anesthesiologist in demand?

[michelleDO]

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just not too sure, someone correct me if I'm wrong. Since people can go into nurse anesthesiology will there be a decrease in demand for doctors in this specialty? Or a decrease in their salary?

 

[Monty Python]

just not too sure, someone correct me if I'm wrong. Since people can go into nurse anesthesiology will there be a decrease in demand for doctors in this specialty? Or a decrease in their salary?

I've been a CRNA since 1995, and I'm applying to DO schools for August, 2006.
I've kept up with the current literature regarding reimbursement and supply/demand of CRNAs and anesthesiologists. Trust me, everyone in anesthesia will be working their gluteus off over the next 2-3 decades. The new grad rate of both anesthesiologists and CRNAs is barely matching the retirement rate, yet with baby boomers entering their senior years in the near future the demand for service will skyrocket. And unless the government completely socializes medicine (ie, total federal control a la the UK) the compensation will be very plentiful.

While on the subject, I'm hoping my 10 years as a CRNA (last two doing cardiac/open heart anesthesia) will overcome my wasted teenage years in college. I've since made up for lost time, but still those horrible years have pulled my GPA down. If you include the graduate level anat/phys/pharm from nurse anesthesia school (using med school texts and professors) my science GPA is around 3.4 and overall is 3.3. I take the MCAT this August for the first time.

 

[doc0875]

The bottom totally fell out of anesthesiology about 8 yrs ago. There were only about 20 residents matched in the entire US one yr. That is now why we are seeing increased demand again. It is a thriving specialty today. You better hope that it does not cycle back to the way it was in the late 1990's though!

DB

 

[Monty Python]

The bottom totally fell out of anesthesiology about 8 yrs ago. There were only about 20 residents matched in the entire US one yr. That is now why we are seeing increased demand again. It is a thriving specialty today. You better hope that it does not cycle back to the way it was in the late 1990's though!

DB

Most of my attendings were in residency or were new residency grads in the 1990s. The dip in anesthesiology residency matches were, for the most part, caused by disinformation, misinformation, and misunderstandings amongst med students about perceived changes in Medicare reimbursement for anesthesia services. They stayed away from anesthesia in droves. Also, private practice groups were slow to hire new grads, waiting to see how the Medicare reimbursement perceived changes would shake out. I believe it was just a blip on the radar.

Every year, the ASA newsletter (http://www.asahq.org/NEWSLETTERS) publishes match results, usually in May. It's a pet project of a former supervisor of mine, Dr. Alan Grogano at Tulane. Highly recommended reading.