How Much Vacation Do Physicians Take Each Year? And How Do They Spend It? - By Specialties

How Much Vacation Do Physicians Take Each Year?

With an average of 13 paid vacation days per year, Americans do far worse than those in other developed countries (eg, Italy, 42; France, 37; Germany, 35; United Kingdom, 28; Canada, 26; Japan, 25). The amount of vacation that physicians take also seems to vary widely depending on specialty. About half of all physicians take 2-4 weeks off from their work. However, like their patients, more than a quarter of internists, general surgeons, and family and emergency medicine physicians take off for only 1-2 weeks a year. As evidence that some physicians have more fun than others, nearly half of anesthesiologists and radiologists who answered our survey took more than 4 weeks of vacation each year.



What Are Physicians' Favorite Vacation Spots?

According to a 2009 survey from US Travel Association, activities with the greatest interest among US adults are, in order of popularity, visiting friends and relatives, sightseeing, going to beaches, visiting museums, going to national or state parks, going on cruises, visiting theme parks, traveling to cities, and visiting mountain areas.[4]Physician-preferred vacations, at least among those who responded to the Medscape survey, perhaps reflect generally higher incomes. First and second choices for both male and female physicians were traveling abroad and beach vacations, and more women appeared to enjoy these vacations than men did. For subsequent vacation choices, there were only slight differences in gender preference, except for luxury hotels (preferred by women) and winter sports trips (slightly preferred by men). Not listed as an answer choice in the Medscape survey but mentioned most frequently in the write-in responses was visiting family members. Other write-in preferred activities were long train rides, nonmedical learning trips, and doing nothing at all. One respondent, in fact, only wanted to "sip tea quietly."

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