What is the lifestyle of an emergency physician?

As an EM physician, hours are long, but schedules are fixed in advance. Shifts may include working weekends, nights and holidays. The average is 39 hours per week doing patient care. There is rarely a call schedule outside of assigned working hours in this specialty. The mean annual income after expenses and before taxes is $197,000. EM clinicians are mainly hospital-based. Most practitioners work in medium to large cities. According to AMA surveys, 87% of EM physicians felt that their practice activities met their expectations. On a scale of 1=very unsatisfied with their current practice position to 5=very satisfied, those surveyed averaged 3.8. ... more