Do Doctors Have Free Time

Medicine is a demanding career, but it’s possible for physicians to have a work-life balance. It’s just that the life-work balance might look different than it does for people who work in other fields. Many doctors work long hours, but they do not work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The key is for physicians to make the most of the free time they have when they actually have it.

Profiles in Happiness: Which Physicians Enjoy Life Most?

The Medscape article Are Doctors Happy? focused on the emotional state of physicians as related to their practice. It included an interview with Neelum Aggarwal, MD, a Chicago neurologist who frequently lectures on stress and burnout. When she conducts workshops on this topic, Dr. Aggarwal always asks participants what activities they enjoy most. “The doctors who are doing well — the ones who aren’t in a burnout or stress cycle — have an answer right off,” she says. “You hear, ‘I like to fish,’ ‘I love to camp,’ ‘I go bowling.’ But the sad thing is that many doctors don’t have an answer.” The Medscape survey attempted to dig more deeply into this question and find out more about their interests.

How Much Vacation Time Do Physicians Take?

With an average of 13 paid vacation days per year, Americans in general do far worse than those in other developed countries (eg, Italy, 42 days; France, 37; Germany, 35; United Kingdom, 28; Canada, 26; and Japan, 25). [3] The amount of time taken off by physicians varied widely. On the most fortunate side, nearly half of anesthesiologists (48.3%) and radiologists (48.8%) who answered our survey took more than 4 weeks of vacation each year. About a third to a half of physicians get in 2-4 weeks of vacation time a year. Like their fellow Americans, however, over a third (38.3%) of family physicians and almost as many emergency medicine physicians (35.3%), internists (33.9%), and general surgeons (32.5%) take off for 2 weeks a year at most. Such a response among generalists provides even more support that many are having a difficult time. (An exception: 44% of plastic surgeons shared these short vacations and only 11% had 4 or more weeks, giving them the least vacation time of all physicians. Also, with a self-rated happiness score of 3.89, these specialists also found themselves near the bottom of that list as well.)

What Do Physicians Do When They Have Free Time?

According to a 2009 survey from US Travel Association, [4] activities with the greatest interest among US adults are, in order of popularity, visiting friends and relatives, sightseeing, going to beaches, visiting museums, going to national or state parks, going on cruises, visiting theme parks, traveling to cities, and visiting mountain regions. Physicians who answered the survey preferred vacations traveling abroad and at the beach. Women appeared to enjoy these vacations more than men did. Not surprising, more women than men preferred luxury hotels and more men liked winter sports trips than women. Not listed as an answer choice in the Medscape survey but mentioned most frequently in the write-in responses was visiting family members. Other write-in preferred activities were long train rides, nonmedical learning trips, and doing nothing at all. One respondent, in fact, only wanted to “sip tea quietly.”

When they had free time at home, male and female physicians rated their top choices as exercise and physical activity, reading, cultural events, and food and wine. Over a third of men but only 25%of women liked surfing the Web, although over 13% of women favored social media compared with about 8% of men. About 17% of men enjoyed managing finances compared with less than 6% of women.

How Many Hours Do Doctors Work?

By Joe Dyton, WCI Contributor

Many full-time workers are accustomed to a traditional 40-hour workweek—five days a week, Monday through Friday, typically from 9am-5pm. Such a schedule does not exist for a number of professions, however—especially service-based jobs where workers are needed in the evening. That can include physicians.

Sure, some doctors who work in a private practice may keep more “standard” office hours, but even they might need to be on call for their patients. Meanwhile, doctors who work in hospitals could see their shifts last well into the evening and overnight, depending on their patient load, emergencies, and coverage requirements.

In other words, the number of hours a doctor works can vary. Keep reading for a closer look at the workweek schedule for physicians.

Do Doctors Work 9-5?

A physician’s ability, or opportunity, to work a traditional 9-to-5 workweek depends on a number of factors. Their specialty is one of the biggest determining factors. Physicians who work in fields such as internal medicine, pediatrics, dermatology, psychiatry, and ophthalmology are better positioned to work a standard workweek if that’s what they choose.

Meanwhile, other medical specialties do not lend themselves to such a fixed schedule. Any physician who cannot always see patients “by appointment” is less likely to maintain a 9-to-5 schedule. For example, an ER doctor works when emergencies come through, which is any time of day. The same is true for OB/GYN’s—they work when their patient goes into labor or has a medical emergency.

And even when they’re not in an operating room or in their office, these physicians in high-pressure fields know they could be called upon at any time to treat a patient—they’re working even when they aren’t working.

On average, physicians work 50 hours per week, according to the Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2023 . Along with treating patients, doctors’ work includes charting, doing paperwork, and completing administrative work.

More information here:

Which Doctors Work the Most Hours?

Long shifts aren’t uncommon for many physicians. Forty hours is the minimum for doctors in a week, but many often work more than 50. According to Medscape’s 2019 National Physician Burnout, Depression and Suicide Report , 77% of general surgery physicians said they worked more than 51 hours per week, followed by 76% of urologists. Cardiology (72%), pulmonary medicine (68%), and nephrology (68%) were also among the specialties that surpassed 50 hours a week, according to the survey.

Surgeons and resident physicians also log some of the highest amounts of hours among doctors, according to the Rockford Health System. Residents can work up to an average of 80 hours per week. The aforementioned general surgeons work an average of 60.78 hours. Meanwhile, orthopedic surgeons work an average of 54.17 hours per week, and plastic surgeons operate just under 50 hours per week.

There are 16 medical specialties that work more than the profession’s average of 50 hours per work, according to Medscape:

Do Doctors Work 24-Hour Shifts?

Yes, doctors can work 24-hour shifts. They are not on their feet, working for the duration of the shift, however. The 24 hours alludes to how long they’re on call . Physicians are permitted to rest when they can find time during this shift, but they must be ready to go if or when they are called to attend to a patient. Doctors can be expected to treat and monitor patients; answer questions from nurses, patients, and the patient’s family members; and administer medication during this time.

The 24-hour shift is not new for experienced physicians. It is relatively new for first-year medical residents, however. Up until 2017, first-year residents’ shifts were capped at 16 hours. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education said it hoped the changes would avoid confusion in care that can occur when a physician hands off a patient to another after a shift change, the New York Times reported at the time .

This “all-day” shift is not without its critics, however—at least when it comes to first-year physicians. The purpose of permitting newly minted doctors to work 24-hour shifts is to ensure seamless, continuous care. But Dr. Michael Carome, director of the Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, said at the time that the proposal puts medical residents’ and their patients’ lives and health at risk because physicians could be making life-or-death decisions while potentially being sleep-deprived.

More information here:

Do Doctors Have Free Time?

Medicine is a demanding career, but it’s possible for physicians to have a work-life balance. It’s just that the life-work balance might look different than it does for people who work in other fields. Many doctors work long hours, but they do not work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The key is for physicians to make the most of the free time they have when they actually have it.

Maximizing that free time is often easier said than done for doctors, however. Unlike other professions, a physician’s shift doesn’t necessarily end at the scheduled time. For example, if a doctor is scheduled to be at the hospital until 7:00, but their patient gets sick at 6:00, they’re most likely going to stay longer than the hour left in their shift to care for them.

The amount of hours physicians work often depends on their specialty. The same is true when it comes to how much free time a doctor has. All medical specialties come with some level of stress, but some are more stressful than others. For example, psychiatrists are one of the least stressful medical specialties partly because they can conduct virtual sessions and set their own hours, allowing them to carve out a good amount of free time. Similarly, plastic surgeons have the ability to schedule procedures on their timeline and around their lifestyle because their surgeries aren’t emergent.

Conclusion

If you’re thinking of becoming a physician and want to know how much you’ll be working or are just curious about how many hours a doctor logs in a given week, there’s no concrete answer. The nature of the profession can lead to long workdays, and people can get sick or injured at any time of the day. While 50 hours is the average workweek for doctors, a physician’s specialty is the best indicator of how much they work in a given week. The more likely an emergency can occur in a doctor’s field and the more time they spend at a hospital vs. their own practice, the longer hours you can expect them to be working.

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