Cracking Down on Residency Programs...

[Phoebe]

Each program must be different when it comes to allowing moonlighting. I understand how you feel Kelly. We have accumulated much more debt since I stopped working almost 5 months ago. We can't survive on my husband's salary alone. We argue about the same things when I go to the store to buy absolute necessities. I ask him everytime I go to the store now to review my list and make sure he won't get mad at me when I get home. It is stressful when he feels like he is working hard to make the money and I am always the one spending it.

I feel fortunate that Ron has the option to moonlight if he needs to. It isn't always easy because the sign up occurs at a certain time and if you don't make it there you lose out. We were out of town for a funeral this time so we lost out of extra money for next month. Luckily, I have started a part-time job which will help a little bit. Now we face many other issues of juggling work and home life. We'll adapt!

Do programs prohibit all moonlighting anywhere or they just don't offer opportunities? I know most people don't have time for moonlighting outside of their clinical duties.

Jennifer

[Phoebe]

Each program must be different when it comes to allowing moonlighting. I understand how you feel Kelly. We have accumulated much more debt since I stopped working almost 5 months ago. We can't survive on my husband's salary alone. We argue about the same things when I go to the store to buy absolute necessities. I ask him everytime I go to the store now to review my list and make sure he won't get mad at me when I get home. It is stressful when he feels like he is working hard to make the money and I am always the one spending it.

I feel fortunate that Ron has the option to moonlight if he needs to. It isn't always easy because the sign up occurs at a certain time and if you don't make it there you lose out. We were out of town for a funeral this time so we lost out of extra money for next month. Luckily, I have started a part-time job which will help a little bit. Now we face many other issues of juggling work and home life. We'll adapt!

Do programs prohibit all moonlighting anywhere or they just don't offer opportunities? I know most people don't have time for moonlighting outside of their clinical duties.

Jennifer

[Phoebe]

Each program must be different when it comes to allowing moonlighting. I understand how you feel Kelly. We have accumulated much more debt since I stopped working almost 5 months ago. We can't survive on my husband's salary alone. We argue about the same things when I go to the store to buy absolute necessities. I ask him everytime I go to the store now to review my list and make sure he won't get mad at me when I get home. It is stressful when he feels like he is working hard to make the money and I am always the one spending it.

I feel fortunate that Ron has the option to moonlight if he needs to. It isn't always easy because the sign up occurs at a certain time and if you don't make it there you lose out. We were out of town for a funeral this time so we lost out of extra money for next month. Luckily, I have started a part-time job which will help a little bit. Now we face many other issues of juggling work and home life. We'll adapt!

Do programs prohibit all moonlighting anywhere or they just don't offer opportunities? I know most people don't have time for moonlighting outside of their clinical duties.

Jennifer

[houseelf]

No, there are a ton of opportunities to moonlight and the compensation underscores how underpaid residents are. My dh averages about $4 an hour as a resident and yet the minimum he would make moonlighting is $75 an hour on home call for neuro or plastic consults. It is a couple grand a week for a few hours of actual work. The PhDs call it snoozing for dollars. (We're 16 months until the lab where we're allowed to moonlight----yahoo!)

I ***think*** that the program doesn't allow it because they have been cited a few times for overscheduling residents. (big surprise). The truth of the matter is that it seems that every gen surgical residency skirts the fine line of overscheduling residents by the very nature of the program structure.

I think that part time work is an optimum solution for mothers of young children. You will probably enjoy the balance. Do you plan to go back into a job that in the same field or are you branching out?

Kelly

[houseelf]

No, there are a ton of opportunities to moonlight and the compensation underscores how underpaid residents are. My dh averages about $4 an hour as a resident and yet the minimum he would make moonlighting is $75 an hour on home call for neuro or plastic consults. It is a couple grand a week for a few hours of actual work. The PhDs call it snoozing for dollars. (We're 16 months until the lab where we're allowed to moonlight----yahoo!)

I ***think*** that the program doesn't allow it because they have been cited a few times for overscheduling residents. (big surprise). The truth of the matter is that it seems that every gen surgical residency skirts the fine line of overscheduling residents by the very nature of the program structure.

I think that part time work is an optimum solution for mothers of young children. You will probably enjoy the balance. Do you plan to go back into a job that in the same field or are you branching out?

Kelly

[houseelf]

No, there are a ton of opportunities to moonlight and the compensation underscores how underpaid residents are. My dh averages about $4 an hour as a resident and yet the minimum he would make moonlighting is $75 an hour on home call for neuro or plastic consults. It is a couple grand a week for a few hours of actual work. The PhDs call it snoozing for dollars. (We're 16 months until the lab where we're allowed to moonlight----yahoo!)

I ***think*** that the program doesn't allow it because they have been cited a few times for overscheduling residents. (big surprise). The truth of the matter is that it seems that every gen surgical residency skirts the fine line of overscheduling residents by the very nature of the program structure.

I think that part time work is an optimum solution for mothers of young children. You will probably enjoy the balance. Do you plan to go back into a job that in the same field or are you branching out?

Kelly

[Phoebe]

Moonlighting from home is a much better option than elsewhere. In a city where my husband interviewed for his fellowship, the dept covered many outlying hospitals which required commitments on part of the staff to moonlight. The staff where very driven almost to the point of putting their families on the back burner. All the fellows were single and spent the majority of their time working. I was really turned off when one of the attendings told me he moonlighted 2/3 of his time off. "The money is good", he said. Thankfully, my husband had already been offered a fellowship spot where we are now.

Now some of that extra money is sounding good to our lack of funds and home call doesn't sound so bad. At least in manageable doses.

Kelly, my job is in the same field I was before, psychology research. However, my new job is a more interesting topic and I will be more on the clinical side conducting interviews instead of data management (which I hate). It is part-time with a flexible schedule meaning I don't have to have regular day care because I will be working mostly in the evenings and on weekends. Like you, we live in a city far from family and not much outside support.

Jennifer

Jennifer

[Phoebe]

Moonlighting from home is a much better option than elsewhere. In a city where my husband interviewed for his fellowship, the dept covered many outlying hospitals which required commitments on part of the staff to moonlight. The staff where very driven almost to the point of putting their families on the back burner. All the fellows were single and spent the majority of their time working. I was really turned off when one of the attendings told me he moonlighted 2/3 of his time off. "The money is good", he said. Thankfully, my husband had already been offered a fellowship spot where we are now.

Now some of that extra money is sounding good to our lack of funds and home call doesn't sound so bad. At least in manageable doses.

Kelly, my job is in the same field I was before, psychology research. However, my new job is a more interesting topic and I will be more on the clinical side conducting interviews instead of data management (which I hate). It is part-time with a flexible schedule meaning I don't have to have regular day care because I will be working mostly in the evenings and on weekends. Like you, we live in a city far from family and not much outside support.

Jennifer

Jennifer

[Phoebe]

Moonlighting from home is a much better option than elsewhere. In a city where my husband interviewed for his fellowship, the dept covered many outlying hospitals which required commitments on part of the staff to moonlight. The staff where very driven almost to the point of putting their families on the back burner. All the fellows were single and spent the majority of their time working. I was really turned off when one of the attendings told me he moonlighted 2/3 of his time off. "The money is good", he said. Thankfully, my husband had already been offered a fellowship spot where we are now.

Now some of that extra money is sounding good to our lack of funds and home call doesn't sound so bad. At least in manageable doses.

Kelly, my job is in the same field I was before, psychology research. However, my new job is a more interesting topic and I will be more on the clinical side conducting interviews instead of data management (which I hate). It is part-time with a flexible schedule meaning I don't have to have regular day care because I will be working mostly in the evenings and on weekends. Like you, we live in a city far from family and not much outside support.

Jennifer

Jennifer