Specialties where I can still have a family and live 9-5

[Ian1223]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I know I have a passion for medicine but Im concerned about the toll that being a doctor will have on my family. I know residencies take a long time but what are the best to choose so that I can spend a reasonable amount of time with my family, aka eating dinner at home and not having to work 7 days a week?

Thanks for your comments!

 

[vmp200]

Pathology

 

[CptCrunch]

Dentistry.

 

[shevie]

I know I have a passion for medicine but Im concerned about the toll that being a doctor will have on my family. I know residencies take a long time but what are the best to choose so that I can spend a reasonable amount of time with my family, aka eating dinner at home and not having to work 7 days a week?

Thanks for your comments!

So I dont have any experience because Im not a doctor yet either, but I believe in most specialties, if youre willing to make sacrifices in terms of salary, insurance benefits, prestige, etc, you can find something that is mroe 9-5 and life a normal family life. there are the obvious ones - family medicine, derm, opthamology, and then there are other specialties where its also doable - ER, hospitalist, radiology, etc. You might not ever become chief of [fill in the blank], and might be making far less than youd be making full time, but ive seen ppl make it work in a very wide variety of specialties/subspecialites - nephrology, ID, radiation oncology, rheumatology, psychiatry, etc. and most of the women who i know who did these things and made it work, didnt have your typical american dream life of 1.2 kids and a dog, they had larger families, and still balance raising their kids w/ their careers.

i mean if you pick something like neurosurg or trauma, working those hrs would be obviously tough. but most specialties have "room" for making things work w/ your schedule, if your just ok with not working at the top hospital, making big bucks, and getting all the presige that comes along w/ that.

 

[diosa428]

Well there's the ROAD to happiness - Radiology, Ophthalmology, Anesthesiology and Dermatology. In all of these specialties, the doctors tend to have good hours and make a lot of money. There's also Pathology and Psychiatry, which make less than the above but still have good hours. Some of the internal medicine specialties - GI, Cardiology - also work good hours and make good money. And, of course, there's also private practice, where you can make your own hours.

 

[dr midnight]

stay away from OB-Gym and Peds would be good choice Derm or Plastic Sur. When you work at at Hospital or clinic your required to be "on call" X amount of the time. say 1 weekend per month. they do tell you you need to see X many patients per hour.... day . but they take part of the burden of paperwork, billing, collections... insurance.. and you receive a paycheck all depends what hospital your in. (like Kaiser Hospitals)

 

[Bartelby]

you can find something that is mroe 9-5 and life a normal family life. there are the obvious ones - family medicine, derm, opthamology, and then there are other specialties where its also doable - ER, hospitalist, radiology, etc. You might not ever become chief of [fill in the blank], and might be making far less than youd be making full time

Isn't it crazy how working M-F 9-5 is not "full time?" I'm with you on this one, OP. My specialty decision will be influenced by my future schedule. I have worked 80-100 hour weeks in the past, and I know I will not do that as a career (I am ready to take the hit during residency, though). I am thinking about Emergency Medicine. It is by no means a regular schedule, as you will work nights, weekends, and holidays, but it is interesting work that is kept down to the neighborhood of forty hours a week.

 

[Ashers]

9-5? Seriously? I don't think you're going to find any specialty that's 9-5.

Sure there are some specialties that you can have more control over your schedule or work shifts, like EM. Lots of family med docs work 4 days a week. I know a dermatologist who works some full days and some half days a week so she can stay at home with her kids, but that's after she was well established.

People shouldn't go into med school thinking they want to work 9-5. It's just really not that common.

 

[Ian1223]

Well, maybe not 9-5, but still be able to go home at night to dinner to see my family and have time with them at least one of the days of the weekend.

Thanks for all your posts!

 

[shiftingmirage]

There are some specialties that do shift work so you at least have a schedule, and others where you are there until your patient(s) is stable. Even shift ones are not 9-5. Your best bet is work at a private practice where you get more control over your hours. You can work over 40 hours a week and raise a family. My parents did.

 

[OncoCaP]

Some kinds of research (in a lab).

You can also work for one of those companies that provides physicians who work vacations and sick days ... it wouldn't be 9-5, but you would be able to choose how many days you work. These tend to be internal medicine, peds, family medicine (high demand / common specialities).

 

[notdeadyet]

Isn't it crazy how working M-F 9-5 is not "full time?"

This is not limited to medicine. Most professional careers will see you working a lot more than 9-5. This is true for law, business, etc. 9-5 is for hourly folks.

btw, you should probably chop anesthesiology from that list. It's a nice specialty because of pretty high salary and less call than most, but you work more hours on average than almost any other specialty.

 

[smq123]

stay away from OB-Gym and Peds would be good choice Derm or Plastic Sur. When you work at at Hospital or clinic your required to be "on call" X amount of the time. say 1 weekend per month. they do tell you you need to see X many patients per hour.... day . but they take part of the burden of paperwork, billing, collections... insurance.. and you receive a paycheck all depends what hospital your in. (like Kaiser Hospitals)

Plastic surgery is not a good choice - because most people must do a general surgery residency before doing plastics. General surgery is > 5 years of 80-90 hours/week.

Derm is okay, but getting into derm is very, very, very hard.

I know I have a passion for medicine but Im concerned about the toll that being a doctor will have on my family. I know residencies take a long time but what are the best to choose so that I can spend a reasonable amount of time with my family, aka eating dinner at home and not having to work 7 days a week?

Physical medicine and rehabilitation. (aka "Rehab medicine") Not a bad lifestyle at all. Probably as close to 9-5 as you can get. Your patients are stable (or else they wouldn't be in rehab) and generally don't need that much care. Not that many late-night emergencies in PM&R.... I'm not even sure if you'd ever have to come in on a weekend as a PM&R attending, either.

If you're willing to undergo a three year internal med residency, then sub-specialties like rheumatology, allergy & immunology, and infectious diseases are not bad ideas. Again, very few emergencies that cannot be handled by an internal medicine resident or a fellow. You don't make a ton of money, but it's (usually) enough, it's not a bad lifestyle.

 

[Ian1223]

Having more time with my family is more important than making an extra 50 or 75/year

 

[CookieMonster1]

Physical medicine and rehabilitation. (aka "Rehab medicine") Not a bad lifestyle at all. Probably as close to 9-5 as you can get. Your patients are stable (or else they wouldn't be in rehab) and generally don't need that much care. Not that many late-night emergencies in PM&R.... I'm not even sure if you'd ever have to come in on a weekend as a PM&R attending, either.


Agreed, rehab is the way to go for a great lifestyle. My cousin just had a baby and is finishing up her rehab residency. She leaves home around 7-8, and is almost always home by 3-4. It's unreal. Plus she's had no trouble finding lots of job options for practice.

 

[shevie]

Having more time with my family is more important than making an extra 50 or 75/year

I totally agree with you, deespite what anyone says on this site. If i were looking for a high earning career, id become an analyst or an investment banker, stock broker, real estate, any of those.
im doing this because i love it. the money is really not an issue. its not even just "not" my top concern, it doesnt make my top 10 list.

 

[Law2Doc]

9-5? Seriously? I don't think you're going to find any specialty that's 9-5.

Agree. If you want 9 to 5 you don't go into a profession. In medicine 7 to 7 is much more common. The average physician works about 60-65 hours/week. Folks in surgery, OB and some of the more intense specialties average much higher than this. Folks in derm and ED work less than this. You aren't going to find a full time 40 hour work week outside of emergency medicine, and in that case, you may be working night shifts, not usually 9 to 5. There are fields where you might be able to get part-time gigs, which will be closer to the 40 hour work week you suggest, but these usually involve taking a big hit financially and in terms of your career progression, and are getting harder to get as the current generation appears to be more lifestyle oriented (this is cyclical). Bottom line is that doctors work a lot of hours. If you want 9 to 5 you may have trouble making that happen, because, overhead costs being the same, folks would just as soon hire someone who can work 12 hours per day as opposed to 8.

 

[tf2medic]

cardiology isn't good hours! my family's full of cardiologists and they definitely don't have good hours. i'll throw in ER doctors as one having good hours, though, if someone else hasn't mentioned it yet. from what i saw when i shadowed in the ER, they work 6-7 hr shifts and then go home at various times depending on when the shift starts. some were 8-3pm, 2pm-8pm, 8pm-2am...and they'd work like 2 shifts over 2 consecutive days, then a day off, then 2 more days...etc. compare that with cardiologists who are always 8am-7pm mon-friday and then on-call on weekends depending on their group size.

 

[deuce924]

I agree with you guys that say there really is no 9 to 5 in medicine. I think EM will be the closest you get but not because it is 9 to 5 but because it is in shifts. The thing is these shifts may be in the middle of the night ruining the plans of the OP eating dinner with family.

The ROAD (Radiology, Anesthesiology, Opthalmology, and Dermatology) Specialties are considered the least time consuming yet have a high compensation. Like I said before even with these specialties, I don't think you will be able to have a clear cut 9 to 5 type day.

 

[notdeadyet]

The ROAD (Radiology, Anesthesiology, Opthalmology, and Dermatology) Specialties are considered the least time consuming yet have a high compensation.

According to the last JAMA salary survey I've seen for average weekly hours worked:

Anesthesiologists 61.0
Radiologists 58.0

Compare that to:

Surgery (general) 60.0
OBGYN 61.0

Not sure when ROAD held water, but it doesn't anymore. Derm and Opthamology still have fairly sweet hour though. Good luck on the boards...

 

[Lokhtar]

Family Medicine could be good, or a hospitalist. Many hospitalists have similar work hours to EM. Usually 7-7 for seven days, and then seven days off, which would be nice for a family because you'd be home every other week.

 

[deuce924]

According to the last JAMA salary survey I've seen for average weekly hours worked:

Anesthesiologists 61.0
Radiologists 58.0

Compare that to:

Surgery (general) 60.0
OBGYN 61.0

Not sure when ROAD held water, but it doesn't anymore. Derm and Opthamology still have fairly sweet hour though. Good luck on the boards...

I think the Radiologists and Anesthesiologists that work for hospitals and aren't in private practice. I would believe those employed by the hospital would have more of a set schedule (less than 60 hours) than those with the private practices.

 

[enigma85]

Not sure about 9-5, but some specialties with relatively few hours per week-- PM&R, Psychiatry, Ophthalmology, Derm, Hospitalist, Emergency Medicine.

There are subspecialties that I would imagine are relatively few hours/week as well--Infectious Diseases and Medical Genetics, for example. And there are definitely cardiologists, surgeons, anesthesiologists, etc. who have a manageable schedule; other than something like trauma surgery, ob-gyn, and some others (mainly surgical), I would not eliminate many specialties based on lifestyle perception--part of the reason those physicians make more money is because is they work more hours.

 

[Law2Doc]

I would believe those employed by the hospital would have more of a set schedule (less than 60 hours) than those with the private practices.

Not from what I've seen. Actually those working in hospitals tend to start earlier in the day than private practice, and tend to be on call each month (eg at hospitals the radiology studies get performed 24 hours a day and an attending will be on site). So those extra hours probably pull the average up into the 60 hour range.

I agree with the prior poster who suggested that ROAD is outdated. There have been threads on this and what the acronym really should now be.

 

[iceman69]

Lest not forget the glamourous specialty of podiatry. Great pay, and great hours.

 

[Law2Doc]

Lest not forget the glamourous specialty of podiatry. Great pay, and great hours.

It's not an MD specialty, it's a totally different degree.

 

[Lokhtar]

Lest not forget the glamourous specialty of podiatry. Great pay, and great hours.

Podiatrists generally make less than most MD/DO. In any case, its not a medical specialty.

 

[Hilbert137]

Look into rheumatology. I think it usually requires about 5 years post medschool training (3 years residency and 2 fellowship), but after that it generally seems to be a 9-5 type of specialty as they are very few if any rhuematological emergencies. I shadowed a rheumatologist for a couple months once a week and he told me that the hours was among the top 5 reasons he had for going into it.

 

[directdoc]

Just wondering, what is a hospitalist?

 

[deuce924]

Just wondering, what is a hospitalist?

A hospitalist is a doctor who works for the hospital in the hospital. Normally they are general practitioners.

 

[Ashers]

A hospitalist is a doctor who works for the hospital in the hospital. Normally they are general practitioners.

They don't need to work for the hospital. They can work for a certain clinic, and manage a clinic's patient's during the day. They're available immediately if there's some issue to be addressed, instead of calling the person's doctor who could be at clinic which could be a drive away.

One of my friend's moms is a hospitalist, she started doing that so she could have better hours. 5 days a week and rotating weekends with the other hospitalists. The other internists took call at night when the hospitalists aren't there.

 

[RySerr21]

i wanna be an orthopedic surgeon. my friend's brother's uncle's newphew's son used to work for this girl who knew a guy who told her that orthopods only work about 45 hours a week during residency, so its not that bad. and then after that its smooth sailing with short days and long weekends.

 

[halekulani]

just change dinner to 8.

 

[iceman69]

The average salary for a D.P.M, aka a podatrist, is ~150K per annum. That's what they're take home pay is. They do everything below the knee, and for those who do a fair amount of surgery easily take home more than your average M.D., usually in excess of 200 K pre-tax. Something to think about for you "well informed" pre-medical students. Also, an Ortho residency is tough, typically ~80 hours per week, the current max. And in private practice they usually work around 60 hrs/week. This is what my uncle an orthopod tells me.

 

[badasshairday]

i wanna be an orthopedic surgeon. my friend's brother's uncle's newphew's son used to work for this girl who knew a guy who told her that orthopods only work about 45 hours a week during residency, so its not that bad. and then after that its smooth sailing with short days and long weekends.

lol.

 

[135892]

Podiatrists generally make less than most MD/DO. In any case, its not a medical specialty.

Nevertheless, their pay and hours can be fairly reasonable

 

[MrBurns10]

Nevertheless, their pay and hours can be fairly reasonable

Have any of you guys seen the feet of the people they take care of day in, day out? You couldn't pay me enough, personally.

 

[PleaseBelieveit]

My cousin is a psychiatrist and she works 9:30 to 3:30 5 days a week (never on the weekends). I have been shadowing her for a long time and we have yet to stay past 3:30 PM. In fact, on days that she teaches she gets in later than 9:30 and still leaves at 3:30.

 

[135892]

Have any of you guys seen the feet of the people they take care of day in, day out? You couldn't pay me enough, personally.

Haha, yeah, I'm totally with you there, I could never do it.
(And btw, you signature is hilarious )

 

[docspouse]

First off to get in to ophthalmology you will have to work extremely hard to get a good residency. The only ophthalmologists I know who work 9 to 5 are in a group practice as a paid part-time employee. You would definitely not want to be a retina specialist because you would be guaranteed lots of call and lots of long hours.

 

[shevie]

The only ophthalmologists I know who work 9 to 5 are in a group practice as a paid part-time employee.

my point precisely! for someone who is doing this and KNOWS theyre gonna need to be supporting their family on an income of, 1 or 150k as a sole breadwinner, PLUS has loans to pay back, working part time would be tough, because youre paid less.
but if you dont have loans to worry about, and there are two earners, so what youre bringing home is essentially "gravy," can someone (preferably someone who is NOT premed and ignorant like me) explain why it is an impossibility? after completing residency to find a PT position? Ive seen ppl do it and i dont think theyre ALL just "exceptions to the rule," and theyre ALL not opthamologists.
I dont think anyone should go into medicine, thinking i wanna work...per diem...volunteer a day or two a month, maybe work 3 hrs a day, if thats what theyre thinking, this isnt the career to choose. But, to at least entertain the possibility of perhaps being home with your children a couple days a week, being able to make PTA meetings, basketball games, etc etc, what is wrong with that, if it means cutting back and becoming a part time employee in a clinic or hospital setting?

 

[Law2Doc]

can someone (preferably someone who is NOT premed and ignorant like me) explain why it is an impossibility? after completing residency to find a PT position? Ive seen ppl do it and i dont think theyre ALL just "exceptions to the rule,"

It's not "impossible". However those positions are harder to come by because of a renewed interest by the current generation in lifestyle positions (making it more competitive to get those spots), and the fact that declining reimbursements make it harder for businesses to get by on shorter hours. The key issue though is that overhead costs (esp medmal insurance) are largely the same whether your employee works 8 hours a day or 12. So for an employer it is a much much better deal to hire folks who will work the 12 hours. There are still some places where you can do the part time thing (particularly in fields like peds and psych). And there are places that apparently get around the overhead issue by making folks pay for their own medmal insurance. So it's not impossible, or exceptions to the rule. Just harder to come by these days, and expected to get harder down the road.

 

[Quadratic]

Well, at some point or another you're gonna have to realize that being a doctor is more than going to the office and returning, leaving everything where you're at and not caring until the next day. Caring for people will require you to spend some time, and with declining reimbursements on the way, even MORE time than you would expect.

To live even slightly decent, you're gonna have to put in at least 60+ hours. It's very unlikely that as a rookie doctor you're gonna have the privilege of earning a great salary and working less hours. You're not Dr. House, lol.

 

[Doublecortin]

Agree. If you want 9 to 5 you don't go into a profession. In medicine 7 to 7 is much more common. The average physician works about 60-65 hours/week. Folks in surgery, OB and some of the more intense specialties average much higher than this. Folks in derm and ED work less than this. You aren't going to find a full time 40 hour work week outside of emergency medicine, and in that case, you may be working night shifts, not usually 9 to 5. There are fields where you might be able to get part-time gigs, which will be closer to the 40 hour work week you suggest, but these usually involve taking a big hit financially and in terms of your career progression, and are getting harder to get as the current generation appears to be more lifestyle oriented (this is cyclical). Bottom line is that doctors work a lot of hours. If you want 9 to 5 you may have trouble making that happen, because, overhead costs being the same, folks would just as soon hire someone who can work 12 hours per day as opposed to 8.

😱 I thought every generation wanted to work normal hours and make lots of $$$.

 

[shevie]

It's not "impossible". However those positions are harder to come by because of a renewed interest by the current generation in lifestyle positions (making it more competitive to get those spots), and the fact that declining reimbursements make it harder for businesses to get by on shorter hours. The key issue though is that overhead costs (esp medmal insurance) are largely the same whether your employee works 8 hours a day or 12. So for an employer it is a much much better deal to hire folks who will work the 12 hours. There are still some places where you can do the part time thing (particularly in fields like peds and psych). And there are places that apparently get around the overhead issue by making folks pay for their own medmal insurance. So it's not impossible, or exceptions to the rule. Just harder to come by these days, and expected to get harder down the road.

I totally hear you, and trust me, if i were going into this thinking im gonna work 3 six-hour days/wk, it would be time to consider a different career. But Im just thinking, im not the only one out there with a spouse who works, and trust me i care about health insurance, im not intersted in some HMO that i have to pay for myself, but if you get covered under your husband/wifes plan, then you dont have that "obligation" to work full time, and sure youre gonna take major pay cuts, but for some people, for a few years (say, if you "time" motherhood correctly and your kids are all either in day care, preschool or early elementary school, cant stay home alone, and YOUD rather be home to greet them than hire a nanny) its doable. then you go back and find a full time (albeit not as prestigious - youre not becoming an associate professor for the x you put in at home) position when the time is right. Im not saying its THE way to do things, Im just saying that it IS a viable option. (Esp. if you live in an urban center where there ARE more job opportunities - NY, LA, DC, Boston, etc)

 

[diosa428]

I totally hear you, and trust me, if i were going into this thinking im gonna work 3 six-hour days/wk, it would be time to consider a different career. But Im just thinking, im not the only one out there with a spouse who works, and trust me i care about health insurance, im not intersted in some HMO that i have to pay for myself, but if you get covered under your husband/wifes plan, then you dont have that "obligation" to work full time, and sure youre gonna take major pay cuts, but for some people, for a few years (say, if you "time" motherhood correctly and your kids are all either in day care, preschool or early elementary school, cant stay home alone, and YOUD rather be home to greet them than hire a nanny) its doable. then you go back and find a full time (albeit not as prestigious - youre not becoming an associate professor for the x you put in at home) position when the time is right. Im not saying its THE way to do things, Im just saying that it IS a viable option. (Esp. if you live in an urban center where there ARE more job opportunities - NY, LA, DC, Boston, etc)

I'm not sure whether or not you misunderstood his post, but by insurance he was referring to medical malpractice insurance, not your personal health insurance. Whatever group/hospital hires you usually covers this, and it costs the same per year regardless of how many hours you're working, so they'd rather purchase it for one person who's going to work 60-80 hours/week than 2 people who are each going to work 30-40 hours/week.

 

[diosa428]

I'm not sure whether or not you misunderstood his post, but by insurance he was referring to medical malpractice insurance, not your personal health insurance. Whatever group/hospital hires you usually covers this, and it costs the same per year regardless of how many hours you're working, so they'd rather purchase it for one person who's going to work 60-80 hours/week than 2 people who are each going to work 30-40 hours/week.

In addition, I've heard that in some specialties that have extremely high malpractice premiums (ob/gyn perhaps?), it's not even monetarily feasible to work part time and pay the premiums.

 

[copingmethods]

other than something like trauma surgery, ob-gyn, and some others (mainly surgical), I would not eliminate many specialties based on lifestyle perception--part of the reason those physicians make more money is because is they work more hours.

The current article on the SDN home-page is about trauma, and the surgeon says that he has call every 6 days, and on normal days goes in at around 7am and leaves by the afternoon. Am I wrong in thinking this doesn't seem too bad?

 

[diosa428]

The current article on the SDN home-page is about trauma, and the surgeon says that he has call every 6 days, and on normal days goes in at around 7am and leaves by the afternoon. Am I wrong in thinking this doesn't seem too bad?

Yeah, it's not that bad. Mostly because traumas really don't happen all the time (depending upon where you live). And most surgical emergencies don't actually go to trauma, because most of them aren't trauma. For example, a gunshot wound is trauma. But a pt might come to the ED with an esophageal perforation, which is a surgical emergency that would instead go to the thoracic surgeon on call. Our trauma service is actually one of the most boring surgery rotations because there's never anything to do, and most of the trauma happens at night, after the student has gone home. I would imagine this could be different in other locations.

 

[IHeartNerds]

The current article on the SDN home-page is about trauma, and the surgeon says that he has call every 6 days, and on normal days goes in at around 7am and leaves by the afternoon. Am I wrong in thinking this doesn't seem too bad?

Trauma has the same schedule as EM, at least here. Shift work may be hard on the body but it's sweet when you're off all the time.

However, the poor trauma guys hardly get to operate anymore...all the interesting stuff gets turfed to NSGY or ortho.