What does a typical work week look like for psychiatrists?

[psychfitart]

On average how many days and hours a week do psychiatrists work and do they have to do call?

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[rjs2131]

This is way too broad of a question to get an actual answer for...inpatient vs outpatient vs CL vs ED (among others) often have different schedules. It really depends on the job and what you're signing up for. Call is the same - if you want to work weekends/nights, you can do so (this is usually limited to inpatient work/coverage).

Here's a better way to think about this: as a psychiatrist, you generally work less hours than other medical specialities but can choose to work more to make more. Especially in the outpatient world, very easy to work part-time if you choose or full-time (which I think of as maybe ~30 clinical hours/week).

I think if I had to give you an average...most psychiatrists are probably working business hours or less (M-F, 8-5) but there are plenty that do more than that.

 

[DOswag]

Big broad question here but ultimately, psychiatry offers a wide variety of scheduling and pay, super flexible specialty in this regard which is definitely a benefit of working in psychiatry. Typically psychiatrist tend to work a little less than other specialties which does put psychiatry on the lower end of average pay. Average pay is around 275-300K with hours in the 35-40ish range, but again these number can vary quite a bit. You can take call if you work inpatient, c/l, or are covering ER. I work straight outpatient 40 hours per week, 4 days per week with every Friday off (absolutely love my 3 day weekends), no nights, no call. I make above average pay as well with solid benefits. Also regionally these numbers are going to fluctuate as coastal and big city areas tend to be more saturated. Some psychs do a mix of inpatient/outpatient and can make quite a bit more this way.

 

[HaileyMed]

What do you want your work week to look like?

Whatever it is, you can probably find it, especially if you do child psych.

 

[Merovinge]

On large survey's psychiatrists tend to work less hours than most specialties which is multifactorial: 1) more jobs easily support it 2) people choose the field related to projected lifestyle (which includes more folks who want to be parents and spend more time with their children) 3) work can be emotionally draining, particularly at high numbers of clinical hours/week or patients/week.

It is relatively rare for psychiatrists to take call outside of inpatient or residential units. Most outpatient positions are no-call. This is a significant part of why psychiatry has become more competitive in recent times.

 

[Sushirolls]

On large survey's psychiatrists tend to work less hours than most specialties which is multifactorial: 1) more jobs easily support it 2) people choose the field related to projected lifestyle (which includes more folks who want to be parents and spend more time with their children) 3) work can be emotionally draining, particularly at high numbers of clinical hours/week or patients/week.

It is relatively rare for psychiatrists to take call outside of inpatient or residential units. Most outpatient positions are no-call. This is a significant part of why psychiatry has become more competitive in recent times.

Young people, don't underestimate the impact of #3.

 

[comp1]

I don't think typical has much meaning with the degree of variety present, but the mean psychiatrist salary is around $275k a year. The mean number of hours worked per week is 48, below the overall physician hours. Most psychiatrists are solely outpatient, so most don't take call. I think the OP, depending on where they are in training, could really benefit on narrowing the question to geographic area, preferably city, but at the very least state.

 

[TexasPhysician]

No such thing in psychiatry, even for me.

Depending on the day, I’m in a cash clinic that involves some therapy, an insurance practice with multiple patients per hour, reviewing medical board cases, or managing an addiction center.

 

[clozareal]

I'm on call 24/7 52 weeks a year for my patients, technically.

I work 16-24 clinical hours per week, 4 days a week. Add on 4-6 hours of admin time per week. Outpatient solo private practice.

 

[clausewitz2]

I work 9-6 two days per week in private practice with 90 minute lunch breaks, 8-noon next day and 8-4 day after that at a specialized community clinic where I have an incredible amount of freedom, and then noon-5 or so the following day back in private practice. 90 minutes of that clinic time is a required team meeting and I generally get another 30 minutes for lunch at some point on the longer day. So 30-ish clinical hours per week, tack on 60-90 minutes admin. I am comfortably above the supposed mean salary, despite clinic gig paying very poorly.