How many hours do interns/residents work?
Intern and resident hours vary very widely depending on specialty, hospital, and within hospitals between different departments. Some specialties are well-known for their less demanding hours during residency (and often afterwards as well). These “lifestyle” fields include radiology, anesthesiology, and physical medicine and rehabilitation (physiatry). Specialties whose residencies are reputed for difficulty and lack of sleep are general surgery and obstetrics and gynecology. Most of the other specialties fall somewhere in between. Surgical interns and often internal medicine interns routinely work 100+ hours a week, with some months requiring a brutal every other night call schedule. This means, for instance, that you go to work on Monday morning (around 5-6 am) work all day, stay in the hospital all night (with varying amounts of sleep but usually 2-3 hours), work the following day as well (hoping that you may get out early), then go home for around 6 pm only to repeat the whole cycl
