The question of how many hours a week doctors work does not have a single, simple answer, as the time commitment varies widely based on career stage, medical specialty, and practice environment. The physician profession demands a level of dedication that far exceeds the standard forty-hour work week common for most American workers. Physicians spend a significant portion of their week engaged in patient care and related duties due to the complexity of medicine and the responsibility for human lives.
The Overall Average Work Week for Practicing Physicians
Recent national surveys indicate that the typical work week for a practicing physician falls within a range of 50 to 60 hours. This figure represents an average that includes time spent both in direct patient interaction and in necessary, non-clinical tasks. For example, 2024 data suggests the average workweek for physicians is approximately 57.8 hours, a slight decrease from previous years.
The hours physicians report include time dedicated to direct patient care, such as clinic appointments, surgeries, and hospital rounds, which can account for about half of their total work time. A substantial portion of the remaining hours is spent on indirect patient care, including administrative duties like order entry, managing referrals, interpreting test results, and documentation.
The Critical Difference: Residency vs. Attending Physician
A sharp distinction exists between the work hours of a physician in the structured training phase, known as residency or fellowship, and an attending physician in independent practice. Physicians in training are subject to mandatory, high-intensity schedules that frequently push the limits of their duty hour regulations. These residents and fellows often work schedules that approach or reach the maximum regulatory limits, which were established to manage fatigue and ensure patient safety.
Once a physician completes training and becomes an attending physician, their work schedule gains significantly more flexibility, though the hours often remain high. While attending physicians are no longer bound by the same strict duty hour rules, many still report workweeks well over 50 hours. Attending physicians have more autonomy to shape their practice settings and schedules, but the demands of running a practice, managing complex cases, and maintaining administrative compliance often keep their commitment substantial.
How Work Hours Vary by Medical Specialty
The number of hours a physician works is profoundly influenced by their chosen medical specialty. Specialties focused on high-acuity, unpredictable, or procedural care consistently report some of the longest average workweeks. For instance, surgical specialties, critical care, and cardiology often involve workweeks exceeding 60 hours due to the necessity of being on-call and managing intensive, time-sensitive patient needs. Hospital medicine, which covers inpatient care, also falls into this higher-hour category, with reported averages around 54 to 62.8 hours per week.
In contrast, specialties with highly scheduled patient loads and fewer emergency calls typically have lower average work hours. Fields like dermatology, ophthalmology, and allergy and immunology often see workweeks closer to the 40 to 45-hour range, allowing for a more predictable schedule. This variance is largely due to the necessity for immediate, unscheduled intervention; a procedural specialty like neurosurgery, for example, requires immediate availability for trauma or complex emergencies, driving up the weekly time commitment.
Regulatory Limits on Physician Work Hours
Specific regulations govern the work hours for physicians in training, primarily set by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The central mandate is that a resident’s duty hours must not exceed an average of 80 hours per week, calculated over a four-week period. This limit includes all in-house clinical, educational activities, and any outside moonlighting.
The regulations also establish limits on continuous duty periods to manage fatigue. Continuous shifts are restricted to a maximum of 24 hours, with an additional four hours allowed for activities like effective transitions of care. Residents must also have a minimum of one day out of seven free from all clinical activities, averaged over four weeks, and mandatory rest periods between shifts.
Key Factors That Increase Workload
Beyond the inherent demands of a specialty, several systemic and administrative factors push physician work hours higher, regardless of career stage. The burden of administrative tasks is a major contributor, with a significant amount of time dedicated to documentation and other non-clinical requirements. Physicians spend substantial time each week on paperwork and administrative duties, which can include prior authorizations, insurance forms, and meeting attendance.
The Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system is a specific driver of off-hours work, often requiring physicians to complete charting and documentation outside of their scheduled patient hours. This EMR burden can extend the workweek considerably, with many physicians reporting spending several hours on the system after they have left the clinic or hospital. Additionally, on-call schedules, even when the physician is not physically at the hospital, contribute to workload by requiring them to address patient concerns or make emergency decisions remotely.
Physician work hours are characterized by profound variability based on career stage, specialty, and external factors. Even with a national average workweek hovering near 58 hours, this figure is often exceeded in demanding fields or during intensive training periods. The profession inherently demands a significant time commitment, with many physicians consistently working well over 50 hours a week.