Anesthesiologist assistant job market becoming saturated?

[HenryH]

I was reading a thread on another forum for AA's that discussed the possibility of significantly fewer jobs being available due to an oversupply of anesthetists in general (both AA's and CRNA's). I've also been following a thread on a CRNA forum where the anesthetists are expressing similar concerns.

Could someone who is an anesthetist shed light on the matter? I shadowed an anesthetist a while back and am excited about becoming an AA, but I and others are worried that the only jobs left by the time we graduate in 2-3 years will be those in extremely rural areas. I don't want to live in Atlanta or New York, but I also don't want to live in "the boonies"....

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[bradt9881]

I was reading a thread on another forum for AA's that discussed the possibility of significantly fewer jobs being available due to an oversupply of anesthetists in general (both AA's and CRNA's). I've also been following a thread on a CRNA forum where the anesthetists are expressing similar concerns.

Could someone who is an anesthetist shed light on the matter? I shadowed an anesthetist a while back and am excited about becoming an AA, but I and others are worried that the only jobs left by the time we graduate in 2-3 years will be those in extremely rural areas. I don't want to live in Atlanta or New York, but I also don't want to live in "the boonies"....

You need to consider the fact that AA is not available in all 50 states; last I heard, the total count was 14. If you want more job opportunities you need to go CRNA or anesthesiology.

 

[Coastie]

CRNAs have more trouble than AAs: groups will preferentially hire AAs over CRNAs in their respective markets, and the AAs are only growing in numbers and schools.

On that note, anesthetists in general are being flooded into the market at crazy rates. This will drive down salaries for all mid-level providers involved in the field of anesthesia.

I was reading a thread on another forum for AA's that discussed the possibility of significantly fewer jobs being available due to an oversupply of anesthetists in general (both AA's and CRNA's). I've also been following a thread on a CRNA forum where the anesthetists are expressing similar concerns.

Could someone who is an anesthetist shed light on the matter? I shadowed an anesthetist a while back and am excited about becoming an AA, but I and others are worried that the only jobs left by the time we graduate in 2-3 years will be those in extremely rural areas. I don't want to live in Atlanta or New York, but I also don't want to live in "the boonies"....

 

[Endee]

You need to consider the fact that AA is not available in all 50 states; last I heard, the total count was 14. If you want more job opportunities you need to go CRNA or anesthesiology.

Actually it is 18 states.

If you don't want to work in Atlanta, or maybe Cleveland, then don't worry. You will be working for a long time before other markets get saturated.

 

[facetguy]

CRNAs have more trouble than AAs: groups will preferentially hire AAs over CRNAs in their respective markets, and the AAs are only growing in numbers and schools.

On that note, anesthetists in general are being flooded into the market at crazy rates. This will drive down salaries for all mid-level providers involved in the field of anesthesia.

Why will AAs be hired over CRNAs?

 

[HenryH]

Do you know how much longer it will be before other cities in GA become flooded? I live in a particular small-ish (pop. ~300k) city in GA and would like to come back here after I graduate, but it seems likely that GA will be one of the first states to have most of its major markets get saturated with anesthetists, especially when considering the presence of 2 AA schools plus however many CRNA schools there are.

Coastie... do you have an estimate of what the average starting salary will be driven down to? $100k? $80k? I am well aware that most people are very pretentious about financial preferences in regards to being an anesthetist, but let's get real...

 

[lov2xlr8]

CRNAs have more trouble than AAs: groups will preferentially hire AAs over CRNAs in their respective markets, and the AAs are only growing in numbers and schools.

Why will AAs be hired over CRNAs?

x2, seems the other way around at the locations I've been. Lot's of CRNAs, few AAs and those that are there run into "issues". Does anybody think this might change (because AAs are trained more on a medical model than the nursing model - similar to PA vs NP)?

 

[Endee]

x2, seems the other way around at the locations I've been. Lot's of CRNAs, few AAs and those that are there run into "issues". Does anybody think this might change (because AAs are trained more on a medical model than the nursing model - similar to PA vs NP)?

In places where AAs aren't being hired even though they could be it is usually either due to the CRNAs exerting pressure to not hire them or it is due to lack of knowledge and/or exposure to AAs in general.

 

[jwk]

The jobs are there but you have to get out and do the legwork.

There are NO guarantees for ANY city for ANY job. Why would any of you think AA's automatically have a position waiting for them anywhere they want at any given time? That's the impression I get from a lot of you as well as the students I work with.

Is Atlanta full? Not yet. Is it closer to full than it was 2-3 years ago? Absolutely. Is there a recession? Yes. Will it ever end? Yes. Is Atlanta still growing? Yes.

I suspect the same is true for Cleveland. But there are lots of decent-sized cities in Georgia, Ohio, Florida, Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Wisconsin, DC, and a lot of other places, that are perfectly willing to hire AA's. But you gotta look. Don't expect them to find you, and don't expect to find them on GasWork.

And for those of you in school - and I repeat this all the time - treat EVERY rotation as a job interview. Trust me, EVERY student we see, AA or CRNA, is looked at as a potential employee (or not).

 

[HenryH]

jwk, if you don't mind, I have a question about getting a job as an AA student. Let's say I apply to Emory's program this August, get offered an interview, and then an acceptance following the interview. Would it be "jumping the gun" to call up the local hospitals and anesthesia groups in the city I'm interested in working in to inquire about signing a "commitment" agreement for employment (this is what I've heard them described as)? I've heard that CRNA's often sign contracts like these as soon as they are accepted to CRNA school. I would love to be able to construct a similar arrangement with a local practice, but would they (the local hospitals/practices) actually be open to signing a contract with someone who hasn't even started AA school yet?

 

[HenryH]

I just thought about something today. Is it possible to stay competitive for AA jobs by going through AA school and then focusing on practicing in some sort of critical care setting (e.g., cardiology, neurosurgery, etc.)? How would a newly graduated AA go about doing this? Would I cherry-pick CME courses that focus on teaching those skills? As far as I know, there aren't any residency-like programs available for AA's (although that would be nice!). It seems like this would improve one's chances of getting hired in an area that has an oversupply of anesthetists. Would someone with more experience and knowledge mind chiming in here?

 

[core0]

I just thought about something today. Is it possible to stay competitive for AA jobs by going through AA school and then focusing on practicing in some sort of critical care setting (e.g., cardiology, neurosurgery, etc.)? How would a newly graduated AA go about doing this? Would I cherry-pick CME courses that focus on teaching those skills? As far as I know, there aren't any residency-like programs available for AA's (although that would be nice!). It seems like this would improve one's chances of getting hired in an area that has an oversupply of anesthetists. Would someone with more experience and knowledge mind chiming in here?

As an AA your practice is limited to anesthesia. If you want to do critical care as part of anesthesia an MD plus a critical care fellowship is the way to go.

David Carpenter, PA-C

 

[HenryH]

Sorry, let me clarify my last post. I don't want to necessarily work as a critical care physician; rather, I was proposing that I work as an anesthesia provider in some kind of critical care setting. In other words, I would hone my skills for providing anesthesia in neurosurgery cases, pediatric cardiology cases, and other types of "critical care" (if this is even an accurate word to describe them) cases. I just thought that this would improve my chances of getting a job as an anesthetist since an oversupply of CRNAs seems to be threatening job prospects in many areas.

 

[Endee]

Sorry, let me clarify my last post. I don't want to necessarily work as a critical care physician; rather, I was proposing that I work as an anesthesia provider in some kind of critical care setting. In other words, I would hone my skills for providing anesthesia in neurosurgery cases, pediatric cardiology cases, and other types of "critical care" (if this is even an accurate word to describe them) cases. I just thought that this would improve my chances of getting a job as an anesthetist since an oversupply of CRNAs seems to be threatening job prospects in many areas.

You might be able to do this informally, depending on the school you go to and their available clinical rotations. For example, if you wanted to work in a childrens hospital and specialize in pediatrics, you could do as many rotations as possible at pediatric hospitals. If you wanted to do cardiovascular anesthesia, you could try to only rotate at hospitals that do heart surgeries.

 

[HenryH]

Thanks for the info. Do you know if this would make me more attractive (i.e., "hireable") to anesthesia groups? There's so much chatter over a glut of anesthetists that I just want to be sure to cover my bases. I don't want to live in Atlanta or Cleveland or some other metropolis, but I don't want to be relegated to working in "the sticks."

 

[clarkbar]

bump

 

[FutureDO2016]

How is the job market for AA's... I see they can practice in 18 states and DC area....what is the starting salary? How competitive is the program to get into? I see most of the 9 programs have only 10-35 students but how many apply?

 

[mmag]

How is the job market for AA's... I see they can practice in 18 states and DC area....what is the starting salary? How competitive is the program to get into? I see most of the 9 programs have only 10-35 students but how many apply?

Go to gaswork and look at the job listings for C-AA's for salary info.