Surely, many physicians would agree that their residency was a busy time. Medscape's recently released 2015 Residents Salary & Debt Report has found that, on average, 47 percent of medical residents spend more than 60 hours per week in the hospital.
The survey — which includes data from more than 1,700 medical residents in 24 specialties — shows the percentage of residents who spend over 60 hours per week in the hospital follows a rough U-curve.
Students in their first (67 percent) or eighth (75 percent) year are the most likely to report spending over 60 hours in the hospital. Residents in their third, fourth, fifth and sixth years are the least likely to do the same (40 percent, 42 percent, 36 percent and 32 percent, respectively).
When residents are the hospital, a vast majority (79 percent) report spending more than 40 hours per week actually seeing patients.
Highlighted below are the amounts of time spent on patient care residents reported most.
[Editor's note: Percentages are rounded.]
- More than 60 hours — 38 percent
- 51-60 hours — 24 percent
- 41 to 50 hours — 17 percent
- 30 to 40 hours — 11 percent
- Less than 50 hours — 9 percent
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