Why cannot you work in 3rd & 4th year?

[doctorold]

Many said you can work part-time in the 1st 2 years of med school, although it's not recommended. But no one says you can do that in 3rd & 4th year. Why?

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[Doctor D]

3rd year probably not. 4th year, you have gobs of time to work.

 

[Dwindlin]

I worked all 4 years. Though 3rd year was most difficult (in terms of availability) and I worked less compared to the other three.

 

[MDPhDJourney]

I worked all 4 years. Though 3rd year was most difficult (in terms of availability) and I worked less compared to the other three.

Approximately how many hours a week did you work? Also, what was the nature of your job?

 

[doctorold]

I worked all 4 years. Though 3rd year was most difficult (in terms of availability) and I worked less compared to the other three.

Thanks for sharing. Did that affect your grades and your steps scores?

 

[doctorold]

3rd year probably not.

I guess because of the rotations. But why (or how)? don't you still have "free time" throughout the week?

 

[dude1344]

I guess because of the rotations. But why (or how)? don't you still have "free time" throughout the week?

Because the hours you spend related to school during 3rd year is > than a full time job?

 

[fpd1987]

If you're ok with sleeping 2hrs/night work away is it possible? yes; would I recommend it? definitely not for 3rd yr; whatever little amount of money I was going to make wouldn't even put a dent in my loans so I thought a little extra sleep and time for study/myself would be more beneficial than killing myself for insignificant earnings that wouldn't make much difference in the long run.
And as a sidenote I'm not a trust fund kid-- worked since 16 all the way through start of medschool, part time during school/fulltime+ during summer/winter vacations

 

[Dwindlin]

Approximately how many hours a week did you work? Also, what was the nature of your job?

Varied. 1st, 2nd, and 4th year averaged probably 36 to 48 hours a week. 3rd year was most variable. Outside of Surg and OB I managed 24hrs/week. Surg/OB I did back-to-back and simply took a leave of absence. I could have put in some hours but during those couple months free time was more important.

I am a Firefighter/Paramedic. Minimum shift length is 12 hours. Calls varied. Rarely wouldn't turn a wheel. More often had 4 - 6 calls/24hr shift. Bad days that would double. Outside of calls there were station chores to be done daily plus training. Any free time I would use to study.

Thanks for sharing. Did that affect your grades and your steps scores?

Not in the least. Honestly I probably studied more than I would have without the job. If I just had that time extra I'm sure I would have just pissed it away. But seeing as I was spending those hours "stuck" at the firehouse I would study after station chores/training was done and not on a call.

 

[doctorold]

Thank you guys

 

[doctorold]

Varied. 1st, 2nd, and 4th year averaged probably 36 to 48 hours a week. 3rd year was most variable. Outside of Surg and OB I managed 24hrs/week.

Damn. you are the man

 

[Dwindlin]

Guess I should also mention I was not a class goer. Only went for required things.

 

[PTPoeny]

It is extremely difficult to work during 3rd/4th year because you will be in the hospital up to 80 hours a week. You will have no control over your own schedule. You will most likely not know your schedule ahead of time including day/night and weekend availability (for rotations with call). You cannot control the times that you stay late or get to leave early. And your schedule will change every 2-6 weeks.

The most frustrating thing for me these last two years is the inability to plan. In general I would get my schedule on the first day of each rotation. Multiple times I showed up to the hospital on the first day of a rotation with a change of clothes because I knew there was a chance I would be expected to be on call that night. Maybe other schools do things differently, but it would have made working very difficult.

 

[Kaustikos]

Depends on what work you want to do. I know that bars will accommodate for your weird work hours and will probably like that. It's especially nice if you know the bar owner because you can even try to get "paid" in non-reportable income. It may technically be illegal, but it's not really because you can say you made income less than the required to file a tax return.

But it's all dependent.

 

[thedoctor8706]

Varied. 1st, 2nd, and 4th year averaged probably 36 to 48 hours a week. 3rd year was most variable. Outside of Surg and OB I managed 24hrs/week. Surg/OB I did back-to-back and simply took a leave of absence. I could have put in some hours but during those couple months free time was more important.

I am a Firefighter/Paramedic. Minimum shift length is 12 hours. Calls varied. Rarely wouldn't turn a wheel. More often had 4 - 6 calls/24hr shift. Bad days that would double. Outside of calls there were station chores to be done daily plus training. Any free time I would use to study.

Not in the least. Honestly I probably studied more than I would have without the job. If I just had that time extra I'm sure I would have just pissed it away. But seeing as I was spending those hours "stuck" at the firehouse I would study after station chores/training was done and not on a call.

Guess I should also mention I was not a class goer. Only went for required things.

At first I was thinking how it the world did you pull off working that much?! But then thinking back, cutting out mostly all classes really would free up gobs and gobs of time haha. Part of me wishes I had spent less time in the classroom... Though I probably wouldn't have been able to hold down a job like that. Respect.

also... OH-!!!

 

[link2swim06]

Work during 3rd year?? Hahahahhaha

Maybe on psych but nothing else.

Your schedule is whatever they tell you. 3rd year is about 1.5 full time jobs.

Technically you 'could' work on your weekends (when you get them off) but then you would have zero free time.

 

[TAWS]

It is extremely difficult to work during 3rd/4th year because you will be in the hospital up to 80 hours a week.

No way do you spend 80 hrs/week at the hospital in third year.

 

[Textbookversion]

Why do people work in medical school? Seems crazy to me. Attending salaries are really high no reason to do anything but focus on school and use your free time for fun.

 

[PrideNeverDie]

Why do people work in medical school? Seems crazy to me. Attending salaries are really high no reason to do anything but focus on school and use your free time for fun.

my cousin worked as a bouncer during med school

he got paid peanuts, but would usually bring a girl home by the end of the night.

 

[tiedyeddog]

also... Oh-!!!

i - o!

 

[Law2Doc]

Because the hours you spend related to school during 3rd year is > than a full time job?

In third year on eg a surgery, inpatient IM, or OB rotation you might be pulling 80+ hours of work a week, having off an average of one day in seven, getting into the hospital at 5 or 6 each morning, and being on call overnight or late into the evening a couple of times a week. And on top of this you are supposed to be reading up on your patients conditions, and studying for a shelf exam. Fourth year is generally lighter, but you may be doing a one month sub-I or two where you pull the same hours. When exactly do you contemplate working?

Also, FWIW, for the 49% of every med school class that are in the bottom half of their class, and the 20% at the top shooting for the uber competitive things, working during the first two years instead of spending more time in the books is probably not worth the trade off. So that leaves a small minority for who working while in med school should be appealing. I'd put this idea on hold.

 

[Law2Doc]

No way do you spend 80 hrs/week at the hospital in third year.

Many do. We actually spent as much as 85+ during surgery rotations, when I was in med school, and from what I can see, the hours are only slightly different these days. You got to the hospital to pre round before the residents got in, did overnight calls when our residents did (this was back in the days of 30 hour call) and had to put notes in the charts and other clean up stuff at the end of the day after they left. med students don't have duty hour rules, so the schedule is what the school says it is, which usually tracks that of the interns you work with. Some places coddle med students more than others.

 

[rocketbooster]

In third year on eg a surgery, inpatient IM, or OB rotation you might be pulling 80+ hours of work a week, having off an average of one day in seven, getting into the hospital at 5 or 6 each morning, and being on call overnight or late into the evening a couple of times a week. And on top of this you are supposed to be reading up on your patients conditions, and studying for a shelf exam. Fourth year is generally lighter, but you may be doing a one month sub-I or two where you pull the same hours. When exactly do you contemplate working?

Also, FWIW, for the 49% of every med school class that are in the bottom half of their class, and the 20% at the top shooting for the uber competitive things, working during the first two years instead of spending more time in the books is probably not worth the trade off. So that leaves a small minority for who working while in med school should be appealing. I'd put this idea on hold.

Many do. We actually spent as much as 85+ during surgery rotations, when I was in med school, and from what I can see, the hours are only slightly different these days. You got to the hospital to pre round before the residents got in, did overnight calls when our residents did (this was back in the days of 30 hour call) and had to put notes in the charts and other clean up stuff at the end of the day after they left. med students don't have duty hour rules, so the schedule is what the school says it is, which usually tracks that of the interns you work with. Some places coddle med students more than others.

As usual, Law2doc exaggerates everything he says but he can't get away with it on this forum since it's not full of premeds. There's no way you consistently work 80+ hours during any time 3rd year. For most ppl, their surgery rotation is about 530-530 Mon-Fri and then you have to round one weekend day and that's it. Surgery rounds are really fast, so you finish by like 9am (start at 530) on the one weekend day. That's about 12x5 +4 = 64. If you get screwed and get stuck with one of the surgery rotations that keeps you late, you might get out at 730 instead. So that's an extra 10 days per week overall and puts you at 74. You should know in advance which rotations might make you stay later and you can easily avoid them when you choose your preferences. I guess if you add in the time for studying outside of school then it can easily count for 80-85 hours. But, you can't really count those hours consistently because certain weeks you barely have time to study and then weeks right before the shelf exam you're studying a lot more. I would say MOST ppl spend mid to late 60s hours per week at the hospital during surgery.

 

[link2swim06]

As usual, Law2doc exaggerates everything he says but he can't get away with it on this forum since it's not full of premeds. There's no way you consistently work 80+ hours during any time 3rd year. For most ppl, their surgery rotation is about 530-530 Mon-Fri and then you have to round one weekend day and that's it. Surgery rounds are really fast, so you finish by like 9am (start at 530) on the one weekend day. That's about 12x5 +4 = 64. If you get screwed and get stuck with one of the surgery rotations that keeps you late, you might get out at 730 instead. So that's an extra 10 days per week overall and puts you at 74. You should know in advance which rotations might make you stay later and you can easily avoid them when you choose your preferences. I guess if you add in the time for studying outside of school then it can easily count for 80-85 hours. But, you can't really count those hours consistently because certain weeks you barely have time to study and then weeks right before the shelf exam you're studying a lot more. I would say MOST ppl spend mid to late 60s hours per week at the hospital during surgery.

I agree with part of what you said....but some schools like mine require weekly trauma call for surgery.

Hypothetically the worst week scenario would be:
6am-6pm M,T,W,R.F
plus in-house trauma call Saturday 7am- Sunday 7am

That gives a hypothetical 84 work week. However, most weekdays I was gone by 4/5pm....so this week probably was closer to 77 or 78 hours.



But you are right...it would not be every week. If our call night is on a weekday night the hours drop into the upper 60's or low 70's for the week.

 

[rocketbooster]

I agree with part of what you said....but some schools like mine require weekly trauma call for surgery.

Hypothetically the worst week scenario would be:
6am-6pm M,T,W,R.F
plus in-house trauma call Saturday 7am- Sunday 7am

That gives a hypothetical 84 work week. However, most weekdays I was gone by 4/5pm....so this week probably was closer to 77 or 78 hours.



But you are right...it would not be every week. If our call night is on a weekday night the hours drop into the upper 60's or low 70's for the week.

Right. My school had a 24-hour trauma call schedule too and it was supposed to be once per week but that wasn't the reality. It was always one student per night and you only had it during the 1 month of general surgery, not the specialty month. Since there were like 20-25 ppl (but then half of us were on gen surgery and the other half on specialty month) on my rotation, I only had 2 "24-hour call" trauma days. One was during the week and the other was on a Saturday. The residents almost always sent you home by like midnight anyways so you were never actually there until 7am the next day. When I had it during the week, that one day I stayed until midnight rather than the 4-5 pm. The weekend one sucked though because instead of being there 5:30am-9:00am, I was there 5:30am-10:00pm. Like I said, the residents usually tell you to go home when it starts to get late. And the next day, if you tell your team you had night call, they're supposed let you take that day off haha. So it's not that bad and I only had to do it twice over 2 months.

So, I stand by what I said. Most surgery weeks (6/8 for me) are like mid to upper 60s. 1/8 was ~80 hours and 1/8 was ~70 hours.

 

[VisionaryTics]

As usual, Law2doc exaggerates everything he says but he can't get away with it on this forum since it's not full of premeds. There's no way you consistently work 80+ hours during any time 3rd year. For most ppl, their surgery rotation is about 530-530 Mon-Fri and then you have to round one weekend day and that's it. Surgery rounds are really fast, so you finish by like 9am (start at 530) on the one weekend day. That's about 12x5 +4 = 64. If you get screwed and get stuck with one of the surgery rotations that keeps you late, you might get out at 730 instead. So that's an extra 10 days per week overall and puts you at 74. You should know in advance which rotations might make you stay later and you can easily avoid them when you choose your preferences. I guess if you add in the time for studying outside of school then it can easily count for 80-85 hours. But, you can't really count those hours consistently because certain weeks you barely have time to study and then weeks right before the shelf exam you're studying a lot more. I would say MOST ppl spend mid to late 60s hours per week at the hospital during surgery.

We took 30 hour call on my gen surg rotation. I had a few times were I was on call 5am Saturday to 1-2pm Sunday, so I would go for a couple weeks without a day off. My heaviest week was 104 hours, but above 80 was the norm.

That being said, everyone knew this site had crazy hours when picking site preferences. The upshot was being at Chicago's busiest trauma center, and 2-3x as much time in the OR as any other site.

So there are still places out there that are similar to Law2Doc's experience.

 

[rocketbooster]

We took 30 hour call on my gen surg rotation. I had a few times were I was on call 5am Saturday to 1-2pm Sunday, so I would go for a couple weeks without a day off. My heaviest week was 104 hours, but above 80 was the norm.

That being said, everyone knew this site had crazy hours when picking site preferences. The upshot was being at Chicago's busiest trauma center, and 2-3x as much time in the OR as any other site.

So there are still places out there that are similar to Law2Doc's experience.

I see but that's not the case for most ppl.

Also why you would want to spend more time in the OR as a med student is beyond me. Standing or retracting for 4-5 hours to do 5 min of suturing is not worth it in my book. As a resident it's different because you get to do more, but as a med student why would sign up to stand around for MORE hours? Forget that

 

[Law2Doc]

I see but that's not the case for most ppl...

I said it was the case for many people on certain rotations (esp. Surgery) and something I had personally endured, and based on the fact that VisionaryTics had an even more time intense similar experience at a totally different program, I think your claim I was "exaggerating as usual" is way out of line (and the character assassination aspects are technically a violation of the TOS of this site, BTW). Hours aren't uniform, and duty hour rules for med students don't exist. If they want to put you on q3 or q4 call for a month (as we did in certain rotations when I was in med school not so long ago), they can. If they want you to stay on call for 16-28 hours with the residents (used to be 30) they can. If they want you in to pre round before the resident gets there at 5:30 am they can. That's just the way it is. Yes you can work over 80 hours a week for a week, two weeks or an entire rotation. Some people do get this experience.

 

[VisionaryTics]

I see but that's not the case for most ppl.

Also why you would want to spend more time in the OR as a med student is beyond me. Standing or retracting for 4-5 hours to do 5 min of suturing is not worth it in my book. As a resident it's different because you get to do more, but as a med student why would sign up to stand around for MORE hours? Forget that

I'm interested in surgery, so OR time has been the highlight of the year for me. I was usually interested, asking questions, and well-read on the cases so it wasn't unusual to get taken through portions of cases. I also spent as much time as possible in vascular cases, where there were two residents to cover three ORs, so I had the chance to first assist a lot.

So a case where I stood there mutely for 5 hours retracting was unusual. That was not the reality for my colleagues back at the university hospital who had the privilege of staring at the backs of an attending, a fellow, and a resident for 15 hours on some hepatobiliary case.

Another vote for rotating at a community hospital for surgery.

 

[rocketbooster]

I'm interested in surgery, so OR time has been the highlight of the year for me. I was usually interested, asking questions, and well-read on the cases so it wasn't unusual to get taken through portions of cases. I also spent as much time as possible in vascular cases, where there were two residents to cover three ORs, so I had the chance to first assist a lot.

So a case where I stood there mutely for 5 hours retracting was unusual. That was not the reality for my colleagues back at the university hospital who had the privilege of staring at the backs of an attending, a fellow, and a resident for 15 hours on some hepatobiliary case.

Another vote for rotating at a community hospital for surgery.

Yea, this was my experience at my academic hospital. Never got to be 1st assist. Was disappointed and sucked. The few ppl who went rural had similar experiences to you, though. I think literally <5% of our class does that, though. If you want to do gen surg, it's a tough call if you should do that or not. You'll get to do more if you go rural/community hospital, which is probably what you want since you like that field. You'll also miss out on working with the bigger name faculty at the academic hospital, which isn't good if you're trying to get recs. So I don't know what the best option is for ppl wanting to do gen surg. Probably just stomaching it and choose standing around so you can at least get exposed to those big names.

 

[VisionaryTics]

Yea, this was my experience at my academic hospital. Never got to be 1st assist. Was disappointed and sucked. The few ppl who went rural had similar experiences to you, though. I think literally <5% of our class does that, though. If you want to do gen surg, it's a tough call if you should do that or not. You'll get to do more if you go rural/community hospital, which is probably what you want since you like that field. You'll also miss out on working with the bigger name faculty at the academic hospital, which isn't good if you're trying to get recs. So I don't know what the best option is for ppl wanting to do gen surg. Probably just stomaching it and choose standing around so you can at least get exposed to those big names.

I think if I were interested in general surgery I would've stomached the university hospital for the reasons you mentioned. However, I'm applying to ENT, so it didn't matter if I wasn't rubbing shoulders with the academic general surgeons. I just wanted a site where I would get a taste of what a surgical residency is like and whether I could do it.

 

[Law2Doc]

Yea, this was my experience at my academic hospital. Never got to be 1st assist. Was disappointed and sucked. The few ppl who went rural had similar experiences to you, though. I think literally <5% of our class does that, though. If you want to do gen surg, it's a tough call if you should do that or not. You'll get to do more if you go rural/community hospital, which is probably what you want since you like that field. You'll also miss out on working with the bigger name faculty at the academic hospital, which isn't good if you're trying to get recs. So I don't know what the best option is for ppl wanting to do gen surg. Probably just stomaching it and choose standing around so you can at least get exposed to those big names.

I think you suffer through what you need to in med school -- you are really there to see more than do. Figure out if what you are "seeing" s what you'd like to be "doing" for the next umpteen years. There is more than enough time to be the first assistant in residency.

 

[deleted128562]

Yeah, as the gentleman (or woman) from Ohio State posted above, it's doable if you have the right job. I've worked as an EMT all through school. Generally averaged 12 hours/ week during school, but any time I've had breaks or a super light schedule I've worked full-time hours or more.

I did work all through 3rd year and was doing a 12 hour shift/week even during surgery. Meant working on my day off, but my kids like having clothes and stuff so there you go. My grades and Step scores were fine, matched EM, so I'm happy. Honestly I'm glad I did it, I think it gave me a lot of practical experience and the docs always went over interesting cases with me.

Med school is busy and lots of work, no question, but I think it's overstated by some people.... I mean, the amount of time my classmates spent going out, and the number of Facebook posts I saw like "yeah, I'm going on another trip to X this weekend".... You can work if it's something you want to do.

 

[Law2Doc]

Yeah, as the gentleman (or woman) from Ohio State posted above, it's doable if you have the right job. I've worked as an EMT all through school. Generally averaged 12 hours/ week during school, but any time I've had breaks or a super light schedule I've worked full-time hours or more.

I did work all through 3rd year and was doing a 12 hour shift/week even during surgery. Meant working on my day off, but my kids like having clothes and stuff so there you go. My grades and Step scores were fine, matched EM, so I'm happy. Honestly I'm glad I did it, I think it gave me a lot of practical experience and the docs always went over interesting cases with me.

Med school is busy and lots of work, no question, but I think it's overstated by some people.... I mean, the amount of time my classmates spent going out, and the number of Facebook posts I saw like "yeah, I'm going on another trip to X this weekend".... You can work if it's something you want to do.

But on the flip side, you have to know people in the bottom half of the class for whom a job wouldn't have been a good idea, and probably know the folks gunning for derm, ortho and plastic who made better use of that 12 hours a week.

 

[deleted128562]

But on the flip side, you have to know people in the bottom half of the class for whom a job wouldn't have been a good idea, and probably know the folks gunning for derm, ortho and plastic who made better use of that 12 hours a week.

Maybe, maybe not. Like I said, most of my classmates were going to bars, hanging out, going on trips, etc while I was working. It's not like their noses were just buried in the books on their days off. PLUS, I was motivated to read up on interesting presentations I saw on the job.... whereas had I been off I probably would have been sitting around home in my underwear or going out to all of the class parties/ functions I missed.

Again, my situation was an absolute necessity (I have kids, one of whom is special needs which does not allow my wife to work) so my advice is mostly for people who really couldn't make do without the extra money - yes you can do it, yes you will do just fine.

 

[Wordead]

Yea, this was my experience at my academic hospital. Never got to be 1st assist. Was disappointed and sucked. The few ppl who went rural had similar experiences to you, though. I think literally <5% of our class does that, though. If you want to do gen surg, it's a tough call if you should do that or not. You'll get to do more if you go rural/community hospital, which is probably what you want since you like that field. You'll also miss out on working with the bigger name faculty at the academic hospital, which isn't good if you're trying to get recs. So I don't know what the best option is for ppl wanting to do gen surg. Probably just stomaching it and choose standing around so you can at least get exposed to those big names.

NEVER got to be first assist? Damn....yeah, I guess in that case then spending more time in the ER is rather worthless.

And I think it's better to do your 3rd year somewhere without many residents/fellows. You can get recs from your home institution and 4th year. Aways are going to be ugly if you're less capable in the OR than other candidates.

 

[Law2Doc]

NEVER got to be first assist? Damn....yeah, I guess in that case then spending more time in the ER is rather worthless.

And I think it's better to do your 3rd year somewhere without many residents/fellows. You can get recs from your home institution and 4th year. Aways are going to be ugly if you're less capable in the OR than other candidates.

I think as mentioned above, the rotations at community places are going to let med students be more involved. At the big universities, the intern have to fight for OR turns and getting out of floor work, so they probably aren't going to be as willing to share with a med student.

 

[45408]

No way do you spend 80 hrs/week at the hospital in third year.

Speak for yourself. I was definitely at that mark on my trauma surgery rotation, with Q4 in-house call and days that started at 5:30am.

As usual, Law2doc exaggerates everything he says but he can't get away with it on this forum since it's not full of premeds. There's no way you consistently work 80+ hours during any time 3rd year. For most ppl, their surgery rotation is about 530-530 Mon-Fri and then you have to round one weekend day and that's it. Surgery rounds are really fast, so you finish by like 9am (start at 530) on the one weekend day. That's about 12x5 +4 = 64. If you get screwed and get stuck with one of the surgery rotations that keeps you late, you might get out at 730 instead. So that's an extra 10 days per week overall and puts you at 74. You should know in advance which rotations might make you stay later and you can easily avoid them when you choose your preferences. I guess if you add in the time for studying outside of school then it can easily count for 80-85 hours. But, you can't really count those hours consistently because certain weeks you barely have time to study and then weeks right before the shelf exam you're studying a lot more. I would say MOST ppl spend mid to late 60s hours per week at the hospital during surgery.

Did you completely miss the part where he said:

In third year on eg a surgery, inpatient IM, or OB rotation you might be pulling 80+ hours of work a week, having off an average of one day in seven, getting into the hospital at 5 or 6 each morning, and being on call overnight or late into the evening a couple of times a week.

Or are you just intentionally being a jerk?

 

[badasshairday]

Speak for yourself. I was definitely at that mark on my trauma surgery rotation, with Q4 in-house call and days that started at 5:30am.

I agree. I remember third year on colorectal surgery (i think GS3, if you remember at our alma mater), the first week we hit 93 hours. lol

 

[link2swim06]

I remember our clerkship director reminded us the first day of the rotation that medical students don't have work hour limits like residents do.

 

[Dwindlin]

Why do people work in medical school? Seems crazy to me. Attending salaries are really high no reason to do anything but focus on school and use your free time for fun.

Shocking but there are some people out there who genuinely enjoy their job. I wouldn't trade a single hour in the firehouse for a few hours at the bar.

Also, not at Ohio State. Ohio resident and obsessed fan (seriously I have a problem).

 

[Textbookversion]

Shocking but there are some people out there who genuinely enjoy their job. I wouldn't trade a single hour in the firehouse for a few hours at the bar.

Also, not at Ohio State. Ohio resident and obsessed fan (seriously I have a problem).

idk why you are assuming I spend my free time at the bar, I have enjoyable hobbies.

 

[Donald Juan]

Shocking but there are some people out there who genuinely enjoy their job. I wouldn't trade a single hour in the firehouse for a few hours at the bar.

Also, not at Ohio State. Ohio resident and obsessed fan (seriously I have a problem).

It is shocking. You seem to be wired differently than 99.99% of the human population and the rest of us are perturbed by your work ethic. I'll be at the bar if you have any more questions.

 

[rodmichael82]

Why can't you work in 3rd year?
There's no time.
That's like asking why can't you swim in the pool when there's no water?

 

[Gut Shot]

Speak for yourself. I was definitely at that mark on my trauma surgery rotation, with Q4 in-house call and days that started at 5:30am.

Same here, Q4 in-house with pre-rounding starting at 5:30 am. We tore through 80 hours/week without any difficulty.

 

[deleted128562]

Why can't you work in 3rd year?
There's no time.
That's like asking why can't you swim in the pool when there's no water?

Really? What school do you go to? Even on surgery they gave us one day off per week. Which was plenty adequate time to pick up a 12 hour shift. And I still got my reading done and did just fine on my shelves. There are 168 hours in a week. Even if you work 80 of them, that leaves 88. Factor in 50 for sleep (that's a good 7 hours a night) and you still have 38. So the problem here is what?

It's not for everyone, but please stop giving people the impression that it can't be done.

 

[PTPoeny]

Really? What school do you go to? Even on surgery they gave us one day off per week. Which was plenty adequate time to pick up a 12 hour shift. And I still got my reading done and did just fine on my shelves. There are 168 hours in a week. Even if you work 80 of them, that leaves 88. Factor in 50 for sleep (that's a good 7 hours a night) and you still have 38. So the problem here is what?

It's not for everyone, but please stop giving people the impression that it can't be done.

You don't necessarily get a day off every single week. Averaged over the course of the rotation you get a day off every week. On my gen surg rotation I was on a service that covered trauma and we took 30 hour call every other weekend which on service (in addition to once during the week). In those 38 hours you also have to eat, commute, study for the shelf and interact with your loved ones.

Clearly it can be done as you did it. But, being able to work during gen surg and OB rotations is most likely the exception and not something that every single student should be planning on doing. You need a job that is flexible enough that you can tell them "yes I want to work next week, but I won't know what days I'm available until Monday or Tuesday of that same week". You also need to be happy if some weeks you are literally not doing anything besides your rotation, work and basic personal upkeep - which, again, clearly worked for you.

 

[Dwindlin]

idk why you are assuming I spend my free time at the bar, I have enjoyable hobbies.

It was simply an example to get my point across. You can substitute bar for what ever tickles your fancy. And it wasn't directed specifically at you, but was a response to your statement about using free time for fun.

 

[Textbookversion]

It was simply an example to get my point across. You can substitute bar for what ever tickles your fancy. And it wasn't directed specifically at you, but was a response to your statement about using free time for fun.

For 99.999999999999999% of the human population after spending 80+ hours working (including studying) in a week, the prospect of spending their one free day off working another 12 hour shift in a firehouse with a bunch of dudes rather than enjoying some fun hobby sounds batshiz insane.

You are off your rocker, sir.

 

[Dwindlin]

For 99.999999999999999% of the human population after spending 80+ hours working (including studying) in a week, the prospect of spending their one free day off working another 12 hour shift in a firehouse with a bunch of dudes rather than enjoying some fun hobby sounds batshiz insane.

You are off your rocker, sir.

They are slightly more than a "bunch of dudes." Closer to them than my family with the exception of my wife. And I'm sorry you think I'm insane for having a fun hobby that I actually get paid to do.