So After the Intern Year. . .

[LadyDiamond]

So I wanted to know is the intern year (1st year of residency) the busiest (in general).

To be more specific if I was going into internal medicine/pediatrics, will the 1st year be the busiest and hardest. Do the hours in residency decrease there after (at least slightly)?

Just wondering.

 

[njbmd]

Moving to General Residency Forum.

 

[Tigger14]

I can't speak to IM/peds, but in surgery, it got progresively busier. I am finishing my chief year, and this is BY FAR the busiest year I have ever had. 😱

 

[LadyDiamond]

Thanks for your response.
I am asking because I read in some threads that first year residency is the worst. I remember being in a hospital setting and watching the 1st years sweat it out while the upper residents looked cool and relaxed. Maybe not relaxed but not as stressed out as the first year intern. It could be that the upper level residents are just use to the chaos.

 

[atsai3]

So I wanted to know is the intern year (1st year of residency) the busiest (in general).

To be more specific if I was going into internal medicine/pediatrics, will the 1st year be the busiest and hardest. Do the hours in residency decrease there after (at least slightly)?

Just wondering.

If double boarding, then your intern year will be longer than 1 year, unfortunately. Depends on the program, but you will be an intern for at least 1.5 years.

-AT.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Thanks for your response.
I am asking because I read in some threads that first year residency is the worst. I remember being in a hospital setting and watching the 1st years sweat it out while the upper residents looked cool and relaxed. Maybe not relaxed but not as stressed out as the first year intern. It could be that the upper level residents are just use to the chaos.

Senior residents do tend to be more relaxed about a lot of things simply because they've seen it and dealt with it before. However, senior residency has its own stressors - dealing more directly with the attendings, taking the blame when something goes wrong on the service (no matter how much interns worry about their mistakes, they are learning and it is expected. The Chief will get heat for not teaching or supervising the interns enough if there are problems.)

I worked more hours as an intern except as Chief on Vascular Surgery but that was in the old days before work hour restrictions. So the intern year and the Chief years were hard but for different reasons...I might have taken mostly home call as a Chief, but getting calls all through the night and not being able to go home early the next day was no picnic. Sometimes I envied the interns who were up all night, but unlike me, they had little responsibility and got to go home rather than spend all day in the operating room bone tired. Then again, I'm sure they would have rather switched places with me.

 

[LadyDiamond]

Thanks for the different perspectives. I always wondered if being Chief was a pain in the butt.

 

[Adcadet]

Thanks for the different perspectives. I always wondered if being Chief was a pain in the butt.

I'm sure it depends on the specialty. My surgery Chief was the hardest work(ed/ing) guy in the hospital. The IM Chiefs seems to have a mostly 7-5 gig going with all their teaching and administrative duties, although I'm really not seeing 80% of what they do so who knows. Of course, the IM Chiefs are at a slightly different place in their training (like, done).

 

[Winged Scapula]

Thanks for the different perspectives. I always wondered if being Chief was a pain in the butt.

As AdCadet notes, it can depend on specialty. My friends in more lifestyle friendly residencies were amazed that life wasn't "easy-street" for me as a Chief, as they had it much better in their residencies.

Fellowship is much better for me - less hours, less malignant personalities to deal with, more respect and no after hours call. But friends in other fellowships are suffering (I have one doing transplant who is q2 call and he has "the worst job in city X" as apparently the hospital saying goes there.) Then again, it (the responsibility and long hours) starts all over in a couple of months for me, so I'd better enjoy the relative luxury of my life while I can.

 

[angel80]

I'm sure it depends on the specialty. My surgery Chief was the hardest work(ed/ing) guy in the hospital. The IM Chiefs seems to have a mostly 7-5 gig going with all their teaching and administrative duties, although I'm really not seeing 80% of what they do so who knows. Of course, the IM Chiefs are at a slightly different place in their training (like, done).

Yeah IM chiefs are different from surgery chiefs. In IM, the chiefs are PGY-4
who are technically finished with residency. They are specifically chosen based on their excellent performances in residency. They function more as attendings, acting as attendings on inpatient services, staffing in the clinic. They also have the administrative duties of overseeing the residents, making the schedules, etc. In my program, the chiefs get a base salary of about $80,000 a year, plus extra for clinic and inpatient duties. They don't take call, and they rarely work weekends. In General Surgery, in most of the programs I've seen, everyone who is in his or her final year of residency is a chief. You're still a resident, making resident pay, and working resident hours.