Moonlighting as a Fellow

[Pomacentridae]

Hi everyone,

I was curious to know whether there are any typical strategies for stringing together moonlighting gigs as a fellow to make ~150k+ for the year. The fellowship does not have any call/weekend duties. I have my license and DEA for the state where I'll be doing the fellowship. Anything I should be working on now to secure some positions(unfamiliar with the location I'm doing the fellowship in)? Is it possible to do this without burning out?

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[Monocles]

Hi everyone,

I was curious to know whether there are any typical strategies for stringing together moonlighting gigs as a fellow to make ~150k+ for the year. The fellowship does not have any call/weekend duties. I have my license and DEA for the state where I'll be doing the fellowship. Anything I should be working on now to secure some positions(unfamiliar with the location I'm doing the fellowship in)? Is it possible to do this without burning out?

An extra 150k is reach, but $100k is doable although you might be working harder than you want to. Depending on region of the country, moonlighting rates can be as high as $200 an hour. There are probably cush jobs in slow EDs where you sit and reddit for majority of your hours, or find inpatient facilities where you get paid a bulk sum to round on all the patients. I know friends who make ~$1200 for about half a day's of work on the weekends from doing the latter.

 

[Pomacentridae]

An extra 150k is reach, but $100k is doable although you might be working harder than you want to. Depending on region of the country, moonlighting rates can be as high as $200 an hour. There are probably cush jobs in slow EDs where you sit and reddit for majority of your hours, or find inpatient facilities where you get paid a bulk sum to round on all the patients. I know friends who make ~$1200 for about half a day's of work on the weekends from doing the latter.

Now when you say an extra $100k is doable, do you mean that as a total combined with the fellowship salary or as a standalone extra sum earned from the moonlighting alone? When I made the original post the $150k+ was meant to be as a total from the moonlighting gigs + fellowship salary.

 

[Monocles]

Now when you say an extra $100k is doable, do you mean that as a total combined with the fellowship salary or as a standalone extra sum earned from the moonlighting alone? When I made the original post the $150k+ was meant to be as a total from the moonlighting gigs + fellowship salary.

Ohhhhh my bad. I meant moonlighting alone. With fellowship salary it's super doable.

 

[Sushirolls]

Or use the fellowship year to start planing, and setting up your own private practice post fellowship. Even if it is in a different state you want to live/work. You can get the foundations in place, and even your contracts. Crank out your board certification exam, and the day you get your pass, immediately flip into applying for your insurance contracts in your future locations. Those will all be credentialed by the time you are done.

So by day one of post fellowship your practice is ready to roll...

 

[Pomacentridae]

Ohhhhh my bad. I meant moonlighting alone. With fellowship salary it's super doable.

No problem. I realized later I hadn't phrased my question well and I should have clarified my post better. Do you have any tips for contacting hospitals to inquire about positions? Is it just a matter of cold calling them? Who should I be talking to about potential evening/weekend shifts? I worry that when I get transferred to HR the staff might be sort of clueless or tell me to "check the website for job postings".

 

[Monocles]

No problem. I realized later I hadn't phrased my question well and I should have clarified my post better. Do you have any tips for contacting hospitals to inquire about positions? Is it just a matter of cold calling them? Who should I be talking to about potential evening/weekend shifts? I worry that when I get transferred to HR the staff might be sort of clueless or tell me to "check the website for job postings".

Keep your ears peeled about large locums groups in your area. Ask your friends and coworkers if they've got any sweet gigs that they can get you. (A lot of locums places give people a $500-1k referral bonus)

 

[Gavanshir]

I am on track to make 200K+ this year as a CAP1 fellow. I believe it is best achieved if your fellowship program offers generous in-house moonlighting opportunities. I am combining my fellowship pay + moonlighting in-house on most evenings and Saturdays, picking up Adult inpatient call one week per month, combined with telepsych work with a large national organization and telepsych work with a smaller local organization.

 

[hamstergang]

My in-house moonlighting job can be slow on some evenings and weekends, so I often can do outside telepsych "work from work".

I'd be a little surprised if this were actually allowed.

 

[oldiebutgoodie1211]

I'd be a little surprised if this were actually allowed.

good thing no one has to know

 

[Bilboquet]

I am on track to make 200K+ this year as a CAP1 fellow. I believe it is best achieved if your fellowship program offers generous in-house moonlighting opportunities. I am combining my fellowship pay + moonlighting in-house on most evenings and Saturdays, picking up Adult inpatient call one week per month, combined with telepsych work with a large national organization and telepsych work with a smaller local organization. My in-house moonlighting job can be slow on some evenings and weekends, so I often can do outside telepsych "work from work".

I'm a CAP2 fellow and I found this even easier to do in the 2nd year of fellowship with a board certification in adult. The best part is that I'm not breaking my back to do it. I do a few overnight at-home cross coverages during the week, do some adult inpatient on the weekends for 4-6 hours per weekend. Getting $1750 per weekend day and $550 for the at-home cross cover. I've calculated out that I could do every weekend and work 2 days a week and triple my fellowship salary. I can't speak enough for moonlighting in fellowship if you're able to. It's good practice for getting a taste of that post-training work life.

 

[oldiebutgoodie1211]

I'm a CAP2 fellow and I found this even easier to do in the 2nd year of fellowship with a board certification in adult. The best part is that I'm not breaking my back to do it. I do a few overnight at-home cross coverages during the week, do some adult inpatient on the weekends for 4-6 hours per weekend. Getting $1750 per weekend day and $550 for the at-home cross cover. I've calculated out that I could do every weekend and work 2 days a week and triple my fellowship salary. I can't speak enough for moonlighting in fellowship if you're able to. It's good practice for getting a taste of that post-training work life.

sacrificing sleep is not worth 550 bucks...also 1750 per weekend is less than ideal

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

sacrificing sleep is not worth 550 bucks...also 1750 per weekend is less than ideal

Uh $1750 for 6 hours of work is about 290 an hour...where's your moonlighting job that's paying over that? That 1750 is per day. Also $550 for at-home coverage isn't bad either as long as you're not getting called every hour.

 

[oldiebutgoodie1211]

Uh $1750 for 6 hours of work is about 290 an hour...where's your moonlighting job that's paying over that? That 1750 is per day. Also $550 for at-home coverage isn't bad either as long as you're not getting called every hour.

550 to get called 3-5 times and very badly disrupt sleep is not worth it to me. 1750 for weekend is usually covering a lot of patients Since you could be covering several docs and I can’t do that in 6 hrs it’s usually a full days work and on the weekend so yeah 2.5k+ is more reasonable imo...in my city hospital is paying around 6k for the weekend but also 500 per weekday night as above