[pc86]

My girlfriend is a second-year OB/GYN resident (which is a 4 year program) and while that field's residency is less insane than some other specialties like ER, she still works 12 hour shifts Mon-Fri (6a-6p on paper but generally 6-7:30), one 24-hour weekend shift a month, and one 12-hour weekend free clinic shift a month. This is on top of the "extras" that are not work but are required to graduate the residency programs. Weekly rotating presentations to the rest of her group (4 other second-year residents so one ~45 minute presentation every 4 weeks), research, generally keeping up with the state of the art in her field, etc.

So she's only "scheduled" for ~67 hours a week averaged throughout the month, but realistically it is in the 85-90 range.

It's easy to see how a more demanding or emergent field could seriously select for folks who are more able or willing to work on less sleep.