What do you guys feel is the reasonable hours to work per month/year after residency? As a senior I am doing 16 12 hour shifts per month which amounts to about 2000 hr/year with 6 weeks of vacation and I don't feel too stressed now. Don't get me wrong, I am as washed out as the next guy after 4 nights in the row, but days off are abundant. The place that I signed up with has 10 hr shifts. Does 17/mo sound as too much? I still feel that I need a dedicated time to read and stay up to date with my knowledge.
Reasonable hours after residency
- Thread starter ZigZag
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I think the majority of EM positions are 1500-1700 hours/year. However, with EM, you can work as little as 1 shift a month or as many as 25 (it gets difficult to work more than 20, but you could probably do it).
Keep in mind that you'll be working harder as an attending than as a resident. Instead of seeing 1.5 patients per hour, you'll be seeing 2.5. I worked the same number of shifts as I did during residency for the first half year of being an attending, and it really does start to wear on you. I realized it's more important to take time off and enjoy life instead of just working so much.
Keep in mind that you'll be working harder as an attending than as a resident. Instead of seeing 1.5 patients per hour, you'll be seeing 2.5. I worked the same number of shifts as I did during residency for the first half year of being an attending, and it really does start to wear on you. I realized it's more important to take time off and enjoy life instead of just working so much.
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On the topic of working too much...
given that you'll have to work some undesireable shifts (e.g. nights) in any practice, is it realistic to work two full time jobs? Or will that end you? Is it reasonable to plan for that to quckly pay off the loan sharks?
given that you'll have to work some undesireable shifts (e.g. nights) in any practice, is it realistic to work two full time jobs? Or will that end you? Is it reasonable to plan for that to quckly pay off the loan sharks?
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Unless you have a serious gambling or drug habit or are already on your 4th ex-wife, there is no reason to work that much as an EM doctor. Working more than 50-55 hrs/wk pretty much guarantees some brutal circadian shifts unless you work only nights. The better bet, if you don't care about your personal life, is to take a job in BFE or Texas) with a very high hourly rate.
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I work about 180 hours a month, which is way more than I have to. It does however fund my drug, alcohol and gambling addictions.
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I am around 100-120 hours a month now, which is about perfect. We do a mix of eihter 6, 7, 8, or 12 hour shifts. Evens out to about 13-16 days a month. Totally and easily managable. Nothing better than a 6a-noon shift!
Q
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SouthernDoc, I love you man, but you're off your rocker.
Even at toughest community job, (my locums job is 45K visits with inner-city pathology, single coverage. My last shift I had a DKA/PNA/Sepsis and a STEMI before 9 am.) you're not working as hard as a resident. You set your own pace, get more help from ancillary staff, and you decide what's important and what's not.
As a resident, I would work my tail off, rarely take meal breaks, and often took 1-2 hrs to sign out. One night, when I was working at Temple as a third year resident with two attendings and three other residents, one of my attendings noticed I had half the board, sighed, and said "you need to learn how to delegate." I told him he needed to pick up the pace if he wanted to work in my ER.
At my cushy academic job, I would take 1 hour lunches. On a slow Peds shift I'd read a book, rent a movie, or take a nap. I never did that in residency. I was 28 hrs/week, no nights. I got so bored between shifts I got another job!
You really choose your own schedule as an EM doc. You can work PT a few shifts a month. I know some docs who work 25 shifts a month (crazy!).
Even at toughest community job, (my locums job is 45K visits with inner-city pathology, single coverage. My last shift I had a DKA/PNA/Sepsis and a STEMI before 9 am.) you're not working as hard as a resident. You set your own pace, get more help from ancillary staff, and you decide what's important and what's not.
As a resident, I would work my tail off, rarely take meal breaks, and often took 1-2 hrs to sign out. One night, when I was working at Temple as a third year resident with two attendings and three other residents, one of my attendings noticed I had half the board, sighed, and said "you need to learn how to delegate." I told him he needed to pick up the pace if he wanted to work in my ER.
At my cushy academic job, I would take 1 hour lunches. On a slow Peds shift I'd read a book, rent a movie, or take a nap. I never did that in residency. I was 28 hrs/week, no nights. I got so bored between shifts I got another job!
You really choose your own schedule as an EM doc. You can work PT a few shifts a month. I know some docs who work 25 shifts a month (crazy!).
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My contract is for 12 twelve hour shifts a month which is 144 a month or 1728 a year. I frequently work additional shifts but usually no more than 24 extra hours.
I agree with Southern, I'm working much harder now than as a resident. I'm averaging between 2 and 3.5 pph and it just feels much harder now than before. Plus, I hit 41 and feel old and grouchy. 🙂
Single coverage also just feels like much more work than when I see the same number of patients with double coverage. Don't know why, that's just how it feels to me.
Take care,
Jeff
You must not be productivity-based on your pay.
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I'm on productivity pay 50/50 RVUs, and work my ass off every shift. I take 5 minute lunch breaks, and try to keep bathroom breaks down to a minimum. At our one campus I often see 3.5 pts/hour......
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That would be correct. I make the same as the doc seeing half the pts/hr I am. However, I haven't figured out the trick to seeing a full chart rack and not feeling responsible for doing something about it.
That is frustrating. I feel the same way which led me away from hourly/salaried positions and towards a job that was RVU based.
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Then you've landed a cush job.
I work my tail off as an attending, and no, I rarely take lunch breaks. I'm on a fee for service schedule, so the more I work, the more I get paid. So I'm not complaining any.
The grunt stuff is mostly handled by ancillary staff (setting up lac trays, splints, etc.), but I still work hard seeing patients.
I do believe you are in the minority when you say you don't work as hard as an attending compared to being a resident.
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I'm (still) with Southern. I'll grand you, though, that there are many aspects of attending-dom that are MUCH nicer.
1) Not having to worry about how my faculty wants to treat the patient
2) Just doing what I feel is right for the patient. Much faster.
3) Techs will do most of my splinting for me (I still have to do the stuff with manipulation, of course).
4) Techs get my suture/abscess/slit lamp stuff ready for me so I just walk in and get to work.
Take care,
Jeff
D
deleted65604
I work 12 12's.
I'm busier than residency about 1/3 of the time, about the same 1/3 of the time, and less busy the rest. However, since I work in a very small ER- (16,000-18,000) and am usually single coverage (some NP coverage on weekends), I feel the ebb and flow more. A lot of times, we are dead from 2-7 and you can catch some Z's.
I came on the other day and was over-joyed to find a single patient in the ER at 6 pm (highly unusual. 3 hours later, 13 patients had checked in. That hurt. In large ERs, the work is a lot more constant, and you just chug along and everyday feels very similar.
Right now, we are experiencing a decrease in patient volume as the local university just got out and the city has several thousand less inhabitants and a lot of vacationing people.
I'm busier than residency about 1/3 of the time, about the same 1/3 of the time, and less busy the rest. However, since I work in a very small ER- (16,000-18,000) and am usually single coverage (some NP coverage on weekends), I feel the ebb and flow more. A lot of times, we are dead from 2-7 and you can catch some Z's.
I came on the other day and was over-joyed to find a single patient in the ER at 6 pm (highly unusual. 3 hours later, 13 patients had checked in. That hurt. In large ERs, the work is a lot more constant, and you just chug along and everyday feels very similar.
Right now, we are experiencing a decrease in patient volume as the local university just got out and the city has several thousand less inhabitants and a lot of vacationing people.
