Anaesthesiology residency

[JHerriot14]

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Hi guys and gals,

I'm an Aussie new grad vet. I'm currently working in mixed practice and will continue to do so for a few more years. After this I plan on applying for a residency in anesthesiology and working in Australia once I'm a qualified specialist.

I have a mentor in this field that's currently working in Australia and quite keen for me to join a particular training program in Australia. But she recons that the US and UK residencies are alot better in terms of the caseload, intensity, variety and recognition. She trained at 1 of the best vet school's in the US and speaks very highly of it.

Here are my questions:
- What's the market like for anesthesiologists? Many jobs available outside academia?
- What sort of pay should I expect?
- I'm worried about the highly specialised nature of the field (and the fact pretty much all vets know how to perform adequate anesthesia without additional training)- if I can't find a job at the end, I'm not going to have many options but to go back into general practice.
- Am I weird for wanting to go down this path? Everyone I talk to seems to think that! "Why not become a surgeon" they say! (To be truthful I love surgery but I like anesthesia even more).
- should I try to do a PhD before/after residency to improve my chance of getting a job?
- does anyone here know anyone who's gone down this path?

Cheers,
Jay

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

The market is probably similar for the rest of the specialties - mediocre. You'd likely be restricted to academia or other forms of referral hospitals...I can't see much of a need in industry, government, etc.

Starting salary for a DVM + board certified specialty +PhD (depending on specialty, some don't push as hard for the additional PhD - i.e. clinical professor - is about 80-90k in most areas. More senior profs make 100-120+. Of course this may be higher in areas where the cost of living is high, but on average that is about what you are looking at. You can always look up the salaries of people employed at the state uni veterinary school because they are considered state employees (at least most of the time) and salaries are public.

Of course not! How is wanting to do gas any different that other specialties? 🙂 Sure, it isn't as common as surgery, but it's not weird at all (heck, I did path).

PhD will only help you if you are going into research or going down the hardcore academic clinical professor route. If you want to stay in private practice, don't go near it.