I'm just curious as to how residencies in the various specialties are like compared to dental school?
Trying to get an idea how many hours a week are spent studying, in clinics, in class, having a life 😉
Gary "80 hours a week is vacation time" Ruska here,
Can't speak to any of the other residencies, but here's GR's take on the hours of an OMFS resident.
Though most hospitals require their residents to log no more than 80 hours/week (via ACGME), OMFS is variably immune to this regulation because of CODA-accreditation. However, it seems that most hospitals are beginning to enforce this regulation regardless of accreditation status.
This being said, any OMFS resident who, after working in the hospital, reading at home and doing research, etc. is working a total of 80 hours per week is a) lying, b) incredibly efficient), c) lazy or d) at a weak program.
Life as an OMFS resident is composed of three basic duties: clinical responsibilities, call and "enrichment activities"
A) Clinical responsibilities - this entails going to the OR, covering the clinic and rounding on inpatients during the day. Usually 12-14 hours, at least.
B) Call - varies according to the program and the number of residents, but usually one is on call every 3rd or 4th night. Call entails taking all emergency calls, including facial trauma call (which, again will be variably split depending on the presence of ENT/PRS at said institution). Call is typically 24 hours.
C) Enrichment activities: these include reading and research. No one has time to read during the day and certainly not while on call. However, a tremendous amount of reading is required to be a good resident, especially since, as an intern, you are managing surgical patients who have medical problems and you have just graduated from dental school.
In summation, you can easily work 80 hours a week in the hospital and likely will spend at least 7-10 hours additionally at home reading. GR would estimate that most OMFS residents work 90-100 hours a week while on service and during general surgery training.
Medical school is a totally different story. GR's medical school experience was, at most, 60-70 hours/week. Medical school is considered the "vacation" part of OMFS training, in part because of the hours and in part because the responsibility is drastically diminished during that time. Please note that some OMFS programs will require medical school residents to take OMFS call, which can easily add 20-30 hours to the medical school week.
In summation, expect to work 90-100 hours a week (don't forget to include reading time in addition to your 80+ hours in the hospital) during non-medical school years of OMFS residency and probably less during medical school.
