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How difficult was it to maintain a good work-life balance during medical school and residency?

I plan on going into neurosurgery, which is an extensive residency. How difficult is it to have a family while in residency?

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Yanna’s Answer

If you're tasked with caregiving duties, maintaining a balance between work and personal life can be quite challenging, especially when you're likely to be working around 80 hours a week in the residency program. However, with a supportive spouse, understanding parents, and reliable friends, it's possible to manage. Additionally, you can seek advice from doctors and fellow residents, or even join online groups for helpful tips on how to handle this situation. Wishing you all the best!
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Madison’s Answer

Great question! It is not easy but it is absolutely possible! Plan ahead, have a good plan for studying and really make sure that within that you are including built in time for both yourself alone and for wellness and for family/friends. Make sure your friends/family are aware of your time constraints and that way they can be supportive of it and understanding when you may have to miss certain events. You will miss certain life events but you can also make a point to usually be there for very big events you will just have to plan long in advanced and that is ok. You can certianly have kids/family, many people do! Talk to people in the classes above you who have had kids and think ahead about the timing of this and when you want that for yourself/family personally and everyone is different.
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Midwest’s Answer

Maggie, great question! First, a work-life balance will largely depend on your choices both in medical school, residency, and particularly once you finish training and begin practice. The reality of many medical professions is that they may be best viewed as a work-life integration rather than competing forces for you to balance. When doing anything that requires such a profound amount of your time, it will become a part of you and not just a job!

There are many differences between medical school and residency. Both require lots of time. However, one of the most challenging aspects of residency is that it not only will take a significant amount of your time, but your time may be inflexible and not under your control to mold to a schedule. In medical school, you will also be busy, but oftentimes classes are recorded and even if attending in person, you will have significant ability to make your own schedule and manage your own time during the first half of medical school.

Maintaining a good balance is an ongoing, continuous effort that you will inevitably fail at, then adjust and try again, then fail again and that is normal and OK. In contemporary practice and surgical training, being able to have a family is becoming an expectation that trainees have both in residency and as they enter practice. This is something you could and should pursue if it is part of your long-term plans. The most important key to this, particularly during a neurosurgery residency, will be support! Support may come in many forms such as a partner, parents, siblings, extended family, or friends. Depending on your living and social situation, this is of course very possible. In addition, the American Board of Medical Specialties recently released recommendations for enhanced parental leave during residency allowed without needing to make up any time during residency training. The American Board of Neurological Surgery allows for 12 weeks of parental leave to be taken at any time during residency. Residents giving birth routinely take additional time depending on their specific situation or in the case of multiple children during residency, then may make up that time at the end of training. This is now a very routine occurrence during residency! Children present logistical considerations that must be ironed out during residency such as daycare/school and you will not be able to do that on your own while also going to the hospital nearly every day!

If this is part of your life vision and plan, go for it!

Midwest recommends the following next steps:

Talk to as many med students and neurosurgery residents as possible to gain insight
Create a 5, 10, and 15 year plan for both personal and professional purposes
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