And by the way in case anyone doesn’t know residents actually are required to track their work hours now, every week, every day. So we know exactly how much we worked.

I finished residency and fellowship last year and cannot imagine going back to working that much. Truly working 80 hours per week, or even 60 hours was so brutal. When I first started reading Laura’s work I was like, yep, most people have no idea what actually working 80 hours would feel like. Like @Annie I also hate being on call even as an attending just because I don’t like the feeling of being on the whole time, but fortunately I only do this a few times a year now.

@Maggie – this is a good question. My general sense is that if the outcomes of the job are being met, then the hours aren’t the most important factor. Now, if someone is doing the job in 2 hours a week, they’ll probably be bored enough that this justifies a talk with a supervisor. There is also a problem if a normal full-time job seems to be taking a lot longer than other employees are working. But within a 30-50 range we’re probably all OK.

@Annie I was going to say the same think. An every 4th night 24 hour call like I did in my residency days averages an 80 hour work week with some weeks feeling awful (on call from from 8 am Saturday to 11 am Sunday “Black weekend”) and some weeks aren’t so bad (Call from 8am Thursday to 10 am Friday then off Sat and Sunday “Golden weekend”). Talking about this still sends shivers up my spine, and I trained after work-hours rules were imposed for residents. Back in the old days residents could take 24 hour hour calls every two days and could easily rack up >100 hours per week of work.

Of course, most residents expect a better schedule after they complete their training. I haven’t slept in a hospital call room in almost 10 years and life is MUCH more balanced. I am not sure I would have gone into medicine if 80 hour work weeks continued beyond residency/fellowship.