Before we had kids, my wife's shift schedule wasn't too bad. I owned my own business and could take time off when she was free during weekdays.

Now that we have kids, the shift schedule is tougher on her. Kids don't work on a shift schedule, and when they make demands of her time and I'm unable to help, she ends up sacrificing her sleep. That happens often enough that it makes any jokes about startup founders being sleep deprived, well, a joke.

Somehow, she's able to rally herself and get enough energy to work through a string of night shifts, even after having to take the toddler to the pediatrician during the day if I wasn't able to.

My wife also moonlights at another hospital (something she did back when I was getting my startup going and we needed the extra income). She continues to do this because she enjoys the work there (it's higher acuity).

That's just our personal experience. Colleagues of hers have solved this by hiring help (au pairs, nannies, etc), which we intend to do soon.

She's told me stories about some of her colleagues that don't have kids and have their own share of difficulties. One of them recently dealt with a particular tough case where a 3yo died. There's a culture in the ED where you don't take time off unless you're truly dying. Got the sniffles? Suck it up and come to work. Dealing with a traumatic experience and can't sleep because you've been crying all night? Suck it up and come to work. Hopefully that colleague finds a way to cope, because it's kind of frightening to me, as an outsider, to think of my ED doctor being that person.

I can only speak to the ED specialty. I'm clueless about other medical specialities and any potential health issues around them.