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Working Moms
marleysmom
member
? for Physician moms
marleysmom
member
in Working Moms
I'm returning to work as a resident on Monday, and as I'm getting ready to go back it has me thinking about career/family goals. In my specialty (PM&R) there is a fairly clear-cut division between inpatient work and outpatient. Most physiatrists do one or the other, or maybe have a very limited outpatient clinic if they run an inpatient service. I've been thinking a lot about what kind of lifestyle I want to have once I'm done with residency. I've been surprised to find that a lot of moms choose inpatient work because it gives them flexibilty with their schedule M-F (ie they round whenever they want, can be home when the kids get home from school, etc). However, the major downside is call and weekend work. On the other hand, outpatient work obviously has predictable hours, but is generally 8-6 or so, with little flexibility day-to-day. I still have 2 years before I have a "real" job, but I'm curious to hear what type of practice others have chosen for themselves and why. Thanks!
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Re: ? for Physician moms
There are a couple of Physician's on the board so I'm sure you will get some answers from them as well....but I'm currently an orthopedic physician assistant that does inpatient work exclusively. The rounding, the consults, the call....that isn't necessarily too bad. What gets me is the procedures and how things never run on "schedule". I don't mind if things are off, but now it affects more than just me.
I work in a multi-specialty group that have 3 PMRs: one who mostly does pain management with medications, one who does interventional pain management and the other who does inpatient rehab consultations. They each share call responsibility (i believe they each take a week) but the one who does inpatient work rounds during the week (and the call takes weekends).
FWIW, I'm looking to get out of a surgical setting into a specialty thats a little more regular. But unlike a physician, I'm able to float between specialities.
I hope this helps somewhat.
I work in the ER, so I do shift. I *LOVE* my schedule most of the time. It means that I can work 6 days in a row and then have 4-5 days off or work every other or whatever I wish. No call and no shifts longer than 9 hours (though some places do 12hr shifts). BUT, I do work nights and weekends. FWIW, most people do 8-5, M-F jobs for a living. It works for some people, but means you spend your weekends getting your hair cut, buying groceries, etc. Working "weird" means that you can have a dentist appointment any time. But there are trade offs.
Also, a lot of docs I know work "full time" at only 36hrs/wk or four days per week. Several of my Ped friends have a FT four day work week. So that helps as well. 3/4 time is 3d/wk, part time is 2d/wk.
I think it depends on where you work. I love inpatient but working for an academic hospital would mean a lot of extra hours as a junior MD, teaching, private practice, research, etc.... And going to a private hosital can be stressfull for other reasons.
I do outpatient - 8-5 no call, no pager. it is more boring for sure but the predictability makes life with kids much easier. I can plan for time off, my salary is set, etc. And Monday off every other week.
I wouldn't bank on that much flexibility as an inpatient doc.
i'm outpatient (pediatrician). I work FT 4 days per week and 2/5 weekends - one of those is on call for 72 hours (home call other than our office hours).
I agree with spen that it really does depend where you work. Around here, the only inpatient jobs would be academic/residency program involvement so that means long hours, rotating schedules, 7 am morning reports every week, ect. There are advantages for sure, but I don't even get up before 7 am these days! There is a smaller hospital that has FP residents with peds hospitalist coverage, but imo the hours are horrible 12 hour shifts 7 days in a row and then random 30 hour shifts on top of that. I work regular days and adore having a day off in the middle of the week to get things done.
My week days are long (avg 8-6), but I also thrive on the consistency and trust of watching my little patients grow, helping parents through both the good and the bad, ect. I had several attendings choose to leave academics and go into private practice while i was a resident and this solidified my decision to do outpatient.
I do some hospital work (newborns and backup for ER docs in emergencies) but honestly, I really don't like inpatient medicine very much. It is all certainly a personal preference.
I am in OB. Trying to figure out my life plans as we speak.
Ideally I would like to do REI and have a more structured M-F 9-5 job with weekend mornings thrown in there for embie transfers and follie scans.
You just have to decide what you want and go for it. Everyone will have a differing opinion - especially given that our fields are all different. I chose the least family friendly field there is!
I'm an academic internist...do mainly outpatient at our private faculty practice. I see patients usually from 8-5 and then paperwork after that. Haven't been back from maternity leave yet so can't speak as to how it will work with the baby, but I generally spend a lot of extra time doing paperwork. The PM&R doc in our practice is also one of the late staying physicians with paperwork. I really enjoy when I'm on inpatient because it's a lot less demanding from an extra paperwork time standpoint (I still have a little from my practice, but not the volume) because when you're done at the hospital, you're done...however because of the academic nature rounds, etc. are more structured so I don't have the flexibility others describe.
I think they both have their pluses and minuses, you just have to choose what you like better and what works better for you. Even though I find outpatient harder in many ways I love it, and while inpatient is easier in a lot of ways and fun every once in a while I wouldn't be as happy doing it every day. That being said...I worry how I will get home at a reasonable hour everyday to spend time with my DD with having to complete my paperwork. I'll have to do a little bit of different structuring of my day to accomplish it.
I am a psychiatrist, and I just finished residency in September. I am moonlighting right now. I work 2 days a week in an outpatient community mental health center and one day a week in an emergency room. I am pretty happy with what I am doing right now. I have the option to pick up more work in the psych ER or rounding on inpatients on the weekends if I need more money, but the hours are limited and when they are over, I'm done. Most of the docs at the CMH center work part-time, and we cover each other for refills and emergencies.
We are moving in July when DH finishes residency. I will continue working PT doing inpatient consults with a limited number of hours in an outpatient clinic. I have a feeling this is going to be more of a real "doctor job" than what I am doing right now.