General Surgeon?????

Question

How can a general surgeon have less on-call hours? Is it possible to have a great lifestyle as a general surgeon? I'm answering these questions cuz I have to finish a summer book report and the main question is the lifestyle. Tell me the pros and cons of a general surgeon.

Answer 1

On call basically works in a couple of ways.  First is, you need to be sure your own patients can reach you (or someone you have appointed to cover for you) if they have problems after hours.  That either means you take call 24/7 or you find someone to rotate call with.  If you are in a joint practice, this is pretty  easy to arrange, but if you fly solo it is more of a challenge.  Then there is call to cover an ER.  The hospital you are affiiated may require you to take a certain number of calls/month.  So if someone lands in ER on an evening when you are on call & they have a "hot belly", you will be contacted & expected to come in, or even to be on campus over night in an on-call room.  This can be a good thing when you are young & are trying to get your practice up & running.  Later on, you may want to pull out of being on call, if this is an option for you.

Hope that helps.