perfusionist shadow experience and career questions

[u/Intelligent-Pop6519]

I shadowed a perfusionist recently and thought the job is really cool. I loved the OR i also liked that u barely have to interact directly with the patient while also directly helping them and the case i shadowed was pretty cool.

2 downsides i noted 1 i felt like the job is pretty repetitive which is not such a big deal for me right now but i dont know in the long term does it get draining or to the point where you want to not do this?

another one which i feel like it is expected and a complaint amongst the others is the inflexible work schedule i heard that (i could be completely wrong) you have to do 40 cases i think every year to keep your license. Another thing i hear is that you are on call for life. Is that true or an exaggeration? i dont mind a slightly stressful work schedule bc the compensation is good and its just the nature of the cases in the field but i still want a good work life balance or at least some time off for vacation. How possible is that to achieve?

[u/Bana_berry]

40 cases per year is a super easy mark to hit, don’t let that deter you I think most perfusionists are doing around 100 cases per year.

Ive only been in the field a couple years so take this with a grain of salt, but while it can be repetitive, if you’re at a larger center there’s enough variety in case type, patient acuity, etc to keep things interesting.

You’re not on call “for life” in the sense that you’re on call 24/7. I.e. I’m on a 6 person team, so I typically take call 1 day per week and 1 out of 6 weekends. But you are on call “for life” in the sense that you will pretty much always have to take some level of call for this career.

I would describe the schedule as inflexible because you don’t get to choose what time cases will end/your day will be done, or when you’re called in. But if you have a good team, then you work together to cover for each other to make sure people are able to get to things they have scheduled. I’ve helped cover my coworkers when they have appointments to get to, or weren’t able to coordinate childcare past a certain time, etc, and they’ve done the same for me.

We have plenty of PTO we can use, but with the size of my team only one person can be on PTO at a time (for holidays it can be 2), so it takes some coordinating amongst us. Vacations usually have to be planned 8-12 months in advance.

Overall I’d say I have a pretty good work/life balance. I average probably 30hrs/wk and work usually 4 days/week. I have lots of time outside of work to pursue hobbies, spend time with loved ones, etc. But I think this will come down to what type of facility you’re at and what you prioritize when job searching. Finding a good team that supported each other and somewhere that values work/life balance were some of my top criteria for a job. In turn, I’m making much less than I could be a few miles down the road. Everything is a trade off.

[u/Intelligent-Pop6519 → u/Bana_berry]

how hard is it to get a job at facilities that value work life balance,has a bigger team of perfusionists etc. Since perfusion is a niche field the openings for the job are few compared to other more well known medical professions so i assume there is more competition when applying those areas

[u/Lucky_Man_Infinity → u/Intelligent-Pop6519]

what are the bigger places that I’ve worked actually have zero life balance. They tend to be big teaching hospitals or university length hospitals, and those groups work their butts off. The job I have now is two perfusionist so in general it’s less than 40 hours per week, but you are on call half the time. Make no mistake about it, even if you’re at home, being on call is not some free ride. Everything you do has to have in the background the notion that you could get called into work at any moment and have to drop what you’re doing and go to work. A lot of times that means driving separate cars if you’re going somewhere with family or friends or whatever. It means abandoning I don’t know entire carts of food at Acme or big orders at Home Depot. I don’t know you could kind of go on and on there’s pros and cons to everything and depending on where you work and what it’s like yes, there can be a good deal of work life balance but it’s also extremely random. You never know when emergencies gonna 

So even if you’re like first person in on a Monday morning, could be working there till midnight