[Survey] Hours Worked per Week

[greenlocus]

I have sifted extensively through the forums here and have seen an approximate average range of hours worked per week going from 45 to 60. This range is a little broad, 30% increase.

I believe it would be informative and helpful to have one post with 15+ practicing Anesthesiologists respond with a brief statement concerning average work hours per week and average hours per shift.

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[coprolalia]

Residents or Practicing Anesthesiologists? For the latter, do you want to include "home call" as part of hours worked (or at least potentially worked... i.e., you can't really get involved in doing anything else because you may have to go in?).

In residency, I worked on-average 65-75 hours/week throughout the four years. There were occassional weeks that I worked over 80 hours, with my record being 91 hours (I didn't violate ACGME because they average that out over a month and I got a four-day stretch off as a "reward"). I did what they told me, "no ifs, ands, or buts"... at least ones that were heard or cared about.

Since starting PP, I've averaged about 50-55 hours/week. I get to the hospital around 6:30 AM, and I am usually getting home between 3:30 - 4:00 PM. I have to cover at least two weekend days, per month. And, I usually go in to "check in" in the morning during those days.

There are late days where I stay until 5:30-6:00 PM, but the motivation in PP-land is to get done and get out. If you include home call, you can add another 10 hours to that average, and yes I have to work "post-call" if they need me on the schedule and I had to go in the night before. The one time this has happened already (had to come in to do an emergency ex-lap at 3:30 AM that finished around 6:00 AM), one of the partners got me out later that day at about 11:00 AM. I was already on my 3rd case when I was relieved for the day.

-copro

 

[camkiss]

I am in PP, and I would say I am in the 45-60 hours per week you mentioned. It really depends on where my calls fall. For example, I am taking in-house call tomorrow (Sunday) for 24h. I'll be post-call Monday. Then work anywhere from 6-9 hours a day on Tuesday through Friday. The weeks that include a weekend call are always the longest.

 

[panetrain]

I'm in PP as well and work 55-60 hr/week. I must note that 55-60 hours in pp feels like over 80 hours in residency. This is due to those 15-20 hours/week spent in the call room during residency. There are zero hours spent in the call room in pp, it's pure box time. As reimbursement falls, which it will, the hours/week will ultimately increase to maintain the same standard of living.

I am in PP, and I would say I am in the 45-60 hours per week you mentioned. It really depends on where my calls fall. For example, I am taking in-house call tomorrow (Sunday) for 24h. I'll be post-call Monday. Then work anywhere from 6-9 hours a day on Tuesday through Friday. The weeks that include a weekend call are always the longest.

 

[greenlocus]

Thanks for the replies; it would be helpful to have a few more responses.

 

[deleted126335]

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[narcusprince]

I work typically 65-75 hrs a week in residency. Where is PGG on the list???

 

[USAnesthesiaDoc]

I'm in private practice. If I have no call during a week, I start at 6:45 - 7 am, and finish around 3:30 mostly, monday through friday. Some days may be a late room or I have to stay late to recover surgery center pts, and then I'm usually out by 5:30. If I take call, I work 24 hours in house and get the next day off. Weekends are friday through sunday, alternating in house versus 2nd call or back up call. OR's usually finish around 8-10 pm and then there is ob and emergency stuff, but that is hit or miss. I have to work to get paid.

 

[pgg]

I work typically 65-75 hrs a week in residency. Where is PGG on the list???

Most of my time is at a military hospital, so I wasn't going to post in this thread since I don't think my hours (or pay) are at all comparable to the what people see in the normal PP world. My call is pager call from home. Plus, I do a bit of locums at a 2nd civilian job to preserve my skills, sanity, and to get a taste of what it's like to earn a fair market wage.

I'd guess, an average week with 4 OR days, one night of home pager call, and one postcall weekday ... 35 hours + 15 hours of pager call. Maybe 1/4 of my pager call actually gets spent in the hospital so I'd guess I'm still under 40 hours/week in the hospital. Add in a Fri-Sat-Sun pager call per month.

Counting the moonlighting I'm probably up to an average of 50-55 hours/week.

 

[parkerMD]

how about academics, specifically pediatric anesthesia attendings?

 

[tucker27705]

In PP now with far fewer hours.
Res. worked 6am to 5pm in OR. Never out before 5, often later. Then came pre and postops and occasional conferences. Call was 4, 1 week of nights (7 in a row 5p to 7a) in the main OR. 4 weeks of weekend day call. Then there was OB nights for which we were paid (mandatory moonlighting, on avg one 12 hour shift per month that was on the weekends). 3 weeks vac per year.
PP. Avg day is 7am to 3:30 pm M-F. One time per month you pull a 24 hour OB shift. One time per month you are the overnight in call doc. One time per month you are the guy who takes call at home for the night. Havent yet been called in from home. On those nights you stay until all but one OR is down--can be from 6pm to usually no later than 11p. You get the next day off. There is also a "Late" doc that stays until we are down to 2 rooms. With 3 MDs we can supervise plenty of rooms, but the hospital only staffs 3 between 7 and 11pm, and only 2 from 11p to 7am.
We are lucky to have about 30 mds with only one hospital to cover. We cover the main OR with one doc and OB with a second. An AA stays on OB. So between the 3 most things can get taken care of, with the at home doc rarely called in.
Weekend call is 24 hours in the main OR, 7a to 7a. OB call is always a 24 hour shift.

Avg vacation is 8 weeks per doc ranging from 6 to 12.
You get paid for working, not for vacation.

This is probably fairly typical. What you also need to consider is payer mix. For these hours you could get paid from 300K to 600K depending on the mix and your locale.

 

[pmichaelmd]

Just looked at my October schedule and figured things out. As has been previously mentioned, it really depends on how your calls fall. If I am unfortunate enough to get 2 weekend calls any particular month, it looks like I am working like a resident. Most months I have 1 weekend call, which is either 48 or 72 hours.
This month, averaging my 1 72-hour call (from home) in with the remainder of my regular weekday calls (and occasional post-call work), I will average just over 63 hours/week. On the weeks I only have in-house weekday call, I average around 46 hours/week. That tells you how nasty it can be to take a 72-hour weekend call...that week racked up a nice 112 hours!

Welcome to PP!

Regards,
PMMD

 

[foxtrot]

I am interested to hear how many of you get the post call day off? If your calls are home calls (but you are there half of the night), do any of you get the post call day off ?

 

[vök]

How many people are in your practice for attendings working close ~60 (or more) hrs a week?

 

[panetrain]

We don't get post call day off by choice and this is why: We take q5 call and losing a full day of cases every fifth day would be financially straining, We take home call with no OB coverage, we are typically out of the OR by 8-11pm on our call nights, we are not W2 and thus eat what we kill.

I am interested to hear how many of you get the post call day off? If your calls are home calls (but you are there half of the night), do any of you get the post call day off ?

 

[deleted126335]

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[DreamMachine]

I am interested to hear how many of you get the post call day off? If your calls are home calls (but you are there half of the night), do any of you get the post call day off ?

We take home call and get the post call day off. We cover ALOT of OB, so we usually get little sleep. Rarely, we get lucky.

 

[foxtrot]

I would think that the rule of thumb answer to this question is based on the type of call:

1. In house: virtually always post call day off.
2. Home with low call back: Mostly work the next day, but out early.
3. Home with moderate to heavy call back: Somewhere between 1 & 2. Closer to #1

Would you take a job where you covered OB from home and covered OR's from home also with no post call day off and having to work half the next day in a pain clinic? This offer has been presented to me and I am not exactly sure about it.

 

[foxtrot]

I would think that the rule of thumb answer to this question is based on the type of call:

1. In house: virtually always post call day off.
2. Home with low call back: Mostly work the next day, but out early.
3. Home with moderate to heavy call back: Somewhere between 1 & 2. Closer to #1

This makes sense to me.

 

[DreamMachine]

Would you take a job where you covered OB from home and covered OR's from home also with no post call day off and having to work half the next day in a pain clinic? This offer has been presented to me and I am not exactly sure about it.

Not experienced like Doze, but some obvious questions...
How busy is OB (number of deliveries, etc.)? How busy are the ORs at night (do they receive trauma, etc.)?

 

[sweetalkr]

Resident - it matters on the month.
there were 3 months my CA-1 year that were cake (less than 40 per week without call counted), and in CA-2 year, 3 months where we took one call per month and worked maybe 20-30 hours in a lab.
but the ICU months are closer to 70-75 hours, we do 11 hour day, 13 hour night shifts (2wks days, 2 wks nights)
then the OR is typically a 6am (640-715 protected conference) to 4 or 5pm. 2-3 times a month out at like 2 or 3, but mainly 4-5. rarely after 5pm.
60 hours/wk..
ca-1 we took 6-7 calls, 2 weekends (friday/sunday call and saturday call)
ca - 2 we took 5 calls, 1 weekend
ca-3 we take 3-4 calls, 0-1 wkend (only friday or sunday). so about 50-55 hours/week
this year, no easy months.. "easiest" will be pain and regional months (total of 3) of probably about 45-50 hours/week. normal hours
calls - 1 in about 10 calls i will not get paged at all. very rare. typically OB sucks (90% of time), and OR is totally hit or miss. sometimes u sleep all night, sometimes u dont sit down

isn't it sad that working 50hours/wk is easy for us, but the general population is getting paid overtime?

 

[deleted126335]

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[omegaman]

Employed by a hospital where the Anesthesia department is understaffed. Cases start at 7am so you have to be there at 6:30 to 6:40am weekdays and work till 1700 or later, if not post 1st call or on call. First call usually works till midnight then covers the busy ob department all night then has to work till noon the next day. Most first calls, I seldom get more that an hour or two of rest. There is no mechanism to get breaks or meals, and nursing is overstaffed, so they have the next case set up in another room with different nurses so anesthesia is the rate limiting factor, thus there is little chance to get a break between cases.

1st Call is 29 hours straight since we are required to work untill noon post call.
2nd call works till 2000 most nights and covers OB until first call is free at midnight works till 1700 next day.
3rd call works till 2000 most nights available if 1st and 2nds call are working.

Counting all the time we are on call or working it averages to 120- 140 hours per week. Hospital pays extra to work after 1800 if not on call, and we routinely get a couple thousand bonus every quarter for all the mandatory over time.

 

[Leinie]

Employed by a hospital where the Anesthesia department is understaffed. Cases start at 7am so you have to be there at 6:30 to 6:40am weekdays and work till 1700 or later, if not post 1st call or on call. First call usually works till midnight then covers the busy ob department all night then has to work till noon the next day. Most first calls, I seldom get more that an hour or two of rest. There is no mechanism to get breaks or meals, and nursing is overstaffed, so they have the next case set up in another room with different nurses so anesthesia is the rate limiting factor, thus there is little chance to get a break between cases.

1st Call is 29 hours straight since we are required to work untill noon post call.
2nd call works till 2000 most nights and covers OB until first call is free at midnight works till 1700 next day.
3rd call works till 2000 most nights available if 1st and 2nds call are working.

Counting all the time we are on call or working it averages to 120- 140 hours per week. Hospital pays extra to work after 1800 if not on call, and we routinely get a couple thousand bonus every quarter for all the mandatory over time.

Wow. You might want to look for a new job unless your making a million a year.......

 

[foxtrot]

Employed by a hospital where the Anesthesia department is understaffed. Cases start at 7am so you have to be there at 6:30 to 6:40am weekdays and work till 1700 or later, if not post 1st call or on call. First call usually works till midnight then covers the busy ob department all night then has to work till noon the next day. Most first calls, I seldom get more that an hour or two of rest. There is no mechanism to get breaks or meals, and nursing is overstaffed, so they have the next case set up in another room with different nurses so anesthesia is the rate limiting factor, thus there is little chance to get a break between cases.

1st Call is 29 hours straight since we are required to work untill noon post call.
2nd call works till 2000 most nights and covers OB until first call is free at midnight works till 1700 next day.
3rd call works till 2000 most nights available if 1st and 2nds call are working.

Counting all the time we are on call or working it averages to 120- 140 hours per week. Hospital pays extra to work after 1800 if not on call, and we routinely get a couple thousand bonus every quarter for all the mandatory over time.

That sounds like several of the groups I interviewed with in Washington, except they were private practice groups. How long can you sustain these hours? Unless you are getting 9-12 weeks of vacations and/or making a lot of dough. That's a tough schedule.