Opposite of the ROAD specialties.

[Momo]

A good friend of ours, who is High risk OB /MFM, used to say that between her speciality and DH's(Interventional Cardiology) there is no rest for the weary.

I also remember someone warning me when they found out what he did, that I was going to be more "like a surgeon's spouse..." Never seeing him because he will a.l.w.a.y.s. be busy.
I *thought* they were being ridiculous and a downer...nope...they weren't.

[houseelf]

As a spouse of a dreaded non-ROAD specialty (and why yes, it sucked the marrow from our bones) I have to say pediatric transplant surgery has to be the least ROAD specialty. Holy shit. I mean, can you combine any worse factors: surgery with intense internal medicine considerations, forever waiting, few partners to share call with, deathly sick children, crazed parents, loooong surgeries that pay no regard to any outside schedule, a minimum of ten years of residency, and a limited amount of facilities to practice if you want to move/change jobs. <shudder>.

Oh and for the record I feel like the cries of surgery spouses sometimes unfairly drown out the ob/gyn peeps. While it is a happy and most healthy/predictable practice, the hours are brutal and the patients can be ...ah... Volatile.

ETA: The two docs I know in pecs transplant surgery did 12 (TWELVE) years of residency and fellowship. That is FOUR times the amount of a regular residency. Can not imagine.

[SuzySunshine]

Parents are the #1 reason DH didn't go into Peds!

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Has the change to more rotating call helped the Obs at all? Just curious because I've now delivered twice at practices where they were very upfront that you get whatever doctor is on call the day you deliver, not "your" doctor. They encouraged you to at least meet all the docs in the practice for this reason. I would hope that makes it more convenient for the OBs and more like regular call. Is that unusual?

[SuzySunshine]

I know what my husband does is hard and I know he's also very far away from the ROADs however now that we are out and I've met several more spouses of docs in other specialties I don't think he's in the worst by far! OB's like everyone has said are a great example especially if they are in a small practice and have to take a lot of call. DH has been on 1 in 4 call the last year while they've been short and it SUCKS because when one guy is out of town its ok but if two are the whole schedule gets messed up and its a nightmare. Because this was only temporary they didn't put restrictions on vacations, etc but if there were permanently only 4 of them they'd have to make rules like only one out of town at a time, etc. We are salivating at the 1 in 6 call that is coming in September, heck I'd be happy with one in 5. We've come to terms with our weeknight schedule, he's usually home for dinner on his clinic days Monday & Thursday. But 4-5 weekends off in a ROW I'd LOVE!

With all of that said I have a friend here whose husband is a hospitalist - shoot. me. now! OMG! He is NEVER home, NEVER! Granted they are co-owners of a practice so he picks up a lot of slack but his hours are SO much worse then DH's and there is no light at the end of the tunnel for them. I don't know, I'd kill him, no way!

[moonlight]

Has the change to more rotating call helped the Obs at all? Just curious because I've now delivered twice at practices where they were very upfront that you get whatever doctor is on call the day you deliver, not "your" doctor. They encouraged you to at least meet all the docs in the practice for this reason. I would hope that makes it more convenient for the OBs and more like regular call. Is that unusual?

That was the same setup I had when having DD in NC. I wasn't picky about which of the 9 doctors delivered. Looking back, maybe I should've been. Lol!

[Flynn]

I have to add General Surgeons to the list. Call is brutal, pay is LOW LOW surgical pay and there is ALWAYS an emergency. Hernias at 3 a.m. on a regular basis? HECK NO!!!


Cardiac (not transplant) surgeons. Had to add....sorry. The work is never done. The patients are SUPER sick. The hospitals lean on them to do massive production to allow the other areas of medicine to survive.

[ides]

I have to add General Surgeons to the list. Call is brutal, pay is LOW LOW surgical pay and there is ALWAYS an emergency. Hernias at 3 a.m. on a regular basis? HECK NO!!!


Cardiac (not transplant) surgeons. Had to add....sorry. The work is never done. The patients are SUPER sick. The hospitals lean on them to do massive production to allow the other areas of medicine to survive.

Definitely!

[BonBon]

First, let me put my disclaimer of I still don't understand why anesthesia is considered a lifestyle specialty. DH works a shit ton of hours and is there with the surgeons, including the middle of the night. (maybe because he gets an actual call room and just stays there?)

Neurosurgery. It all looks the same! The training takes forever, the surgeries are so freaking long, and OMG, IT ALL LOOKS THE SAME!! (to me, lol)

I think any oncology field would be awful, but peds onc? I'm pretty sure I would have a breakdown.

Transplant surgery. The long, long surgeries, the length of training, the inability to live anywhere except a large city that does transplants...

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Transplant surgery. The long, long surgeries, the length of training, the inability to live anywhere except a large city that does transplants...

Not to mention the often dangerous retrieval flights...

[Pollyanna]

I agree that anesthesia really isn't on the ROAD. My friends say it's residency with a bigger pay check.

OB is happy if you have what we like to call the "book club" practice. Low risk, cooperative patients. Even with that it's not all tulips and daisies. Lots of days filled with mamas that have lost their babies. MFM at an academic center is a lot of "holy crap". Dh's schedule isn't awful. They take call in one week blocks so when he's on we don't really see him at all because they are so busy (he had close to 30 ladies on his service alone last call). But non call weeks he is home by 7 at the latest.

I agree that transplant sounds horrendous and really so does ED. All the different shifts seem really hard to me.

[SoonerTexan]

Opposite of the ROAD specialties.

Interested to hear about OB/Gyn practice setups too. I'm curious because the one I used said he switched from a large practice (not sure how call was done) to his own single man practice with an NP because he wanted more time with his family. He limits patients too.

He also stopped doing VBACs last year to spend more time with his family, which is sad because he was one of only 4 docs in the DFW area that are known for being very supportive of them. But given the requirements for vbacs and the fact I think he had a lot of VBAC patients flocking to him I don't blame him one bit.

[Chrisada]

ST, I'm guessing it really depends on the practice. DH is joining a larger practice and family/work balance is a priority for it. All of the OB's I know on their own, work horrible hours. And DH could handle GYN/Onc and considered specializing in it, but not MFM, with the sick babies.


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[alison]

Yeah, it should be ROD not ROAD.

[ladymoreta]

I agree that anesthesia really isn't on the ROAD. My friends say it's residency with a bigger pay check.

This is a really good description! DH's schedule didn't change that much from residency to attendinghood. The good thing about his hours is that they tend to start really early (he starts around 5:00 or 6:00 most days), so he's home most evenings in time for supper. It makes the working hours less noticeable. However, I guess I still consider it a good ROAD specialty because of the pay. I know there are a lot of other doctors making much less but working a similar number of hours, especially when you consider that anesthesiologists can leave most of their work at work. There are also good options for lifestyle positions once you can afford a pay cut (locums and filling in call or vacation schedules for groups).

I'd put surgery and OB/Gyn on the top of my non-ROAD list. You guys are some strong spouses for how well you handle their schedules!