How do schedules/hours differ throughout residency?

[Sthpawslugger]

I'm curious to know how the hours/schedule differ from ortho PGY 1 through PGY 5. I understand this varies amongst all programs, so feel free to give your take based on where you are/were training if you like. If you are married or married with children, I'm interested in hearing how ortho residency impacted your family life. Was it more difficult to find balance at any given point? Or did it become easier the further along you were in training?

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[OrthoTraumaMD]

This varies widely among programs. I trained at a large academic place and I can tell you that for myself, and most of the people I know, PGY2 is far and away the most difficult year. Intern year is the easiest. Years three through five are extremely dependent based on program. I took in house call as a chief due to my rotation structure and the places we had to cover. Pgy2 is when most of us wanted to quit/die.

 

[VincentAdultman]

In my program the intern carried the call pager mon-fri and when he took call on the weekends (which was often). Third year resident covered night float. Our second year wasn't a lot that bad.

Oh, and chiefs took no call. At all.