Residency questions

[pal3bar]

I am a pre-med undergrad right now, exploring my options. I am interested in DO, family medicine. I was wondering what a typical residency was like (it's the part of the whole becoming-a-doctor process that has me worried). I would far rather practice in a clinic setting as opposed to an inpatient-hospital setting. What are the residencies like? How many on-call nights would a family med resident have, typically (if there is such a thing)? Is it possible to balance a residency with family/children? (Not having more, but my daughter will be 10 by then). Any input is appreciated, thanks!

 

[denco88]

I am a pre-med undergrad right now, exploring my options. I am interested in DO, family medicine. I was wondering what a typical residency was like (it's the part of the whole becoming-a-doctor process that has me worried). I would far rather practice in a clinic setting as opposed to an inpatient-hospital setting. What are the residencies like? How many on-call nights would a family med resident have, typically (if there is such a thing)? Is it possible to balance a residency with family/children? (Not having more, but my daughter will be 10 by then). Any input is appreciated, thanks!

Plenty of people balance residency and children... I know a resident who just had a child DURING her residency. Anything is possible if you work at it. Its not just one or the other.

 

[Law2Doc]

I am a pre-med undergrad right now, exploring my options. I am interested in DO, family medicine. I was wondering what a typical residency was like (it's the part of the whole becoming-a-doctor process that has me worried). I would far rather practice in a clinic setting as opposed to an inpatient-hospital setting. What are the residencies like? How many on-call nights would a family med resident have, typically (if there is such a thing)? Is it possible to balance a residency with family/children? (Not having more, but my daughter will be 10 by then). Any input is appreciated, thanks!

For ACGME residencies, the rules as of now are that residents can work a maximum average of 80 hours/week, and interns can only do shifts of 16 hours in a row. More senior residents have a higher than 16 hour limit. Most of the family medicine residents I know do a significant number of inpatient rotations, including ICU rotations, in their early years, where they would take overnight call --usually q4 -- every fourth night, although under the new rules night float will undoubtedly become more popular. Every program is going to be a little different, and most places are changing things up to adjust for the new duty hour rules, so it is impossible to give you an easy answer as to what hours you will actually do. All we can tell you is the allowed maximums -- an average of 80 hours, a maximum of 16 hours in a row for interns, and a minimum of 4 days off a month. Realistically I think you need to plan for the fact that in some rotations you will be working in the 70-80 hour range with lots of overnights. You won't lose your family over it, but you definitely won't see your child as much as you would like, and won't have weekends off a lot of the time. That's just the way it is. There's a lot to know as a doctor and you really can't take the position -- I only want to know what I need to work in a clinic. You are going to learn how to manage sick patients, and to do inpatient procedures. If you later choose not to use that knowledge, that's your prerogative, but it's part of the training for your specialty as of now.