Radiology call?

[fedor]

Does radiology residency entail regular daily work hours (say, 8-6pm) with emergency out-of-hospital call every few days? Or, because of the increased demand for imaging, do rads residents now either (1) work overnight shifts or (2) have in-hospital-call which basically serves as an overnight shift because of the high volume of cases?

Also, when would rads start call during residency? I would imagine that it would be late (PGY4 or PGY5) because of the extremely steep learning curve when it comes to rads.

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[Vince]

Does radiology residency entail regular daily work hours (say, 8-6pm) with emergency out-of-hospital call every few days? Or, because of the increased demand for imaging, do rads residents now either (1) work overnight shifts or (2) have in-hospital-call which basically serves as an overnight shift because of the high volume of cases?

Also, when would rads start call during residency? I would imagine that it would be late (PGY4 or PGY5) because of the extremely steep learning curve when it comes to rads.

I am just an intern, but I matched into Radiology and have seen different setups while interviewing...so I'll tell you what I've seen.

Just about all of the radiology residencies don't make the first year residents take call the first 6 months....because you don't really know much. On the same token, you typically don't take call the last 6 months of residency either because you are given that extra time to study for the oral boards.

Call frequency will depend on the number of residents. Call might be on a sort of night float system, or you may have to come in on the weekends, and if you have to stay at the hospital and take call you almost always are excused the post call day. Depending on the residency and hospital, your call might include staying in the hospital till 10pm or so, then going home and taking "home call." Some programs are set up so that the images can be read from home on a decent computer with a fast internet connection. If its a busy hospital, then there might be a "junior" resident who stays in house and takes care of alot of the plain film stuff, and the more "senior" resident is either home call or does more of the CT/MRI stuff.

Most programs I interviewed at I saw a definitely increased/heavier call schedule your 2nd year of residency(PGY3). Some programs have more senior residents, PGY4s and PGY5s, covering the ER reading room at night.

Just my observations...hopefully current radiology residents will chime in.