Another annoying and infuriating comment.

makclair

So i'm working with an ENT this month, (i'm a peds resident about to go into private practice) and he was talking about a female ENT that he was in residency with, and how great she was, ect. So then he says they were actually looking to hire her and her DH (vascular surgeon) with the hospital system. But, "she has a couple kids and only works 3 days a week"  The he said " what a shame to waste all that talent"

 

WHAT?? Just because someone doesn't work 7 days a week, they're wasting their talent? Crazy.

Bella427

That would piss me off too.  Sounds like she has the best of both worlds to me!

makclair

Exactly! I would love to work part time (LMAO with the full time salary- i have some majorly painful med school loans).

omalley

I just think some people don't get it!  This is not exactly the same thing but another example of cluelessness:   

I work in finance at a male dominated firm.  A trip to China came up and everyone was asked if they wanted to go...except me!  when I asked why, this is the response I received "Because you're married with children...I didn't think you would want to go."    AARRGGHH!  most of the guys that were asked are married w/ children!!!!

AlisaS

I actually think he probably meant that in a good way - like she trained for years and is so good - too bad she can't work full-time.

I think it is a kind of bias in medicine that after all the years of training and sacrifice - going part-time IS wasting your talent. Whatever the reason. Yo have gained this amazing ability to save lives and then decide to do it part-time?

I am not saying I agree - please, if I win the lottery, so LONG job! But that is the prevailing view.  I know a male doc who go BLASTED for deciding to cut his working hours to focus on computer design stuff.

RoxyLynn

I don't understand why this comment would be considered offensive.  He's not passing a summary judgment on her life as a whole.  He's saying that someone who's gifted and is treading water professionally is leaving an awful lot on the table career-wise, and that would be true whether kids were involved or not or the part-timer was male or female.

NYBrideInWI

I can understand where you're coming from. I think I'd feel the same way as you do. I work in a male dominated field (engineering) and if I went part time it would be seen the same way.

FWIW my primary care doc works part time to be able to spend more time with her kids. At first her hospital/clinic system wasn't too happy about her request, but then they realized they didn't want to lose her completely so they let her work part-time. I think its great that I still get to see her and haven't had any problem getting appointments.

FortMyersBride

Ugh, yeah I hear that a lot but luckily not in my specialty itself (anesthesia tends to be less hours overall than most).  Honestly I loved ENT in med school and it was a toss up between the 2 (and for a while I tried to convince myself that I could love derm, but that was really b/c I had a husband who was already a surgeon with crazy hours).  I think if I'd seen more females able to make part-time ENT work I might have given it a more serious consideration.  That being said, I love anesthesia and am so happy I chose it.  But part-time is almost incomprehensible in the surgery world, and ENT is probably one of the only  subspecialty where it's even feasible  Most surgeons can't comprehend why someone wouldn't want to work 100 hours a week, operating into the middle of the night, and missing family events and holidays.