"Part-time" residency (40-50h/week), -possible?

[H.P.]

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Hi,
I'm a final year IMG who, just like my husband, soon am about to apply for residency. The thing is that I am also a mother, and that's why I'm now writing here. I consider myself ambitious and strive to become a well-educated and good physician one day. However, my role as a mother is also of great importance to me and the responsibilities and duties I feel towards my daughter is something I cannot ignore. I strongly believe that I should not have to choose between carrier and family, which is why I wonder if anyone has any experience of "part-time" residency? Is it possible to get such an agreement anywhere? Where could I in that case find more information about this? Also, would these requests lower my chance to match?

I'm interested in paediatrics, and with "part-time", I mean about 40-50 work hours per week instead of up to 80. Naturally I understand that such a "reduced schedule" also means a longer residency and lower salary, which I do not consider a problem.

I really appreciate all the help and information I could get!

H.P.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

This applies to all fields, you can't do a "part-time" residency anywhere. The closest you might get to something like that is a residency (usually psych or FM more than peds) that's known to be all outpatient the last couple years. Nobody is going to agree to somehow restrict your hours less than existing work-hour restrictions. Keep in mind that there are plenty of residents with children in all specialities.

Now there's going to be easier or harder months (ex. an outpatient month will probably get you closer to 40-50 hours/wk than an ICU or floor month) so you could try to apply to more programs that let you do a lot of outpatient time but nobody is going to guarantee that you're only going to work "part time".

These requests would absolutely lower your chance to match and likely get you immediately put on a "do not rank" list. I would not voice this opinion directly to a PD ever when you interview. Residency spots aren't like job openings...they can't hire two "part time" residents to do the work of one "full time" resident because they only have so many allocated spots per year. If they know you're planning on coming in to work 2/3-1/2 the time of the other residents...yeah that won't fly with either the PD or the other residents who you're dumping your extra work on.

 

[URMD]

Dang, getting residency as an IMG is hard enough - now you want to add part-time hours in?? Gonna agree with calvin on this 1. But will also add that even DURING your residency not to voice this to your PD, as it may negatively affect your evaluations

 

[michigangirl]

I would encourage the folks who replied to your post to actually have the facts prior. Part-time residency in pediatrics is, in fact, a thing.
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/122/4/e938.full.pdf
There are programs out there that actually accept two residents for one spot. One of my co-fellows was part of a program that did this.

That being said, I do think that being an IMG puts you at a significant disadvantage at securing one of these positions. As the others stated, it will be more challenging as an IMG to match at certain programs despite your qualifications, and adding the part-time requirement will significant limit options or potentially decrease your chances of matching.

 

[GoSpursGo]

While part-time residency is technically "a thing," I don't believe there are many out there.

I think what you have to keep in mind is that residency is a temporary period in your life. There are numerous residents with children in pretty much every peds residency, and I doubt that they would say that they "ignore" their responsibilities and duties. Maybe you have a very strong application as an IMG, but without knowing any specifics I don't think you want to be restricting your options as you're applying--when you're done, you can certainly then find the type of job that will fit the lifestyle that you desire for your family.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

Well I'm corrected, apparently it is offered by some places. Guess I'm part of the "knowledge and access" problem they talk about in the article.

 

[Marie0123]

I would discourage you from hiding this from the PDs you interview with as well. If you really want to work out a part-time thing, transparency is imperative. It would be really shady to not disclose it, match in a program, and then spring it on them. I can't imagine that would go well at all.

 

[Bean_Bunny]

I completely agree. Your best bet is identifying programs that offer this and trying your best with those. Once you match, you have already agreed to the contract of the program, which includes work hours. I don't think a program that does not offer this "part-time" system would be likely to accommodate this after the fact. I also agree that it may harm your chances with some programs.

 

[H.P.]

Dear Doctors,

I really appreciate that so many took the time to write a reply to my post. I'm trying to find a way to make the everyday life with small kids work when both parents are doing their residency.

I'm aware of the disadvantage of being an IMG, and I also believe that transparency is imperative when applying to a program. What surprises me, however, is that it's so hard to find any information about this "part-time deal", -if it even exists?

Anyway, to get a better understanding on what to expect during a potential, future paediatric residency, can anyone please enlighten me: What does a typical work week and month look like? What are the actual average work hours per day in pediatric residency and how many night duties should I expect per week?

According to some "sources" (e.g. http://shortwhitecoats.com/2013/which-residents-work-the-hardest ) the average work hours per week for a pediatric resident seems to be about 65 h/week. -Does this include on calls and Saturdays?

Thanks in advance

H.P.

 

[Bean_Bunny]

I think there data does include calls and weekends. I would say in general the hours depend on what block you are on. It also depends on what sort of night system and sign out times the particular program use. Some blocks you may be doing less hours (like an ambulatory or elective block) and others you may be doing more than 65 hours/week. Technically you can go up to 80 and it definitely does happen. You may only have 4 days off/block and they may not necessarily be weekend days (some places do 6 days on and one off; some do a longer run of days on- it really is program dependent).

 

[Stitch]

I just wanted to add that my wife and I are both pediatricians and we had kids during residency. So did a number of my friends. It takes work, schedule coordination and planning, but it's doable. Residency is certainly difficult, and some rotations will require long hours, but it's not as bad as a surgery residency in terms of time commitment. I don't feel you have to choose work or family, you can have both, and be good at both, but it does take a lot of work. And, as others have pointed out, residency is only three years, with the most time commitment happening (generally) during intern year. It gets better.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Your week is pretty variable, depending on which rotation you're on. When you're on the wards, you should likely expect that you'll be in the 70-80 hours per week range, with 4 days off during that month. On some electives, I would say that honestly there were some weeks were I would literally only put in like 30 hours and have all weekends off. Most rotations I think would probably average out to 60-65.

One thing that is pretty variable on schedule between places is how they handle nights. My program does 2 months of night float for the senior residents; other programs will have the senior residents do a 24-30 hour call q4-6 days or so. Programs have their own quirks about how they tackle nights within the work hour restrictions, and depending on which option sounds better to you, you might want to ask the residents at programs you interview at what their system looks like.