Taking time off?

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hoosier82

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I heard many docs complaining about not having enough time with family. Well, if you have your board license, can't you just take 3 month off and then get back to work? So my question is. Can specialists such as radiologist or internists take time off when they want?

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I assume it would depend on the employment contract with the hospital employing you. A few years back I had shadowed a radiologist in a smaller hospital, and he was much older (probably late 50's) and he was telling me that he was one of two radiologists employed by that hospital and had only 2 weeks of vacation a year. Otherwise he was working approx. 70 - 80 hours a week. That is just one specific example though.
 
First off, just to clear up some semantics.

There is no such thing as a "board license". You can be:

Board Certified (which entails an unrestricted medical licensure and satisfactory completion of requisite training and passage of the Board Examinations)

and

Licensed (which requires completion of USMLE Step 3 and in some other states, such as Texas, another exam). This is managed at the state level.

Taking time off depends on your contract. Most physicians probably get 4 weeks of paid vacation each year. However, some in-demand specialists, can negotiate for much more.

Taking too much time off can result in loss of clinical skills, licensure and goodwill from your partners or employers. Obviously there are things like FMLA for pregnancy, paternity leave, etc. but most employers and/or business partners would not take kindly to another leaving for 3 months. And if you didn't have paid vacation for that length of time, it might get hard to pay off those student loans and other bills without an income.
 
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We had a trauma surgeon who came to talk to us who takes 6weeks a year. He said that he has left a job, taken a year to travel, and then come back before, and that there was always a job waiting for him. Just passing on the random input of a practicing physician about this, I'm not sure how accurate this is across specialties or whatever.
 
My dad's an orthopod. When he was in solo private practice, the most he took off per year was about 4wks -- 2wks vacation at most at 1 time (and he worked ~80hrs/week the rest of the year). Since working for Kaiser, he's taken between 6-12 weeks off a year (paid vacation), and he works less than 80hrs/week.

Edit: He earns more than the 2 or so allotted weeks of vacation by working overtime (ER calls + surgeries, extended clinics etc).
 
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