Day-to-day pace

[JIMMYJOHNivy]

People always romanticize the 40 hour work week in Derm. My question is, how busy are those 40 hours for a dermatology attending (private practice)? Is it like surgery/IM specialties where you have quite a bit downtime between cases to mentally recharge or is it more like radiology, where it's a constant, exhausting grind where you have to be "on" the entire time?

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[reno911]

Often, it's as busy as you want to be. See more patients and get compensated accordingly. In practice many do choose that route, and you do have to be "on" as you put it, nearly all the time.


On the other hand, you could find a position which accommodates a much slower pace. You'll get paid less, but some people are happy to make that trade-off.

 

[sore eye asses]

The average general dermatologist will see 25-35 patients a day, which is fast paced and does not allow for much downtime. I’m at the higher end of this range, and though you gain efficiencies with time in practice, you’re always on.

 

[PatsyStone]

The amount and quality of your support staff is huge. If you have good nurses/MAs/scribes, things run smoother. Some docs are also quicker than others: it’s a combination of being decisive and having the right personality so patients don’t mind if you’re in-and-out.

The nice thing about derm is the diversity of diseases, so although you’re mostly doing skin checks, you get other things thrown in.

However, there are also the days where everyone seems to be a 20 year old woman with hormonal acne or melasma. In this case, it’s not about being “on,” so much as it's not getting angry that you have to give the same talk one more time.

 

[MOHS_01]

The average general dermatologist will see 25-35 patients a day, which is fast paced and does not allow for much downtime. I’m at the higher end of this range, and though you gain efficiencies with time in practice, you’re always on.

When doing general derm I was generally double that upper end.... but there are a lot of poor / non-paying / charity population in rural KY and the insurance payments are based off of MC fee schedule that resides at the floor.

To the op: you'll work for your money -- don't let anyone tell you any different.