Doctors: What kind of personal life do you have?

Question

I really want to be a doctor, but I don't love medicine so much that I would want to work all the time....I was just wondering if you have a family and are at home sometimes, or if you work all the time and no life other than work.

Those who answer, please let me know what kind of doctor you are too. I was interested in endocrinology.

Answer 1

I'm not a physician but I work with a lot of physicians in every specialty.  Yes, physicians can and DO have a personal life.  Many physicians work shifts just like other people.  For example, Pathologists and Radiologists at our hospital work 8-hour shifts.  They do have call requirements but it is rare for a pathologist to be called in after hours.

The Emergency Department physicians at our hospital work 12 hour shifts in a schedule of four 12-hour day shifts, followed by four days off, then four 12-hour night shifts and then eight days off.  So, they have a fair amount of non-work time.  Our Hospitalists (internal medicine training) work 12-hour shifts for a week and then have a week off.  

Endocrinologists generally would work in an office based practice with 9-5 office hours.  There may be occasional hospital consults that you would have to see after or before office hours.  An endocrinologist would need to take weekend and evening call but depending where you work, there would be few calls.  I suspect an endocrinologist would be much busier and have less time for a personal life if you worked at a large teaching facility with requirement to do research.  In a community hospital, you'd definitely have time for a personal life.