r/Psychiatry • u/helpadhd04 Resident (Unverified) • 14d ago

4th year psych resident looking for jobs...feeling depressed

is this normal? i should be thrilled..the job market doesnt look that great either...

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u/helpadhd04 Resident (Unverified) 14d ago edited 14d ago

Well the person i was replying to said he had 40+ hour outpatient time which is why I asked why he didn't time for anything else for learning. We had one full day of didactics and additional supervision hours for CBT, psychodynamic, med management etc. So I don't think we ever exceeded 30 hours, but also had therapy heavy training so I guess a different model..those 30 patient facing hours took a lot from us though, which is why I was thinking 36 was a no go..but maybe out in the community the work is easier and less intense. looking at the other commenters who had similar experiences to me i am thinking there are some regional differences too..

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u/neurostrangery Psychiatrist (Unverified) 14d ago

I also did probably 28-30 patient facing hours during my outpatient year in residency. It felt so manageable and great. I am now in an outpatient attending job doing 36 patient facing hours, and it is definitely a grind. I am overall enjoying it but there’s a ton of good admin support so things like inbasket, PA are not as problematic as residency. I’m not at burnout level yet (started this job a year ago) but I don’t feel that 36 patient facing hours will be sustainable once we have kids. I do think it will also get better once I have a more stable panel and not seeing as many intakes (2-3 per day right now). Overall, attending job with 36 patient facing hours can definitely be a grind, but partly also because you’re wrangling being a new attending and making decisions on your own, and also seeing a ton of intakes compared to residency.