Anesthesia and personality types that do not work

[BlinkyCat]

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I'm a MS3 interested in anesthesia, but has one problem. I'm not very assertive and in fact quite shy and quiet sometimes. During my third year rotations, I've been getting decent evals only because I compensated for this flaw by working my butt off, being a team player, reading as much as I can, and helping my residents out etc etc. Unfortunately, every single evals starts out with " student is smart, good fund of knowledge, hard working, residents like" BUT...always end with something alongs the lines of lack of assertiveness. Is this going to be a huge liability when I apply for residency? My second question is, will I be able to succeed in anesthesia with this introverted quiet personality? Thanks!

 

[coprolalia]

I'm a MS3 interested in anesthesia, but has one problem. I'm not very assertive and in fact quite shy and quiet sometimes. During my third year rotations, I've been getting decent evals only because I compensated for this flaw by working my butt off, being a team player, reading as much as I can, and helping my residents out etc etc. Unfortunately, every single evals starts out with " student is smart, good fund of knowledge, hard working, residents like" BUT...always end with something alongs the lines of lack of assertiveness. Is this going to be a huge liability when I apply for residency? My second question is, will I be able to succeed in anesthesia with this introverted quiet personality? Thanks!

The short answer: yes.

The caveat: provided you are not meek.

You have to be pretty deferential when you're an anesthesiologist, but you also have to know when (and how) to speak up and take control... when necessary.

Your "clients" and "customers" are both the patient and the surgeon. So, you have to do a good job, keep things moving, be safe and efficient, and most importantly not interfere with the reason why the patient is there - to get through their surgery comfortably and without any f-ups.

It doesn't matter if you aren't "assertive" provided that it doesn't compromise safety or patient care. In fact, my impression over the past four years is that most surgeons prefer someone who just quietly does a good job.

-copro

 

[jetproppilot]

The short answer: yes.

The caveat: provided you are not meek.

You have to be pretty deferential when you're an anesthesiologist, but you also have to know when (and how) to speak up and take control... when necessary.

Your "clients" and "customers" are both the patient and the surgeon. So, you have to do a good job, keep things moving, be safe and efficient, and most importantly not interfere with the reason why the patient is there - to get through their surgery comfortably and without any f-ups.

It doesn't matter if you aren't "assertive" provided that it doesn't compromise safety or patient care. In fact, my impression over the past four years is that most surgeons prefer someone who just quietly does a good job.

-copro

Copro's posts continue to speak the truth about the anesthesia biz. I'm kinda an "observant" now. Mil is toast. Noy is kinda like me, posting here and there. UT Southwestern, a-once prolific poster, still listed as a moderator, hasnt been heard from in thirty seven years.

Plank has been pretty solid.

Guess what I'm inferring is

theres been a Changing of the Guard.

Jet/Mil/Noy/UT are observers now....uhhhhh....whats that ACADEMIC TERM that means even if you don't do S H IT noone can f uk with you?

uhhhhh....OH YEAH.....TENURED.🙄🙄

So now I prefer to think of myself as a tenured (read: pretty useless MOFO) professor of this forum....

you know the ACADEMIC ANESTHESIOLOGIST PROFESSOR gig...

show up in the OR about 0830, talk to some people, attest to the fact that I haffta go to some "meetings," walk around alot, maybe show up in street clothes but change into scrubs even though I'm not doing any cases, arive promptly at TEN FORTY AM in the doctors lounge EXACTLY at the same time the cafeteria person brings the free lunch for doctors, even though I told you a cuppla hours ago my entire day was frought with MEETINGS, eat the free grub at leisure while simultaneously watching my partners leave their food to start cases/troubleshoot PACU problems/go to Day Surgery to check on Ms. Smith whose elbow hurts after her hysterectomy, even through all this, watching partners workitheir a ss es off I'm still gonna sit here in the doctors lounge and eat lunch, since I'm, uhhhh,,, BETWEEN MEETINGS,

then I'll finish my lunch. I'm not assigned to any OR cases. I'm a Tenured Professor, though....so now I'll go change outta my scrubs, scrubs I donned for no rational/explainable reason, put on my civilian clothes. I'll return to the Doctor's Lounge, scrap with the doctors in there, saying "Yep...another day at the mill....man I've been busy today!"

Even though I haven't done JACK S H IT

the entire day.

Yep, I know how alotta Tenured Professors in the academic world work.

Here, right here right now, on SDN anesthesia, consider me a

TENURED PROFESSOR.

COP, on the other hand, is not TENURED, meaning that he is still motivated and still churning out useful, knowledgeable, intuitive information about the anesthesia biz to our resident colleagues.

Cop has prose, knowledge, and swagger.

I'm passing the baton.👍

 

[Bertelman]

Cop has prose, knowledge, and swagger.

I'm passing the baton.👍

Funny you should say that. I've been thinking the same thing the past week or so. I haven't seen much of the bitter, "residency sucks, you can piss off" posts that used to be his trademark. Cop's recent posts have been thoughtful and spot-on, just like always, but somehow more "mature" than some of the older topics. I still look forward to what he has to say, I just don't expect the fallout that used to take place.

This is kind of rambling now, but it seems like he's talking more like a wise attending, less like a cocky resident. I'll miss the old Cop, but we need some more wise posts around here.

 

[huktonfonix]

Funny you should say that. I've been thinking the same thing the past week or so. I haven't seen much of the bitter, "residency sucks, you can piss off" posts that used to be his trademark. Cop's recent posts have been thoughtful and spot-on, just like always, but somehow more "mature" than some of the older topics. I still look forward to what he has to say, I just don't expect the fallout that used to take place.

This is kind of rambling now, but it seems like he's talking more like a wise attending, less like a cocky resident. I'll miss the old Cop, but we need some more wise posts around here.

Oh cmon, everybody hits a bit of an angry stretch during residency. Its a lot diferent when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Masseter Spasm]

Being quiet can be an asset. If people know you are usually reserved, they will listen when you speak up.

 

[Bertelman]

Oh cmon, everybody hits a bit of an angry stretch during residency. Its a lot diferent when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I never claimed he was the only bitter resident in the U.S. Just saying his posts are different now than they were as recent as a month ago.

 

[fastosprintini]

back to the answer of the op , after having observed and worked with former attendings in an academic setting i can attest that DSM-IV diagnoses seem to be tolerated there , but would not survive in pp....
fasto

 

[dhb]

TENURED PROFESSOR.

🤣
Today I had to relieve the other resident that was under the supervision of the attending in between my cases so that he could eat because this tenured attending is such a lazy ******* he can't manage 2 15min breaks in a whole day.

 

[deleted126335]

.

 

[maceo]

Copro's posts continue to speak the truth about the anesthesia biz. I'm kinda an "observant" now. Mil is toast. Noy is kinda like me, posting here and there. UT Southwestern, a-once prolific poster, still listed as a moderator, hasnt been heard from in thirty seven years.

Plank has been pretty solid.

Guess what I'm inferring is

theres been a Changing of the Guard.

Jet/Mil/Noy/UT are observers now....uhhhhh....whats that ACADEMIC TERM that means even if you don't do S H IT noone can f uk with you?

uhhhhh....OH YEAH.....TENURED.🙄🙄

So now I prefer to think of myself as a tenured (read: pretty useless MOFO) professor of this forum....

you know the ACADEMIC ANESTHESIOLOGIST PROFESSOR gig...

show up in the OR about 0830, talk to some people, attest to the fact that I haffta go to some "meetings," walk around alot, maybe show up in street clothes but change into scrubs even though I'm not doing any cases, arive promptly at TEN FORTY AM in the doctors lounge EXACTLY at the same time the cafeteria person brings the free lunch for doctors, even though I told you a cuppla hours ago my entire day was frought with MEETINGS, eat the free grub at leisure while simultaneously watching my partners leave their food to start cases/troubleshoot PACU problems/go to Day Surgery to check on Ms. Smith whose elbow hurts after her hysterectomy, even through all this, watching partners workitheir a ss es off I'm still gonna sit here in the doctors lounge and eat lunch, since I'm, uhhhh,,, BETWEEN MEETINGS,

then I'll finish my lunch. I'm not assigned to any OR cases. I'm a Tenured Professor, though....so now I'll go change outta my scrubs, scrubs I donned for no rational/explainable reason, put on my civilian clothes. I'll return to the Doctor's Lounge, scrap with the doctors in there, saying "Yep...another day at the mill....man I've been busy today!"

Even though I haven't done JACK S H IT

the entire day.

Yep, I know how alotta Tenured Professors in the academic world work.

Here, right here right now, on SDN anesthesia, consider me a

TENURED PROFESSOR.

COP, on the other hand, is not TENURED, meaning that he is still motivated and still churning out useful, knowledgeable, intuitive information about the anesthesia biz to our resident colleagues.

Cop has prose, knowledge, and swagger.

I'm passing the baton.👍

luv your post. Should we all aspire to be the tenured professor?


The kind that tell you about their tough case. "man i had a tough aline"? Meanwhile you have done 30 laps around the place and its not even lunchtime.

I guess its human nature. Those who been around know how to manipulate the system to their advantage. YOur goal is to do the same i suppose. sometimes though the presnce of such a person speaks volumes.

 

[lfesiam]

luv your post. Should we all aspire to be the tenured professor?


The kind that tell you about their tough case. "man i had a tough aline"? Meanwhile you have done 30 laps around the place and its not even lunchtime.

I guess its human nature. Those who been around know how to manipulate the system to their advantage. YOur goal is to do the same i suppose. sometimes though the presnce of such a person speaks volumes.

Since we are talking about academia.

one great lecture/book I want to recommend all SDN readers to keep life in perspective:

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

To OP: It took me about 2 months into 3rd year to figure out the gig: work hard, do what you are told, no complains, BOW YOUR HEAD, smile, and crack a "joke at the right time with the right person". Striking a balance is key.

Anyhow, from my observation, lots of personalities in Anesthesiology. But one common theme is the ability to act cool and ASSERTIVE during stressful situations.

In my OP, as a medical student: hard work trumps great personality aka better to be a do-er than a talk-er. But if ya got both, you're golden! Good luck dude!

 

[Trisomy13]

cop, you just got the equivalent of an internet hand-job.

i'm not sure if you should feel pathetic or proud...

 

[coprolalia]

cop, you just got the equivalent of an internet hand-job.

i'm not sure if you should feel pathetic or proud...

How about historically misunderstood along with mildly redeemed?

-copro

 

[Trisomy13]

How about historically misunderstood along with mildly redeemed?

-copro

sounds about right

 

[Apollyon]

Good luck dude!

OP is a (very HOT) dudette.

 

[coprolalia]

Well, didn't this turn out to be the ultimate "drive-by" post... but at least I got a hand job out of it.

-copro

 

[BlinkyCat]

Thanks ya'll ! 🙂