weekend call

[neilc]

holy cow... i just spent the weekend (730am saturday-730am monday) on my second call. i love this specialty, but i am pretty darn glad that there are hours restrictions out there. my last stretch of work was 3am to 8am monday (3 deliveries, 3 admissions), then i got to leave. but, my resident was in the OR all day monday too, after the weekend on. that is nuts! is that what the work days were like in ob/gyn in the states before the regulations? basically, we were on the gyn floor from 8-2 sat and sun, no other call, then on call for the house (delivery and gyn) from 2-8pm both days. we did get to rest from 8p-2a (gyn call only, slow usually) but were back on house call 2a to 8a!

i guess this is a long preface to simple questions: what are typical residency call hours? how does the night float work? and, most importantly, does it adversley affect your exposure to cases? and, as med students, what is the level of responsibility you had on your clerkships? what did you do alone, assisted, and what was off limits to students? i am interested in comparing what i am doing with my future colleagues and competitors for those residency postitions in 2006!

but, there is nothing cooler than delivering a baby. i mean, the work of it is nothing much (unless you are the mother! ), but man it is cool to see a happy, healthy baby being born. i could do this weekend call once a month throughout training if i had too, i certainly think it would be worth it.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[dwstranger]

Hey, Neil!

Glad you're liking your rotation. In all the programs at which I interviewed, the hours were about the same. In ob, the hours are about 6AM to 5 or 6PM. Gyn might be 7 AM to 4 or 5 PM. Slightly different for the other rotations (gyn onc, REI, FP/IM, ER, etc.). Some of the places with night float were glad to get it, because that means you get most weekends off. Generalizing, with NF, you are on from ~5 PM to 7 or 8 AM Sun. (night) through Thurs., and Fri., Sat., and Sun. (day) have to be covered by the non-NF residents. You have 2 or 3 months pf NF per year (not consecutive). In some places, the residents were not so glad to get night float because they felt that limited their OR time. Some places have so few residents that it is impossible to set up the NF system. Without NF, you usually get one weekend totally off per month and one weekend day off for the rest of the weekends of the month. Before I started interviewing, I thought I'd prefer a place with NF. Now that we're just waiting for the Match, my #1 choice is a place without it.

You asked about exposure as a med student. I think that depends on when you do your rotation (during the year). If it's near the end of the year, the interns have probably accumulated a lot of procedures/deliveries, and are willing to give the student some of them. Also, I think it depends on the time of day: I found the interns more willing to let me do stuff in the middle of the night (this also depends a lot on the attending and whether it's a private patient or a service patient).

The best advice I can give is GET IN THERE!

Later, man.

Diana

 

[neilc]

thanks for the reply diane!

well, i am already happy with my training situation then. basically, i am paired with this resident for the rest of my schooling here (2 more years). i take every call he takes (4-5 nights plus 1 weekend a month). i only do the daytime stuff when i am on the ob/gyn rotation, which i won't have till next semester. but my resident is a fourth year, so he really doesn't want to do much except his urogyn stuff. so, next weekend i do all deliveries and repairs, while he assists. he says he wants me to be doing all deliveries asap, so he can sleep more. unfortunately there is not too much else (other than d/c's) to do while on call. i can scrub when i want, but there is not much time with my other rotations....

but, at least for the OB part, i should be very well prepared, it sounds like

also, NF doesnt sound like to good of a deal. i see the problem with getting OR time, as basically i am a NF in my current situation. it is good to know that, i will sure look at the situation when interview/match time comes around for me.

best of luck with your match! let me know how it turns out for you.