Anesthesia to Surgery

[Bounty]

What would you tell someone who is thinking about switching from anesthesia (already matched) to general surgery? Would you call them crazy?
Have any of you been interested in surgery but decided on anesthesia instead? If so, have you ever regretted it?

Thanks for your help!

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[Dr Serenity]

What would you tell someone who is thinking about switching from anesthesia (already matched) to general surgery? Would you call them crazy?

Very much so, but that's only me.

Is this your situation? If so, what's making you want to do the switch?

 

[sharkbait]

Flat out, DON'T DO IT. Unless you're looking into doing plastics or something specialized... general surgery is not the way to to. I'm switching out of gen surg to anesth b/c I don't enjoy dealing with babies that naggs and throw temper tantrums at anyone (including innocent bystandards such as yours truly) whenever things don't go right. Sure, surgeries are fun, I really love procedures big and small (hernias, ports, amps), but OR time is just a small portion of the pie. Until you work your way up the ladder, you'll be stuck with "**** flows downhill", crappy hours, and attendings' punching bag. On another level, gen surg gets the "dumping syndrome" from other surg specialties just like medicine gets dumped on (ok, not as bad, but still...).

So bottom line, my advice to you is, don't do it unless you're 100% sure that's what you want to do. And if you do, think of specialties to go into. If none of this applies to you, then at least do gen surg in the west, b/c east coast (and to some degree even the midwest) is malignant, believe me. Hope this helps.

Hey, if you're giving up your spot, can I have it? Hehehe, PM me if you want to humor me (or have any other questions for that matter, I'll be happy to delve into it deeper)

 

[Arch Guillotti]

I would call them crazy.

 

[UTSouthwestern]

Tell that person that he/she needs to pursue what he/she feels is best for them.

Despite what you may think, the life of a surgeon is not entirely a life of voluntary slavery to your practice. Many different types of surgeons enjoy a great lifestyle in addition to enjoying a great practice. Neurosurgeons, ortho spine surgeons, ENT, bariatric surgeons, etc. all enjoy great incomes, great practices, and plenty of time for their families. If there is one surgical specialty that is very tough to work in, it is CT surgery.

Before he/she makes the switch, just tell them to make sure that they are comfortable with the decision and have weighed in all of the pros and cons to the switch.

 

[Ferdie]

flat-out psych-consult crazy.

Neurosurgeons have time for their families where you're from? I'm pretty sure they live at the hospital here.

 

[-Goose-]

flat-out psych-consult crazy.

Neurosurgeons have time for their families where you're from? I'm pretty sure they live at the hospital here.

Duh, dude.


Their families live in the on-call room.

 

[UTSouthwestern]

flat-out psych-consult crazy.

Neurosurgeons have time for their families where you're from? I'm pretty sure they live at the hospital here.

I work with eleven different neurosurgeons and they ALL have plenty of time for their families.

You are thinking neurosurgeons in a major academic center and/or covering level 1 trauma. That isn't always the case. They get the occasional SDH or walk in trauma case, but the majority of their cases are spine, elective crani's, spinal decompressions, and peripheral nerve procedures. With well managed clinics, reasonable call schedules without a level 1 ER, and oodles of OR time, these guys have PLENTY of time for family as well as plenty of time for scheduled vacations.

 

[Ferdie]

I work with eleven different neurosurgeons and they ALL have plenty of time for their families.

You are thinking neurosurgeons in a major academic center and/or covering level 1 trauma. That isn't always the case. They get the occasional SDH or walk in trauma case, but the majority of their cases are spine, elective crani's, spinal decompressions, and peripheral nerve procedures. With well managed clinics, reasonable call schedules without a level 1 ER, and oodles of OR time, these guys have PLENTY of time for family as well as plenty of time for scheduled vacations.

Well that's cool.

On my neurosurg rotation (ugh) on my call night (no work hour restrictions for med students, so we stayed for about 40 hours straight) I was with a 2nd year resident. His wife called part way through the evening and they got into a huge fight on the phone. After hanging up, he vented to me about how they hadn't seen each other awake in about 3 days and she was pressuring him to have babies (um, awkward situation for me...), but he didn't feel like that was a good idea since he wouldn't be home ever until after the kid would graduate kindergarten.

The attendings don't work much less - I've seen them many times on the wards at 5:30 am.

Of course, the hospital I'm at is an academic level 1 trauma center, like you described.

I will say this though - almost all the neurosurgeons really seem to love what they do. Which is good, since they do a lot of it

 

[bubalus]

If this is what you want to do, then do it. However, if you switch and then change your mind and want to go back to anesthesia it may be much harder. If I knew someone who was thinking about this prior to the match, I'd suggest a surgery internship and an advanced anesthesia position. If they liked surgery, they would probably be allowed to continue in the program. If they decide to stick with anesthesia, they are set. And, that way they know what they are getting in to. I've met one person who left anesthesia for IM and know far more who came in from surgery. That said, only you can decide.

 

[Voodoo]

Do what makes you happy. Don't listen to all the people who say you're crazy. Ask yourself why you went into medicine, and follow your dreams. If you're going to just be in anesthesia looking over the drapes all day wondering "what if...?" then just go do it. Plus, if it sucks and you're a quality applicant, we'll be happy to have you back

 

[supercut]

Yep, most would say you're crazy. But if you feel like you settled you should consider it. If you're willing to deal with all the crap surgeons deal with, fine. Someone made the switch into my (now former) surgery program from gas last year.

I'm here to tell you, though that once you've done a bunch of surgeries it's not as cool as it seems. Especially when the OR is running late (as usual), and your 3pm case isn't starting til 630pm and you still have to round and you have to cancel your plans for the evening...again (assuming you were stupid enough to try to make plans in the first place!)

 

[InductionAgent]

I would recommend posting this question in the surgery forum. A double-post seems allowable in this case, since input from both sides of the drape would be quite germane.

I had some moments during my intern year when I wondered if I'd made the right choice. I purposefully scrubbed in on a Whipple during a general surgery rotation just to remind myself of a major reason I don't want to be a surgeon. I like to be have the option to scratch my nose, urinate, and hydrate at least once during a seven-hour period.