My third year experience is a few years ago and predates the 80-hour rules but nonetheless, it wasn’t THAT bad. To quickly summarize:
Peds inpatient (4wks): work from 6am to 5pm (does not include commute), on call overnight every 4th or 5th night, did not get to go home post-call by noon. Probably averaged 80-100 hrs per week on this rotation.
Peds outpatient (4wks): work from 8am to 5pm, no call, no weekends!!
General Surgery (4wks): work from 5am to 5pm, call about once a week, generally got to leave by noon post-call, some weekends. Sometimes had to do rounds on weekends even if you weren’t going to stay on call.
Surgery specialties (4 wks): work from 6am to 5pm, no call, no weekends.
Primary care (6 wks): work from 8am to 5pm, no call, no weekends.
Internal medicine (8 wks): work from 6am to 6pm, call every 5 nights that ended between 10 and midnight, weekend rounds most of the time. Few days off.
Psych (8 wks): 8am to 5pm, weekend call days every 2 wks, otherwise no night call or weekends.
OBGYN (8 wks): 5am to 6pm, call every fourth night, no going home post-call, definitely the hardest of the rotations, lots of weekends.
So, there were some months that sucked during third year. But all in all it was do-able. Keep in mind I was 46 years old at the time… people who’ve been reading this board for years will tell you that my comment was, judging by how much they whined, my younger classmates weren’t having any easier time of it than I was.
You can also plan ahead. You can trade calls in order to get a special weekend. You can arrange ahead of time for a less time-intensive rotation (e.g. my son got married during my primary care rotation). Heck, people have babies during third year (though I don’t recommend it).
It’s just a year.
Mary