Ortho lifestyle after residency

Hey all, I'm a current M3 and have narrowed down my specialty choice to three fields, with ortho being one of them. I feel I have good enough stats (260+ step 1, AOA, honors in all clinical rotations so far, engineering background) to be a competitive applicant for ortho, but my question is more about lifestyle.

Raising a family at an early age is something very important to me, as well as having time to enjoy my hobbies (they that kept me sane while i was busting my butt in med school), but the vibe I've been getting is that ortho is a specialty where long hours are the norm. However, I also understand that life post-residency is what you make of it. So for you private practice fellas / attendings, is it possible to work a 40-50 hr week + occasional call, and take in 200-250k after taxes in order to raise your family comfortably?

As a medical specialty, I am happiest and most engaged with ortho and I love the OR. Just having a hard time balancing what i want in my late 20s vs what i will want in my late 30s.

Any input appreciated!

Here's a earlier post on this.

[url] www.orthogate.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t...&highlight=lifestyle [/url]

Tax rate for people who have jobs that require skills and hard work roughly 50%.......so to take home 200-250 you need to be making 500ish......

You will not make 500 working 40 hours a week....

Most guys I know starting out are making 250-350 and work 65hours a week roughly....taking call every 4-5ish nights.....

if you want to make that kind of money and work 40 hours you need to be a radiologist or dermatologist...

when you are partner and you have oher sources of income you make that kind of money with less work....but intitally you have to be willing to take call and work hard to build a practice and referral base......

Hey all, I'm a current M3 and have narrowed down my specialty choice to three fields, with ortho being one of them. I feel I have good enough stats (260+ step 1, AOA, honors in all clinical rotations so far, engineering background) to be a competitive applicant for ortho, but my question is more about lifestyle.

Raising a family at an early age is something very important to me, as well as having time to enjoy my hobbies (they that kept me sane while i was busting my butt in med school), but the vibe I've been getting is that ortho is a specialty where long hours are the norm. However, I also understand that life post-residency is what you make of it. So for you private practice fellas / attendings, is it possible to work a 40-50 hr week + occasional call, and take in 200-250k after taxes in order to raise your family comfortably?

As a medical specialty, I am happiest and most engaged with ortho and I love the OR. Just having a hard time balancing what i want in my late 20s vs what i will want in my late 30s.

Any input appreciated!

The field you are thinking about sounds like Radiation Oncology to me. And Perp is right, Derm and Rads too might be able to take you into that area, even anesthesia if you set up your practice well and utilize cnra's well.

Ortho is still surgery. Even with a private practice, you will prob be expected to handle call ... often. Expect to work at least 60+ hrs to make that kinda bank you seek (thats 12 hrs a day for those keeping score at home), maybe more hrs in the initial 5-10 yrs of your career.

thanks for the input everybody. now that i look back on my original post, i have no idea what i was thinking..please excuse my utopian idealism.

what my original question should have been is: are there opportunities for orthopods fresh out of residency that don't want to be working 60+ hours? money is not the issue here, but more of having a healthy work-life balance. i've heard multiple times that you can shape your practice the way you want it to be, but i haven't heard of any practical examples to support this.

i'm still shooting for ortho and have no qualms about working hard during residency. it's the 30 years of your career and life after residency that i'm most concerned about.

greatly appreciate any thoughts on the matter

I would say that while I completely respect your wish to have a "life/work balance" I think you probably are going into the wrong field to be perfectly honest. Orthopaedic surgery does not fit into a "9 to 5" framework for the most part. Early in your practice you have to hustle to establish yourself - that typically means being on call at one or more emergency rooms, being "available, affable, and able" as they say.

If you're already defining your future career by how many hours you would like to work I think there are many other specialties that will likely fit your bill.

So you should spend some time with orthopaedic surgeons in your school and get a sense of their work life and see if it indeed meshes with your stated goals - perhaps it will and perhaps it will not.

Good luck

wnl