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I think 2-3 is good advice, as long as those 2-3 are strong extracurriculars. Meaning not a 1 day or even a 1-week project. Admissions committees will want to see that you didn’t do the EC “just to put it on your resume” and is something you dedicated some time and passion too. For some examples and my personal advice for a medical school application – check out the post “The Four Pillars of a Successful Medical Schoool Application”
The arrangements for call can vary greatly as you noted, but I’ll give you my experience as I was looking for jobs.
The first major factor is the “trauma” designation of the hospital your group covers. Level 1/2 Trauma requires a provider be IN HOUSE – so this means you’ll be there anywhere for 12-24 hours straight, usually with a “post call day” off. For smaller centers, call is typically from home and dependent on the willingness of the surgeons to work at night. Some groups will still give a post call day off, others will not. Occasionally, jobs at surgery centers can be found that have “no call, no weekends” which is the most lifestyle friendly.
I would say most typically for anesthesia is about 1 call a week, 1 weekend a month coverage. Most surveys also suggest anesthesiologists work about 40-50 hours a week on average.
My own experience is that our group averages right around the 1 call/week, 1 weekend/month, with post call day off. I work about 40 hours/week and get about 8 weeks of vacation. I felt this was a good set up and there are certainly more strenuous jobs out there. I pick up additional home call for extra $$ covering a critical access hospital, w/o a post call day, but with a call in percentage of <20%.
Hope this helps!
Ps. Love the name "Call me Maybe"
I think 2 weeks is a good timeframe to shoot for. An issue of too many secondaries is certainly a “good” problem to have. As such, I would focus on your most desired programs first, put in maximum effort, and send those off as you finish. If a few less desired programs make it out in >2weeks then it hopefully isn’t as much of a worry.
There is no such thing as “too quick” as long as you do a good job. Best of luck!
Many of us will have to make the desicion to give up hobbies and passions while in the difficult years of medical training – especially residency. Your situation is a little different in that, it seems your music is more than just a hobby (possibly even it’s own career?)
That makes your desicion that much harder. I’ll reach out on Twitter and see if we can find any people who did both.
In the meantime, realize that while your GPA from undergrad will long be considered, an MCAT score is only considered valid for 2-3 years max.
Great question, other than anesthesia ER was my second choice! You note many of the similarities both have:
Good lifestyle/hours/shift work setting.
Good to great pay (358k anesthesia ave vs 314k EM – Doximity 2017 income report)
Acute and Critical care Medicine with plenty of procedures.The big difference I felt was I found myself (even as a med-student) getting frustrated by the healthcare system of which EM is in. I loved when it was critical lifesaving care, but struggled to find enjoyment in the more “primary care” side of EM – which unfortunately seemed like entirely too much of my time. Non-emergencies, drug seekers, frequent flyers – all made the days often long. I also felt, for many of these reasons, the burn out rate for EM docs (seen vividly on twitter at times) was higher than most other specialties.
Meanwhile even “boring” days in anesthesia I was practicing airway management, real-time pharmacology and physiology, and procedural medicine. I loved it and never looked back. Now through residency, I feel more strongly than ever that I made the right choice FOR ME. I do, occasionally miss being a more complete, well rounded doctor that EM training provides… but I even more enjoy being very good at the skill set that comes with anesthesia training.
