drboris said:
I know that anesthesiology and EM are both shift work. But EM docs obviously have to do night shifts because there always has to be a doc in the ER. Isn't anesthesiology the same way? All surgeries don't happen between 6am-5am. So in private practice Gas, how do the schedules work? Do the docs alternate call (if so, how frequent is call usually in most groups?) or do groups work for small surgicenters that only work 7-5?
I just don't see how anesthesiology is a lifestyle field if they are involved in surgeries, and surgeons have horrible lifestyles.
Thanks
It all depends on the size of the practice and the size of the hospital. If you're one of two docs in small-town USA, you might be on call every other night. If you're in a large practice, you might only have overnight call once a month.
Remember that during the night shift, in most hospitals, you're only going to have one or two OR's available, not your usual daytime load. We run 40 anesthetizing locations every day, but at night, the absolute max would be 5, and that's for two hospitals including separate OB and OR coverage. That's covered by 2 inhouse anesthetists, 1 inhouse MD, and 2 docs and 1 anesthetist on call from home as backup.
Your call may vary also, particularly in a large group, by how your shifts are valued and your call is divided. You may all share call equally, in which case you can probably swap around shifts. If your shifts have a value to them (additional consideration for evenings, night, weekends, holidays, etc.) you may be able to give them away if you don't like taking a lot of call.
And of course if you don't like call at all, you can always opt for the outpatient surgery centers. 7-5, M-F, no nights, no weekends, no holidays, no call.
