anaes vs surg. anes resident gave me his view. Whats yours?

[ALTorGT]

peering over curtain" syndrome

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is anyone here affected by this. just like many others who post here, torn between surgery and anaesthesia as career choices. something that people from both sides mentioned was that sometimes in anaesthesia, because you're in the backseat, you might find yourself constantly peering over the curtain, left out of the action. Feeling like you're not really the A player.
How true is this.

After having done electives in both, I admit there is that niggling thought that you're being left out of the main action and denied the satisfaction of fixing the problem...But when your'e by the patient and holding that damn retractor for the 23rd time, you start wishing you picked something a little more cerebral.

ARGH! why is it so tough to make this decision. Vacillate between one and the other...so much...like trying to choose between a red ferrari or a loaded chaeuffeured Bentley.

How did you finally make that choice. Would you have still made the same choice if you were also given the opportunity at the same time to swap to ENT, Opthal, Ortho or Urology (no strings attached) as compared with the "horrendous lifestyle" general surgery option.

Goddamn life is hard.

ALTorGT
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Yesterday, 02:49 PM #2
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I have not matched yet, but I made the choice after going through this debate and considering several options...it was not difficult, and it just gets easier the more time i spend on service.

Picture yourself as a general surgeon or a general internist. Your day is filled with: meetings, rounds, charts, operations/titrations, charts, more operations, charts, clinic, charts, and finally, rounds. Did I mention charts? Sure, I like to imagine myself tying off that bleeder or stenting that vessel, but do I really want to hold a retractor for three years to get there? Do I really want to chart on a patient twice a day? Or would I rather master pharmacology, physiology, cardiology, pulmonology, become good at procedures, experience medicine, surgery and acute care all in one setting, manage problems, see my actions take effect immediately? As a student on the gas service, I can learn something new every time I walk into a room, whereas on surgery service, after my 5th gallbladder, that was pretty much the long and short of it. Surgical specialties really just narrow the field, and I wanted a broader scope.

After you get through that, if you still aren't convinced, write down the facets of the training and the practice that intrigue you. If you get more on the surgery side than: "it looks cool" or "i like to work with my hands", maybe you should really consider it. I found all my interests were met in anesthesiology, whereas all other specialties left something to be desired. It is not that way for all, though.

Just the $0.02 of a fourth year med student, however.

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[Leforte]

Glad you found a field that interests you -

Never thought about Anesthesiology as a medical student, but did a required 1 month rotation as an intern.

The residents were very happy - very laid back. Most had the same thoughts that you described, but were also quite honest that money and lifestyle was at the top of the list for their choices.

Yes - hold a retractor for hours without actually assisting sucks - but it is also very important, not from the holding aspect, but from actually seeing the operation and knowing the steps, what to do when something unplanned happens, learning the instruments, what instrument to use for specific parts of the operation, etc - Sure you can learn this as a first assist, but when early in training, you be amazed how much disection and actual operating the surgeon can do with the suction and hemostat, have the 1st assistant "cut" here and there and allow the 1st assist to think he/she is doing the case when in fact they are not.

Charting comes with good patient care. You have to revew the charts several times a day - how else would you know what other physicians input into the plan is?

Anesthesia has its share of charting, too - it seems the residents were always charting. Matter of fact, in a trauma or code, there are often 2-3 anesthesia residents there, with one delegated the task of ONLY charting.

You will be free of social work crap, true - but after your junior years in any surgery program - your intern/junior resident takes care of this necessary evil anyway.

Remember, while after "5 gall bladders" it may seem trivial (which it is not) it is probably more so after the several thousand intubations and RSIs that you will do.

Just be happy - enter a field that you will enjoy doing - something with diversity and balance. There are few fields in medicine that I wouldn't enjoy...

 

[mary]

Personally, and I am sure there are many that will disagree with me on this, I think that if you are strongly considering any other specialty than surgery then don't bother to go into surgery. It is hard to justify making the necessary sacrifices if there is any other specialty that you are seriously considering. For me, there wasn't really a choice. I fell in love with ENT the first year of medical school and had no backup. Luckily, I got a spot. For me, the last year (surgical internship) would have been that much harder if I had known that I could have been happy doing any other specialty. Just my opinion, take it for what it is worth.

 

[Tenesma]

boy am i glad that most programs/hospitals have electronic charting in the OR now....