working only 8 months a year?!

[maldini99]

I don't really understand the concept of vacation time some of the employers are offering in medicine. I looked at some specialties, and they offer 12+ weeks of vacation, and some even up to 17 weeks...What does that vacation time mean? does it include weekends, and days you are not scheduled to work, or that means (12x7) 84 days a person can take off in addition days not being scheduled to work?

in pharmacy we have vacation time calculated in hours, and we get about 6-10 hours per pay period of vacation time...

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[medsRus]

I don't really understand the concept of vacation time some of the employers are offering in medicine. I looked at some specialties, and they offer 12+ weeks of vacation, and some even up to 17 weeks...What does that vacation time mean? does it include weekends, and days you are not scheduled to work, or that means (12x7) 84 days a person can take off in addition days not being scheduled to work?

in pharmacy we have vacation time calculated in hours, and we get about 6-10 hours per pay period of vacation time...

Where the hell did you see such vacation time? All I see is 3-4 weeks, tops. Please tell me...

 

[Winged Scapula]

Where the hell did you see such vacation time? All I see is 3-4 weeks, tops. Please tell me...

Some rads and anesthesia groups offer that much vacation. Not uncommon.

 

[maldini99]

can someone try to answer the original question?

 

[Law2Doc]

can someone try to answer the original question?

Vacation generally is exclusive of weekends or holidays. But most places are only going to give you 3-5 weeks of vacation per year during your first decade of practice.

 

[colbgw02]

can someone try to answer the original question?

I wish I could remember the particulars, but there is definitely a catch for many of those radiology positions that offer 12+ weeks of vacation. It may be something like they assume a 6-day work week, meaning just by taking a 2-day weekend you're down to 4-5 weeks vacation per year. The old adage about being too good to be true still applies.

 

[Pilot Doc]

I wish I could remember the particulars, but there is definitely a catch for many of those radiology positions that offer 12+ weeks of vacation. It may be something like they assume a 6-day work week, meaning just by taking a 2-day weekend you're down to 4-5 weeks vacation per year. The old adage about being too good to be true still applies.

No, it's true. The issue here is that these are all interchangeable part specialties with low overhead- ER, Rads, Anesthesia, etc. And they are all well compensated such that you can make a good living working 8-9 months a year. Let's say a practicing doc can generate $35K/month - 11 months of work for a typical 4 weeks vacation nets $385K/yr. Plenty reasonable salary. Well, if you take 8 weeks vacation, you make $350, 12 weeks $315 and so on. Some groups value income and tend to staff for not much vacation. Other groups value lifestyle and staff to more time off and less income.

Other specialites can't do this, either b/c working 8months/year doesn't generate enough income (primarily b/c of overhead, i would guess) or patients dont' tolerate it. It's a lot harder for a surgeon to take 3 weeks off than a radiologist b/c of expectations of specialists, referring physicians, partners, etc.

But to answer teh OP's question, most physician groups are set up under the assumption that you might work up to 7 days in a week, depending on the call schedule. 12 weeks off work means 12 calendar weeks. One week off is 5 weekdays and 2 weekend days that you don't have to work. Docs aren't paid hourly - you can't accumulate hours of vacation.

 

[Proton Dense]

maldini99-

Why are you so concerned about vacation time in a field your not in?
When they are talking about weeks, they mean a full week as far as I have seen. I don't know about all this creative calculations you guys are talking about. They don't calculate based on hours because nobody wants to start putting doctors on the clock. They definitely don't want to start an "overtime" discussion.

To ease all of your minds- these jobs are pretty rare. Usually in areas they have a hard time recruiting.

 

[geauxg8rs]

SOME of these vacation rich jobs are set up so that every so often you are scheduled for a week off ( two weeks of nl schedule, one week of nights, one week off) This would equal 1/4 time off. The truth is that you are adjusting back to days during that week, you don't have 3 full months to trapse around the world. So you need to look closely at these "vacation rich" jobs. Nothing is too good to be true.