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Working Hours in Surgery/Surgical Speciality


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Hey:

 

Some say they actually end up working about 60+ hours (not just 40 hours) due to the way their job actually demands at the end of the week.  

 

Would be very appreciative if you could please guide (thru your working experiences)  as to how many hours you, yourself typically work in Surgery or Surgical Specialty in order to successfully make it.  Does this typically involve working Weekends as well?

 

Many thanks in advance for all of your input.

 

Wishing all a great weekend ahead!

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  • 4 months later...

Surgery usually averages out to be about 55 hours per week if you don't work at a particularly brutal place.  I work in cardiothoracic and vascular surgery.  Some weeks are 40 hours others are pushing close to 70 hours.  Depends on where you work, I think.  Community hospitals that are reasonably staffed probably have less hours than big hospitals that are reasonably staffed. 

 

In my specialty where I work,  I am on call one out of four weekends a month.  I don't have to go in on weekends unless there is an emergency I am called in for.  

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I work about 50 average, but I don't have set hours. Some weeks I work more, some weeks less. Some days 20 hours, some days 3. I don't work weekends. I have, on occasion, telecommuted or gone in to help out on a particularly busy weekend but this is at my own risk. We don't do a lot of elective stuff, so my hours typically depend on what comes in to the hospital that day/week.

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One surgical friend works 55 hours with no call, no weekends, and the option to work OT for extra pay. Another works about 40 with 3 weeks of ER/office call per year (some of which falls on the weekend). Another in a subspecialty works 40 hours with no call. It can really vary depending on the surgical field and specific practice.

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The trick with surgery is that you are at the mercy of the OR staff and surgery is unpredictable. If you have 4-5 cases you could be out after 6 hours or 14 hours depending on how everything plays out during the day. Some days can slow to a crawl or a case can get delayed or you run into an unforeseen complication.

 

Clinic days are much more predictable.

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I don't get extra pay. Then again, I don't have set hours, so if we don't have any surgeries but we still have some inpatients to see, I will go in whenever I feel like it for an hour or two to round. Unfortunately, that also means I might work 20 hours straight on a very busy day, especially if turnover is very slow or we get bumped, like mahina suggested. My one friend gets paid extra for cases past 5. My other two friends don't typically work past 3 and 5 period.

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I'm salaried so no extra pay for scheduled cases. I get a small bone thrown to me for On-call/weekend surgeries, of course plus my assist fee.

Small bone?  wow...could you please elaborate more on this as well the assist fee you could get?

 

Many thanks.

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I get $50 for any consult or surgery after business hours or weekends. This in addition to my regular first assist fee which is reimbursed by insurance and is anywhere from $150-400 depending on the procedure and he insurance. First assist fees do not go directly in my pocket but are factored into my annual bonus package.

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