Hey guys, I hear people talking about Ortho being a pretty rough lifestyle after residency. Is this accurate? I guess I thought it would be pretty much like any other surgical field (call, consults, clinic, or, etc). Just curious.
Ortho after residency
- Thread starter kargo
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You are right that orthopods work really hard after they finish their residency. The norm that I have seen are solid 12 hour days. You have to see a lot of patients in your office to drum up enough OR business. Also, in private practice or in academics, you will be taking some sort of trauma call, which will increase if you are in private practice and have less docs to spread it over. Lifestyle is definitely not a reason to pick ortho, as these docs work their tail off (but love it).
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As an orthopaedic sugery resident I will say this: Your schedule can be whatever you want it to be. I completely disagree with the previous post that you have to work 12 hour days in private practice. It sounds like a guess from someone who isn't in orthopaedic surgery.
The reason ortho is so great is because you can do whatever you want. You still get reimbursed well for procedures, so you dont have to drum up as much business as the general surgeon does. You can join large practices and spread the call out over a lot of people. Or you can go solo and cover all your patients every night. It just depends on what you want to do. And unless you are dealing with highway/urban trauma, there are few absolute emergencies. Most things can be dealt with in an ED and sent to the OR in the morning. Unlike general where if you have an appy you have to go to the OR immediately.
You won't be working dermatology hours, but within the SURGICAL field, ortho has a great lifestyle. I would say the best.
The reason ortho is so great is because you can do whatever you want. You still get reimbursed well for procedures, so you dont have to drum up as much business as the general surgeon does. You can join large practices and spread the call out over a lot of people. Or you can go solo and cover all your patients every night. It just depends on what you want to do. And unless you are dealing with highway/urban trauma, there are few absolute emergencies. Most things can be dealt with in an ED and sent to the OR in the morning. Unlike general where if you have an appy you have to go to the OR immediately.
You won't be working dermatology hours, but within the SURGICAL field, ortho has a great lifestyle. I would say the best.
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Ok, so I am biased. The lifestyle is better in ortho partly because of the hours and partly because you are an orthopod (which is interesting to me). If you are interested in ears, noses, and throats, then maybe ENT would be just as good.
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Ok, so I am biased. The lifestyle is better in ortho partly because of the hours and partly because you are an orthopod (which is interesting to me). If you are interested in ears, noses, and throats, then maybe ENT would be just as good.
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Urology? Good grief. Now I admit that ENT can be cool - crazy anatomy and cool cases. But Urology? Cummon . . .
Just imagine your clinic. Just imagine what you'll be staring at EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE. You couldn't pay those guys enough for what they do. Besides, who really wants to hear about what you do if all you do all day is clear up STDs, ream out the fat prostate, and try to help all those ladies who can't keep dry when they sneeze?
Truth is, Ortho, like everything else, can have great hours, or it can have terrible hours. Some weeks are better than others. If you limit your practice and share call, you'll do great. If you want to make megabuck$, then take on the cases and get ready for long hours.
Just imagine your clinic. Just imagine what you'll be staring at EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE. You couldn't pay those guys enough for what they do. Besides, who really wants to hear about what you do if all you do all day is clear up STDs, ream out the fat prostate, and try to help all those ladies who can't keep dry when they sneeze?
Truth is, Ortho, like everything else, can have great hours, or it can have terrible hours. Some weeks are better than others. If you limit your practice and share call, you'll do great. If you want to make megabuck$, then take on the cases and get ready for long hours.
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dobonedoc said:
I'm a female Ortho OR nurse, and I'm LMAO about your Urology observations. Have a great mental image right now of the old-fashioned urologist mid-Cystoscopy, male patient, with the scope up to his eye (still very much a practice). Yuck.
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