Guest caper81 Posted July 21, 2004 Report Share Posted July 21, 2004 This may sound like a very stupid question but… what is the lifestyle of a typical doctor? Is it controllable? The reason I ask is that the vast majority of people in my family and friends are in engineering or computer science or business. I am the only one in my entire family and group of friends who is interested in the field of medicine. They are all telling me that I should just be happy with my degree (I will graduate next year), not surprisingly with a computer science degree. Everyone (mostly everyone) is telling me not to go into medicine since the lifestyle of a doctor is horrible! I would never have time to spend with my friends or family and it’s all work work work, plus I would be in so much debt! And after reading info about family doctors being burnt out and hearing about specialist working long hours (40++ hours /week). Now I am starting to get a little scare. Are they correct? Can you be a doctor and have a controllable lifestyle… other than being a pathologist? Thanks for your input in advance. P.S. What I mean by a controllable lifestyle is working typically 40 hours/week, time for family/friends, other interests, not too stressful, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted July 21, 2004 Report Share Posted July 21, 2004 Well... I don't think you will likely find too many doctors that are working 40 hours per week.... mostly the ones that are working 'part-time' :lol Most are likely working 50-60 hours per week (at least) with residents putting in 80+ hours during some weeks. Being on call is almost inevitable (meaning that you will have to be available evenings and weekends...not all of them, but there will definitely be some). That said, there is lots of opportunity to control your lifestyle. You will be able determine where you want to work, what type of practice bests suits your goals (rural/urban, academic centre, partnership, solo practice), what specialty you want to do (emerg - work your shift and get out to family practice covering your own Ob call 24-7 and everything in between) There are plenty of doctors that take 2 months + of vacation time in a year (can't do that in business!) and they schedule work around things that are important to them...it is not unusual for a consultant to book 2 hours into the middle of their clinic day to go do something at school with their kids. It is possible to have a life and do medicine too...you are going to have to work at establishing a balance and determining what kind of practice you would like. Things are not as bad as they used to be. That said, medicine is different from other 'jobs' in that it is not very compatible with a 9-5, Mon-Fri, 40 hour workweek model... and if that is your primary goal, than medicine is likely not the best fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Most doctors don't work 40 hours a week. More like 50-60 hours. The thing is that there's not only time when you are actively seeing patients, but lots of time spent on non-clinical activities, such as filling out forms, managing your office, travel time to and from the hospitals where you have admitting priviledges, tons of time on the phone to various labs/specialists/Emerg, etc. There are specialties where the hours are more controllable, such as Ophthalmology, Pathology, Dermatology, Psychiatry, Radiation Oncology, Medical Genetics, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, as well as specialties that are slightly tougher but still reasonable, such as Emergency Medicine, Anesthesiology, several Internal Medicine subspecialties, and Radiology, but in general Medicine is not the field you should be looking into if a 40 hour or less work week is your top priority. Especially considering that the 3-4 years of med school, plus 2-6 years of residency to get to that stage are going to require a lot more than 40 hours a week of effort (you can approach 40 hours in a single on call shift during your senior med student years, or during residency). Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest s sadry Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Hi there, My mom is on the other extreme. She works at least 70 hours on an average week, that’s 6 days a week with Sundays off. She is a physician working in a densely populated immigrant community where she feels she has helped establish/contribute to. Nothing gives her a greater high than working with her patients. It’s definitely NOT 9-5 in her situation. In fact there are a few days a work where she goes in at 2 in the afternoon and comes home around 1 AM. She finds the practice more productive in the night and generally takes walk in patients after a certain hour which is really convenient for her patients. But its extremely flexible. She CHOOSES to work that hard. She could book patients whenever she wanted or take as many days off as shed like. It’s very flexible. But there is an opportunity cost involved, and quite frankly...she just loves to work!! Does my mom have a balanced life? She’d probably say something along the lines of ‘I try my best…yes’. But if you asked my brother or I… we might disagree. She definitely tries her best considering the number of hours she’s putting in, but its definitely not balanced! Her entire life revolves around her work, and the other time around her family, and then pretty much zero time is dedicated to her. There are definitely days where you can see how exhausted she is, and the work catches up with her. My brother is quite disappointed/upset with my mom most of the time for never being home. I think I’m more used to it and probably don’t notice it as much since I live in residence. She has little time to do the things she wants to do, (eg: work out), or take on the conventional role of the mother/wife of cooking or cleaning. What’s cool is my dad has taken on those roles. Is it possible to live a balanced life? Absolutely. The other doctors in her practice have proven that to me. Of course they don’t put in as many hours as my mom, but they are able to spend more time with their kids, work 5 days a week. They also do little things, like doing their charts in the clinic which saves time at home. For example my mom chooses to bring her charts home and complete them. This takes up a lot of time she has at home…she’s always lugging baskets of charts in and out of the car and hardly gets the chance to even get through the reports alone most mornings. Regardless. My point is…that there will be workaholics in practically every profession. But these people shouldn’t deter you in anyway. I think you can be a perfectly compassionate and accessible doctor without having to put in a ridiculous number of hours each week. While she hopes to slow down eventually, she’s told me that she plans to work until the day she dies!. There used to be a guy in her clinic who worked until he was 80 something, and he would swim daily in addition to that before coming to work. I thought that was pretty neat. Some ppl have an incredible about of stamina and drive. I on the other hand hope that my family will be a larger priority. Sharon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Agent999 Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Well, a doctor's lifestyle isnt controllable per se. I mean you can only change it by picking a specialty or environment that's less demanding. However, doctors can choose to compromise and accomodate, by finding a suitable balance between work and leisure, by planning their weeks carefully so they are getting adequate rest when they are not working. That's why time management and discipline is so important in medicine. If you lack these, you are gonna have a tough time during residency and beyond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest drews97 Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 It really depends on what specialty you choose to go into. You could start your own practice as a family doc and work as much or as little as you choose to. My dad, for example, is a rural family doctor and works in a practice with 12 other doctors. He typically works about 8-6 4 days a week and can take off virtually all the time he needs. He had ER and office work and is on-call 4 times per month, pretty reasonable I'd say. However, on the other end of the spectrum are the transplant surgeons who may work 80 hours+ per week. Not to mention, as others have already pointed out, that med school will be busy and the specialties that typically have a 'better' lifestyle are harder to get into. Keep in mind also that most docs who work hard really enjoy their work. Of course you will have bad days where you're fed up, but so will the office worker sitting in a cubicle who only works 40 hours per week. In my opinion job satisfaction makes up for maybe a little more work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest skiboot Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 I agree. Having had the experience of sItting in a cubicle/on the phone for a good part of the day is partly what brought me back to school in the first place. An 8-5 at the office can be just as/if not more draining/stressful than a 12 hour shift at the hospital. If you are enjoying what you do, I think that striking the right balance will become much easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 40+ hours working hard! :rollin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest caper81 Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Thanks everyone for their response! It was very interesting to read about other people input on this and their personal experiences. It’s nice to see that there is some “flexibility” in medicine. I realized that it will take a lot of work to get through 3-4 of med schools and residency afterward. I was more concerned about life after residency and onward… Ian mentioned some specialties that are controllable…does anyone have info on family medicine??? I am kind of interested in this field. It seems to me from reading Sadry and Drews response it all depends on the individual (I am assuming your mom is a family doctor Sadry?) And Sadry thanks for sharing your story. It seems you and I have something in common, we both would want our family and life to take priority over work. And I totally agree with you that you can still be a compassionate and accessible doctor without having to put in a ridiculous number of hours each week. But then again, everyone is different. Some people just love to work, like your mom. And also thanks to drews, for sharing your story about your dad. Your dad’s hours seem to be pretty reasonable. I got a feeling it’s a better lifestyle to work in a practice with other doctors to help ease the work load then run your own private practice. But I had this image of a rural family doctor working by himself / herself or with one or two others, not with 12 other doctors. Maybe it’s in a semi-rural/urban area? And I agree with the statement that job satisfaction makes up for a little more work. This goes with practically everything, medicine, engineering, education, etc. But I just don’t want my “work” to take over my life. Hopefully my family and friends are wrong about this because they all seem to think that medicine (my work) will indeed take over my life. Again, thanks for those that responded… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shoopshoop Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 drews97: the specialties that typically have a 'better' lifestyle are harder to get into Umm...to my knowldege, not neccesariy all of them. At least there are always some family practise residency positions left over in round 2 of CARMS, and as was said, family practice docs seem to have a more flexible schedule according to their choice of working hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 007 Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 I work for a cardiologist who puts in a lot of hours during the time he is at the hospital (perhaps 8-6 or 8-7, I'm not really sure), but he also makes sure to take his vacation time and make it a vacation. He also makes time for family obligations. For example, if his kids need to be driven to camp, he takes the Friday off. I also know that this time of year he works out an hour a day, so he must get home in time to do that before bed. So it is possible to build in this type of flexibility even if you aren't a family doc. 007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest drews97 Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 Sorry, you're right, I guess family medicine is considered a specialty now:) I was referring more to the so-called "life-style" specialties like derm, urology, ENT and opthamology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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