Resident Hours Survey

[drhobie7]

Hi there. I'm in the middle of an OMS externship and am putting in some long hours, or maybe I'm not and am just a pansy. I'm curious to read what residents' hourly work week is like, including call schedule. I open this to all specialties. Please include the institution where you are at and your year in residency. Thanks and happy Monday.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[esclavo]

Hi there. I'm in the middle of an OMS externship and am putting in some long hours, or maybe I'm not and am just a pansy. I'm curious to read what residents' hourly work week is like, including call schedule. I open this to all specialties. Please include the institution where you are at and your year in residency. Thanks and happy Monday.

OMFS residency first and second year 75-105 hours
third and fourth years 60-80 hours per week.
We are a private hospital and there are alot of conveniences though. We are in a small place with only one hospital to cover. I would expect us to be on the lower end of hours worked for OMFS.
First and second years take all the primary call (12-17 night of call per month), third and fourth years take very little primary call and are on back up call (14-16 nights of back up call)

 

[Jediwendell]

OMS
2nd year med school- cake, maybe 15 hours/wk.
3rd year med school- 60 ish hours/wk.
Intern year- 85-120, depending on number of residents around
General surgery- 100 plus
Fifth and Chief years- 60-80

Ortho
40 baby

 

[toofache32]

OMS
2nd year med school- cake, maybe 15 hours/wk.
3rd year med school- 60 ish hours/wk.
Intern year- 85-120, depending on number of residents around
General surgery- 100 plus
Fifth and Chief years- 60-80

Ortho
40 baby

Sounds like the next MasterCard "Priceless" commercial...

 

[toofache32]

I spend an average of 80-100 hours per week on OMS. The most I've ever done is 110. It got a little worse since the MD specialties went to the 80-hour week which let ENT and Plastics take face call from home. Since we are the only face service in-house, we end up being the go-to-guys for a lot of stuff. But I hear there's talk of OMS soon falling in line with the 80 hour stuff.

 

[simpledoc]

I spend an average of 80-100 hours per week on OMS. The most I've ever done is 110. It got a little worse since the MD specialties went to the 80-hour week which let ENT and Plastics take face call from home. Since we are the only face service in-house, we end up being the go-to-guys for a lot of stuff. But I hear there's talk of OMS soon falling in line with the 80 hour stuff.

what the **** is with these programs who make you put in such ridiculous amont of work? this is no way to gain expeience! why can't they just take more residents and reduce everyone's burden..that way more residents = less competition, more productivity and a better quality of life for the residents!
ps: i hope you guys remember the LSU OMFS resident ( i guess am correct) who commited suicide

 

[Jediwendell]

That's the funny thing about face call from home. We supposedly had home call down here in SA, but I never got to leave the hospital. The general surgery folks got sat down in a room and got taken to town about the 80 hour thing. They were told that if they were putting down more than 80 hours per week on their self-report sheet that they were being "inefficient" and would be put on probation. Hmmmmmm.

I spend an average of 80-100 hours per week on OMS. The most I've ever done is 110. It got a little worse since the MD specialties went to the 80-hour week which let ENT and Plastics take face call from home. Since we are the only face service in-house, we end up being the go-to-guys for a lot of stuff. But I hear there's talk of OMS soon falling in line with the 80 hour stuff.

 

[esclavo]

That's the funny thing about face call from home. We supposedly had home call down here in SA, but I never got to leave the hospital. The general surgery folks got sat down in a room and got taken to town about the 80 hour thing. They were told that if they were putting down more than 80 hours per week on their self-report sheet that they were being "inefficient" and would be put on probation. Hmmmmmm.

We get to take home call but have to live within 15 minutes from the ED. It is easy in our smaller area. Home call sometimes can be a two edged sword. Nice if you don't get called, pain in the !@#$ if you end up getting called a bunch of times. One of the nice things for us is that ED physicians do the little piddly crap and no teeth pain calls/small simple lacs. Our ED docs take care of and get rid of that crap for the most part. Home call is a sneaky way sometimes of working you a ton but not feeling bad about that you are "stuck in house" even though you are stuck in house!

 

[Jediwendell]

why can't they just take more residents and reduce everyone's burden..(

Who's gonna pay for it? Not the state of Texas, or any other state I know of. That being said, I know where you are coming from. A lot of people say that you are really missing out on a lot of education if you don't work 100 hours a week, but I honestly really don't remember much that I did after midnight or so. I kindof think that philosophy is baloney, particularly if you are at a place that has a good range of procedures that they do. I always say that the most important thing I learned is medical school is the following: Just because it sucks doesn't mean you are going to learn more.

The problem always comes down to money. There are only so many GME (goverment paid spots) available to each hosipital every year. Some things, like emergency medicine, general surgery and OB get more spots because they get a TON more business and may actually make some money for the hospital. If you get too many residents, you run the risk of not getting enough ORs for accreditation purposes. Each resident has to do at least 75 in his or her chief year, so if you dilute it down too much then nobody wins. So, in summary, it just isn't that easy to solve.

 

[toofache32]

If you get too many residents, you run the risk of not getting enough ORs for accreditation purposes. Each resident has to do at least 75 in his or her chief year, so if you dilute it down too much then nobody wins. So, in summary, it just isn't that easy to solve.

This is true. Also, for accreditation, there has to be the equivalent of a full-time faculty member for each chief resident. Some places get away with 2 part-timers to fill a full-time spot. So you're not only paying for another resident, you would also have to come up with funds for another faculty position.

Also, many of the best cases don't just walk into the clinic and say "I need my NOE fracture fixed." You have to earn (maybe not the best word) the cases by working them up outside of regular hours. Same is true for orthognathics...you can't waste precious OR/clinic time in the day to do the tracings and model surgery. Many of my long hours are by my choice (not call)...doing model surgery and tracings because I want to be able to cut the case.

Lastly, all this outside work yields a comparitively small amount of OR time. It's a lot of work to get to the OR sometimes. But the OR is your end goal so that's what you do.

 

[OMFSCardsFan]

A lot of people say that you are really missing out on a lot of education if you don't work 100 hours a week, but I honestly really don't remember much that I did after midnight or so. I kindof think that philosophy is baloney, particularly if you are at a place that has a good range of procedures that they do.

As an intern, I think that an eighty hour week would detract from my learning experience. The difference between an 80- and a 110-hour week is hours spent on in-house call. As an intern, the ER is my OR. It's when I get my soft tissue experience. Furthermore, when something comes into the ER that needs urgent OR treatment, such as an infection or OR-worthy soft tissue damage, I get to do the procedures. My upper level comes in, but I get to run the show. It sure beats holding sticks during normal OR cases. Cutting back the call would be cutting back on a significant portion of my experience. I somehow think that I'm in the minority on this, though...

For those of you that aren't in a residency yet, keep in mind that I've only been at this for about three months now. By the end of this year, I may very well have changed my stance on the subject.

 

[esclavo]

For those of you that aren't in a residency yet, keep in mind that I've only been at this for about three months now. By the end of this year, I may very well have changed my stance on the subject.[/QUOTE]

Speaking of changing, in your first three months have you even had time to changed your underwear?

 

[toofache32]

Speaking of changing, in your first three months have you even had time to changed your underwear?

He turns them inside-out every weekend...just after his weekly shower.

 

[OMFSCardsFan]

For those of you that aren't in a residency yet, keep in mind that I've only been at this for about three months now. By the end of this year, I may very well have changed my stance on the subject.

Speaking of changing, in your first three months have you even had time to changed your underwear?[/QUOTE]
You wear underwear??? That was the first thing to go...it's so liberating to cruise around freeballin' in a pair of scrubs. I thought that everyone did it.

 

[esclavo]

Speaking of changing, in your first three months have you even had time to changed your underwear?

You wear underwear??? That was the first thing to go...it's so liberating to cruise around freeballin' in a pair of scrubs. I thought that everyone did it.[/QUOTE]

Not everyone is small enough to have this luxury. Maybe TX's wife could help you out with this. Then you could wear underwear like the big boys.