Surgical lifestyles

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deleted421268

I was wondering out of all the kinds of surgical specialties, which one offers the best lifestyle in terms of work to leisure activity time. I am really interested in orthopedics, but want to hear your take on this.
 
You can't go into orthopedics unless you have mad guns
 
Rippey said:
You can't go into orthopedics unless you have mad guns
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Man I lift like almost everyday and am athletic. i'm just am mirin this specialty because of the engineering involved in fixing bones/restoring body, interested in musko system, can make great difference in life of others, but am only concerned about the lifestyle bro.
 
If your ultimate goal is lifestyle then i don't think medicine is for you
 
Fuarky said:
I was wondering out of all the kinds of surgical specialties, which one offers the best lifestyle in terms of work to leisure activity time. I am really interested in orthopedics, but want to hear your take on this.
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They all suck in terms of having leisure/activity time.

The worst is probably Trauma (personal experience from family member)... the best is probably well... none of them.
 
I should add the following...

If you're pursuing a specialty in which there might be an overnight emergency, you can look forward to suckage for a lengthy amount of time.

For example: Infectious Disease, someone comes in with SARS like symptoms, or H1N1 symptoms. You get a call to come in.

The flip side of this... is something like rheumatology... there's not very many rheumatological emergencies.


Last week my family and extended family were having dinner, and my uncle got called to come in and fix "insert bone here". As an orthopedic surgeon, it's probably one of the coolest jobs I've seen in the medical field.

But lately, I've been looking at other options like anesthesiology/critical care medicine, radiology both diagnostic and interventional. All are very appealing in terms of lifestyle, compensation, level of involvement and responsibility.

I can sit here and rhyme off a list as to what specialty I will pursue... but I can promise you that it will change. Why? Because it's different when you actually do something yourself. What if it turns out that my aptitude lies in OB/GYN, or even psychiatry. Keep the options open. Attain a solid step 1 score and then let the good times roll.
 
From talking to surgeons, they all told me it's what you make of it. They said when you become a seasoned doc in your field it's much more easier to cater the hours to how you want it. Obviously compensation would come into play also. How easy that is, I don't know.

I'm still in the undergrad process right now, but from shadowing and working in the field, I definitely want to do something that involves both med and surg. I want something with clinic work but also the privileged to take my pt to surgery myself if need to. I'm not really feeling ob/gyn, uro or opth though....I've looked into ENT and in the process of finding a doc to shadow right now.
 
CodeBlu said:
I should add the following...

If you're pursuing a specialty in which there might be an overnight emergency, you can look forward to suckage for a lengthy amount of time.

For example: Infectious Disease, someone comes in with SARS like symptoms, or H1N1 symptoms. You get a call to come in.

The flip side of this... is something like rheumatology... there's not very many rheumatological emergencies.


Last week my family and extended family were having dinner, and my uncle got called to come in and fix "insert bone here". As an orthopedic surgeon, it's probably one of the coolest jobs I've seen in the medical field.

But lately, I've been looking at other options like anesthesiology/critical care medicine, radiology both diagnostic and interventional. All are very appealing in terms of lifestyle, compensation, level of involvement and responsibility.

I can sit here and rhyme off a list as to what specialty I will pursue... but I can promise you that it will change. Why? Because it's different when you actually do something yourself. What if it turns out that my aptitude lies in OB/GYN, or even psychiatry. Keep the options open. Attain a solid step 1 score and then let the good times roll.
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You also need to account for the length of time per case if you get called in.

Ruptured AAA = Long open abdomen case = nights and days ruined.

Appy = 2 hours door to door home and back to bed.
 
Over 300million people live in the United States, there are 43,230 surgeons nationwide. You have some work to do buddy.
 
I have a very strong interest in ortho too and have spent many hours shadowing them. And if you want a life/ a good lifestyle. This is not for you. They make very good money so when you are off you live nice but, a 12 hour day isnt a rarity and 5 days a week that brings you up to 60 hours a week, There is not too much call though. Its up to you but you will really figure out what you want to do in 3rd and 4th year. My dad is an OB/GYN and its the ****tiest hours, always leaving at 3 or 4 in the morning but, he loves its and all it will come down to.
 
I didn't think this would need a separate thread. What specialties (non-surgical) would you guys say would allow one to spend a lot of time home, or also teach/research a lot, or even pursue completely different interests? I recently heard about this part-time ER doctor (nights shifts+summer) who also has an extremely successful career in an completely unrelated field during the school year. Would that work with anything else than emergency medicine? Also I'm confused about how it creating one's schedule works for physicians. Is one just free to "sign up" for whatever shifts they wish to take? Do they work the same hours every week/month. Sorry these are such basic questions.
 
Probably the best (if you can get it) is straight cosmetic Plastics. Great lifestyle and obviously very great compensation. However, the spots are really limited. The 2nd best, imho, is Ophthalmology (e.g. high-volume LASIK). If you only care about lifestyle and money, then a high-volume LASIK practice is the way to go. But it's much harder than you think to achieve this (from a business standpoint; not a surgical standpoint).
 
Thanks! Actually I was mostly interested in Emergency Medicine, Medical Genetics, Medical Toxicology, Oncology, Trauma Surgery so far. Does anyone has maybe an input on the possibility of a part-time career in these?
 
LightBox said:
Probably the best (if you can get it) is straight cosmetic Plastics. Great lifestyle and obviously very great compensation. However, the spots are really limited. The 2nd best, imho, is Ophthalmology (e.g. high-volume LASIK). If you only care about lifestyle and money, then a high-volume LASIK practice is the way to go. But it's much harder than you think to achieve this (from a business standpoint; not a surgical standpoint).
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I hate those lasik docs. There's like 3 or 4 major ones where I live and they are constantly doing commercials on the tv and radio. They even bring in Dallas Cowboys players to say how they did a great job on them and how no one else is better. ANNOYING, well from a business standpoint.
 
Mnbvcxz said:
Thanks! Actually I was mostly interested in Emergency Medicine, Medical Genetics, Medical Toxicology, Oncology, Trauma Surgery so far. Does anyone has maybe an input on the possibility of a part-time career in these?
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It can be done. My sister's gastro and gynecologist are only part time docs who specialize with endometriosis and only take on those types of patients. Plus, they are badasses.
 
Mnbvcxz said:
Thanks! Actually I was mostly interested in Emergency Medicine, Medical Genetics, Medical Toxicology, Oncology, Trauma Surgery so far. Does anyone has maybe an input on the possibility of a part-time career in these?
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Out of the 1400 doctors performing plastic surgery in San Diego, only 500 are actual board certified plastic surgeons!

Consider being a Family Practitioner giving Botox injections in your office!

😎
 
Mnbvcxz said:
Thanks! Actually I was mostly interested in Emergency Medicine, Medical Genetics, Medical Toxicology, Oncology, Trauma Surgery so far. Does anyone has maybe an input on the possibility of a part-time career in these?
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Emergency medicine: You're a shift worker for the most part, not much call. I can't see many practices being willing to let in a part-timer though.

Medical toxicology: I'd consider that a subset of emergency medicine. Can you really be just a toxicologist?

Oncology: You become responsible for most of the care of your patients, not just the cancer related stuff. Ergo, busy.

Trauma surgery: Speaks for itself. These people are intense! Can't imagine them having much room left over for side jobs.

It is definitely possible to be involved in research and practice medicine at the same time. My mentor is an MD/PhD and he's able to combine being a practicing pathologist and the principle investigator of a lab. In fact, most doctors at academic institutions will combine seeing patients with research of some form, whether it's wet bench type research or clinical outcomes research or anything else.

If by "part-time career" you mean something aside from medicine altogether, I have no idea why you'd want that. Why would you suffer through four years of college, four years of medical school, and 3-7+ years of medical training if you're not willing to be 110% committed to medicine? It's just not worth it.
 
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ComradeDoktor said:
It is definitely possible to be involved in research and practice medicine at the same time. My mentor is an MD/PhD and he's able to combine being a practicing pathologist and the principle investigator of a lab. In fact, most doctors at academic institutions will combine seeing patients with research of some form, whether it's wet bench type research or clinical outcomes research or anything else.
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Principal investigator 😉
 
On a serious note, I believe it is possible to do surgery on the side. I've heard of doctors working mainly in the office with patients and then doing surgeries at the hospital a few days a week. I'm not sure how that works exactly, but it could be something to look into.
 
Where's urology and ENT??

Easily the two best surgical lifestyle specialties (plus Optho - but someone mentioned that already)

edit: just noticed ORL = ENT. Still, Urology!! haha. my future career right there 😛
 
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ShockDoctrine said:
On a serious note, I believe it is possible to do surgery on the side. I've heard of doctors working mainly in the office with patients and then doing surgeries at the hospital a few days a week. I'm not sure how that works exactly, but it could be something to look into.
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um, most surgeons "only" do operations for a few days a week. You have to find patients and then see them in follow up as well. Our busiest surgeons "only" operate 3 days a week.
 
Thanks guys. How do physicians (any type of) actually plan out their schedules. Do they have set hours which they have to work every week? How are these decided? Can they say for example, I'm going to work 9-5pm 3 times a week and 11pm-5am twice for example? Can they say, I only work full-time June through October?
This looks rather odd when written down, but I'm wondering how this part-time thing works.
 
Mnbvcxz said:
Thanks guys. How do physicians (any type of) actually plan out their schedules. Do they have set hours which they have to work every week? How are these decided? Can they say for example, I'm going to work 9-5pm 3 times a week and 11pm-5am twice for example? Can they say, I only work full-time June through October?
This looks rather odd when written down, but I'm wondering how this part-time thing works.
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In surgery, the only part-time jobs I know are locum tenens jobs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locum

When one of the departments at my hospital is short-staffed (someone leaves/quits, someone goes on an extended vacation, etc), they usually hire a locums to come fill in the gap. When you're not working as a locums, you're free to do whatever else you want. The locums I've worked with are sometimes full-time staff/professors at another place (and just picking up some extra shifts for cash), or in between jobs, or they're taking a break from something else.

In private practice, your arrangement will be whatever you work out with your partners, but you will be pulling your share of the weight, or you'll be shown the door. You'll take your share of the call, and you'll bring in your share of the revenue. Picking and choosing your hours at whim tends to come with seniority.
 
Warick22 said:
I have a very strong interest in ortho too and have spent many hours shadowing them. And if you want a life/ a good lifestyle. This is not for you. They make very good money so when you are off you live nice but, a 12 hour day isnt a rarity and 5 days a week that brings you up to 60 hours a week, There is not too much call though. Its up to you but you will really figure out what you want to do in 3rd and 4th year. My dad is an OB/GYN and its the ****tiest hours, always leaving at 3 or 4 in the morning but, he loves its and all it will come down to.
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60 hrs a week is actually a great schedule for a surgeon. I would have love to have that for the rest of my life....
 
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