ALTorGT said:
hi
i'm trying to make up my mind between choosing either surgery or anaesthesia as a career. Like them both for their focus on fixing problems or managing physiology in the immediate to short term. Done rotations in both and enjoyed them equally. Can see myself being happy in either one.
Spoke to a few surgeons about the issue and their advice was that at the end of the day a job is a job and if you could stick it out in a harsher surgical residency for essentially 2-3 years more, your'e income would be always higher than in anaesthetics. Their argument was that a surgeon in a decent sub specialty like ortho, ent or uro in the longer term always makes more money (50 - 100% more) for the hours worked than an anaesthetist ever will.
How true is this? If one's in this position, would it be wise to choose surgery over anaesthetics but for no other reason than the fact that your bank nalance would be larger, given that you could be happy in both?
Thanks.
Alright folks, I kinda goofed, and I don't want to mislead you, so heres a post modifying my sarcasm above. Sorry, last night was the last night of my night week, a week my wife calls my "menstruating week". Sorry. Heres a better answer to the proposed question. It is a good question, but my initial "ok" and "you can't say that" still stand, but heres an explanation thats more jetprop style.
Something you dont really see much in residency, since everyone is learning and the focus isnt really on speed and efficiency, is the difference in speed and efficiency on the SURGEON's side. Turns out most surgeons, regardless of type, when they have game, are confident in themselves, really know the anatomy, and are on top of their game, are FAST. No 2.5 hour lap-choles. More like 30-40 minutes. ENT dudes? I know two of them in the over-seven-figure realm. They can schedule 15 cases at a surgery center, mostly T&As with 2 or 3 FESSs at the end, and be done by 2pm. Do that twice a week, see 30-40 patients a day in your office, and own a sleep center, and presto! Youre into big, big money.
I'd say ENT has one of the best reimbursement potentials.
Same with ortho. But again, folks, you've gotta be fast, because the more cases you do, the more cash you make, right?
Remember what I said in the previous paragraph about a surgeon who has his/her stuff together is usually fast? NOT ALL SURGEONS HAVE THEIR STUFF TOGETHER AND ARE FAST. Very important point. There are still surgeons that suck in private practice. And there are surgeons who are good, as far as results go, but are slow-not the slowest, but slow. Guys/gals unsure of themselves. Meticulously SLOW surgeons. Surgeons who can't talk and operate at the same time, so if they are talking, add 30 minutes.
Point is, not all surgeons are blazingly fast (again, there are exceptions to this stereotype, but most good surgeons are fast). The elite ones are. They know how to operate, they can put in a total knee and talk/juggle/balance their checkbook at the same time. They can do a FESS in 30 minutes. A thyroid in 45 minutes. Tonsils/adenoids in 15-20 minutes. A one level discectomy in 35 minutes.
Yes, the elitests (did I spell that right?), as far as money goes, can be in the NFL bracket.
But remember not everyone is an elitest. Just because you go into a surgical subspecialty does not guarantee that you're gonna make as much as your Tampa Bay Buccaneer-neighbor-4th round draft pick. Many, many surgeons in private practice are average surgeons. What I'm trying to say is, and this is VERY important, WHAT YOU MAKE AS A SURGEON TOTALLY DEPENDS ON YOU. I know, you guys are gonna read that and say No sh--it. But remember, everyone is not an elitest, so everyone in those specialties does not make big money. Its totally dependent on where they live, what their reimbursement is like, and how FAST AND EFFICIENT they are. Thats why I didnt particulalry like what the surgeon told the med-student. Unless you are an elitest in those fields, many, many anesthesia group-practice salaries rival their surgeon's salaries. And with much more time off.
Thats another issue thats important, dudes/dudettes. Its not important to you now because you want to get out of residency and set the world on fire, but TIME OFF, at some future point in your life, will become JUST AS IMPORTANT AS MONEY. ANd most private practice partners, at least in the southeast, get 8-12 weeks off a year. And if you are in a group practice, and you're laying on the beach in the Bahamas, you're still making money, since everything is pooled. Not so for an ortho/ENT dude. WHen they work, they make money. WHen they don't, they don't.
Just another chapter in medical economics 101...............
Now I'm happier with this explanation for you dudes/dudettes. Again, sorry about the sarcastic response like some frequent posters on this board.
