Working on Sundays

[j99]

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How do residency programs handle religious objections to working on Sundays? Are they receptive/flexible? (I'm guessing no, and I wonder how programs justify it.) Just curious if anyone has any information.

 

[FSUMED]

I believe about the only thing that holds up these days as far as not working at all on a particular day are certain high holy days of Judaism and islam. As far as christianity goes, not workingon sunday doesnt hold water anymore like it used to. However, I do believe that HAVE to give you time to go to a service if that is what you wish, but you can rarely get the whole day off anymore. However, I am but a pre-med so my knowledge of residencies and stuff is limited, I am merely going on what I have seen in the real world.

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

I'm not sure how many residency programs would be accepting of your desire to get Sundays off every week. I'm sure some of the less intense ones would be able to work something out. I think the main problem will come with your fellow residents. Even if they are the most tolerant and understanding bunch in the world, the fact that they must work extra shifts on a weekend day because of you will rub many people to wrong way and you will likely find some hostility towards you. This may not be overt, but will be there. You have to realize that if you don't work, someone else must.

 

[MSN1]

From what I have heard weekends are considered very important to residents due to the fact that they get so little time off and you only get maybe two Sundays off a month. I would be pist off if I had to come in extra on the weekends no matter what the reason. It is one thing if it is every once in a while but not every weekend.

 

[j99]

As for me, I'm not quite in a strict position--I would prefer not to work on Sundays because of religious reasons, but I am fine being flexible. But there are a lot of people that are not so flexible. Does the rigorous resident schedule mean an orthodox Jew could never become a surgeon these days? Or a fundamentalist Christian? If so, I think it is--to a degreee--unfortunate.

 

[Firebird]

Originally posted by j99:
•As for me, I'm not quite in a strict position--I would prefer not to work on Sundays because of religious reasons, but I am fine being flexible. But there are a lot of people that are not so flexible. Does the rigorous resident schedule mean an orthodox Jew could never become a surgeon these days? Or a fundamentalist Christian? If so, I think it is--to a degreee--unfortunate.•••

I would be one of those people who aren't quite so flexible. I am unwilling to sacrifice a Sunday morning worship service for my career. And yes, it is unfortunate that those of us who feel the same as I do are restricted, but that is pretty much the case. However, a pathology residency is not a problem at all, from what I've heard, nor is a dermatology, except for the PGY1 which is a transitional year. Psych wouldn't be that bad, either.

This question comes up from time to time, but the most extensive discussion came about when I first joined SDN and started the following thread:

<a href="http://www.studentdoctor.net/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=11&t=000344" target="_blank">Important Question!!!</a>

However, it's a very long thread, so I'll try to summarize the results quickly:

• Clinical years in medical school are generally not the problem but instead the difficulty is within residency. Practice can be a problem too, but not as much as residency.
  
  There is not a lot of flexibility with the resident's scheduling, but that has already been mentioned here.
  
  Also as was already mentioned, you can trade days with fellow residents, but as DoctorB19 and MSN1 have mentioned, that makes people mad if you have to do it a lot. However, you can "wheel and deal" as well. You can trade every Sunday with someone for every holiday, including Christmas, New Years, etc. And I would expect that most residents would be willing to work for you on Sunday if you work for them on Saturday...I would just think that people would rather have Saturday off.
  
  Lastly, it IS POSSIBLE to become a doctor without missing services. I know of at least two or three people who have done it and never missed services...one path, maybe one IM, and one FP.
  

Let me also encourage this not to turn into a religious debate. Everyone was always challenging my beliefs in the "Important Question!!!" thread. What they didn't realize, was that my beliefs were a product of 19 years of Bible study and teachings.

FSUMED--you mentioned that you thought they HAVE to let residents off to worship if that is their wish. Where did you hear this, and do you know of anyone I might contact that would confirm this and that could answer some more of my questions?