Residents!!! What can we expect???

[OBGirlie]

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I am just curious as to what we can expect in terms of our life as residents. I know its pretty program specific, so if you can give us your experience that would be helpful. I'm just tired of hearing folks from other specialties say "there goes your life". I feel like, yes I'll be VERY busy, but with night float at all of the institutions that I am applying too, with most b/t q5 up to q14, I feel like I have a fighting chance of actually seeing my family.

 

[AbuJadenDO]

this thread should be interesting

 

[pruritis_ani]

First of all, in many ways it is not as bad as you expect. But, it is BUSY. You will spend most of your waking hours (and many of your non-waking hours) in the hospital. When you are not involved in clinical duties, you will need to read, dictate charts, etc...there will never seem to be enough time.

But, you still will have chunks of freedom. We get at least 2 weekends a month completely free. That is very nice. I try to portion out my vacation by taking most of the 21 days in 2 day chunks plastered before or after a weekend off.

Be aware that night float is not the savior that it is painted to be. It may well result in more nights of call, but it will give you some rest during the day. But, consider whether it is better to be on 30 hours once a week or so, or to have a week of 14 hour night shifts with a weekend or two on top of that. I personally had no problem with the overnight call, as I prefer less days in the hospital. But, some night float programs go without a hitch, others may be a resident or two short of making it work well. And, those last 6 hours of a 30 hour shift are brutal. In short, I don't think that the lack of a night float should dissuade you from a program. In some facilities, overnight call is actually preferable to the night float, especially after intern year. Just be sure that whatever call schedule they have works for you.

Just remember that after a 12-14 hour day, you pretty much want to go home and eat and sleep. Your family needs to be aware of that. Work days are not great times for the family, call days suck far worse. But, there are still plenty of days off to make up for it.

It is hard, but not as hard as you fear. The hours are long, but you will get used to it. Get in a mind set of sucking it up, and be sure to get all the learning you can in. We only have 4 years to learn what we need, so if you look at the hours as an opportunity and investment, it makes them easier to deal with.

Some rules that I used to help me do well in internship:
1. Always say yes when asked to do something, and say it with a smile
2. Always do what you say you will do
3. Don't be afraid to say "I don't know", but follow it with an offer to learn it by the next time you meet
4. Load the boat-keep your seniors informed of what you are doing, and aware of any potential problems, early.
5. Show up to work happy, and with a good attitude every day. Even when it sucks to be there.
6. Never, ever lie. It is poor patient care, and it will haunt you throughout your residency. If you screw up, admit it, and fix it.
7. Know your limits, but try to expand them every day.
8. Help your co-interns and residents, and try to never dump scut on them!!! Always keep the golden rule of "Do unto others" in mind.

Good luck!

 

[Flea girl]

Let's face it no matter how you cut it residency bites and intern year really bites but I maintain my life and I LOVE NIGHT FLOAT!!! Our program you are night for for 2 5 week blocks but you have you weekends off! Intern year night floats starts @ 6:30 pm(sign out) to 8 am. years 2-4 have short call so we start night float @ 8:30pm to 8am. I am married w/ 2 kids and though I work mad hours I still make time for things that are important to me and I feel like I still have a life outside of hospital. Let me know if you have specific questions!

 

[nykka3]

Let's face it no matter how you cut it residency bites and intern year really bites but I maintain my life and I LOVE NIGHT FLOAT!!! Our program you are night for for 2 5 week blocks but you have you weekends off! Intern year night floats starts @ 6:30 pm(sign out) to 8 am. years 2-4 have short call so we start night float @ 8:30pm to 8am. I am married w/ 2 kids and though I work mad hours I still make time for things that are important to me and I feel like I still have a life outside of hospital. Let me know if you have specific questions!

what is the name of your prgm?

 

[Flea girl]

Baystate/tufts in springfield, ma
Let me know if any more Q?

 

[pruritis_ani]

With our overnight call schedule, we had 4-5 calls a month...at least 2 and usually 3 weekends off entirely, and 3 or 4 overnights in the hospital as a second year. As an intern it was q 3 the first 2 months, than q 5 after that as the off service FP interns start covering.

With night float, if you are on a call team, you get 1 week of nights (14 hr shifts) and at least 24 hr saturday shift.

In lots of situations, night float can be an improvement. But, do look carefully at the schedule. Realize the day after night float is wasted sleeping, so it is not like you get a bunch of free days either. The main benefit of night float is to interns, but with or without it, intern year sucks...and, with night float you take away the reward of far less call as a second and third year.

Don't discount overnight call (but be aware of 30 hour calls, those last 6 hour suck) outright. In my case, I would welcome it back.

 

[SippiGirl08]

With night float, if you are on a call team, you get 1 week of nights (14 hr shifts) and at least 24 hr saturday shift.

how often are you on night float if you only do a week at a time?


at my program, the residents do one 7 week block of night float, 5:30pm-6:30am, sunday thru thursday. the other residents do either a 24 hour saturday call or a friday night(7-7) + sunday day call (7-5).

to me, night float wins hands down vs q4 overnight call. think about working 14 hours all day on onc then having to spend the next 12 on L&D. then repeat q4. with night float, you DO sleep that friday away, but you will wake up just in time to go out with friends friday night! and maybe even take a few shots, knowing that you're off all day saturday and most of sunday!

 

[TheJayBee]

ObGirlie- you are probably being premature by limiting yourself prior to learning more.

Night float systems have pros' and con's. There were more benefits prior to the 80hr work week restrictions. With the hours restrictions, some of the gloss is gone.

As noted by others, the shorter the nightfloat hours, the longer the hours are for the day team.

Is there more family time when your day rotation sign off rounds do not get done until 7 or 8 pm as is common with float? Or when you start prerounding at 6:30 am and are driving home by 5:30 pm as is common in programs without float?

Just consider learning more about specific programs rather than 'lumping and dumping' prematurely. My two cents.

 

[pruritis_ani]

well, if night float sticks around, it would be one week per month that you are on service. about 7-8 weeks a year.

either way, we work 80 hrs pretty consistent, night float or no night float. so, it is simply a matter of how they are spread out. i

how often are you on night float if you only do a week at a time?


at my program, the residents do one 7 week block of night float, 5:30pm-6:30am, sunday thru thursday. the other residents do either a 24 hour saturday call or a friday night(7-7) + sunday day call (7-5).

to me, night float wins hands down vs q4 overnight call. think about working 14 hours all day on onc then having to spend the next 12 on L&D. then repeat q4. with night float, you DO sleep that friday away, but you will wake up just in time to go out with friends friday night! and maybe even take a few shots, knowing that you're off all day saturday and most of sunday!

 

[tiredmom]

Our program has night float for OB/gyn at one site and call for gyn/gyn onc at the other hospital.

Night float for us starts at 5pm and ends at 7 am. So you do work the longer hours on nights, but you are out by 5:30 or so after checkout when you are on days, which is the majority of the year (we have 5 wks blocks x2 of nights per year during 1st, 2nd, and 4th years).

Our call at the other hospital is "home call" but I live too far away, so I snooze at the call room. I can honestly say I'm out early at the place with the night float system, because there's a team coming on to pass along things to be done, as opposed to finishing up most of your work so that the call person doesn't have to be there doing your work you didn't get to during the day.

For me, intern year (which is almost 1/3 over guys and gals!😀) has been eye opening. It's been really busy, which I expected. I love what I do and the people that I work with. That first call to the ED for a consult where they expected me to know what I was talking about was pretty scary (okay, they are all a bit scary!) But I feel comfortable that I can always ask for help if I need it... shucks, they expect me to. You are all in this together, so you've got to keep each others backs. If somebody's getting killed at clinic and you only had 50% show up, see some of their patients. I'm starting finally to get a little more confidence in my surgical skills (they still suck, btw), but I'm more certain now that the sweat soaked scrubs during the C/S are mostly due to the ridiculously hot temperatures insisted on by the pediatricians rather than my nerves! It's all about learning stuff. I take it day by day, knowing that I've been blessed to be with some awesome people who really love teaching, not just students but me as well. I'm hoping that I can do that for somebody else some day. And the funny thing is, I didn't feel like I got a great feel for the people here on interview day, but it was the right place for my family, so we went with it. I've been really pleased, really blessed, and really lucky.
Sorry for being so long winded...

 

[JulianCrane]

Our program has night float for OB/gyn at one site and call for gyn/gyn onc at the other hospital.

Night float for us starts at 5pm and ends at 7 am. So you do work the longer hours on nights, but you are out by 5:30 or so after checkout when you are on days, which is the majority of the year (we have 5 wks blocks x2 of nights per year during 1st, 2nd, and 4th years).

Our call at the other hospital is "home call" but I live too far away, so I snooze at the call room. I can honestly say I'm out early at the place with the night float system, because there's a team coming on to pass along things to be done, as opposed to finishing up most of your work so that the call person doesn't have to be there doing your work you didn't get to during the day.

For me, intern year (which is almost 1/3 over guys and gals!😀) has been eye opening. It's been really busy, which I expected. I love what I do and the people that I work with. That first call to the ED for a consult where they expected me to know what I was talking about was pretty scary (okay, they are all a bit scary!) But I feel comfortable that I can always ask for help if I need it... shucks, they expect me to. You are all in this together, so you've got to keep each others backs. If somebody's getting killed at clinic and you only had 50% show up, see some of their patients. I'm starting finally to get a little more confidence in my surgical skills (they still suck, btw), but I'm more certain now that the sweat soaked scrubs during the C/S are mostly due to the ridiculously hot temperatures insisted on by the pediatricians rather than my nerves! It's all about learning stuff. I take it day by day, knowing that I've been blessed to be with some awesome people who really love teaching, not just students but me as well. I'm hoping that I can do that for somebody else some day. And the funny thing is, I didn't feel like I got a great feel for the people here on interview day, but it was the right place for my family, so we went with it. I've been really pleased, really blessed, and really lucky.
Sorry for being so long winded...

That's really awesome! Where are you for residency?

 

[tiredmom]

I'm at Wake Forest.

I'd better clarify my above post too. We are out by around 5:30 from the ob rotations. I've been getting off closer to 7 on gyn (it's the one with the call instead of night float). You end up working about 75 hours per week on night float. It + gyn onc are our most hour heavy rotations.