Advice for MS1?

[Doc Einstein]

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[countingdays]

I will be attending medical school this fall. Although I am not set on what specialty I want to go into, I shadowed an Anesthesiologist and absolutely loved it. When people asked me what field I am planning on going into, I always tell them that I am not sure and will figure it out in medical school. Still, Anesthesiology has always been in the back of my mind.

For residents and Attendings, I was wondering if you guys had any advice for a new medical student interested in Anesthesiology. What would you have done differently? How much does research weigh in on competitiveness for residency spots? Any advice is appreciated!

I love it.
I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[RussianJoo]

Because you're basing this love for anesthesia on one experience, I would recommend that you keep your options open. The best way to do that is to do the best you can in med-school, get involved with research (it doesn't matter what field or what kind as long as you get results i.e. publications or poster presentations), get involved in specialty interest groups. Try to become a leader either class president or some other leadership role in an interest group or your class. Having the best possible grades, USMLE scores, research and extracurricular activities on your CV will help open up doors no matter what specialty you eventually apply to at the end of med school. Most medical students change their minds on the specialty a few times before finally settling down, some never really fall in love with a specialty and apply to general residency like Family Medicine, or Internal Medicine. By doing the best that you can and getting involved in research and other extracurricular activities you'll have the best shot at getting the specialty that you want.

Don't do the minimum required, because if you change your mind and fall in love with urology or some other competitive specialty you'll be screwed. So learn as much as you can about medicine in general, and do the best you can right now. Everything else should fall into place when the time comes.

Currently because of the politics in anesthesia you really need to love the specialty in order to have it be rewarding.

 

[Doc Einstein]

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[Doc Einstein]

I love it.
I wouldn't recommend it.

Why wouldn't you recommend it GypsySongman?

 

[pgg]

What are the politics in anesthesia?

Enough to fill an entire subforum.

Also, more than a few anesthesiologists have some dissatisfaction with forever playing a supportive role. Patients come to the hospital for surgery, not anesthesia. We know it, the patients know it, the surgeons know it, the hospital administrators know it - this leads to problems, hate, and discontent some places.

 

[countingdays]

Why wouldn't you recommend it GypsySongman?

Because of the politics of anesthesia.

1) You don't have patients that you can pack up and take with you if the hospital tries to **** you.
2) crna lobby wants to **** you
3) democrats want to **** all doctors, especially anesthesiologists because we are a relatively easy target given #1 & 2
4) we will probably all be hospital employees in the near future with our salaries determined by supply and demand with a huge oversupply of crnas destroying our (and their) bargaining position
5) Even if we aren't hospital employees, pooled payment plans will lead to surgeons and hospitals ****ing us and we won't be able to do anything about it given the future crna oversupply
etc
etc


I doubt I'll be able to get through my career before this specialty is no longer worth practicing. The earlier you are in training, the worse your odds.

It's a pessamistic point of view, true. The only thing I can see that would prevent the ruin of Anesthesiologists' and Nurse Anesthetists' careers is if we and the crnas agreed that we needed to maintain a moderate undersupply of graduates. Our only bargaining position in the system is our ability to move to a better job if we aren't treated well at our current practices. With unlimited production of new crna grads, we're both ****ed. My view is pessemistic because I find it highly unlikely that there will be a decrease in crnas.

 

[BLADEMDA]

Because of the politics of anesthesia.

1) You don't have patients that you can pack up and take with you if the hospital tries to **** you.
2) crna lobby wants to **** you
3) democrats want to **** all doctors, especially anesthesiologists because we are a relatively easy target given #1 & 2
4) we will probably all be hospital employees in the near future with our salaries determined by supply and demand with a huge oversupply of crnas destroying our (and their) bargaining position
5) Even if we aren't hospital employees, pooled payment plans will lead to surgeons and hospitals ****ing us and we won't be able to do anything about it given the future crna oversupply
etc
etc


I doubt I'll be able to get through my career before this specialty is no longer worth practicing. The earlier you are in training, the worse your odds.

It's a pessamistic point of view, true. The only thing I can see that would prevent the ruin of Anesthesiologists' and Nurse Anesthetists' careers is if we and the crnas agreed that we needed to maintain a moderate undersupply of graduates. Our only bargaining position in the system is our ability to move to a better job if we aren't treated well at our current practices. With unlimited production of new crna grads, we're both ****ed. My view is pessemistic because I find it highly unlikely that there will be a decrease in crnas.

You hit the nail on the head.

 

[Doc Einstein]

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