light call?

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Nestle

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Hi - which specialties are known to have "easier" residencies - I mean lighter call, better hours?

thanks

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Let's see,

pathology
dermatology
ophthamology

that's all I can think of at the moment...
 
Originally posted by womansurg
Let's see,

pathology
dermatology
ophthamology

that's all I can think of at the moment...

Radiology
 
infectious disease
 
Infectious disease is a fellowship done after internal medicine residency, so we can't count that...

I don't know about radiology residents, but our radiology docs work their butts off on call - usually in the hospital the entire night long reading CTs and xrays on trauma and ED patients.

Family med has a lot of outpatient, so it's probably pretty cushy.

Emergency med has shift work, which is nice. They rotate a lot off service so have to take surgery and IM call some on their first couple years.
 
Hey....what's the definition of a dermatologic emergency?


A doctor's wife with a rash.

(hehe)
 
is a PM&R residency crazy, light, or in between?
thanx,
EMW
 
Originally posted by williestyle81
is a PM&R residency crazy, light, or in between?
thanx,
EMW
And we have a winner, folks.

PM&R! What call could possibly be easier? What the hell is a rehab emergency?

<<<rrriiiiiiiinngg>>>>

"Hello, doctor? We'd like a stat competency evaluation, please. Yes, I know it's 3 o:clock in the morning, but we'd like to get started as soon as possible. Could you come in right away?"
 
Originally posted by pba
how bout preventive med residency?

i win, i win!
"....and the crowd rose as one....and did thusly hoist pba upon their shoulders...and pba was rightfully placed upon the throne..."
 
Originally posted by womansurg
Hey....what's the definition of a dermatologic emergency?


A doctor's wife with a rash.

(hehe)

LOL.

Seriously speaking however, there are a few, Steven Johnson syndrome being the most notable.
 
Originally posted by enceph
Seriously speaking however, there are a few, Steven Johnson syndrome being the most notable.
Just asking, nothing meant by it, but what does the dermatologist add that the internist, or the critical care intensivist, or nephrologist, or whomever else is being consulted doesn't? I've seen a couple of cases of this, but no one's ever called in a dermatologist. Is it that they help when the diagnosis is in question, or what? Just wonderin'...
 
Originally posted by womansurg
Infectious disease is a fellowship done after internal medicine residency, so we can't count that...

I don't know about radiology residents, but our radiology docs work their butts off on call - usually in the hospital the entire night long reading CTs and xrays on trauma and ED patients.

Family med has a lot of outpatient, so it's probably pretty cushy.

Emergency med has shift work, which is nice. They rotate a lot off service so have to take surgery and IM call some on their first couple years.

Yeah, rads works hard while on call but they don't take frequent call, at least here. It's something like q6-7 and improves to "no weekends" or less weekends after your first rads year.

The shift work of EM is nice in planning a life, but I've been a lot more tired after a busy 12 hr ED shift than a 36 hr shift with plenty of chances to sit down and occasional chances to sleep.

mike
 
I would imagine that the field of medical genetics has the lightest call of all. I can't imagine being paged in the middle of the night for a karyotype stat.
 
I've that the folks who do military residenceies have it really easy. What with it being more of a government job... lots of federal holidays which they actually take off, fewer work hours, possibility for essentially free air travel (you only pay the tax), and a lot of other perks like golfing 18 holes for 5 bucks (probably on one of the federal holidays)...
 
You all seem to have forgotten about radiation oncology. It has the lightest call schedule of them all, seeing as they don't take call after their pgy-1 year. I don't think they work weekends, either. Hows that for light?
 
how about medical informatics ??? you can start after PGY-1 year...

btw, steven johnson is the only true dermatologic emergency that is never handled by dermatologists... it is a critical care/burn issue.

i agree that radiology is not an easy schedule.... when they are on call they get hammered.... and they are on call pretty frequently at my hospital...

the worst at my hospital as far as rough call: orthopedics-trauma, gen. surg, radiology, anesthesia, int. medicine... the flip side is that the rads and anesth. people get to go home at a normal hour post-call ::)
 
What's the definition of a double-blind study?

-2 orthopods reading an EKG.
:laugh:
 
Originally posted by Celiac Plexus
I've that the folks who do military residenceies have it really easy. What with it being more of a government job... lots of federal holidays which they actually take off, fewer work hours, possibility for essentially free air travel (you only pay the tax), and a lot of other perks like golfing 18 holes for 5 bucks (probably on one of the federal holidays)...

Sounds great plus there is the opportunity to work in exotic locales like Afghanistan, Bosnia, Korea etc... (you know all the vacation hotspots) Don't forget the six months cruises...that sounds like a lot of fun, too.;)
 
military residencies are not easier than most civilian. in fact not only do they have to do all their resident duties but they have a bunch of military duties also.
many of the military residencies are VERY good and residents get great civilian fellowships afterwards
 
in addition it is not a government job...they do not the ability to call in sick, take holidays off...on the contrary, as a military resident you probably get less holidays off - they say, "you are a soldier 24/7"
travel - i don't know a single military resident who travels via MAC flights...too unrealiable...
true golf is cheap and everywhere...you still need time to play
 
One of the harvard programs (MGH?) has a fellowship in medical informatics. It is usaully done after some type of residency is completed. I think it's long too like 3 yrs or something crazy like that. There are also informatics fellowships after completing radiology residency. I know northwestern university offers such a fellowship.
 
Originally posted by flindophile
Are there residency programs in informatics? I thought informatics programs were offered as fellowships. What is the normal path in informatics?

Some folks go for clinical pathology residency and then a fellowship in medical informatics. (3 yrs + 1yr) The biggest informatics fellowships are at Pittsburg and Univ of Mich.

As for easy call and residency..it can really depend on the specific program. I know of a couple pathology residency programs I wouldn't wish on a surgery resident. hehe.

But, I am not complaining. Usually work 50ish hours a week, normally no weekends and call from home.
 
MGH has an informatics fellowship - it can be started after internship and is relatively short...
 
not so... hyperbaric medicine is a fellowship available to any specialty, so those fellows will be called in - not the prev. med. residents... and trust me, the last person you want in a hyperbaric chamber for ANY kind of emergency is a preventive med. resident :) in fact, most hyperbaric chambers are managed by a team of anesthesiologists/surgeons/medicine folk.... so actually preventive medicine is still high on the list of winners for light call.
 
What about psych residence ? That's not so bad...right ?

I mean...those scitzophrenics sleep soundly,right ?

All you do is talk about pills.....right ?
 
Psych? One resident covering 150 patients, and, God forbid, one has a medical problem? At my hospital, a patient on the overnight hung himself, and was rigored by the time they found him. The door to the floor was right by our team room, and we understood why there were so many "suits" once we found out.

Oh yeah, and PM - my bad!
 
I was reading some reviews on Psychiatry Residency Programs. They work around 50-60 hours a week and call is every q6-q7 for first year. Second year is q14 or so. And the rest of the years your a back up on call, I dont know what means. And for a month or two, you work the nightshift but I think thats only in your first year.
 
Bad,
That will entirely depend on the residency. Some will work more, some less. The psych folks at my hospital have quite a bit more call than that. But, nothing like surgery. One of the things that can really effect how much call you have is if the program is full at all levels. If a program has lots of empty spots you will be doing a ton more call. I would think this may be a problem with psych.
 
Hi Folks,

After internship, PM & R ranks with the lighest call schedule. That PGY-1 year can be pretty heavy though. PM & R generally stands for " Plenty of Money and Relaxation" but seriously, this specialty has pretty decent hours even during residency.

Pathology has pretty good hours depending on what you do. During my Pathology fellowhship (as a medical student), when I was on on early call, I had to be in the hospital for the early surgery cases but other than that, the pathology folks did fine with the call stuff. Interesting work though. Sometimes, there was a post-mortem that ran into the evening because our department chairman had a 12-hour rule about getting post-mortems done. If the surgery schedule was heavy, you had to stay and do the posts. This happened very infrequently.

Derm and Ophtho have great call schedules getting an occasional call in the middle of the night. Most things can wait until morning. Chronic Pain service is not to bad either.

The Psych folks looked like the surgeons at my hospital. Yes, some folks wander in off the streets at night who are genuinely crazy.

The Radiology people do some pretty significant night call and are up all night thanks to the emergency room. Even the interventional fellows can be seen in the corridors in the wee hours of the morning trying to salvage a limb or two. Don't count on radiology having a great schedule. One nice thing, they don't get up as early as the surgeons.

njbmd (one of the surgeons)
 
Neuro?? Not the lightest of all, yet still pretty light in comparison.
 
Originally posted by womansurg
And we have a winner, folks.

PM&R! What call could possibly be easier? What the hell is a rehab emergency?

<<<rrriiiiiiiinngg>>>>

"Hello, doctor? We'd like a stat competency evaluation, please. Yes, I know it's 3 o:clock in the morning, but we'd like to get started as soon as possible. Could you come in right away?"

PM&R covers the inpatient rehab unit. They get calls for the ususal stuff- chest pain, shortness of breath, fever, headache, fell out of bed, pulled out the NG tube/foley, altered mental status, etc. But yes, call is lighter than other services because patients have to be well enough to participate in rehab in order to get placed on the rehab unit.
 
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