-
The 2026-2027 MD School Specific Threads are now live in the School Specific Discussions forum. The 2025-2026 cycle threads can be found here. -
Scholarship Access: Becoming a Student Doctor course
Free access to comprehensive medical school prep. Eligible students include AAMC FAP recipients and HS graduates from underserved areas. Apply today.
Surgery Q?
Started by prodigy09
60-80 hours/week is standard for a LOT of specialties, not just neuro.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
HumidBeing
In Memory of Riley Jane
Moderator Emeritus
Lifetime Donor
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Podiatric. 🙂
HumidBeing
In Memory of Riley Jane
Moderator Emeritus
Lifetime Donor
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
or cosmetic.
What about ENT?
Hahahaha. Neurosurgery = 120 hours/week.
80 is pretty typical in surgery.
60 would be amazing.
ENT is probably one of the best in terms of hours. Optho is also good if you don't mind the eye. I would imagine private practice plastics is ok, but at an academic center it won't be so great. Endocrine (thyroid, parathyroid) isn't bad b/c they don't stay in the hospital too long, so you have less patients to round on, and the surgeries are relatively short.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Not really. Trauma surgeons are generally employed by hospitals (as opposed to private practice) and any surgeon employed by a hospital will likely work longer hours than private practice docs. Trauma surgeons also need to keep really strange hours, and sit around doing a lot of nothing until the traumas come in (which is usually on nights and weekends). Docs who schedule pretty regular surgeries at least work during day hours.
Oncologic surg isn't bad, I know a guy who does breast cancer resections 60-70 hours a week and does well for himself. The best thing is, no call, since cases don't come in urgently.
Also, major laughs at nsgy working 60 hours a week. that would be freaking amazing. A few mentor attendings of mine do around 90-100 on a regular basis, although 120 is a little bit of an exaggeration. Still, it's one of the few fields in which you work more hours as an attending than as a resident.
Also, major laughs at nsgy working 60 hours a week. that would be freaking amazing. A few mentor attendings of mine do around 90-100 on a regular basis, although 120 is a little bit of an exaggeration. Still, it's one of the few fields in which you work more hours as an attending than as a resident.
What is it about surgery as a specialty that's appealing to you? You might find non-surgical specialties that have better hours but incorporate similar skill sets.
I hear EM has decent and reliable hours, it's not a surgical specialty, but you do need surgical skill 🙂 And Optho is probably pretty reliable as well. And of course, if you go into private cosmetics practice..
I hear EM has decent and reliable hours, it's not a surgical specialty, but you do need surgical skill 🙂 And Optho is probably pretty reliable as well. And of course, if you go into private cosmetics practice..
PM&R dermatologic radiological emergency medicine surgery.
all of the best leisure specialties rolled into one convenient surgical specialty.
all of the best leisure specialties rolled into one convenient surgical specialty.
I think if you want a nice leisurely lifestyle (i.e. < 60 hours) you need to look into something else.
👍 Rarely take call, good money, 40-60 hour work week, nice-lifestyle. Check into it.
There are actually EM docs that work part time. I knew of a couple who both worked nights in an ER and did quite well for their family, and got to spend plenty of time with their kids. Really nice lifestyle choice, I'd say. 40 hours/week + a great combined salary anyway = win.
Yeah, my gut tells me that Radiology is the field that I'd enjoy most, but realistically it's competitive and I might not make it in. In which case, EM is my close runner up right now because it's also really interesting and a nice lifestyle choice 🙂
Not to sound 1950's but I think as "the woman", I don't really feel the pressure to bring home a huge paycheck nor do I feel the pressure to be the sole provider for the family, I just want to contribute to the household income enough to make a comfortable life for my family, while doing something I enjoy for reasonable hours.
I'm guessing, so please anyone correct me if I'm wrong, but basically I think it's cause a) there arent TOO many neurosurgeons around, and there are definitely more brain/spinal injuries than doctors who can fix them, and 2) each surgery is loooong.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
On the pre-allo board I think we can assume the OP means allopathic MD surgical paths. 🙂
Agreed. Surgery is not an hours friendly set of specialties. You are much more likely to find 100+ hour practices than 65+ hour ones. You won't be doing yourself any favors trying to make a field what it isn't, such as trying to make a surgical field a lifestyle field. If there were a way for surgeons to work 60 hours per week as a specialty, don't you think they would be doing that? Unfortunately surgical operations take long times, times are difficult to estimate, generally cannot be rushed through, many operations aren't schedulable (are emergent or dependent on availability of organs), and you need to do many, many of them to get any good. And you have to follow the patient during recovery and deal with a variety of complications that can arise. Not to mention that after a decade of training (residencies are very long), most people want to do enough procedures to maximize their earning potential -- careers aren't as long in surgery because you start later and things like arthritis can cut your career short. So no, it will never really be a lifestyle specialty, and wanting it so doesn't really face the realities.
But if what you really like is "procedural" stuff, rather than "surgery" per se, you might be able to find that option in a non-surgical field. Eg. is fixing a bleeding vessel through endoscopy or removing a polyp via colonoscopy that the GI docs (an IM subspecialty) do, or feeding a bronchoscope into someone's lungs (pulmonology), really so different than some of the laproscopic stuff many surgeons do? There are opportunities to do procedures, work with your hands etc outside of surgery and get much more controllable schedules. Something to think about, perhaps.
lol i know, i was just kidding. trauma surgeons have it bad too
prodigy, I just finished my surgery rotation. Law2Doc or some of the other med students can disagree with me if they want, but I think it's pretty safe to say that NONE of the surgical fields have a lot of outside life where they work less than 60 hours. My primary attending was a female surgeon with a husband and kid. But she works as many hours as the men, and her husband stays at home with the kid. I could barely keep up with her pace for four weeks, and I have no idea how she's done this for so many years. 😳 The other attendings I worked with all had really long hours too, except one who is in his 70s and I think "only" works more like 40-50 hours. The residents and interns I took call with were all working super long hours too, 80 hours per week. The only reason it wasn't more is because it's illegal for residents to work more than 80 hours. To make a long story short, I really didn't get the impression that a 40-hour (or even 60-hour) surgery work week is going to be an option!
If you want surgery without the heavy time demand, I think your best bet would be to go into a different specialty, but to tack on a surgical fellowship so that you can have limited surgical privileges.
Right now, I am rotating with a clinician in pain medicine - his primary appointment is in anesthesiology, but he has done surgical training and works many neuro-surgical procedures into his (usually 8-5) schedule. I have seen him place spinal cord stimulators and handle spinal nerve denervations. Is he ever going to crack open a skull? Not likely. Is he in surgery almost every day while working clinic hours? Most definitely.
Right now, I am rotating with a clinician in pain medicine - his primary appointment is in anesthesiology, but he has done surgical training and works many neuro-surgical procedures into his (usually 8-5) schedule. I have seen him place spinal cord stimulators and handle spinal nerve denervations. Is he ever going to crack open a skull? Not likely. Is he in surgery almost every day while working clinic hours? Most definitely.
That sounds like a really nice combination.
I have a cousin that went into OB/GYN primarily for the surgical aspect. I'm mainly going off of what he told me but after residency you can tailor your practice and my understanding is he's aiming to stick mainly to surgical cases and do less L&D.
