Tampa area Anesthesia Job Market

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Considering a move to the Sunshine State and any information would be helpful. I am looking for a general position in the area from Tampa to Fort Myers on the coast...Sarasota ideal.

General info on groups, avg salaries, patient population, crnas etc..

I'd prefer mid-size all MD group mostly hospital based. Teaching residents (or med students) ideal, no SRNAs.

Originally Posted by desflurane

Considering a move to the Sunshine State and any information would be helpful. I am looking for a general position in the area from Tampa to Fort Myers on the coast...Sarasota ideal.

General info on groups, avg salaries, patient population, crnas etc..

I'd prefer mid-size all MD group mostly hospital based. Teaching residents (or med students) ideal, no SRNAs.

I grew up in Bradenton, which as you know is right next to Sarasota. 2 hospitals there: Blake Memorial and Manatee Memorial.

Buddy of mine from residency worked at Blake for several years but has relocated (I think) to Fla east coast. Names John Sitarik...maybe you can find his phone number somehow (ASA, google) to find out details.

Another old residency chum is in Ft Myers...Jeff Lentz.

Don't have contact info anymore. Hope you can super sleuth and get some info.

Sorry dude, thats all I got.

whats with that tampa job just working nights for 1 week then off for the next two weeks. do you really need transplant cardiac experience for that?

Jet thanks for the leads, much appreciated. Bradenton would be ideal location-wise.

Hi volt- I was wondering the same thing, the group seems large and from the USF residency postings, malignant. No thanks.

I interviewed at Tampa General. Stay far away especially if you are a new grad. First thing they asked was my current attending salary and said I was better off staying there. They basically want a new grad to use as a workhorse for minimum pay until they quit for better pastures.

Originally Posted by riztime

I interviewed at Tampa General. Stay far away especially if you are a new grad. First thing they asked was my current attending salary and said I was better off staying there. They basically want a new grad to use as a workhorse for minimum pay until they quit for better pastures.

I heard it's a super pyramid complete with SRNAs to help whip the cream

Originally Posted by imfrankie

I heard it's a super pyramid complete with SRNAs to help whip the cream

That is really sad. Florida is a disaster zone.

Originally Posted by foxtrot

That is really sad. Florida is a disaster zone.

This model is uniform throughout groups in FL?

Originally Posted by foxtrot

That is really sad. Florida is a disaster zone.

More info on why would be helpful.

The gulf to bay group that runs Tampa general seems like exactly what I'm not looking for. Not sure why these monster groups think that abuse model is viable. My current group is dealing with the fallout from the high churn rate: Surgeons pissed they don't know anyone, hard to find new recruits because people talk (or skim message boards ) etc etc

Originally Posted by desflurane

More info on why would be helpful.

The gulf to bay group that runs Tampa general seems like exactly what I'm not looking for. Not sure why these monster groups think that abuse model is viable. My current group is dealing with the fallout from the high churn rate: Surgeons pissed they don't know anyone, hard to find new recruits because people talk (or skim message boards ) etc etc

It is viable, as long as there is an excess of anesthesiologists standing in line willing to eat s h i t for the privilege of living in paradise. Lots of Florida has had that reputation for a long time.

There is another new hospital in Bradenton, called Lakewood Ranch, which is run by the Manattee memorial group. In Sarasota there is Doctors Hospital and Sarasota Memorial, and a little further south is Venice Memorial. Plus there is the occasional separate Surgicenter...I tried all these places this year and was told nothing is available for 2 years, but you may have better luck being already in practice. To my dismay, a nurse friend of mine just recently told me that SMH just had several MD's retire, a week after i sent my contract in for a job in Ft. Lauderdale... I think all the groups in Sarasota/Bradenton are pretty stable and overall decent places. Tampa, not so much. Good luck.

I think Florida in general is a pretty saturated market at least for the more popular areas like West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa. I spent almost 7 months looking around until I signed with a group further north. Granted I had no roots/connections (which I think is almost mandatory as jobs pop up randomly and quickly get filled with people in the know). Personally feel grateful Im moving to the sunshine state in a couple of months withe the florida job market the way it is.

Even the university programs which would seem like a gimmie job due to the severe pay decrease are pretty stringent. No job offerings unless fellowship trained. Though they did offer to fast track me and were pretty confident in offering me a spot... Sorry but no thanks to being a resident again after tasting the "attending fruit.:-) just to live in Florida.

Back to the topic... large groups can continue to "devour and discard" new hirees as they have a long line of potential candidates willing to be "used" as long as they can live on the beach and enjoy the weather... Sad but true...

Need to move to Florida for family reason, where to look, any suggestion? Pedi-anesthesia trained. University program, fast track and what not.

Thanks much

Originally Posted by dr doze

It is viable, as long as there is an excess of anesthesiologists standing in line willing to eat s h i t for the privilege of living in paradise. Lots of Florida has had that reputation for a long time.

This is the sad but unfortunate truth for most desirable locations.

To the someone who was looking to getting near Bradenton, I just today saw a gaswork post for that spot. ...Wherever it is. Good luck.

Originally Posted by imfrankie

To the someone who was looking to getting near Bradenton, I just today saw a gaswork post for that spot. ...Wherever it is. Good luck.

Yeah just looked at that ad you just mentioned...I have no interest in that area. But seems like the group is really looking for a worker bee, a new grade or someone who just wants to be in the area.

But for you "novice"....rookies or misinformed. Be very careful what these private groups quote you.

Let's break down the ad:
$300K (seems reasonable for the Florida area).

But lets take a deeper look into the ad
"5-6 weeks of vacation" is that paid or unpaid?
malpractice...occurrence or claims made?...will group pay your tail? I doubt it Malpractice is high in Florida
not a partnership track
"medical insurance stipend" what exactly does that mean?

So to the uninformed potential candiate who doesn't asks those questions, they will be in for a major surprise.

Because that $300K "package" may really only be worth $250K at the end of the day when everything is added up.

Honestly if you are going to work and be someone's worker bee, at the very least they should pay your malpractice tail. Seriously a claims made policy costs between $5-7K the first year. Tail is usually 2X the policy. So the tail will cost you between 10-13K for just the first year if you leave for another practice. Again add this to the equation if they don't pay your malpractice tail or do not offer you occurrence malpractice.

And than I look at anesthesiologist names, I see a last (well actually two last names, "Vilasi" Hopefully they aren't related to the guy that runs FOAA. That spells trouble.

I am not saying the practice is a good or bad practice to be in. But new grads or uninformed people need to do their research and asks these important questions or else, you end up being let go after a year and paying even more money out of practice.

Do not be blind-sided by a practice that tries to sell you location by the beach.

Originally Posted by aneftp

Yeah just looked at that ad you just mentioned...I have no interest in that area. But seems like the group is really looking for a worker bee, a new grade or someone who just wants to be in the area.

But for you "novice"....rookies or misinformed. Be very careful what these private groups quote you.

Let's break down the ad:
$300K (seems reasonable for the Florida area).

But lets take a deeper look into the ad
"5-6 weeks of vacation" is that paid or unpaid?
malpractice...occurrence or claims made?...will group pay your tail? I doubt it Malpractice is high in Florida
not a partnership track
"medical insurance stipend" what exactly does that mean?

So to the uninformed potential candiate who doesn't asks those questions, they will be in for a major surprise.

Because that $300K "package" may really only be worth $250K at the end of the day when everything is added up.

Honestly if you are going to work and be someone's worker bee, at the very least they should pay your malpractice tail. Seriously a claims made policy costs between $5-7K the first year. Tail is usually 2X the policy. So the tail will cost you between 10-13K for just the first year if you leave for another practice. Again add this to the equation if they don't pay your malpractice tail or do not offer you occurrence malpractice.

And than I look at anesthesiologist names, I see a last (well actually two last names, "Vilasi" Hopefully they aren't related to the guy that runs FOAA. That spells trouble.

I am not saying the practice is a good or bad practice to be in. But new grads or uninformed people need to do their research and asks these important questions or else, you end up being let go after a year and paying even more money out of practice.

Do not be blind-sided by a practice that tries to sell you location by the beach.

This is the kind of post I JUST LOVE for you new guys and gals. Believe it or not...there are a ton of anesthesia businessmen schmucks out there. It's perhaps counterintuitive that somebody who can make a real good, high integrity living would rather become an often-dishonest, two-bit, MAKE MO MONEY off you, businessman-wannabe . It was a real disappointing eye opener when I was a greenie. Don't be a mark. Find good people to work with and live below your means. You'll always be rich.

Excellent advice. Generally gaswork is the LAST place one should look for a decent job. Most reputable groups retain their talent and when a spot opens up it's because of retirement or expansion not employee churn.

Any info on said groups would be appreciated.

MD anesthesiologist here

I heard that only MDs can give anesthesia in "offices" (ie, not ASCs) in FL

The reason given was that there were too many deaths in offices 2/2 CRNA errors

Is this true?

Looks like that Tampa Mega Group is now advertisiing a day position on gaswork. Anyone have any info on that group? My guess is that it isn't the fairest group out there and they are crna heavy. Any info on this or any group from Fort Myers to Clearwater would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by desflurane

Looks like that Tampa Mega Group is now advertisiing a day position on gaswork. Anyone have any info on that group? My guess is that it isn't the fairest group out there and they are crna heavy. Any info on this or any group from Fort Myers to Clearwater would be appreciated.

Not only are they Crna heavy, they essentially use srna for free labor. These groups in Florida all think short term profits at expense for long term survival. These srna mom and pop program show up and groups like M*ng*r's in Tampa (sorry don't want to print his name) just use them as free slaves.

The USF MD program got shut down because the poor management of these large Tampa groups.

Just ask them to pay your malpractice tail if you are going to be a W2. Watch the response and the excuses why they won't pay the tail. Tail for one year malpractice is less than $10k. That's how greedy these guys are. They pay low and don't bother to pay the tail for a w2 position.

I know a guy at St Joes in tampa. they typically started new grads at $250 and are usually hiring only fellowship trained people in peds or cardiac so they can take extra calls in those specialities. Seemed like they didn't necessarily want fellowship people but could take the pick of applications so they figured why not take fellowship people.

any advice on whether a fellowship, like card, would help break into the south florida market? pain?

I have heard horror stories of obtaining a Florida license. Just how long does it actually take to get one?

It took less than six weeks for me. Of course, I have already had my FCVS profile ready before application. As soon as they receive all the required documents, your license can be approved in one/two weeks.

Originally Posted by Mac4

It took less than six weeks for me. Of course, I have already had my FCVS profile ready before application. As soon as they receive all the required documents, your license can be approved in one/two weeks.

6 weeks is min together license and that's if you are right on top of matters checking for missing docs. The reason 6 weeks is min because of fingerprint checks take at least 3-4 weeks alone.

My friends took 6-9 months but they were "lazy" following up. But one friend got screwed a little cause he applied while he was a fellow so got discounted rate for application. But they approved the license in August (4 months after he applied) so they held up his license until he paid the attention application rate. That delayed him another month.