Pharm vs Med Residency

[EddieL]

Hi,

I searched, but couldn't find a thread asking this question. How does a pharmacy residency compare with a medical residency? I've heard some med residents work over 80 hours a week, is this true with pharmacy as well?

Thanks!

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[steph pharmD]

hi.
i completed my PGY-1 general pharmacy practice residency in 2006 - 2007. I have been practicing as a clinical pharmacist in the same large teaching hospital since then. From my experience, I worked about 60 - 70 hours per week in my residency: about 10- 12h /day 5 days/week + 8+ hours / week staffing. Medical residents that I currently work with seem to have longer hours: typically at least 10h per day 6 - 7 days per week. Furthermore, they tend to have "on call" time that as a pharmacy resident I did not have to do.
I think the biggest advantage to a pharmacy residency is that it is 1 year (for a PGY-1) or 2 years (for PGY-1 + 2) versus a typical 3+ years of residency for physicians. I found it tolerable to forgo on sleep and have minimal outside activities for a year, whereas by the end of 3 years, I think it would have been much more difficult.
Hope that helps!

 

[wes011]

My best friend is an othropedic surgical resident. Med students are not suppose to work more than 80 hours per week. I am sure most of them log 80 hours but probably work more, I know he did on certain things.

Minimal sleep, minimal off days, he wakes up at 4 am every morning and gets to the hospital by 5 at the latest. He is a 4th year in his 5-year program. So for the first year he was doing general surgery and now he is doing the whole shebang. He loves what he does, now. His program is a graduated responsibility type program meaning as the years go by he gets more and more responsibility. For example, he is now in charge of scheduling, so his life is much better now....he even play rec league softball now.