Feedback on Contract-Hospitalist

[NLRP3]

Hello,

I would love some feedback on a contract that I was offered. A little bit about me, I have 3 years of experience in FM. In school did alot of inpatient medicine/critical care rotations. Have been interested in hospital medicine for quite some time, but not much opportunity in my area and have stuck around the area because I like it so much. A hospitalist position came up, which isnt too common around these parts and they offered me a job. Job is with a contracting service. Pay is $75/hr, 7on/7off, 2000 CME, malpractice w/ tail, good health and dental, reasonable 401K match. Swing shift (which I am ok with) primarily admitting patients from the ED. Unclear how uch onboarding/training I would be getting but am planning on hammering out those details. No PTO which may end up being a deal breaker. Hospital is mid-size w/ MD backup on call, so no responsibility for running codes. Would expect to admit some to the ICU, but not common place.

 

Overall seems like a reasonable offer given the pay and it is in the specialty I would like to work, so I think I am willing to suck it up about the PTO. Would love to hear some thoughts/feedback.  

[ohiovolffemtp]

No PTO is actually pretty common in EM and from the hospitalists I've talked to not uncommon for them.  You're supposed to use scheduling to get yourself longer times off.  The lack of PTO is baked in to your hourly rate - which sounds good depending upon local cost of living.  The 7 on - 7 off schedule is pretty common for hospitalists too.  Are your shifts 12's? If so, you're looking at $160K+/year.

As long as the training and mentoring are enough to get you up the learning curve, sounds like a great opportunity.

[greenmood]

I would never take a hospitalist job without PTO, but especially not a 7/7. They are trying to milk you, and it's very common with the groups that work 7/7. You need a week off but it doesn't coincide with your pre-scheduled week, so you have to work 14 days straight? Bogus and dangerous. Here is the math on hospitalist schedules.

PA #1 works 7/7, 12 hour shifts, with no PTO. That is 26 weeks of work = 2184 hours per year.

PA #2 works a flex schedule with the goal being an average of 40 hours per week (13 weeks per quarter = 520 hours per quarter = 2080 hours per year).

Even without PTO, PA #2 (it's me, actually) is working 104 hours (8.6 days) less per year. But I also get 264 hours of vacation per year, plus 56 hours of dedicated CME time off. So you're working 424 more hours than me. That's 35 more 12-hour days. GROSS.

Now, if your swing shifts are only 10 hours then the gap closes significantly. You would be working 1820 hours per year. Still 60 hours more.

TLDR; 7on/7off hospitalists get the shaft. If this is your dream job, go for it. Plenty of people do this kind of schedule, as little as I can understand why. Money? I dunno. I make pretty good money and if I wanted more I could easily slip some moonlighting shifts in someplace.

-Hospitalist

[NLRP3]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. While the speciality sounds great I am worried about the lack of pto. Thanks again for all the input!