Which specialty 4 taking time off in large blocks?

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You could do Internal Medicine and become a hospitalist. A lot of the ones I know seem to have schedules like: on for 2 weeks, off for 2 weeks, but I'm sure that schedules can be arranged in many different ways.
 
Locum Tenens is popular for some specialties. You can work for only 9 months of the year. My sister does this in Internal Medicine. I imagine it would be tough for a surgeon to do.
 
None of 'em.

Doctors work. End of story.

You might be able to set something cool up, but in general it'll be specific to you and your negotiating abilities.

In the ED where I worked for a year, the docs were always trying to get extended time off...it was a CONSTANT issue for them and they never won the battle.

I'd recommend that you choose your specialty based on ability and interests. Not how much you won't be required to do it.
 
secretwave101 said:
None of 'em.

Doctors work. End of story.

You might be able to set something cool up, but in general it'll be specific to you and your negotiating abilities.

In the ED where I worked for a year, the docs were always trying to get extended time off...it was a CONSTANT issue for them and they never won the battle.

I'd recommend that you choose your specialty based on ability and interests. Not how much you won't be required to do it.
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This is a bunch of malarchey.

There are definitely specialties where you can get lots of time off.
The anesthesia partners in my area get 4-12 weeks off a year and make at least 2-3x primary care.

One of the FP attendings I had lamented how his spouse who is anes was always off on vacation with their kids while he was slaving away in the office making less money.

One of the anes partners takes a month off each summer to sail around the Caribbean on his boat.

I did a rotation in another field in July which was attending based and the problem was there weren't many people to precept me, reason? - half the crew were on vacation that month.

There are some people for which work is a way to live and having that extra time off and flexibility will genuinely make them happier - for them I do think they should take lifestyle into consideration. I liked some surgical fields and even ob/gyn a tad but I knew from the getgo that my interests outside medicine outweighed any potential intellectual/clinical reward these kind of fields might have afforded.

Two peds attendings I know split a week between them, 2 1/2 days each so they can spend more time with their kids.

Even the critical care attendings work just a week here and there, if they wanted less outpatients, they could potentially take large blocks of time off.
 
Not to get into a protracted debate here, but I'll maintain that your sample size (of, what, 5?) is not in keeping with average weeks worked by doctors in the U.S. in any specialty.

Additionally, while it might be POSSIBLE in theory for many types of docs to take huge chunks of time off every year, most docs find this impossible. This isn't always because of the demands of the job. There are other considerations such as loan payback, etc. that keep docs working.

Statistically, docs are a hard-working group. Maybe that'll change, but for now, that's the way it is.
 
anesthesia and er - locums
 
You can do this in EM. There are a few guys in my group who we classifiy as part timers who take off for extended periods once or twice a year. One guy went to Antartica for 3 months. The disadvantage is that to do this you give up some things like gaurenteed hours per month, less choice of shifts and schedule and so on.
 
Diagnostic radiology in a locum tenens capacity for a teleradiology outfit is the way to go.
 
GammaRay said:
Diagnostic radiology in a locum tenens capacity for a teleradiology outfit is the way to go.
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Could someone tell me more about this?

I thought I read somewhere that teleradiology, especially internationally based teleradiology, was being phased out due to ever increasing regulations???? My ideal set up would be being based outside the U.S.A. doing teleradiology....
 
good luck trying to find a private practice or academic center in any specialty that will let you take a month off in a block (unless you are sick/personal leave). even when you are partner. maybe, if you are a founding partner, it could be a diff story.

even in rads, where you get 6-12 weeks off, they are usually in 1 week blocks. why? other people want to take vacation for various reasons (summertime, weddings, family stuff, personal) and they cant just give a huge block to one person, esp if you are low down on the totem pole. i have a friend who is in his 2nd yr rads (post residency/neuro fellowship) in private practice who got his vacation yanked by the founding member...what could he do? nothing...except quit...which he didnt...
 
radonc said:
good luck trying to find a private practice or academic center in any specialty that will let you take a month off in a block (unless you are sick/personal leave). even when you are partner. maybe, if you are a founding partner, it could be a diff story.

even in rads, where you get 6-12 weeks off, they are usually in 1 week blocks. why? other people want to take vacation for various reasons (summertime, weddings, family stuff, personal) and they cant just give a huge block to one person, esp if you are low down on the totem pole. i have a friend who is in his 2nd yr rads (post residency/neuro fellowship) in private practice who got his vacation yanked by the founding member...what could he do? nothing...except quit...which he didnt...
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My point exactly. With the exception of OB and Surg (and even those sometimes), most specialties are theoretically capable of doing without you for huge chunks of time every year. But for many, many reasons, this just isn't how things work out most of the time.

Time off potential shouldn't be a big determinant in specialty choice. Good odds you'll end up jaded and feeling ripped off by your job.

That being said, if you're super-serious about time off and are willing to make some serious sacrifices for it, then it is possible. But again, it's possible in almost any specialty. Note the sacrifices stipulation, however. In general, doctors put in the time.
 
my sister is an EM doc. works 1 (2 at most) nights a week and has 2 kids (one more on the way). she makes a decent salary and is happy "practicing" medicine and managing to have her other full-time job of stay-at-home-mom.

this is a sweet deal for her. but it is a decision you must make.

it's not so much for me. but as a specialty, EM gives you shift work, which in medicine, is very VERy rare.
 
radonc said:
good luck trying to find a private practice or academic center in any specialty that will let you take a month off in a block (unless you are sick/personal leave). even when you are partner. maybe, if you are a founding partner, it could be a diff story.

even in rads, where you get 6-12 weeks off, they are usually in 1 week blocks. why? other people want to take vacation for various reasons (summertime, weddings, family stuff, personal) and they cant just give a huge block to one person, esp if you are low down on the totem pole. i have a friend who is in his 2nd yr rads (post residency/neuro fellowship) in private practice who got his vacation yanked by the founding member...what could he do? nothing...except quit...which he didnt...
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One thing he could have done if this were important to him is get a lawyer. This is breach of contract and is grounds for suit. Very important to negotiate things that are important to you in the contract and have them reviewed by a lawyer before signing and joining a group.
 
An endocrinologist I was working with in May had just come back from a 3 week vacation to Europe. I also know of several Indian doctors in Internal Medicine and it's various subspecialties, who take one month trips to India every year.
 
angel80 said:
An endocrinologist I was working with in May had just come back from a 3 week vacation to Europe. I also know of several Indian doctors in Internal Medicine and it's various subspecialties, who take one month trips to India every year.
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Noticed this too.

Blade28 said:
Just out of curiosity, why do you need a whole month off?
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Lots of non-US born IMGs who take off a month every year to visit the homeland. For those with close times to say Sri Lanka or even Kurtistown, seeing relatives and family may be of utmost important, and flying half way around the world for a week seems silly. One of my psych attendings goes to the subcontient a few times a year for a few weeks each time.

The notion that taking off more than 2-3 weeks off a year being anathema to being an attending is simply an incorrect notion. Especially with more than 50% of medical students in the US being women, we will see more flextime, more time off...not less, albeit with concominant decreases in compensation.

Beautiful Sri Lanka:
2003%20-%20Sri%20Lanka%20beach.jpg
 
In radiology, you will find the occasional job with '17 weeks of vacation'. Typically, these are nighthawk type jobs where you work 2 weeks nights and then you have a week off.

Regular diagnostic radiology groups will give generous vacation as a recruitment incentive, but it is uncommon that you would get more than 2 weeks at a time.

In some seasonal markets (ski-towns for example), groups will have some people who only work in the peak season.

There are allways locums. You let the locums company know when you are available and if you have the respective state licenses, they get a gig for you. But it is a vagabond existence. You live in apartment hotels or short-term apartments, work at unfamiliar hospitals, and you have to deal with a referral base that still tries to figure out whether you are of any use. Often, the locums guy has to come in because there is friction between the hospital and the group or because the group has left and the hospital is uncovered. Great work environment, if you know what I mean.

Some of the telerad companies pay you by the study for working out of your home office. They might allow you to have a more flexible schedule. But as a rule of thumb, their hospitals want to be covered every night, so the telerad company needs a reliable base of readers.

Nighthawk (TM) (the outfit in Sydney and Zurich) offers a deal where you work 9 months abroad and then take 3 months off.

So, for the majority of radiologists, 'just taking a month off' is very difficult to accomplish. In some fringe areas of the business, this can be done.
 
f_w said:
In radiology, you will find the occasional job with '17 weeks of vacation'. Typically, these are nighthawk type jobs where you work 2 weeks nights and then you have a week off.

Regular diagnostic radiology groups will give generous vacation as a recruitment incentive, but it is uncommon that you would get more than 2 weeks at a time.

In some seasonal markets (ski-towns for example), groups will have some people who only work in the peak season.

There are allways locums. You let the locums company know when you are available and if you have the respective state licenses, they get a gig for you. But it is a vagabond existence. You live in apartment hotels or short-term apartments, work at unfamiliar hospitals, and you have to deal with a referral base that still tries to figure out whether you are of any use. Often, the locums guy has to come in because there is friction between the hospital and the group or because the group has left and the hospital is uncovered. Great work environment, if you know what I mean.

Some of the telerad companies pay you by the study for working out of your home office. They might allow you to have a more flexible schedule. But as a rule of thumb, their hospitals want to be covered every night, so the telerad company needs a reliable base of readers.

Nighthawk (TM) (the outfit in Sydney and Zurich) offers a deal where you work 9 months abroad and then take 3 months off.

So, for the majority of radiologists, 'just taking a month off' is very difficult to accomplish. In some fringe areas of the business, this can be done.
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Thanks. Very informative. 😎
 
Blade28 said:
Just out of curiosity, why do you need a whole month off?
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Some people would say to you, "Why DON'T you want a whole month off?"
😀
 
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