This post was originally published in April 2022
Some people think a dermatology residency is easy and you can just cruise through it. While it’s true that dermatology is very lifestyle friendly (like you get all weekends off), it’s also very demanding and fast-paced. Read below for a taste of what a day in the life of a dermatologist resident physician is like!
Interested in exploring your options for medical specialties? Download the FREE Medical Specialties Breakdown Guide to get a side-by-side comparison with qualitative insights from residents, practicing physicians, and med school tutors who have been in your shoes!
6:30 AM: Rise and shine!
Clinic starts at 8:00 a.m. sharp. But I’m behind on my studying, so I try to squeeze in 45 minutes of reading my textbook before leaving for the day. There’s a surprising amount of reading during a dermatology residency. You have to recognize thousands of conditions, so there’s a lot of time spent studying.
Once I’ve gotten some reading out of the way, I quickly make my coffee, grab a piece of toast, and then it’s off to the clinic.
8:00 a.m–12:00 p.m.: General Dermatology Clinic
The dermatology clinic is busy. Typically there are patients scheduled every 15 minutes, which means you’ll see 16 patients in a usual morning clinic. That’s a lot of people to see, talk to, and keep track of. I spend my morning zooming around in the general dermatology clinic, doing everything from simple skin checks, to biopsies, to hidradenitis suppurativa.
Each patient can have multiple follow-up tasks and on any given day, I’m getting biopsy results, lab results, and messages from patients. There’s really a lot to keep track of, especially when you see so many people. As you can see, a day in the life of a dermatologist resident is busy!
12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m.: Lunch
Lunch is actually a great time to catch up on my inbox. I have a ton of messages and results from patients I saw the day before. Depending on your residency program, either you or the staff will call patients to share their biopsy or lab results with them.
You might also be in charge of obtaining prior authorizations for patient medications from insurance companies, which can suck up a lot of your time. Lunch time is excellent for catch-up. Some days I have didactics during lunch instead.
1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.: Pediatric Dermatology Clinic
This afternoon, I’m in the pediatric dermatology clinic again with patients scheduled every 15 minutes. I’ll see a full age range, from newborns to young adults. It’s great! A dermatologist can make such a huge difference in the life of a child.
As a side note, clinic is scheduled by half days. Some days I’ll be in general dermatology clinic for both half days, sometimes I’ll be in general dermatology clinic, pediatric dermatology clinic, cosmetic clinic, or complex medical dermatology clinic. One of the best parts of a day in the life of a dermatologist resident is the variety.
5 p.m.–5:30 p.m.: Catch up on patient tasks
After a full day of clinic, I still have some leftover tasks in my inbox that I didn’t get to during lunch, so I spend some time working through those.
5:30 p.m.–6 p.m.: Head home and eat dinner
I’m exhausted from running around all day, so I head home and eat a quick dinner.
6:00 p.m.–8:30 p.m.: Study and work on presentation for didactics
I try to spend time in the evenings studying and reading if I have the energy. It’s really important to keep up with dermatology reading. I also have to work on a presentation for didactics. It’s about a chapter in the textbook we use, so I spend some time making my slides and outline.
8:30 p.m.–11:00 p.m.: Gym, Family Time, and Bed
There’s some of that balance! I try to hit the gym 3x per week, even if I’m exhausted from running around the clinic all day. Then I try to spend time catching up with friends and family, and get some good sleep.
Final Thoughts
So overall, you can definitely achieve balance throughout residency (regardless of specialty). Some days are busier than others. There are a lot of exams throughout dermatology residency, and a lot of book reading/studying (honestly more than you would ever expect).
Some mornings are spent in didactics or grand rounds. Some clinics are busier than others. Sometimes you get out a little later or earlier, and sometimes you’ll have a mountain of tasks from a particularly complicated clinic. You’ll sometimes be on call and have to go to the hospital to see patients after you’re done for the day. And you may keep getting called throughout the night.
Dermatology call can actually be really busy. Obviously it varies week to week like any other specialty. But at the end of the day if you love what you do, you can handle even the busiest and most stressful of days!
Further reading:
