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How many hours do you work as a surgeon per week?
#surgeon #hours
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Sean’s Answer
Thank you for the question! There are several different models that surgeons can work under and their avg hours per week can be quite variable. This answer is written about General Surgeons, but I think generally applies for Orthopedics, Neurosurgery, and other specialists as well.
1. Traditionally surgeons work 50-80 hours or more per week. This would include clinic, inpatient patient care/rounds, and surgery, M-F appx 600am-600pm, and then 1-3 call shifts per week (which can be at home or in the hospital). Weekend practice is highly variable, but often surgeons will try to split weekends with their partners.
2. Rural general surgeons might have less activity during the week, maybe closer to 8-4 M-F, but might be on all 3-7 nights per week. So while they might have fewer in hospital hours, overall more of their time might be spent carrying their pager and needing to be ready at a moment's notice.
3. Recently some surgeons have begun making the change to shift work, 7am-7pm and their partner takes 7pm-7am. Many models are doing this for a week at a time, then switching, followed by a clinic week (closer to answer in #2) and the fourth week of the month is sometimes a week off.
The majority of surgeons continue to read and study at home, sometimes having to do charts at home as well. Some academic surgeons do the above, but also spend time doing research.
The hours can be quite a lot, which is why it is important to love the work you are doing and the people that you are doing it with.
1. Traditionally surgeons work 50-80 hours or more per week. This would include clinic, inpatient patient care/rounds, and surgery, M-F appx 600am-600pm, and then 1-3 call shifts per week (which can be at home or in the hospital). Weekend practice is highly variable, but often surgeons will try to split weekends with their partners.
2. Rural general surgeons might have less activity during the week, maybe closer to 8-4 M-F, but might be on all 3-7 nights per week. So while they might have fewer in hospital hours, overall more of their time might be spent carrying their pager and needing to be ready at a moment's notice.
3. Recently some surgeons have begun making the change to shift work, 7am-7pm and their partner takes 7pm-7am. Many models are doing this for a week at a time, then switching, followed by a clinic week (closer to answer in #2) and the fourth week of the month is sometimes a week off.
The majority of surgeons continue to read and study at home, sometimes having to do charts at home as well. Some academic surgeons do the above, but also spend time doing research.
The hours can be quite a lot, which is why it is important to love the work you are doing and the people that you are doing it with.