Depends on your perspective. I am in a high volume, high acuity patients type of practice. Typically running 3-4 rooms in a practice that does high risk OB, sick neonates, level 1 trauma, major vascular. Typically up all night on call.
Compared to the local (lower tier) academic practice where the attendings run 2 rooms. Having surgical residents who are learning to operate. An entire day might be 3 inguinal hernias or 2 total joints in a room.
I consider that to be a better lifestyle job.
The tenure track attending in the high power name brand academic institution is working as hard as any private practice doc. But not alot of others IMO.
And your definition of lifestyle. When I came out of training there was no academic practice that would give me half the vacation I get here. Take home income would have been similar and benefits better, but I have the option of working some of that vacation if I want, or not. As it is, I pay significantly more in federal taxes than I made in any single year as a resident or fellow.
My perspective; This week I did everything from two circ arrest aortic arch cases to a crani to ear tubes to a rescue "TURP" on a sick ass, obstructed dude with widely metastatic prostate CA, a preop sodium of 126 and significant coagulopathy, to a carotid endarterectomy on a guy with a c2-4 fusion and no neck, to a microlaryngoscopy on a guy with a vocal cord mass, to a bunch of chip shot ortho ****. On my non-call days I got home early enough to grab my bow and go elk hunting, in fact I spent more hours elk hunting this week than I did in the hospital. We do high risk OB, whatever trauma rolls through the door (car vs horse seeming to be some of the worst), major vascular etc, but we do it ourselves. We take call from home, and home is 15-30 min to the ski slopes (depending on where you want to live).
Sure I have to live in the paradise (and I do not mean that sarcastically) of BFE to do this, but that's what I call a good lifestyle!
The hardest part of living here is tying to figure out what you are going to do with your time off. Next weekend off I have invitations to go elk hunting, pheasant hunting, trap shooting or go do some world class fishing. I could take the kids out on the four wheeler, hiking, or to the pumpkin patch. I could go to Oktoberfest or one of the great brewpubs in town. Maybe one last trip to the lake. I could do a barbecue on my new big ass deck and have some friends over. I still need to button up the house for winter and start getting ready for ski season. The options are exhausting. Thankfully I am on call this weekend so I can rest up and get some of the house work done!
Now that's what I call a good lifestyle.
3 inguinal hernias or 2 total joints while watching someone else do the anesthesia with the realization that I only get 4-5 weeks per year away from this hell? That would be excruciatingly awful.
- pod
