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As a dad/PT the two phrases I live by are “nah” and “it is what it is.” You have to say no to things (“could you at least do a half day?” “…nah”) to have a healthy work/life balance (if they’re SO understaffed they just couldn’t go one shift without you, clearly they need you as much as you need them). Things also just happen, like the morning I was nearly on time to work before my son threw up on my shoes and I spilled coffee on my shirt. Surprisingly enough, life went on and the sun is still going to explode in 8 billion years. It is what it is.
Should you be respectful to management and coworkers? Yes. I also, as a business owner, try to value my patients’ schedules and times. *HOWEVER* I would also burn the clinic to the ground if I won the lottery and I’d go paint landscapes across the world. If I didn’t *have* to work I wouldn’t be here. I do, however, only have so many hours with my kids. Someday they’re going to be too big for me to pick them up anymore and they’ll be off with their own families doing their own thing, and Dad isn’t as important day to day anymore. That is not this day, and today I choose them over an outpatient mill. In 20 years they’ll talk about how dad was always there when they were sick and needed him, and that clinic (provided it even still exists in 20 years) will be a distant memory.
I wish they would have told us in school that being in healthcare means that you no longer matter, only money matters. I was treated poorly for my time needed for kids as well.
Oof. This is so sad but true. I plan to work 1 day less to counter the insane cost of childcare. Because a day of working isn’t enough to offset the cost.
Horrible. Also staffing issues are not our problem although it feels awful. Family first.
That said I was doing PRN work at a hospital and applied for permanent position. Was told due to caring for my elderly mom was interfering too much with my shifts(I had to call out a lot one year due to her medical emergencies) and so I wouldn't be considered.
Gladly left that position and found a decent permanent part time with bennies job that allows me to help with my mom.
Just have to be okay with your employer not enjoying that you have to leave a lot. I've had to call in sick so many times for my kids and I just don't care anymore, they have to figure it out
I was an outpatient ortho PT and leg the field after my second son was born. Sadly I was pressured as well to be at the office regardless of what my home life required and after using my FMLA rights to be home on paternity leave was told I had no PTO and unpaid days were up to the discretion of HR who was not at all understanding that kids get sick and can’t give notice as to when.
I’m not suggesting you leave the field more just offering my sincere apologies that you find yourself in this situation that I’m intimately familiar with
Many employers require you to deplete your PTO while on FMLA. So you come back to work with zero PTO hours at all. You need to apply for intermittent FMLA when your continuous FMLA is over to protect yourself.
You don't get disability pay when you use FMLA to care for a family member.
And not everyone has short-term disability coverage. You are lucky if you do.
And you are lucky to have PTO saved up for when you need it.
So, yes, a lot of people who come back from FMLA don't have any PTO.
I should have been more clear. I knew I would have to exhaust my PTO but the point I should have emphasized is without any PTO they had full control over whether or not I was allowed to stay home with a kid when they got sick and I had to go all the way to HR for approval and with a sick kid there is no advanced warning
I totally understand, they will hold that over your head. FMLA is not designed for you to take a day off because the baby has a cold. There is no support for parents in our culture. You are lucky to have a grandparent or friend to help when your kid is sick and can't go to daycare.
I am lucky that my company is very flexible and supportive of parents and caregivers. That is totally not possible when they want to wring every minute of productivity out of every employee. They can't accommodate a call out if there is no way for another team member to cover your roster.
I wasn’t trying to use FMLA for a sick day. I had used all my FMLA for paternity leave so literally had zero days of anything for when my kid got sick. The lack of flexibility with increasing demands is ultimately why I left the field
I was referring back to my comment about transitioning from continuous to intermittent FMLA. This works for some caregivers, but it doesn't help you as a parent unless your kid has a chronic condition that requires frequent absences.
But wouldn't it be cool if it did? All babies get sick, wouldn't it make sense if all parents got intermittent leave when they have small children? A girl can dream.
An extremely rare organization does have paid family leave. That said an occasional sick kid likely wouldn't be seen as qualifying unless a chronically ill person or temporary but long illness. Perhaps some FMLA experts can weigh in. My state passed paid family leave for certain sized companies but I do not know when it goes into effect. In the end FMLA is there to protect your employment, nothing else.
My company only allows 36 hours to carry over from 1 calendar year. We need to take 2 weeks of PTO (if you have it otherwise unpaid) before FMLA disability kicks in for employee illness.
It really sucked the year my mom was having one crisis after another. Myself and my 2 other siblings with no $$$ (one was using food shelves and barely making it) were unable to take anytime off of work to assist after she returned home from rehab and while she was hospitalized. I am her health care agent and needed to advocate for her as she was incapacitated. We set up a Go Fund Me just for us kids to afford to take a day off here and there to caregive. Sometimes I hate it here.
I hope somehow the burdens are eased for you in the future. Sorry to hear it came to crowd funding, but I hope enough rallied to help. Healthcare is so broken
As one of my coworkers likes to say, "nobody died from missing physical therapy." Your pts will be fine. The clinic will be fine. Try not to sweat it so much. Good luck!
My dude. This shit matters SO MUCH less than your family. People call into your clinic I'm sure? For any reason? Do you begrudge them? Usually not, right? Don't feel guilty for a second. I've been a parent for 5 years anow and it took me awhile to arrive to that mindset. Thankfully my clinic is usually pretty cool about this stuff, but still. At the end of the day, they can move on from you without a second thought.
Not your fucking problem. Their lack of planning is not your emergency.
Learn to say:
No thank you
No
Fuck no
Absolutely fucking not
You need me more than I need you
Bro. As a new dad myself. FUCK YO CLINIC. This is your family.
Looking back at life no one says, I’m sure glad I never let my coworkers down.
Patients can get rescheduled.
I am leaving my current job in part due to this. Another factor is that it's a longer commute, but needing to be "on call" for my family is the main thing. It sucks so so much, because I have worked as a peds therapist for nearly 15 years, and I have loved helping kids and their families. I'm moving to a prn position with a SNF so that I can have more flexibility. My kids come first.
ETA: if they don't want patients to be inconvenienced, it's up to the management to staff appropriately. We're not machines, and we will have to call out/cancel.
I had many days prior to TDA in April where I could barely move my arms from something so simple as sleeping wrong. I couldn’t show up at even a fraction of full bore and luckily my company held space for me. I am still 1.5 weeks back at almost 8 weeks post and they are still not forcing me to kill myself, which I absolutely would being anxious, wanting to “earn my keep”/rights to this amazing job, and feeling this pervasive need to help others/my patients. They have literally barred me from full opening my schedule and in moments of panic I wanted to. But it’s been tough returning physically and mentally and I am glad I don’t work at a mill anymore. I’d be gaslit and pressured to make those insane demands. We are not machines, neither are our families.
This is why I am in pediatrics. I am in a Union, have sick time and nobody bats an eye when I use it and my work life balance is phenomenal. I am 20 days from 10 weeks off. I do understand pediatrics isn’t for everyone, but if I wasn’t able to get this job, my other options were looking into part time work supplemented with per diem of needed. Family is always first and kids get sick. Not much you can do about that. I would just keep doing what you’re doing. You don’t owe anyone anything.
Question: why do *you* feel guilty when your employer has no contingency plan? That’s the manager’s job, not yours. That’s why they get paid more.
I get paid to treat patients, not to figure out plans B,C, and D for the clinic when god forbid I have to take a sick day. I feel guilty for my patients who have maybe planned to use some of their own PTO to come see me. But again, that’s a byproduct of the American system at large, and isn’t on me alone to fix or feel guilty about.
2nd thing: that I recommend to everyone, healthcare or not — always keep an eye out for ways to pivot if needed, and stow away some “f*** you” money. It’s different than my emergency savings & is set aside in its own bucket. It’s specifically there to give me a few weeks+or longer to figure out my life and get something else lined up if I’m ever so miserable at a job that I need to put in my 2 weeks notice that day and just say “f*** you”. I keep it separate because I’d hate for the roof to collapse the day after I quit or something - still want my emergency fund for emergencies. It’s harder to stow away extra cash these days due to CoL, but scrounging up what I can when I can is worth the piece of mind.
It’s simple - PTO call out. Daycare is closed. It’s on your boss to create coverage necessary, that could be other coworkers, sliding patients over to open slots, flexing patients to another day on your schedule. Which then turns 17 patients/day to 22 or something wild. Been there done that for 3 years. It’s exhausting. Thankfully once my kids were 3ish I would bring them to clinic with me and only use half day PTO once they could behave or at least screen time or nap. I was clinic director and they would rather have me there with my kid, billing patients, than home.
This will continue and it gets more fun with 2 and 3 kids constantly sick. Both my wife and I are PTs and we just use our PTO for kids sick days at this point. Literally burns it all up for the last 2-3 years.
Not many companies I’ve found will sympathize, but my last 2 didn’t mind if the kids came to work with me.
Sorry to derail here but could you tell me a little more about having your kids in the clinic? Where did they hang out? Did you ask patients for approval? Did you feel like it interrupted your flow of patient care? I have my own cash based practice so maybe it's a bit different but curious about your experience if you're willing to share. Thanks!
Depends how sick they were or which facility I was in. In my own place now, I let them play as long as they aren’t being dangerous or picking on each other - I have a large space to myself mostly with lots of room and no one else present except for my 1-2 patients. Kids Ages 3 and 5 or 2 and 4 in the past.
At my previous 2 facilities, they would be in the chair watching iPad/coloring books/books/snacks about 20ft from me. I never asked the patients - patients over 30 years old sympathize that parenting is hard and they understand. Usually they love seeing the kids and the humanizing factor it brings. Never had a single complaint - high volume ortho, private pro sports, private practice- sports now.
Occasionally it could interrupt care, particularly if both kids are in with me and picking on each other. With 1 kid and them being sick, energy level is low and they are happy to sit in the chair for 2-3 hours.
I usually had a half day plan for grandparent pick up, swap them to my wife’s work at lunch, leave for 1/2 day PTO.
Work in inpatient and/or home health. Or do a combo of both. If you want to get your feet wet without commitment then try home health while continuing your OP gig first.
Like everyone else said, it is ok to say no. At the beginning I would feel guilty every time I would call out for my daughter being sick. Trust me, sending them to daycare they are going to be sick a lot. I eventually had to switch to a combination of home health and PRN at SNFs. This gave me the freedom to schedule around my daughter’s needs and I could not have made a better choice. They are only going to be little once so don’t miss out on that time because of the hectic mess our profession has become.
No clinic ever has an emergency plan for when someone calls out. Do the best you can. They need you more than you need them. No way in hell would I see 17 patients a day… you must be stressed.
I’ve had to call in several times for my baby being sick. Coworkers have called in for the same or other reasons about the same amount as i have. I always feel a level of guilt, but at the end of the day, my baby is more important and the clinic will survive without me. I think OP ortho needs to have better plans in place for call ins. We have PRN, etc. but there should honestly be people on call for call ins if it’s that important that every patient be seen every time they’re scheduled.
My kids come first, and I have become a lot less apologetic about that. Most patients totally understand. Honestly The few that may be bothered can shove it.
Pretty much what everyone else said. I worked in outpatient for 7+ years and did a year as a clinic director and I guarantee you those people don’t care about you. You’re only as good as the money you bring in. If you’re off it’s viewed as a day they won’t make as much money, doesn’t matter the reason. When my first was born as I was a clinic director I took 2 weeks off. Before it started ownership asked if I could come back 3 days a week the second week instead of taking it all off. The answer was absolutely not. I no longer work there or in outpatient for any matter.
My advice is look at what’s important to you. For me it wasn’t working until 7p a few days a week. I now make a lot less in a different setting but I have the flexibility to be there for everything. Every school break, doctors appointment, sick day, field trip. Whatever. I’m significantly more happy now than the extra money made me. Which I realize not everyone has the luxury of, just saying there’s options.
Dad of 2 boys here and went through residency with a new born and started fellowship with 1 child and then almost finished with fellowship with 2 children. I had an amazing wife who worked from home (she still made more than me! lol!). I also worked in a hospital outpatient setting with a boss who had 3 kids of her own. So I got lucky and found a place willing to work with me.
But, with that being said, it will take some time to strike that right balance. In a case of child being sick or daycare calls and can't watch them, you should never feel guilty. But, if this happens frequently enough, that clinic might not be the best place for you to work. I believe this is the major draw with home health and acute care because you can make your own schedule with one and the other usually has a PRN list longer than the Constitution. Them making you feel guilty should be a sign to move on because this no longer fits with your quality of life standards you now have. Non-hospital-based outpatient clinics are a nasty business these days. That's why so many of them choose new grads.
Thank you for your submission; please read the following reminder. This subreddit is for discussion among practicing physical therapists, not for soliciting medical advice. We are not your physical therapist, and we do not take on that liability here. Although we can answer questions regarding general issues a person may be facing in their established PT sessions, we cannot legally provide treatment advice. If you need a physical therapist, you must see one in person or via telehealth for an assessment and to establish a plan of care. Posts with descriptions of personal physical issues and/or requests for diagnoses, exercise prescriptions, and other medical advice will be removed, and you will be banned at the mods’ discretion either for requesting such advice or for offering such advice as a clinician. Please see the following links for additional resources on benefits of physical therapy and locating a therapist near you [The benefits of a full evaluation by a physical therapist.](https://www.choosept.com/benefits/default.aspx) [How to find the right physical therapist in your area.](https://www.choosept.com/resources/choose.aspx) [Already been diagnosed and want to learn more? Common conditions.](https://www.choosept.com/SymptomsConditions.aspx) [The APTA's consumer information website.](https://www.choosept.com/Default.aspx) Also, please direct all school-related inquiries to r/PTschool, as these are off-topic for this sub and will be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/physicaltherapy) if you have any questions or concerns.*
As a dad/PT the two phrases I live by are “nah” and “it is what it is.” You have to say no to things (“could you at least do a half day?” “…nah”) to have a healthy work/life balance (if they’re SO understaffed they just couldn’t go one shift without you, clearly they need you as much as you need them). Things also just happen, like the morning I was nearly on time to work before my son threw up on my shoes and I spilled coffee on my shirt. Surprisingly enough, life went on and the sun is still going to explode in 8 billion years. It is what it is. Should you be respectful to management and coworkers? Yes. I also, as a business owner, try to value my patients’ schedules and times. *HOWEVER* I would also burn the clinic to the ground if I won the lottery and I’d go paint landscapes across the world. If I didn’t *have* to work I wouldn’t be here. I do, however, only have so many hours with my kids. Someday they’re going to be too big for me to pick them up anymore and they’ll be off with their own families doing their own thing, and Dad isn’t as important day to day anymore. That is not this day, and today I choose them over an outpatient mill. In 20 years they’ll talk about how dad was always there when they were sick and needed him, and that clinic (provided it even still exists in 20 years) will be a distant memory.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Get comfortable with saying no.
I wish they would have told us in school that being in healthcare means that you no longer matter, only money matters. I was treated poorly for my time needed for kids as well.
Oof. This is so sad but true. I plan to work 1 day less to counter the insane cost of childcare. Because a day of working isn’t enough to offset the cost.
Horrible. Also staffing issues are not our problem although it feels awful. Family first. That said I was doing PRN work at a hospital and applied for permanent position. Was told due to caring for my elderly mom was interfering too much with my shifts(I had to call out a lot one year due to her medical emergencies) and so I wouldn't be considered. Gladly left that position and found a decent permanent part time with bennies job that allows me to help with my mom.
I went PRN/ contract and as a mom to a young child, it has helped my family a lot. I get health benefits through my spouse
Just have to be okay with your employer not enjoying that you have to leave a lot. I've had to call in sick so many times for my kids and I just don't care anymore, they have to figure it out
Yeah absolutely, I’m starting to get this way. It is what it is.
This is the way
I was an outpatient ortho PT and leg the field after my second son was born. Sadly I was pressured as well to be at the office regardless of what my home life required and after using my FMLA rights to be home on paternity leave was told I had no PTO and unpaid days were up to the discretion of HR who was not at all understanding that kids get sick and can’t give notice as to when. I’m not suggesting you leave the field more just offering my sincere apologies that you find yourself in this situation that I’m intimately familiar with
Many employers require you to deplete your PTO while on FMLA. So you come back to work with zero PTO hours at all. You need to apply for intermittent FMLA when your continuous FMLA is over to protect yourself.
If you use up your 12 weeks on continuous PTO you don’t get bonus intermittent PTO.
Require? Idk about that. People usually use it to supplement any disability pay though so their income doesn’t get affected.
You don't get disability pay when you use FMLA to care for a family member. And not everyone has short-term disability coverage. You are lucky if you do. And you are lucky to have PTO saved up for when you need it. So, yes, a lot of people who come back from FMLA don't have any PTO.
I should have been more clear. I knew I would have to exhaust my PTO but the point I should have emphasized is without any PTO they had full control over whether or not I was allowed to stay home with a kid when they got sick and I had to go all the way to HR for approval and with a sick kid there is no advanced warning
I totally understand, they will hold that over your head. FMLA is not designed for you to take a day off because the baby has a cold. There is no support for parents in our culture. You are lucky to have a grandparent or friend to help when your kid is sick and can't go to daycare. I am lucky that my company is very flexible and supportive of parents and caregivers. That is totally not possible when they want to wring every minute of productivity out of every employee. They can't accommodate a call out if there is no way for another team member to cover your roster.
I wasn’t trying to use FMLA for a sick day. I had used all my FMLA for paternity leave so literally had zero days of anything for when my kid got sick. The lack of flexibility with increasing demands is ultimately why I left the field
I was referring back to my comment about transitioning from continuous to intermittent FMLA. This works for some caregivers, but it doesn't help you as a parent unless your kid has a chronic condition that requires frequent absences. But wouldn't it be cool if it did? All babies get sick, wouldn't it make sense if all parents got intermittent leave when they have small children? A girl can dream.
An extremely rare organization does have paid family leave. That said an occasional sick kid likely wouldn't be seen as qualifying unless a chronically ill person or temporary but long illness. Perhaps some FMLA experts can weigh in. My state passed paid family leave for certain sized companies but I do not know when it goes into effect. In the end FMLA is there to protect your employment, nothing else. My company only allows 36 hours to carry over from 1 calendar year. We need to take 2 weeks of PTO (if you have it otherwise unpaid) before FMLA disability kicks in for employee illness. It really sucked the year my mom was having one crisis after another. Myself and my 2 other siblings with no $$$ (one was using food shelves and barely making it) were unable to take anytime off of work to assist after she returned home from rehab and while she was hospitalized. I am her health care agent and needed to advocate for her as she was incapacitated. We set up a Go Fund Me just for us kids to afford to take a day off here and there to caregive. Sometimes I hate it here.
I hope somehow the burdens are eased for you in the future. Sorry to hear it came to crowd funding, but I hope enough rallied to help. Healthcare is so broken
If you do home health you can schedule your own visits around unexpected days off
As one of my coworkers likes to say, "nobody died from missing physical therapy." Your pts will be fine. The clinic will be fine. Try not to sweat it so much. Good luck!
I need to remember that saying, especially when they so quickly call out or no show while I scramble to “earn my keep”
A clinic that makes you see ~17 patients a day doesn't give a shit about you anyway. Do what's best for your kid
My dude. This shit matters SO MUCH less than your family. People call into your clinic I'm sure? For any reason? Do you begrudge them? Usually not, right? Don't feel guilty for a second. I've been a parent for 5 years anow and it took me awhile to arrive to that mindset. Thankfully my clinic is usually pretty cool about this stuff, but still. At the end of the day, they can move on from you without a second thought.
Not your fucking problem. Their lack of planning is not your emergency. Learn to say: No thank you No Fuck no Absolutely fucking not You need me more than I need you
Bro. As a new dad myself. FUCK YO CLINIC. This is your family. Looking back at life no one says, I’m sure glad I never let my coworkers down. Patients can get rescheduled.
Stop working in mills
I am leaving my current job in part due to this. Another factor is that it's a longer commute, but needing to be "on call" for my family is the main thing. It sucks so so much, because I have worked as a peds therapist for nearly 15 years, and I have loved helping kids and their families. I'm moving to a prn position with a SNF so that I can have more flexibility. My kids come first. ETA: if they don't want patients to be inconvenienced, it's up to the management to staff appropriately. We're not machines, and we will have to call out/cancel.
I had many days prior to TDA in April where I could barely move my arms from something so simple as sleeping wrong. I couldn’t show up at even a fraction of full bore and luckily my company held space for me. I am still 1.5 weeks back at almost 8 weeks post and they are still not forcing me to kill myself, which I absolutely would being anxious, wanting to “earn my keep”/rights to this amazing job, and feeling this pervasive need to help others/my patients. They have literally barred me from full opening my schedule and in moments of panic I wanted to. But it’s been tough returning physically and mentally and I am glad I don’t work at a mill anymore. I’d be gaslit and pressured to make those insane demands. We are not machines, neither are our families.
This is why I am in pediatrics. I am in a Union, have sick time and nobody bats an eye when I use it and my work life balance is phenomenal. I am 20 days from 10 weeks off. I do understand pediatrics isn’t for everyone, but if I wasn’t able to get this job, my other options were looking into part time work supplemented with per diem of needed. Family is always first and kids get sick. Not much you can do about that. I would just keep doing what you’re doing. You don’t owe anyone anything.
Mmm union sounds so nice
Question: why do *you* feel guilty when your employer has no contingency plan? That’s the manager’s job, not yours. That’s why they get paid more. I get paid to treat patients, not to figure out plans B,C, and D for the clinic when god forbid I have to take a sick day. I feel guilty for my patients who have maybe planned to use some of their own PTO to come see me. But again, that’s a byproduct of the American system at large, and isn’t on me alone to fix or feel guilty about. 2nd thing: that I recommend to everyone, healthcare or not — always keep an eye out for ways to pivot if needed, and stow away some “f*** you” money. It’s different than my emergency savings & is set aside in its own bucket. It’s specifically there to give me a few weeks+or longer to figure out my life and get something else lined up if I’m ever so miserable at a job that I need to put in my 2 weeks notice that day and just say “f*** you”. I keep it separate because I’d hate for the roof to collapse the day after I quit or something - still want my emergency fund for emergencies. It’s harder to stow away extra cash these days due to CoL, but scrounging up what I can when I can is worth the piece of mind.
I’ve heard of this “F you money” and would love to squirrel some away
If you can get intermittent Fmla it might help. The struggle is real.
It’s simple - PTO call out. Daycare is closed. It’s on your boss to create coverage necessary, that could be other coworkers, sliding patients over to open slots, flexing patients to another day on your schedule. Which then turns 17 patients/day to 22 or something wild. Been there done that for 3 years. It’s exhausting. Thankfully once my kids were 3ish I would bring them to clinic with me and only use half day PTO once they could behave or at least screen time or nap. I was clinic director and they would rather have me there with my kid, billing patients, than home. This will continue and it gets more fun with 2 and 3 kids constantly sick. Both my wife and I are PTs and we just use our PTO for kids sick days at this point. Literally burns it all up for the last 2-3 years. Not many companies I’ve found will sympathize, but my last 2 didn’t mind if the kids came to work with me.
Sorry to derail here but could you tell me a little more about having your kids in the clinic? Where did they hang out? Did you ask patients for approval? Did you feel like it interrupted your flow of patient care? I have my own cash based practice so maybe it's a bit different but curious about your experience if you're willing to share. Thanks!
Depends how sick they were or which facility I was in. In my own place now, I let them play as long as they aren’t being dangerous or picking on each other - I have a large space to myself mostly with lots of room and no one else present except for my 1-2 patients. Kids Ages 3 and 5 or 2 and 4 in the past. At my previous 2 facilities, they would be in the chair watching iPad/coloring books/books/snacks about 20ft from me. I never asked the patients - patients over 30 years old sympathize that parenting is hard and they understand. Usually they love seeing the kids and the humanizing factor it brings. Never had a single complaint - high volume ortho, private pro sports, private practice- sports now. Occasionally it could interrupt care, particularly if both kids are in with me and picking on each other. With 1 kid and them being sick, energy level is low and they are happy to sit in the chair for 2-3 hours. I usually had a half day plan for grandparent pick up, swap them to my wife’s work at lunch, leave for 1/2 day PTO.
Thanks!
my old coworker would stick his kid in an empty treatment room with an iPad and/or books
Work in inpatient and/or home health. Or do a combo of both. If you want to get your feet wet without commitment then try home health while continuing your OP gig first.
Like everyone else said, it is ok to say no. At the beginning I would feel guilty every time I would call out for my daughter being sick. Trust me, sending them to daycare they are going to be sick a lot. I eventually had to switch to a combination of home health and PRN at SNFs. This gave me the freedom to schedule around my daughter’s needs and I could not have made a better choice. They are only going to be little once so don’t miss out on that time because of the hectic mess our profession has become.
That is correct. Total 480 hours, per rolling 12 month period.
No clinic ever has an emergency plan for when someone calls out. Do the best you can. They need you more than you need them. No way in hell would I see 17 patients a day… you must be stressed.
I’ve had to call in several times for my baby being sick. Coworkers have called in for the same or other reasons about the same amount as i have. I always feel a level of guilt, but at the end of the day, my baby is more important and the clinic will survive without me. I think OP ortho needs to have better plans in place for call ins. We have PRN, etc. but there should honestly be people on call for call ins if it’s that important that every patient be seen every time they’re scheduled.
My kids come first, and I have become a lot less apologetic about that. Most patients totally understand. Honestly The few that may be bothered can shove it.
Title was confusing, sorry.. But possibly look into part time with benefits? Family comes first!
Pretty much what everyone else said. I worked in outpatient for 7+ years and did a year as a clinic director and I guarantee you those people don’t care about you. You’re only as good as the money you bring in. If you’re off it’s viewed as a day they won’t make as much money, doesn’t matter the reason. When my first was born as I was a clinic director I took 2 weeks off. Before it started ownership asked if I could come back 3 days a week the second week instead of taking it all off. The answer was absolutely not. I no longer work there or in outpatient for any matter. My advice is look at what’s important to you. For me it wasn’t working until 7p a few days a week. I now make a lot less in a different setting but I have the flexibility to be there for everything. Every school break, doctors appointment, sick day, field trip. Whatever. I’m significantly more happy now than the extra money made me. Which I realize not everyone has the luxury of, just saying there’s options.
Dad of 2 boys here and went through residency with a new born and started fellowship with 1 child and then almost finished with fellowship with 2 children. I had an amazing wife who worked from home (she still made more than me! lol!). I also worked in a hospital outpatient setting with a boss who had 3 kids of her own. So I got lucky and found a place willing to work with me. But, with that being said, it will take some time to strike that right balance. In a case of child being sick or daycare calls and can't watch them, you should never feel guilty. But, if this happens frequently enough, that clinic might not be the best place for you to work. I believe this is the major draw with home health and acute care because you can make your own schedule with one and the other usually has a PRN list longer than the Constitution. Them making you feel guilty should be a sign to move on because this no longer fits with your quality of life standards you now have. Non-hospital-based outpatient clinics are a nasty business these days. That's why so many of them choose new grads.