work hours.

 

[Papa Smurf]

If you actually want a life outside of medicine, go with Derm. But you'll have to kick ass in med school, do research, get AOA, rock Step 1 of the USMLE (245+), do a bunch of other stuff, and you might match. The lifestyle is what makes it competitive. Fairly easy residency once you're in, 40 hrs/week for life, No call, low stress, great pay, Medical nirvana essentially.

Stay away from EM if you want a good family life. Burnout is very high. You get sued more than you'd care to think about, and it's pretty high stress. Very high risk, and not worth the pay IMHO.

Optho isn't nearly as popular as it used to be, but it's still competitive. Primary reason that it's a little less competitive now is probably decreasing reimbursements (moreso than most specialties), and cannabalization of certain procedures by optometrists. These cats used to make serious bank back in the 80's. I'm talking 500K, now it's maybe 40% of that for most, which is still a hell of a lot of money, but I guess most were just used to that kinda cash flow. Family life is pretty good.

FP can be family friendly. Can also have long hours. Really depends on your patient base. Pay is pretty low cause you're not doing any procedures, so Medicare, medicaid, and all the other insurers like to crap on you.

 

[brandonite]

All of the family friendly specialties are very competitive. I suppose after four years of med school, people are looking for a bit of a more normal life. Well, family practice isn't competitive... Anyway, coming from a math/physics background, I'm leaning towards radiology, which means that getting a residency spot is worrying, to say the least...

Anyway, I think one of the best things about medicine is the flexibility it provides. If you only want to work 3 days a week, you can do that (if you set up your own practice). If you want to work 9-5, that's fine too. The thing is that most doctors tend to be incredibly hard working and ambitious, so most of them don't even think about cutting back. Save surgery, I think you can have a reasonable lifestyle in medicine if you make that choice....

 

[Mystique]

Check your PM, crystal02.

 

[pj02007]

i think orthopedic surgery would be good. its pay is as high as heart surgeon and there are lots of private practice opportunities, but the residensy is much shorter.
and with the higher pay you can retire quicker or invest in real estate or open your own business. also with this specialty you can take interesting assignments, such as working with sports teams or going on everest expeditions, perhaps make a partnership with some adventure firms..

 

[zora]

dermatology is by far the most conducive for family life---however you need to kick ass in medschool as other posts have mentioned.You essentially enjoy a 9-5p work week...

 

[Trek]

You can pretty much tailor any specialty into a "family friendly" affair if you want. It depends more on where and with whom you're working- no one MAKES surgeons work 80 hour weeks, but many can triple their income over a 40 hour week, and so put in the extra time. It depends if you're willing to get paid less to enjoy more family time. If you're really interested in surgery, there's no point working 40 hours per week in something you hate --Trek

 

[Sonya]

LEt's add ENT to competitive and nice schedule.

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

Trek,

I disagree with your statement that you can tailor any profession to make it family friendly. As one example, when surgeons come out of residency and are looking for a position, most will enter a group. There are very very few groups that will hire you to work 40 hour weeks! They are all working long hours and taking call and expect you to do the same. In fact, many junior members of groups work the longest hours! I think part of the problem is the nature of surgery. After spending 8 hours in the OR, they still have to manage patients in the hospital and take call because there are many surgical emergencies. If you decide to start a solo practice (almost unheard of these days except in rural areas), your hours are worse because you are on call all the time and manage all of your own emergencies.

 

[Trek]

WBC- you're right- i was looking at it more from the "established practitioner" side- like my uncle who's been in the game a while and has worked towards lowering his workload. What do most groups expect newer surgeons to work (hour wise)?? --Trek

 

[crystal02]

Thank you all. Very helpful!!

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

Trek,

Honestly, I can't give a great answer to how many hours they are expected to work. It also varies by hospital and type of practice somewhat. From what I have seen at a private hospital and a university hospital, the attendings surgeons work about 10-12 hours on weekdays when not on call. They then take call (from home except some trauma attendings) about 1 weekday a week and 1 weekend a month. So this ends up being 50-60 regular hours plus a night of call (which could mean 10 hours of surgery or just a few calls), plus a weekend of call (which could mean a weekend of hell or just an appendectomy or two. I would think this averages out to 65-75 hours of work per week. Better than residency, but still a lot of hours.

Although I haven't seen it first hand, I have heard from a couple of good sources that a lot of groups expect new members to take call more often than the senior members of the group.