A Week in the Life of an Orthopedic Surgeon. I think Surgeon life is fascinating! Have you ever been curious about what the doctor’s schedule is like?

Every stage has been a little different for us: medical school, residency, fellowship #1, fellowship #2…each of these has carried its own idiosyncrasies in regard to time, hours, and obligation. (Also read: levels of frustration/happiness)

My guy has a pretty typical surgeon’s schedule for a surgeon early in his career. He usually operates two to three days a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and sometimes Mondays, and then sees clinic patients on the other two to three days. His start times vary between 7:00am & 8:00am, but he’s usually out the door by 6:00 or 6:30 in order to prep and get some notes done before work (and get a good parking spot 😂). One day a week, every other week, he has a meeting with the other surgeons in his group from 6:00-7:00am, so he leaves a little earlier these days. His operations are usually scheduled to end somewhere between 4:00 and 6:00pm.

Sounds reasonable, right?

Leave at 6, get home around 6. Well, it WOULD be, but WAIT, there’s moooore. Because on top of that, he takes call, ideally one weekday a week, and one weekend a month. And when on call, he has to add on whatever surgeries come in to the ER overnight to his already full clinic and surgery schedule, which means a 4:00pm or so surgery start at least one night per week. Oh and here’s a tasty tidbit: when on call, he does it from home, but obviously he has to take phone calls, sometimes relentlessly, over the 24 hours he’s on call. I try to keep the kids away and quiet, but sometimes it’s impossible. So think on that next time you have to call the after hours doc from your office. Ha! Okay, back to the doctor’s schedule: tack on staying late some days to help other surgeons finish up, throw in a work-related dinner, and you’re looking at him missing bedtime 2-4 nights per week.

The doctor’s schedule for the weekends? He’s usually home and free! Well, not counting the sometimes lengthy transition to adjust from being in the operating room or dominating clinic, to being at home with so little control or needed rest. You can almost physically see him trying to get work out of his head during that time.

If he’s on weekend call, he rounds in the mornings, and then starts surgeries if he has them. So he could be gone all day when on call on the weekends. Or he could be home at 9:00am. You never do know!

You never know a doctor’s schedule…

That’s the hard part for this mama! As long as I have a general idea of when to expect him, I can mentally prepare. I was just telling a friend the other day that I really benefit from knowing if I’m looking at a 5k… or a marathon. From his perspective, it’s super hard for him to predict, and he doesn’t want to rush surgeries in order to try to be home by whatever time he guessed. No one wants that, obviously. It’s just something he and I have been brainstorming about lately…if it’s even possible for him to give me a ballpark.

He had the worst week in recent memory a couple of weeks ago, and this is how it went:

Hours away:

Monday: 6:30am-10:30pm (He had a work dinner, and unfortunately, our littlest required a trip to urgent care that evening, which I had to get a babysitter for!)

Tuesday: 6:30am-7:30pm

Wednesday: 6:30-7:30pm (then he was on call and took calls throughout the evening)

Thursday: 5:30am-9:00pm

Friday: 8:00-5:00pm (Now THAT’s more like it😂)

I am fortunate in that I’ve never really resented his long hours, though of course I always prefer for him to be with us! He works very hard. Harder than anyone I’ve known. And I keep getting told that he’s excellent at operating. He’s a great man and surgeon, and I’m so proud of him for living out his dreams. He’s the best. 😍

Thank you for joining me on my first look into surgeon life!!! I’m on Facebook and Instagram now, so head over for all of the fun there! I would love, love, LOVE to be friends!!!! ❤️💋

Looking for more on the ins and outs of Residency? Check out my three part series here (1, 2, 3)

Until next time!