residency hours

[Leapfrog80]

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What are typical residency hours like in radonc, when you factor in the hours required for studying? I realize there are no weekends or heavy calls, but it seems that more time is required for studying in comparison to other fields. To all you residents out there- do you think this is true? Or do you have time for a life as well?

 

[Gfunk6]

Let me put it to you this way. I did a hardcore prelim medicine year (8 months q4) and RadOnc is NOWHERE near as bad, even with studying.

Trust me, I have more time than I know what to do with.

On the most busy service (and only on busy weeks) I may approach 60 hours but that is rare.

Of course, your mileage may vary across different residency programs.

 

[Leapfrog80]

Thanks for the reply. So how many hours in general are spent in studying outside of the hospital, would you say?

 

[Gfunk6]

It depends on so many factors. I have time between seeing patients where I can read quite a bit at work. Also, I have a long mass transit commute to and from work where I can also read. I'd say one hour a day is sufficient for me.

 

[CNphair]

I average 50-60 hours/week. A little more than I expected, but much, much better than prelim year. I always get to sleep in my own bed - this is crucial.

 

[G'ville Nole]

At first, I probably put in 8-12 hours per week of additional study at home, which was probably appropriate for a PGY-2. As you progress, it is implied that you've internalized the basics, and are now honing in on the details. At this point, my week is pretty much 50-55 hours in clinic, and I now find it sufficient to incorporate my reading/study into that 50-55 hours.

Get back to me after the in-service, and I'll let you know if this is a good or bad approach 🙂.

 

[deleted4401]

Is the in-service at all representative of future success with the written testing?

45-50 hours/week at clinic, reading done mostly during work hours and an additional 5-10 hours. More as a PGY-2, though.

The weekly hours includes didactics, conferences, staff meetings, stats class, etc.

-S

 

[cdf95cro]

About the same; Around 55 hours at work, with the last hour spent studying while waiting for traffic to die down, then another hour or so on weeknights (studying/pre-reading for lecture, etc).

 

[OTN]

About the same; Around 55 hours at work, with the last hour spent studying while waiting for traffic to die down, then another hour or so on weeknights (studying/pre-reading for lecture, etc).

Love the LOLcats reference.

My hours: 7:30 to 5:00, M-F, and sometimes that "5" turns into "4-something" if I can float it. Only study outside work if I have a lecture to prepare, but I will put in my traditional "crash study time" for all the boards like I always have throughout training, and I'm guessing it will be significant.

Caveat: My institution has a decently large number of conferences, so I do spend time studying for those during the week.

Also: After an intern year of 10 months of q4 call on a general medicine floor 🙂thumbdown), you'll have more free time than you know what to do with 🙂thumbup🙂, though this can stretch your finances significantly 🙂thumbdown)

 

[Palex80]

Situation in Europe (for those that are interested):

50 hour week + 1/2 hour mandatory break per day= 8:00 am to 18:30 per day.
We attend tons of tumour-boards and conferences which consume lots of our time in the afternoon. Generally the work load is not that heavy. Excluding Friday when we see all patients currently in therapy (which means about 25 patients/Friday for each resident), the rest of the days we see 2-3 new patients/resident.
This leaves a lot of time to do some scientific work, read a bit, or check this board 🙂

The 50 hour week is a speciality of Switzerland, in my previous workplace in Germany we had a 42 hour week.

 

[G'ville Nole]

Is the in-service at all representative of future success with the written testing?


-S

I've heard from past graduates that the actual clinical written exam is more straightforward and less esoteric than the in-sevice; hence if you're spanking the in-service, you should be fine.

 

[digimon]

I've heard from past graduates that the actual clinical written exam is more straightforward and less esoteric than the in-sevice; hence if you're spanking the in-service, you should be fine.

I've been told the same thing. To add, I've also heard that if you're getting >50% of the questions right on the inservice, it roughly correlates to a passing score on the written. Based on the most recent written results (2007), most people are having trouble with physics and the least trouble with the clinical written.

 

[Brim]

Originally Posted by SimulD
Is the in-service at all representative of future success with the written testing?

I've heard from past graduates that the actual clinical written exam is more straightforward and less esoteric than the in-sevice; hence if you're spanking the in-service, you should be fine.

Yes and Yes.

The inservice exam does a good job of preparing you for the type of questions you'll encounter on the written board exam.

I thought the written exam was a lot easier than the inservice, with more dumbed-down "duh" questions (i.e. the answer should be obvious if you've been awake at all during your 4 yrs of residency), and less of the esoteric stuff. You're also given plenty of time and the test is shorter. If completing the inservice in time was a problem for you, it shouldn't be for the written exam. For the written exam, you have 220 Questions to answer in 4 hours. In comparison, for the inservice, you have 415 Questions total (physics + rad bio + clinical) to answer in 4 hours, and about 270 of those were in the clinical part.

You can also move through the test a bit faster on the computer-based test just clicking the mouse rather than having to diddle with your #2 pencil and Scantron sheet.