residency pay

Residency pay varies from state to state, depending on the cost of living in each state

No, not depending on the cost of living in each state. It's not standard between hospitals in the same state, let alone in the same city.

[diggitydot]

Pay varies wildly within the same area sometimes. There's little rhyme or reason and some Midwest programs pay far more than their counterparts in more expensive locales.

[corn poffi]

Seriously, it's mildly ridiculous. He'll be making much more in Milwaukee than he would if he matched in Chicago. Makes zero sense, but I'm not gonna complain!

He actually did calculate his hourly rate...$13.85 an hour (before benefits are taken out)! Sadly, that made me kind of happy. It's nice to know somebody who makes less an hour than I do. Obviously, our hours are quite a bit different. Yes, I am an odd duck.

ETA: He also has a friend doing FM at a different institution in Milwaukee. Totally different pay scale. It really does seem to be completely arbitrary from institution to institution.

[MissCrabette]

Just to dispell the Midwest myth and because I'm a little disappointed we're not at one of those programs you guys talk about, some Midwest programs really do pay the lowest, and costs here aren't THAT much lower. Sure, this is not New York, Seattle, or similar, but don't think you can move here and live on peanuts. Try paying 8.9% sales tax that also includes food. I'm still looking for the cheap Midwest that people told me about before we moved here.

There are some programs that offer sign on bonuses, high salaries, and excellent benefits, but they're usually programs you don't want to match at.

In the end, it's a moot point to compare areas and programs based on salary alone. It really doesn't paint the whole picture.

[ladymoreta]

So true SuzySunshine! When I was working, people were always floored when they found out I made more than DH. Usually following some stupid remark about how we must be rolling in money. When I'd just let on that he was a *resident*. Sigh...

[diggitydot]

It's all perspective, I guess. Coming from the west coast, the Midwest has a substantially lower COL, even in the larger cities. For instance, my sister and I purchased homes about the same time. Our house is about 500 sf larger, but she paid almost $200K more for her home.

I'm not implying that you can live for peanuts here, just that what DH does earn goes a lot further than it did in Portland.

[Cinderella]

I shared the links from this thread with him last night and we were going over them. He had some questions that I don't have the answers to. He wanted to know what kind of hours he'd work during residency. I saw one person say around 70 hours a week for their residency. Is that standard? Also we didn't understand the pay scale going up to 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 years of residency and then there were several levels of cheif residency. I told him that I think some residency programs are longer but I don't know about the chief resident thing or what the pay is after residency and how that process goes.

[SuzySunshine]

I shared the links from this thread with him last night and we were going over them. He had some questions that I don't have the answers to. He wanted to know what kind of hours he'd work during residency. I saw one person say around 70 hours a week for their residency. Is that standard? Also we didn't understand the pay scale going up to 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 years of residency and then there were several levels of cheif residency. I told him that I think some residency programs are longer but I don't know about the chief resident thing or what the pay is after residency and how that process goes.

Hours during residency: Um, yeah you're going to get a lot of different responses on this. They are NOT SUPPOSED TO exceed 80/hours week averaged over a 4 week period. Some do, some don't. Some are honest, some lie. It totally depends on the specialty and location.

Years of residency is SO variable by specialty. I'm sorry I don't remember what he's thinking about doing??? But like my husband is a 7 year, some neurosurgery programs are 6. My husband did chief but didn't get paid extra for it, everyone at his program does chief. Next year, as a fellow, my husband will technically be a PGY-8 but as someone mentioned previously he may not get paid by one, again dependent by program.

If you do a general surgery residency and then go on to do a fellowship you may go backwards in pay scale.

I guess my point is everything is variable.

As for pay after residency that is totally dependent again on specialty, academic vs private practice and location.

[DCJenn]

Start with the answer being residency is at least three years and pretty much anything that involves digging in and around the human body adds more years.

After residency some do a fellowship- which is basically like residency all over again.

Hours- again- 80 'generally', surgery can be as high as 88 but assume they're all lying. (they may not be but just go with it because it happens)

Attending hours-vary by specialty- and the only ones putting restrictions on their hours are we spouses.

Jenn

[Cinderella]

Hours during residency: Um, yeah you're going to get a lot of different responses on this. They are NOT SUPPOSED TO exceed 80/hours week averaged over a 4 week period. Some do, some don't. Some are honest, some lie. It totally depends on the specialty and location.

Years of residency is SO variable by specialty. I'm sorry I don't remember what he's thinking about doing??? But like my husband is a 7 year, some neurosurgery programs are 6. My husband did chief but didn't get paid extra for it, everyone at his program does chief. Next year, as a fellow, my husband will technically be a PGY-8 but as someone mentioned previously he may not get paid by one, again dependent by program.

If you do a general surgery residency and then go on to do a fellowship you may go backwards in pay scale.

I guess my point is everything is variable.

As for pay after residency that is totally dependent again on specialty, academic vs private practice and location.

Thank you SuzySunshine. He'd like to go for the following in order general surgery, plastic surgery or internal medicine. Sometimes he talks about Opthomology, Cardiology and Ortho. I think Cardio and Ortho are because of his Sister and BIL. However, since his observership last year he's mostly settled on General Surgery.

I got your point that everything is variable. Thanks again for the info!

[Cinderella]

Start with the answer being residency is at least three years and pretty much anything that involves digging in and around the human body adds more years.

After residency some do a fellowship- which is basically like residency all over again.

Hours- again- 80 'generally', surgery can be as high as 88 but assume they're all lying. (they may not be but just go with it because it happens)

Attending hours-vary by specialty- and the only ones putting restrictions on their hours are we spouses.

Jenn

I like the way you put that, "digging around in the body". lol

Can they go straight to a fellowship or is it residency and then fellowship? I guess I'm wondering what's the advantage of having a residency and then a fellowship? More skills? Oh that reminds me of his other question he asked me. After residency or fellowship if he goes to work in another hosptial how do they judge their pay? I took some guesses such as skills or where they did their residency but I didn't really know the answer to that either.

You cannot do fellowship w/o residency.

[Cinderella]

You cannot do fellowship w/o residency.

Thanks Shakti!

[diggitydot]

After residency/fellowship, pay is negotiated in their employment contracts.

[MissCrabette]

You'll always have us and your BIL and SIL to go to for questions, but it sounds to me like you guys need a primer on how the entire system works. Having someone you can ask questions is great, but not all that helpful when you don't even know what you don't know. I wish I could suggest a specific book, but the only one I can think of (the one by Kenneth Iserson) is rather outdated. It still may be better than nothing, so you might want to check it out at the library.

http://www.amazon.com/Isersons-Getti...dp/1883620090/