A week in the life

By Laura Villarreal

With the wide range of different types of careers in the medical field, there are a wide range of schedules. Each physician, nurse, dentist, surgeon, etc., has their own busy routine different from that of other professions. A day in the life can be anywhere from fast paced to calm and easy. It can include weekends, late nights, and early mornings. This all depends on which profession you choose. Some have more responsibilities than others, leading to longer or shorter days. Some examples of  typical work weeks :

• Surgeon
• 50-60 hours a week not including the time being on-call
• 3 days for surgery
• 2 days of office hours, follow ups, and consultations
• Fast paced days
• Physician
• 40-60 hours per week
• Most time is spent seeing patients
• Other time is spent doing office work and being on-call
• Generally calm days
• Dentist
• Around 36 hours per week
• Almost all of the time is spent treating patients
• 4 or 5 work days
• Generally calm days
• Nurse
• 3 day work week
• 12-14 hours per day
• A lot of time spent on-call
• Fast paced, high intensity days

It is extremely important to take into consideration how your work week will look. Medical careers come with long days and long weeks. It is possible to have a family and a social life while being in the medical field.  Your goals and aspirations in life need to fit into the time spent not working, if they do not then a medical career probably will not be for you.

Sources:

http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/Career/1/Dentist

http://www.dentalstudentbooks.com/dentistry_information.html

https://www.facs.org/education/resources/medical-students/lifestyle

https://www.thebalance.com/job-prospects-and-careers-surgeons-1736308

https://wire.ama-assn.org/life-career/how-many-hours-are-average-physician-workweek

http://www.aafp.org/medical-school-residency/choosing-fm/lifestyle.html

http://www.nursetogether.com/on-nurses-schedule