The specialty that you choose will have a significant impact on your life for many years to come. The time, money, and effort that you invested in your education will start to pay off, as you develop a satisfying and rewarding medical career. Finding the right work-life balance is essential for long-term happiness.
There’s a lot that goes into career satisfaction, though. Financial compensation is certainly one factor – earning enough to enjoy the things that you want, and to feel that you’re being compensated fairly for the work that you’re doing, is important. However, there’s also another factor that’s very important to many people, and that’s work-life balance.
How can we measure work-life balance in different specialties? The best way to do this objectively is to look at the average work hours for each specialty. The more hours a doctor spends at work, the fewer hours they have for doing other things. A published report in JAMA examined the impact of specialty choice on average working hours for doctors.
The table below shows the results.
Source: Journal of the American Medical Association
Note that the numbers are presented in terms of annual working hours – divide by 52 to get an approximate idea of how many hours per week. Additionally, rather than presenting the absolute number of hours, the authors chose to use family practice as the comparison group since their working hours are around the average for all physicians. The table then shows how much more or less each specialty works than family medicine doctors do.
According to this study, the five specialties with the shortest working hours are:
In emergency medicine, the work is categorized by shifts. Although it certainly can be very busy during a shift, your work is generally done when your shift is over. There’s much less probability of unexpected overtime, making the work hours more predictable in emergency medicine than in many other medical fields.
The other fields on this list are generally characterized by non-urgent care needs – caring for patients who are not acutely ill, often in an ambulatory care setting. Besides working fewer hours than those in many other specialties, doctors in these specialties are also likely to have a less stressful experience while they are at work. This could help contribute to a good work-life balance because when you’re less stressed during your workday, you won’t come home exhausted and will have more energy to do other things.
When it comes to work-life balance, your medical specialty will certainly have a significant impact, but it’s not the only factor. Whatever specialty they’re in, doctors can often choose to work fewer hours if they want to. For example, some doctors seek out a part-time position, or open a private practice and serve a smaller number of patients, in order to work a smaller number of hours. The numbers shown in the research are averages, not the absolute requirements for each specialty. Still, it’s undeniable that the specialty a physician chooses has a significant impact on how much they work.
For some people, making the highest possible financial return on the investment of medical school is important. There are also those who thrive on doing very challenging work and wouldn’t mind spending long hours doing such work. If this describes you, then you may want to consider the more competitive specialties, such as the surgical subspecialties.
There are others who would prefer a more relaxed work environment. They may put a higher value on free time outside of work so that they have more time to spend with their families and on their outside interests. If this seems like you, then you may want to consider choosing a less demanding specialty that averages fewer work hours.
Only you can decide what your priorities are. There are tradeoffs to be made with every choice – the specialties that earn more also tend to have longer work hours. In addition, some specialties are more competitive than others, which requires you to work harder in med school in order to achieve the academic record that would land you a spot in one of those residencies.
Take the time in med school to think through what your priorities are and which tradeoffs you’re willing to accept. Are you willing to make less money in order to work fewer hours? Do you find fast-paced and challenging work to be stimulating or exhausting? This will help you to narrow in on which specialties are most likely to provide you with the lifestyle you want. When you make this decision thoughtfully, you’re more likely to be happy with your choice over the many years to come.
According to this study, the five specialties with the shortest working hours are:
In emergency medicine, the work is categorized by shifts. Although it certainly can be very busy during a shift, your work is generally done when your shift is over. There’s much less probability of unexpected overtime, making the work hours more predictable in emergency medicine than in many other medical fields.
The other fields on this list are generally characterized by non-urgent care needs – caring for patients who are not acutely ill, often in an ambulatory care setting. Besides working fewer hours than those in many other specialties, doctors in these specialties are also likely to have a less stressful experience while they are at work. This could help contribute to a good work-life balance because when you’re less stressed during your workday, you won’t come home exhausted and will have more energy to do other things.
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