Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 7/14/2007

Question
Hi, I'm a high school student and I'm also interested in anesthesiology. I've heard of the 80 hour work week and not being on call for more than 24 hours, but I don't quite understand. Can you further explain a typical work week as an anesthesiologist and how many vacation weeks u can obtain? Thank you.

Answer
During your residency (and this is true for all specialties), you are not allowed to work more that 80 hours/week (averaged over 4 weeks) or more than 24 consecutive hours. When you are on call, you are in-house (meaning you stay at the hospital that night). The goal here is obviously to avoid tired physicians making bad decisions. Mind you that 80 hrs/week is still the equivalent of 2 full-time jobs but it is better than when I was a resident and would often work between 110 and 130 hours/week!! As for vacations, during your residency you get (I believe) 3 weeks/yr. Technically that also includes sick time. So if, for example, you take off 4 weeks in a year for childbirth, you would owe that week back in another year.

Ronald Levy, MD
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston