Which residencies have the best hours?

[pigglewiggle]

Hi! I am a 3rd year & am a new mom. Lifestyle is really important to me & I was wondering which residencies are the shortest/easiest & offer the best lifestyle since I really want to be there for my baby. Thank you!

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[Pinkertinkle]

derm, path, psych, plus couple others

 

[deuist]

Derm, physical medicine, rads at some places, and preventive medicine.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Hi! I am a 3rd year & am a new mom. Lifestyle is really important to me & I was wondering which residencies are the shortest/easiest & offer the best lifestyle since I really want to be there for my baby. Thank you!

You are asking the wrong question.

If family/lifestyle is that big a priority, your question should be what CAREER has the best lifestyle, not what RESIDENCY. Residency is a very temporary phase...at worst 5 years or so (barring the surg specialties which I'm assuming you are writing off)...you need to think about how you want to be able to structure your career for the next 25-30 years after residency.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

You are asking the wrong question.

If family/lifestyle is that big a priority, your question should be what CAREER has the best lifestyle, not what RESIDENCY. Residency is a very temporary phase...at worst 5 years or so (barring the surg specialties which I'm assuming you are writing off)...you need to think about how you want to be able to structure your career for the next 25-30 years after residency.

Maybe she most wants to be there when the baby needs the most care, i.e. the next few years. I do think that the residencies with lighter hours tend to have lighter hours after residency as well.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Maybe she most wants to be there when the baby needs the most care, i.e. the next few years. I do think that the residencies with lighter hours tend to have lighter hours after residency as well.

Not necessarily. I mostly think arguing over "which residency is easier?" is just arguing over varying degrees of suckiness.

And residencies like IM would likely fit in the "harder" category when compared to psych and the like; but then there are a lot of options for part-time hospitalist jobs, etc. that fit very well for people trying to prioritize family.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Not necessarily. I mostly think arguing over "which residency is easier?" is just arguing over varying degrees of suckiness.

That's why I said TEND. There's no denying some residencies are significantly less demanding than others. The OP didn't ask whether it's a good idea to base a career decision on that, so I'll refrain from commenting in that regard.

 

[hawk126]

Not necessarily. I mostly think arguing over "which residency is easier?" is just arguing over varying degrees of suckiness.

And residencies like IM would likely fit in the "harder" category when compared to psych and the like; but then there are a lot of options for part-time hospitalist jobs, etc. that fit very well for people trying to prioritize family.

Trust me bro, medical students with kids who prioritize family already know quite a bit about which medical specialties are conducive to quality family life. She asked the same question that I've been contemplating... given that I already have some idea as to what fields are family friendly, which residencies are family friendly?

If you had no intention of answering the question, then you shouldn't have posted because, as you can see, you've hijacked the thread.

I'd like to read some addt'l discussion on this question as well as I'm a guy with kids.

Edit: that probably came off sounding a bit cantankerous and nasty... apologies

 

[Cerberus]

Pretty much all residencies will be time consuming, at least when you are off service. EM is pretty decent when you are in the ED, however there are also a lot of off service months such as ICU, NICU, PICU, etc (depending on program). Derm has to do a transitional or intern year I think (correct me if I'm wrong) but after that it's probably pretty cush.

 

[Law2Doc]

Derm, physical medicine, rads at some places, ...

The catch is that in all of these, unless you can find your way into one of the few cushy transitional year programs, you may very well end up having to do a prelim year in medicine or surgery, which will be anything but easy. So plan on a rough intern year even if you get into one of these lifestyle paths.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

The catch is that in all of these, unless you can find your way into one of the few cushy transitional year programs, you may very well end up having to do a prelim year in medicine or surgery, which will be anything but easy. So plan on a rough intern year even if you get into one of these lifestyle paths.

If one's got what it takes to match derm, one can probably snag a cushy transitional year. This does not apply to PMR.

 

[Law2Doc]

If one's got what it takes to match derm, one can probably snag a cushy transitional year. This does not apply to PMR.

I guess, but I actually do know a few derm and optho folks who ended up in prelim medicine, and many more rads and gas people who did. There aren't that many transitional year spots (at least not cushy ones), they aren't all that well distributed geographically, and the best of the ROAD specialties, rad onc and PM&R are fighting for them (which in some cases makes this the most competitive match in town). So at least some folks in of each of these specialties won't get one. But you are correct that PM&R tends to, as a group, post less competitive numbers than the other 5 listed specialties and so is less likely as a group to end up with these. But again, I do know derm folks who had to do medicine so your initial sentence doesn't pan out in reality.

 

[pigglewiggle]

Thanks so much for your responses. Since having a child, I feel like my priorities have shifted & now I am interested in doing one of the shorter residencies and going straight into part-time work after that. I have been leaning towards peds, PM&R, and psych. I am equally interested in all 3 specialties; does anyone have an opinion on which would be best considering my goals? Thanks again!

 

[Law2Doc]

Thanks so much for your responses. Since having a child, I feel like my priorities have shifted & now I am interested in doing one of the shorter residencies and going straight into part-time work after that. I have been leaning towards peds, PM&R, and psych. I am equally interested in all 3 specialties; does anyone have an opinion on which would be best considering my goals? Thanks again!

Again, for PM&R you will most likely first have to do a prelim year (intern year) in medicine which will be a very intense year, to the extent that factors in (1 year prelim plus 3 years advanced program == total of 4 years residency). Once you get through residency, all three of those probably allow for lighter schedules at commensurate lower incomes.

 

[JPmamd09]

As a parent of one (soon to be two), I can definitely understand where the OP is coming from. Becoming a parent certainly can change one's perspective. I'd just toss out something I've discovered, which I think mentioning (albeit a little off topic). I am of the opinion that you should find something you're truly happy doing so that you can feel fulfilled while you're at work; that way you can come home and be the best and happiest parent you can be. Any job (medicine or otherwise) is going to take away time from your babies, so if you're away you might as well be happy with what you're doing. This is actually what prompted me to change fields and defer residency - if I was going to be away from my kids, I sure as heck needed to be happy doing what I was doing.

Anyway, to actually answer your question, I think that as far as residency is concerned, I agree with most of the posters - PMR, derm, path, radiology, psych, maybe rad onc, possibly family medicine. All except path have an 80hr + intern year, then get considerably more relaxed after that. Derm, rad onc, and radiology (in my experience) are quite competitive. To be honest I'm not sure which ones are more conducive to part time work after residency, which is also an important consideration you brought up (there'll always be soccer practices and piano recitals in the years to come).

Hope this is helpful, and good luck!

 

[Paddington]

Again, for PM&R you will most likely first have to do a prelim year (intern year) in medicine which will be a very intense year, to the extent that factors in (1 year prelim plus 3 years advanced program == total of 4 years residency). Once you get through residency, all three of those probably allow for lighter schedules at commensurate lower incomes.

Any field that you go into will require an internship, even ones like Dermatology and Radiology. Pediatrics is no easier than Medicine. And Psychiatry can involve fairly intense call, often for two or more years.

With PM&R, once you're done with your internship, you usually have either home call or light and infrequent in-house call. PM&R doesn't involve overnight admissions either way (which will take an hour of your time each), just management questions about hospitalized patients which are much easier to deal with. Also pretty much anyone can match into PM&R without killing themselves in medical school.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

But again, I do know derm folks who had to do medicine so your initial sentence doesn't pan out in reality.

I said "probably," thus your anecdotal evidence is not adequate to disprove my claim.

 

[GH253]

You are asking the wrong question.

If family/lifestyle is that big a priority, your question should be what CAREER has the best lifestyle, not what RESIDENCY. Residency is a very temporary phase...at worst 5 years or so (barring the surg specialties which I'm assuming you are writing off)...you need to think about how you want to be able to structure your career for the next 25-30 years after residency.

What he/she said.

I think the OP made a mistake going into medicine if she would chose her residency based on work hours.

 

[Law2Doc]

Any field that you go into will require an internship, even ones like Dermatology and Radiology. ...

The OP said she was seeking a "shorter residency". There are three year categorical residencies out there. The ROAD specialties, PM&R and Rad Onc all are "advanced" programs and thus require a prelim or transitional year, so they end up being 4+ years. Some other paths aren't. That was my point. So no, the non-advanced programs don't require a seperate internship tacked on, adding a difficult year -- the categorical paths have their internship built in. That's a huge difference if duration of residency is an issue (as it was for the OP) IMHO.

 

[45408]

Any field that you go into will require an internship, even ones like Dermatology and Radiology. Pediatrics is no easier than Medicine. And Psychiatry can involve fairly intense call, often for two or more years.

With PM&R, once you're done with your internship, you usually have either home call or light and infrequent in-house call. PM&R doesn't involve overnight admissions either way (which will take an hour of your time each), just management questions about hospitalized patients which are much easier to deal with. Also pretty much anyone can match into PM&R without killing themselves in medical school.

I don't know a whole lot about psych, but I do know that one of the psych residents here doesn't have call for the next SIX months straight. They're not on call a lot when they do have to do it, and they get out at 7am at some sites and that's it. So, from what I've heard, psych has the shortest hours of any residency. I'm sure it varies among programs.

 

[TexasPhysician]

I don't know a whole lot about psych, but I do know that one of the psych residents here doesn't have call for the next SIX months straight. They're not on call a lot when they do have to do it, and they get out at 7am at some sites and that's it. So, from what I've heard, psych has the shortest hours of any residency. I'm sure it varies among programs.

Agreed. Since I am looking at psych myself, I have checked a lot of residency call schedules. Some programs rarely ever have call. San Mateo in CA posts on their website that they don't find call to be conducive to learning. Others have some call during PGY1-2, but 0 call during PGY3-4. It definitely ranges, but if little call is what you want, you can find it pretty easily in psych.

 

[CaMD]

Derm has an awesome lifestyle after residency but I was surprised at how hard the derm residents at my med school worked. Because there were only a few of them and several hospitals to cover they actual had to bust their butts. (Obviously this is just anecdotal and I'm sure varies program to program.)

 

[LeLu]

https://freida.ama-assn.org/Freida/user/specStatisticsSearch.do?method=viewSpecialty&pageNumber=2

Click on a specialty and you will see the avg residency hours per week. Is this highly reliable? They all seem under what I would think: psych - 54.9 hrs/wk, rad-onc - 49.5, medical genetics - 43.2, ophtho - 50.4

 

[asmallchild]

Derm has an awesome lifestyle after residency but I was surprised at how hard the derm residents at my med school worked. Because there were only a few of them and several hospitals to cover they actual had to bust their butts. (Obviously this is just anecdotal and I'm sure varies program to program.)

I've heard this is the case in programs (like mine) that have multiple hospitals to cover, often needing a car for transportation. Programs that are smaller can also make this difficult (less residents to cover consults, more days spent on call, even if it is home call, etc etc)

But there are some programs that have more residents and primarily operate out of one or two clinics.

Either way, if you're looking for a lifestyle-friendly field (both in residency and after), it'll be hard to beat derm.

 

[Cerberus]

Derm has an awesome lifestyle after residency but I was surprised at how hard the derm residents at my med school worked. Because there were only a few of them and several hospitals to cover they actual had to bust their butts. (Obviously this is just anecdotal and I'm sure varies program to program.)

Seriously? I've never even seen derm consulted aside from a pediatric case of SJS.

 

[colbgw02]

Not a lot of love for pathology on this thread. Isn't it still the case that you can go straight into path without an internship? I thought they made that change a few years ago.

 

[JPmamd09]

It is true, there is no TY or prelim year for pathology. FREIDA lists avg hours per week around 50. Obviously different from other fields in that patient contact is somewhat limited and in lieu of overnight call you can have some long days of grossing specimens. But I don't know of any overnight call on path unless you count home call for things like blood bank (I admit that I could be wrong here as I'm not a path resident - but hopefully will be soon).

But moreover it's just fascinating! (Ooh I'm such a nerd, oh well).

There's some path love 😳

 

[lilnoelle]

Residents at my Psych program told me they work an average of 45 hours a week while on Psych months and take call from home. They don't have to come in while on call except in a few circumstances (involuntary admission, administration of physical restraints). They also always get one weekday off.