Lifestyle/schedule question

[Medic741]

Hello all, just secured a psychiatry pathway clinical rotation for M3 year (yay!) and had a question for anyone who's willing to answer what might be a stupid question.

Realizing I have a genuine interest in psych. Life goals are to have a good work life balance with time to travel to mountain bike and climb. The kind of climbing I enjoy requires a week block of time to go to the mountains, not die and then come back with all limbs attached. Worked as a paramedic before med school, had a huge number of psych/addiction encounters and realizing it was a pt population I'm really interested in working with.

Does psych offer employment opportunities like IM with week on/week off schedules or opportunities to bargain for less $$$ and more time off when signing a contract?

Again, apologies that I have *no idea* how that process works. Any advice on what the psych lifestyle is like is enormously appreciated.

EDIT: I've read through a lot of threads on this subforum and found them really helpful when an interest in psych was sparked, thanks for reading this first post here!

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[Mass Effect]

Yes, there are a lot of psych jobs that are 7 days on/7 days off if you go by all the recruitment emails I'm getting. If you want work/life balance, you can't go wrong with psych.

 

[lyla]

Yes, there are a lot of psych jobs that are 7 days on/7 days off if you go by all the recruitment emails I'm getting. If you want work/life balance, you can't go wrong with psych.

Yeah but they may not be in the location the OP is looking for

 

[Stagg737]

Yeah but they may not be in the location the OP is looking for

True, but nothing's really stopping OP from having their own outpt PP and setting their own schedule. Still very doable in psych.

 

[XannyBarz]

Yes, there are a lot of psych jobs that are 7 days on/7 days off if you go by all the recruitment emails I'm getting. If you want work/life balance, you can't go wrong with psych.

what are they offering for that kind of set up

 

[Ironspy]

what are they offering for that kind of set up

These pay well in general as they require you to work every other weekend which a lot of psychiatrists do not want to do. Exact pay varies by region

 

[Armadillos]

Personally I wouldn’t consider working long days (often with some home call as well) 7 on 7 off to be a good lifestyle job as far as psych goes.

The lifestyle jobs are more like 4 days a week, never on call, no weekends/holidays, but you do take a pay cut for those sort of jobs bc your working less.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Personally I wouldn’t consider working long days (often with some home call as well) 7 on 7 off to be a good lifestyle job as far as psych goes.

The lifestyle jobs are more like 4 days a week, never on call, no weekends/holidays, but you do take a pay cut for those sort of jobs bc your working less.

Doesn’t have to be less money. I’m trying to hire an outpatient, no call, no weekend C&A psych that is roughly M-Th 8-6:30 for pretty good pay.

 

[ridethecliche]

Doesn’t have to be less money. I’m trying to hire an outpatient, no call, no weekend C&A psych that is roughly M-Th 8-6:30 for pretty good pay.

Sign me up in five years!

 

[Mass Effect]

Yeah but they may not be in the location the OP is looking for

These exist all over the country.

what are they offering for that kind of set up

I didn't apply so I can't say.

 

[clozareal]

Yes definitely. I've seen offers of 9 days per month inpatient at for 16 hours each day for $300k/year with full benefits including 401k. I've also seen outpatient jobs where you get 9 vacation weeks per year, which although it's not every other week off, may be enough to satisfy your traveling/climbing needs. These are also in that range of salary. PM me if you want more info.

Private practice is also an option, but you might need to be available by phone or be part of a group where someone covers any phone calls with scheduling or medication refill requests.

 

[Dharma]

Hello all, just secured a psychiatry pathway clinical rotation for M3 year (yay!) and had a question for anyone who's willing to answer what might be a stupid question.

Realizing I have a genuine interest in psych. Life goals are to have a good work life balance with time to travel to mountain bike and climb. The kind of climbing I enjoy requires a week block of time to go to the mountains, not die and then come back with all limbs attached. Worked as a paramedic before med school, had a huge number of psych/addiction encounters and realizing it was a pt population I'm really interested in working with.

Does psych offer employment opportunities like IM with week on/week off schedules or opportunities to bargain for less $$$ and more time off when signing a contract?

Again, apologies that I have *no idea* how that process works. Any advice on what the psych lifestyle is like is enormously appreciated.

EDIT: I've read through a lot of threads on this subforum and found them really helpful when an interest in psych was sparked, thanks for reading this first post here!

Read the following thread: help...struggling with feeling ok in psychiatry

 

[NontradCA]

OP thinking 6 years down the road. This is an issue with medicine training. Are we all so really brainwashed? You should be focusing on living a good life now and making good use of your 20s that you will NEVER get back. You should be focusing on how to do good on your rotations, how to build good relationships. Because thinking of choosing a specialty based on 6 years from now is a fools game.

 

[Medic741]

Yes definitely. I've seen offers of 9 days per month inpatient at for 16 hours each day for $300k/year with full benefits including 401k. I've also seen outpatient jobs where you get 9 vacation weeks per year, which although it's not every other week off, may be enough to satisfy your traveling/climbing needs. These are also in that range of salary. PM me if you want more info.

Private practice is also an option, but you might need to be available by phone or be part of a group where someone covers any phone calls with scheduling or medication refill requests.

This is really good to hear, thank you everyone for the replies, I really appreciate it! Needed to know that there was some light at the end of the tunnel & wanted to put some feelers out as to whether psych could be a good lifestyle fit and it sounds like there's a resounding yes. Clozareal, I might take you up on that PM.

And if you don't mind a follow-on question, I'm an Army HPSP student and would love to connect with anyone who was a military psychiatrist, knows a military psych etc. if this rings a bell and you don't mind reaching out I'd be hugely appreciative

Finally... any insight as to whether military experience would be a negative after separation and looking for jobs?

Very grateful for everyone's time!! Thank you!!

 

[mymembernames]

Read the following thread: help...struggling with feeling ok in psychiatry

Why so?

 

[XannyBarz]

Why so?

Talks bout somebody who doesn’t think they are a real doctor anymore because they went into psych

 

[Shufflin]

Talks bout somebody who doesn’t think they are a real doctor anymore because they went into psych

Someone who doesn’t think they are a real doctor means, among other things, that they're not studying hard enough. Take my consultation-liaison psychiatry textbook... it's 5 inches thick.

 

[XannyBarz]

Someone who doesn’t think they are a real doctor means they're not studying hard enough. Take my consultation-liaison psychiatry textbook... it's 5 inches thick.

Yeah I was just giving the TLDR of the linked thread. Guy in the post said he doesn’t think he makes an actual difference in his patients’ lives and basically laments going into psych

 

[OldPsychDoc]

...
And if you don't mind a follow-on question, I'm an Army HPSP student and would love to connect with anyone who was a military psychiatrist, knows a military psych etc. if this rings a bell and you don't mind reaching out I'd be hugely appreciative

Finally... any insight as to whether military experience would be a negative after separation and looking for jobs?...

Definitely not. I know well two great psychiatrists (in private sector, not VA, either) with past military careers, and also subsequent deployments with Reserves/Guard after beginning attending jobs. I think that their experience is seen as a plus, not a negative.

 

[Dharma]

.. it's 5 inches thick.

Stop bragging

 

[Dharma]

Why so?

Worthy read for anyone thinking about psychiatry especially when I hear "lifestyle" being a major draw.