4 answers
Taylor
Student
Grundy Center, Iowa
8
Questions
Asked
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How long do you typically work for ?
I am willing to work any shifts, but can I have weekends off ? #medicine
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4 answers
Raquel Davis
Registered Nurse, premed student
148
Answers
Providence, Rhode Island
Updated
Raquel’s Answer
It depends on what job you have, all you mention is medicine which is extremely broad and could mean anything in the medical field and there is huge variability between jobs within the field. If you want to be a nurse you can do shift work which is typically 12 hour shifts, 3 days a week. While you could mostly work weekdays pretty much every facility requires one weekend shift either once or twice a month. Or you could work a 9-5 job 5 days a week as a nurse. Same thing goes for doctors, you can do shift work or a 9-5 in an office. Some specialties of doctors require on-call work which would likely fall over the weekend. These are just two examples, if you want specifics you really need to state what job you are interested in. Lots of jobs have positions available where you could avoid working weekends, it really depends on what you want to do.
I will use this advice as I prepare for my career.
Taylor
Anthony Petrello
Pharmacist
49
Answers
Medford, New York
Updated
Anthony’s Answer
Hi Taylor,
Many of your questions revolve around pharmacy. Additionally, I am a pharmacist, and you asked a very similar question earlier. For these reasons, I'm going to post my response again here and also provide some comments about weekends.
“Hi Taylor,
The answer to this question depends entirely on where you work and your position. However, I see from your other questions that you are primarily interested in areas in a pharmacy outside of the retail setting. These positions usually have a much more detailed schedule than retail pharmacists. Many of these pharmacists work 9-5 jobs in a hospital or office, although they sometimes are forced to pick up additional shifts. For example, I know some clinical pharmacists in a hospital who work 9-5 Monday through Friday and pick up extra shifts in the outpatient pharmacy on the weekends.
Although your other questions point to having little interest in retail pharmacy, I did want to discuss the retail pharmacist schedule as it is not unlikely you will encounter it at some point in your career. Unfortunately, it is a bit confusing at first glance.
I work as a pharmacist in a major retail setting and work 12-hour shifts (8 am to 8 pm) during the week and 9-hour shifts (9 am to 6 pm) on the weekends. However, I do not work five days a week, and my schedule goes as follows; I work every Monday and Thursday, every other weekend, and if I work Sunday, I also work the following Wednesday. Through this schedule, I am only forced to work back-to-back 12-hour shifts once every other week, and I also have off two days in a row every other week and a three-day weekend every other week. Also, this schedule allows you to strategically request one day off and have off for five days in a row. It seems a bit confusing, but if you map it out, it looks something like this over two weeks:
Su M Tu W Th F S
Off On Off Off On Off On
On On Off On On Off Off
This schedule is very popular among retail pharmacists, especially those who only have one other pharmacist at their store. However, there is also a variation of this schedule where the pharmacists work half days every Wednesday instead of full days every other Wednesday.
I also wanted to mention the holidays briefly. Unfortunately, patients get sick year-round on every day of the year. Therefore, you will likely end up working on holidays as a pharmacist. Many organizations have policies around trading holidays throughout the years to ensure every pharmacist is not working every holiday or the same holiday repeatedly, but it is something to consider.
Best,
Anthony”
You asked if you could have weekends off. Unfortunately, I believe it is very unlikely that you can guarantee yourself every weekend off as a pharmacist (or any patient-centered healthcare professional for that matter). As I mentioned, patients get sick every day, year-round, including holidays and weekends. Because pharmacy is such a patient-centered profession, you will probably have to work some weekends every once in a while, especially when starting your career as a pharmacist.
An exception is if you manage to earn a position away from patient care, such as in manufacturing or academia. However, these positions usually require some tenure in those more patient-focused where you would have likely been working weekends at some point.
Anthony
Many of your questions revolve around pharmacy. Additionally, I am a pharmacist, and you asked a very similar question earlier. For these reasons, I'm going to post my response again here and also provide some comments about weekends.
“Hi Taylor,
The answer to this question depends entirely on where you work and your position. However, I see from your other questions that you are primarily interested in areas in a pharmacy outside of the retail setting. These positions usually have a much more detailed schedule than retail pharmacists. Many of these pharmacists work 9-5 jobs in a hospital or office, although they sometimes are forced to pick up additional shifts. For example, I know some clinical pharmacists in a hospital who work 9-5 Monday through Friday and pick up extra shifts in the outpatient pharmacy on the weekends.
Although your other questions point to having little interest in retail pharmacy, I did want to discuss the retail pharmacist schedule as it is not unlikely you will encounter it at some point in your career. Unfortunately, it is a bit confusing at first glance.
I work as a pharmacist in a major retail setting and work 12-hour shifts (8 am to 8 pm) during the week and 9-hour shifts (9 am to 6 pm) on the weekends. However, I do not work five days a week, and my schedule goes as follows; I work every Monday and Thursday, every other weekend, and if I work Sunday, I also work the following Wednesday. Through this schedule, I am only forced to work back-to-back 12-hour shifts once every other week, and I also have off two days in a row every other week and a three-day weekend every other week. Also, this schedule allows you to strategically request one day off and have off for five days in a row. It seems a bit confusing, but if you map it out, it looks something like this over two weeks:
Su M Tu W Th F S
Off On Off Off On Off On
On On Off On On Off Off
This schedule is very popular among retail pharmacists, especially those who only have one other pharmacist at their store. However, there is also a variation of this schedule where the pharmacists work half days every Wednesday instead of full days every other Wednesday.
I also wanted to mention the holidays briefly. Unfortunately, patients get sick year-round on every day of the year. Therefore, you will likely end up working on holidays as a pharmacist. Many organizations have policies around trading holidays throughout the years to ensure every pharmacist is not working every holiday or the same holiday repeatedly, but it is something to consider.
Best,
Anthony”
You asked if you could have weekends off. Unfortunately, I believe it is very unlikely that you can guarantee yourself every weekend off as a pharmacist (or any patient-centered healthcare professional for that matter). As I mentioned, patients get sick every day, year-round, including holidays and weekends. Because pharmacy is such a patient-centered profession, you will probably have to work some weekends every once in a while, especially when starting your career as a pharmacist.
An exception is if you manage to earn a position away from patient care, such as in manufacturing or academia. However, these positions usually require some tenure in those more patient-focused where you would have likely been working weekends at some point.
Anthony
Katrina Francis
Physical Therapist
8
Answers
Enfield, Connecticut
Updated
Katrina’s Answer
Taylor,
This is a great question, but not an easy one to answer. There are a number of different types of careers in healthcare and there are a number of different types of settings that you can work in and there are so many shift structures that you can do! I worked in one hospital for example that the doctors did 80 hours in one week, but then had the next week completely off and they alternated back and forth. Nursing, can do shift work, which can vary from the typical 7-3, 3-11, 11-7. But in some places, they could just do 7-7 shifts. In the outpatient setting, people can have weekends off, but more likely it's a weekend rotation to allow availability for the patients who work (and you would get a different day off during the week. You might take a Tuesday through Saturday or Sunday through Thursday schedule. It all depends on the job and the setting and it's hard to give a more specific answer without knowing which direction you are leaning. :)
Also, don't forget, you will always get time off as part of your benefits. So even if you always work Saturdays, you will have the option to take days off if you have things going on.
Best of luck!
This is a great question, but not an easy one to answer. There are a number of different types of careers in healthcare and there are a number of different types of settings that you can work in and there are so many shift structures that you can do! I worked in one hospital for example that the doctors did 80 hours in one week, but then had the next week completely off and they alternated back and forth. Nursing, can do shift work, which can vary from the typical 7-3, 3-11, 11-7. But in some places, they could just do 7-7 shifts. In the outpatient setting, people can have weekends off, but more likely it's a weekend rotation to allow availability for the patients who work (and you would get a different day off during the week. You might take a Tuesday through Saturday or Sunday through Thursday schedule. It all depends on the job and the setting and it's hard to give a more specific answer without knowing which direction you are leaning. :)
Also, don't forget, you will always get time off as part of your benefits. So even if you always work Saturdays, you will have the option to take days off if you have things going on.
Best of luck!
Charles C
Psychiatrist
1
Answer
Miami, Florida
Updated
Charles’s Answer
I am an outpatient psychiatrist so I will give you my perspective. Right now I work Monday through Friday from 8 am to 4:30 pm. I have weekends off, but do have to work one weekend a year. There were other jobs available where I would have to work one weekend a month so there are a wide range of possibilities. Ultimately it comes down to what type of work you want to do as a physician (the area of medicine, whether it is inpatient or outpatient) and also how many other colleagues work with you who can cover weekends if applicable.