Poll on Private Practice work hours

[TecmoBowl]

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Hi,

I was just wondering for the Attending in private practice.

How many ORs do you run towards the end of the day?

On weekends?

On average, what's your typical time in and time out?

Next, does your salary reflect your lower or higher work hours?

 

[periopdoc]

The answers are going to be extremely varied based on the size of the institutions and the staffing models.

What do you mean by end of the day? We scale down starting around 1500ish, but there is some wiggle room. On weekends we have 3 guys on call. 1 OB, 1 Trauma, and 1 Backup. We rotate those positions every 12 hours. Time in depends on which part of the hospital I am working in and can be anywhere from 6:00 to 7:30. Time out depends on which slot I am in and how busy we are. I have had days where I came in for a quick case and was home in an hour. My salary is based on the number of units that I bill so yes, it reflects how many hours I work. I am not in the most efficient or highest paid place, but I love the work and the hours at work and at home. Frequently, I go in to work a part day and hit the slopes in the afternoon. Ultimately, enjoying the job/ life balance is the most important thing. I could be making twice the money, but I wouldn't be half as happy.

- pod

 

[Mman]

Work hours are extremely variable, but probably averages on the order of 45 or 50 hours per week and 1 weekend per month with perhaps 2 overnight shifts per month.

The pay does better than you'd think based on hours which I'm guessing are middle of the road or even slightly less than the majority of jobs.

 

[sevoflurane]

Work hours are extremely variable, but probably averages on the order of 45 or 50 hours per week and 1 weekend per month with perhaps 2 overnight shifts per month.

The pay does better than you'd think based on hours which I'm guessing are middle of the road or even slightly less than the majority of jobs.

That seems a little bit on the light side to me... I would say 1 weekend a month + one overnight call a week. Smaller groups <10 will take more call. Bigger groups with only 1-2 hospitals to cover may end up taking much less call.

But as everyone has mentioned, it depends on the practice. I have a buddy who takes call q15 days +10-14 weeks vaca. He also makes considerably less, but as POD mentioned... he has an exceptional quality of life.

This month I'm taking 5 calls and a weekend (fri-sund.)... but I also have 2 skiing trips packed into that.... Take more call = pays for my vacations. Work hard, play hard mentality over here.

Another thing to ask is how much IN HOSPITAL time vs. IN HOSPITAL + PAGER time. Those number may be very different. We take call from home which is HUGE.

 

[sevoflurane]

The answers are going to be extremely varied based on the size of the institutions and the staffing models.

What do you mean by end of the day? We scale down starting around 1500ish, but there is some wiggle room. On weekends we have 3 guys on call. 1 OB, 1 Trauma, and 1 Backup. We rotate those positions every 12 hours. Time in depends on which part of the hospital I am working in and can be anywhere from 6:00 to 7:30. Time out depends on which slot I am in and how busy we are. I have had days where I came in for a quick case and was home in an hour. My salary is based on the number of units that I bill so yes, it reflects how many hours I work. I am not in the most efficient or highest paid place, but I love the work and the hours at work and at home. Frequently, I go in to work a part day and hit the slopes in the afternoon. Ultimately, enjoying the job/ life balance is the most important thing. I could be making twice the money, but I wouldn't be half as happy.

- pod

That's what I'm talking 'bout! I need to fly to get to "real" slopes. I have a 500 ft. drop about 45 min. away =

 

[B-Bone]

At my group, we work somewhere in the 40-60 hour range per week. Call is ~ once per week (18 hours in house during the week, 24 hours in house on sat or sun) with next day off. Actually only 36 calls/year, but that works out to once per week when not on vacation. One weekened per month, either Friday/Sunday call, saturday call,or all weekend backup call from home. Get to work at 630 most days, out anywhere between 9 am to 7-8 pm depending on slot in the schedule (with the late guy on home backup call overnight). Backup call rarely gets called in, but doesn't get next day off, either. Partners take 14-16 weeks vacation, depending on staffing. Everybody in the group makes the same (split the pot at the end of each month), and looks to be >90th %ile for salary based on what I see on here and gaswork. Work hard when you're there, lots of time off, lots of cash to play.

 

[Coastie]

The answers are going to be extremely varied based on the size of the institutions and the staffing models.

What do you mean by end of the day? We scale down starting around 1500ish, but there is some wiggle room. On weekends we have 3 guys on call. 1 OB, 1 Trauma, and 1 Backup. We rotate those positions every 12 hours. Time in depends on which part of the hospital I am working in and can be anywhere from 6:00 to 7:30. Time out depends on which slot I am in and how busy we are. I have had days where I came in for a quick case and was home in an hour. My salary is based on the number of units that I bill so yes, it reflects how many hours I work. I am not in the most efficient or highest paid place, but I love the work and the hours at work and at home. Frequently, I go in to work a part day and hit the slopes in the afternoon. Ultimately, enjoying the job/ life balance is the most important thing. I could be making twice the money, but I wouldn't be half as happy.

- pod

Really? Wow.

 

[periopdoc]

It would have required living in the south, supervising CRNA's, working more hours, more call, and taking less vacation, but yes, I had an offer that would have paid anywhere from 1.4-2.2 times my typical income here. In a good year here, I will match what I would make in a bad year there. In a good year there, I would make 1.6 times what I make in a good year here.

You could argue that the jobs aren't exactly comparable since the workload would have been significantly more at the other job. That being said, the workload there wasn't unbearable, there was plenty of vacation, and the work would have been different, not exactly onerous.

I just made the same kind of decision the Cliff Lee did. I would rather make less money (still plenty for my needs) and spend my working years in the type of location that I would retire to at the end of a career rather than make more money and live somewhere that I would constantly be escaping on vacation. It isn't the right decision for everyone, but it was for me.

I live in a >4000 sq ft house with views of the mountains, 20 minutes from the ski slopes, < 1hr from Glacier National Park, and < 1 hour from Seattle by plane. If, by some miracle, the Seahawks win in Chicago and Greenbay beats Atlanta, I can grab a flight to Seattle for the NFC championship game and be back home that evening. It isn't cheap, but I can afford it. There is world class fishing, hiking, hunting, skiing, river running etc.

As far as negatives go... The restaurant selection is limited a bit, but we cook at home a lot anyway. There are fewer of the small shops that you would get in a place like Seattle, but we do most of our shopping online anyway. We have a state income tax. There is no major sport nearby for tailgating. That is pretty much it. All of those would have applied at the other job except for the state income tax.

Speaking of snowboarding, we received 3" of new snow overnight and it is still falling. My son is off of school in 30 minutes and I had better go get ready to hit the slopes when he gets home. I am on vacation this week and guess where I want to spend it?

Yeah, money isn't everything.


- pod

 

[periopdoc]

Oh and I don't say all that to brag. I just want to try to set some minds at ease about the future of anesthesiology with all the bad news going around. You have to be realistic that things could get bad, but even bad, they will still be pretty good if you plan right.

In either location, I would still be >4x the median income in the worst case future scenario. I think the scariest place to be right now would be a major city where you NEED current income levels to maintain a decent standard of living.

- pod