orthopedic surgery hours

[the prodogy]

I was just wondering what the hours of an Orthopedic surgeon was during residency and as an attending. Residency is 5 years, so how stressful will those 5 years be? Also, after all that, how will the hours be as an attending?

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[DHT]

I was just wondering what the hours of an Orthopedic surgeon was during residency and as an attending. Residency is 5 years, so how stressful will those 5 years be? Also, after all that, how will the hours be as an attending?

Hours are very variable depending on the program, but you should be prepared to work 80 hours or more a week. There are some that will work more and some that will work less (on average) so its a pretty tough question. Trauma has a pretty big impact on hours worked, so heavy trauma programs will keep you busy, and light trauma programs may be more relaxed.

As an attending you have a little more control over your life, but I would expect to work ~60 hours a week as an attending. Your lifestyle is how you make it; the more you work, the more money you make. I would not think it would be possible to work 40 hours a week and keep a practice afloat, but you may get away with 50. However your partners will expect you to be as productive as they are, and probably more productive for your first few years.

I would say that in GENERAL, hours per week goes like this:
Neurosurg > General Surg = Ortho > Plastics > ENT > Urology = Ophthal
I'm sure this varies program to program, but this is just how I perceive the hours worked per specialty. At some places ortho may be the most busy, someplaces not.

 

[asmallchild]

Interesting. In reading through the plastics forum, it seems like their workload is pretty heavy too. I didn't realize urology was so close to ophtho either in terms of workload in residency. (Or was that referring to post-residency?)

 

[DHT]

Plastics workload is definitely heavy, but I think ortho and gensurg work SLIGHTLY more based on my experience. Obviously this doesn't always hold true at all places. I would be willing to put plastics = ortho.

Maybe you're right, Ophthal may be less than Uro, but I know they do come in on weekends and work more than most people think (at least at my program).

 

[maxheadroom]

Plastics and Ortho call at my place is fairly similar. They have to be in house and we don't. Beyond that, we both get beat up during Trauma season. Things quiet down some for both of us in the cold months.

 

[ORS]

If you are worried about the hours in an ortho residency do not go into it. If you truly like it you will be fine. Most weeks will be less than 80 hrs averaged out. Some weeks you may put in 120-140 hrs, but these are rare and get even less as you progress. Keep in ming that most ortho rotations in residency have NO INTERNs. Thus you do all the paper work.... for 5 years.

 

[Dedikated2liftn]

I recently shadowed an ortho attending (who sub-specialized in hand surgery) and was surprised at his pretty sweet lifestyle: he worked from 8-5 Mon-Fri and took call every six weeks (for one complete week). To shed a little more light on the situation, he worked in a private practice of about 10 ortho docs and had been part of the practice for about 5 years (so he wasn't terribly high on the seniority ladder). Having said that, I'm sure it's variable depending on where you're at; however, I just wanted to share the example.

Additionally, I wanted to ask him how much he worked during residency; however, we were pretty swamped, and I didn't get much time for asking questions. Can any ortho residents/attendings out there provide an answer???

 

[Blesbok]

Residency isn't going to be easy no matter where you go, but some are worse than others.

In my limited experience, attending hours vary depending on the type of practice. A smaller practice is going to have worse hours, but you will most likely have the potential to make more money. A larger practice will allow less hours, especially if it is involved in academics, where the residents will help reduce your workload. However, in general, academics pays less.

 

[sjm5104]

Not to jack the thread, but this is my first post and i have literally no idea what im doing. I have been looking around and I am pretty interested In pursuing orthopedics. I know that the road is long and difficult to become and orthopod with many years of high hour weeks. But, I was just curious as to what happens to hours once you have become an orthopod........So I guess my question is How many hours per week does the average practicing orthopedic surgeon work?

 

[PenguinHead]

Not to jack the thread, but this is my first post and i have literally no idea what im doing. I have been looking around and I am pretty interested In pursuing orthopedics. I know that the road is long and difficult to become and orthopod with many years of high hour weeks. But, I was just curious as to what happens to hours once you have become an orthopod........So I guess my question is How many hours per week does the average practicing orthopedic surgeon work?

I'm not there yet, but I can tell you what I've seen.

It varies depending on the type of practice you have, how much call you take, etc, but I would say generally 55-65 hrs a week, with a few working less than that and several who work more.

 

[sjm5104]

anyone else have any ideas or experience with this??