Residency Workload

[_whoop_]

Hey all. Non trad premed here. I’m spending too much time consuming medicine related forums and subreddits. Something I’m seeing a lot of is how out of control expectations of residents are in the US. Perpetually on shift or call, no days off, nothing but grunt work, etc. 

Now, I come from an industry where I am accustomed to long weeks and hard work,  but I’m hoping to get some specific insight into what resident experience is like for Canadians. I like to think that Canada takes better care of its trainees than how US residencies are described. When/if I win an A into med school, I’m hoping to match into psych, but 5 or 6 years of 100+ hour weeks in residency is probably enough for me to align myself for FM instead. 
 

So I’m curious to hear from you non-surgical residents; What’s your lifestyle like? Do you hate your lives the way that American residents seem to? Do you regret training to become a physician? 
 

Thanks! 

[gangliocytoma]

YMMV depending on the individual program. Overall for nonsurgical programs I would say 80-100 hrs per week at worst, half that at best. Most programs probably ~60-75 hours with call included. Also keep in mind that residency is temporary and you will have more control over your schedule as a staff. 

My personal experience in residency- I have a good work-life balance and enjoy what I do. Some weeks are worse (busier) than others but I am in a program that supports resident wellness and do shift work. I imagine when I do some heavier off-service rotations next year like ICU and surgical specialties I may be saying something different, but again those are temporary.

You are quite early in the process so I won't talk specifics about psych and FM but for most non surgical specialities expect 8-10 hour days with usually one 24 hour call weekly and a post call day off the next day. Sometimes that call shift might fall on a Saturday and you'd be working 6 days and your post call would be Sunday meaning you don't really get a post-call day. On the flip side, you may be on call Thurs and get Friday as a post call and therefore an early start to your weekend. At most you can get 7 call shifts in a 28 day period, but that doesn't mean you always will get 7 call shifts. Some very busy services like internal medicine need many residents on call each night so they will likely have you do closer to the 7.

[Edict]

4 hours ago, gangliocytoma said:

YMMV depending on the individual program. Overall for nonsurgical programs I would say 80-100 hrs per week at worst, half that at best. Most programs probably ~60-75 hours with call included. Also keep in mind that residency is temporary and you will have more control over your schedule as a staff. 

My personal experience in residency- I have a good work-life balance and enjoy what I do. Some weeks are worse (busier) than others but I am in a program that supports resident wellness and do shift work. I imagine when I do some heavier off-service rotations next year like ICU and surgical specialties I may be saying something different, but again those are temporary.

You are quite early in the process so I won't talk specifics about psych and FM but for most non surgical specialities expect 8-10 hour days with usually one 24 hour call weekly and a post call day off the next day. Sometimes that call shift might fall on a Saturday and you'd be working 6 days and your post call would be Sunday meaning you don't really get a post-call day. On the flip side, you may be on call Thurs and get Friday as a post call and therefore an early start to your weekend. At most you can get 7 call shifts in a 28 day period, but that doesn't mean you always will get 7 call shifts. Some very busy services like internal medicine need many residents on call each night so they will likely have you do closer to the 7.

This... subreddits are not representative of medicine as a whole. Residents are busy but no busier than other highly paid professions.

[jb24]

It all depends on specialty and program.  

Psyc is chill so I wouldn't worry. The hard part for me and what deterred me from psyc is that often your patients hate you and say abusive things to you. Sometimes they are aggressive too. I couldn't deal with that.

[frenchpress]

As the others have said, it varies a lot by speciality and program. So I’ll provide an example from my program, with the caveat that it’s not necessarily representative.

I am in family medicine. Urban family blocks (a block is 4 weeks), which were a bit more than half of first year, were relatively chill, 8-2pm or 9-5pm on office days. Other office based rotations, like derm or msk, are similar (e.g., 9-5pm). Usually no weekends.

Family blocks also had some Hospitalist which was usually 9-4pm ish, but could go as late as 8 or 9pm if there were a lot of admissions. No more than 1 week of hospitalist per month, but on those weeks I rounded at the hospital on weekends. During family I also did primary care Obs, usually 3-6 days per block, which was home call, and could be very chill or very busy depending. Rural family can be similar but hours often a bit longer because you’re doing more (e.g. rounding at the hospital in the morning before going to clinic). 

Off service rotations vary immensely by the service and hospital site. Most services with call it was 5-7 call shifts per block, include 2 weekends of call per block, which includes on Fri/Sun and one Sat of 24hr call. The max allowed by our union is 7 in house shifts in a block. General surgery hours were 7am to anywhere from 2-6pm, unless on call, then it was 7am to 7am (24 hours + post call handover so more like 26 hours). Similar hours and call for ICU, CCU, Internal Medicine, Obs, etc. Some hospital rotations are a bit more chill. E.g., Psych was 9-4pm ish during weekdays, with evening home call (7 per block) and two weekends. Geri and palliative similar.

Emerg is shift based, 14-16 shifts per month, usually 8-9 hours long. 

To sum: it’s anywhere from 35 hrs per week (on family weeks with no other call) to 100+ hours some weeks on heavy rotations. On the whole, family has been relatively chill, and the easier blocks balance out the brutal ones. Can’t say the same for my surgical colleagues, many of whom never seem to get a day off - even though technically we are under the same employment agreement and should have the same rules. 

[_whoop_]

Thanks for the feedback everyone!