Well, ask two doctors and you'll get three opinions about work time. From my experience here in Germany:
- Doctors in training usually want to work as much as possible to finish their training as fast as possible, especially if they want to work in surgery. For instance, if you train for "general surgery", you need to do about 25 appendectomies, about 35 cholecystectomies, and so on. So in a perverse way, you need a bit of "luck" that you are working while these cases come in. More time in the hospital simply increases your luck.
- Young doctors without kids often want to work a lot to earn more money and accelerate their career.
- Older doctors with kids usually want to work less and more flexibility for choosing shifts.
- Doctors in training usually want to work as much as possible to finish their training as fast as possible, especially if they want to work in surgery. For instance, if you train for "general surgery", you need to do about 25 appendectomies, about 35 cholecystectomies, and so on. So in a perverse way, you need a bit of "luck" that you are working while these cases come in. More time in the hospital simply increases your luck.
- Young doctors without kids often want to work a lot to earn more money and accelerate their career.
- Older doctors with kids usually want to work less and more flexibility for choosing shifts.