Hospitalist shift length: Who’s working the longest shifts?

WHEN IT COMES to hospitalist shift length, 12 hours is still king for the specialty.

That’s partially due to the continued popularity of the seven-on, seven-off schedule in hospital medicine. Sixty percent of hospitalists work seven-on, seven-off schedules, and those hospitalists report an average shift length of 11.9 hours.

Data from our survey show that for all adult hospitalists, mean shift length is 12 hours. More than half of hospitalists (57%) work 12-hour shifts, while 25% work shifts of 10-11 hours.

For pediatric hospitalists, average shift length is higher: 13.5 hours. And nocturnists reported working the longest shifts of everyone who responded to our survey: 13.5 hours.

There were no differences between academic and nonacademic hospitalists. Both reported working average shifts of 12 hours.

Hospitalists working at universities and medical schools, however, reported working the shortest shifts, at 11.1 hours. And female hospitalists reported working longer shifts (12.3 hours) than their male colleagues (11.8 hours).

Perhaps not surprisingly, there seemed to be a connection between hospitalist shift work and career satisfaction. Hospitalists who said they were “very satisfied” reported working average shifts of 11.1 hours. Hospitalists who said they were “satisfied” reported average shift lengths of 11.8 hours, while hospitalists who were “dissatisfied” said their shifts averaged 12.5 hours.

Our data found a similar connection between burnout and shift length. Among hospitalists who said burnout was “very significant,” for example, average shift length was 12.4 hours. Among hospitalists who said burnout was “significant,” that number dropped to 11.8 hours. For hospitalists who said burnout was “insignificant,” average shift length came in at 11.5 hours.

Here’s a look at other differences in hospitalist work shifts by group type and geography.

Shift length by group type

Hospital/hospital corporation: 12.2 hours

Local hospitalist group: 11.8 hours

Multispecialty/primary care group: 11.2 hours

National hospitalist management company: 11.6 hours

University/medical school: 11.1 hours

Shift length by geographic region

Northeast: 11.2 hours

South: 12.4 hours

Midwest: 11.5 hours

Mountain: 12.9 hours

Southwest: 11.9 hours

For data on how physician compensation is affected by bonuses, experience, shift work and location, check out our overview on hospitalist pay.