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Unsure?

Hi I wondered if I could have some peoples opinion on this subject, as from what some people have told me it's putting me off applying to medical school.
Can you be a doctor and have a social life, family etc? And do doctors really work 60 hour weeks? Can a doctor work part-time? such as if I have children when I get older are there part-time jobs available? Any answers would be helpful.

Reply 1

Leonidas

Plenty of female doctors have the time to have children and easily pick up a job afterwards if they like. And no, doctor's have lives too, so don't worry.

Reply 2

Philosoraptor

18

There are more opportunities for those who want to have part time work nowadays particularly in specific specialites, e.g. radiology. And such things as "job-share". Also 60 hours a week will be nowhere near legal considering the full force of the European Working Time Directive will have kicked in long before you became a doctor.

Reply 3

username43584

8

http://www.healthcareworkforce.nhs.uk/workingtimedirective.html

From 2009, max hours a junior doctor can work drops from 58 to 48. This would obviously allow from more of a social/family life but isn't as good for career development. Some specialities are more flexible than others. An ENT surgeon once said to me that he thought his speciality was great for female doctors wanting to have plenty of family time - there's a higher proportion of female ENT consultants in N Ireland than many other surgical specialities.

Reply 4

pianofingers

10

During my work experience a surgeon advised me against going into medicine because, I quote, "the teaching quality of medicine nowadays is going downhill" -- speaking as a lecturer at the RFUCMS (UCL).

Hmm..

Reply 5

leedsmedic_07

yep in a couple of year 48hrs a weeks will be the max.

more social time , but oh how the pay is gonna suffer :frown:

Reply 6

_GUESS_

True....but at the end of the day having a good social life will probably be more important than earning some extra cash.

Reply 7

Madprof

12

Sure, doctors have a social life, have children etc. It might be a challenge to go part time (as it is in many jobs), but plenty of people do it.

Bear in mind that just because the number of paid hours is going down, this doesn't mean there will be sufficient cover ('Hospital at Night' schemes for example) that doctors feel they can leave their patients and go home at 6pm or whatever. I get the impression from a number of junior doctors that the NHS is going to be replying on the good faith of doctors in staying longer as they're not going to be able to provide adequate care if every doctor just works 48 hours.

Reply 8

Revenged

15

Leonidas

Plenty of female doctors have the time to have children and easily pick up a job afterwards if they like.

lol, so naive...

you know what they say... ignorance is bliss :wink:

...

Reply 9

Revenged

15

naimslim89

During my work experience a surgeon advised me against going into medicine because, I quote, "the teaching quality of medicine nowadays is going downhill" -- speaking as a lecturer at the RFUCMS (UCL)...

lol... that's good to know... :biggrin:

Reply 10

Eluned

Loads of people in an orchestra I play in are doctors and I know a lot of them have children too (and yes, being in an orchestra counts as a social life!). It just depends how good you are at organising ur time!

Reply 11

mlc409

1

Female doctors who do part time salaried work are taken advantage of.

Reply 12

5unny_F1

at my GP's surgery, one of the female doctor works part-time

Reply 13

Madprof

12

mlc409

Female doctors who do part time salaried work are taken advantage of.

In what way? Could you elaborate?

Reply 14

shenzys

17

Madprof

In what way? Could you elaborate?

Yes can you elaborate plz...

Reply 15

leedsmedic_07

right can somebody tell me why i have recieved bad rep for the post on this thread !!! wat have i said that is so offensive ??

and can the person who has given me bad rep own up and justify the reason for giving me it . :mad:

Reply 16

username43584

8

I didn't neg rep you (I don't do that as a rule) but perhaps it was the comment about pay? Medicine isn't about the money!

Reply 17

Philosoraptor

18

Asjad, sometimes people neg rep posts from a different thread to hide who did it.

Reply 18

leedsmedic_07

becca2389

I didn't neg rep you (I don't do that as a rule) but perhaps it was the comment about pay? Medicine isn't about the money!

i was just making an observation. i dont think i deserved to get neg rep for that.

and it is regarding this thread because the comment is regarding the pay issue. i was just stating wat i think is gonna happen , and sure med isnt all about money , but not many would work for free would they ?

btw , i was in no way accusing you of neg repping me becca