Anesthesiology Residency Question

[spartikus]

Hey everyone I am new to student doctor and need some advice. I am currently an attending physician in Family Medicine I finished residency in 2006. I am toying with the idea of going into anesthesiology for residency. Its been a while since I applied and went through the motions of applying and am wondering how best to proceed. Also since I have done a residency would I be able to skip one year of the anesthesiology residency or would I have to do the full residency. How long is anesthesiology? Also someone told me since I have done a residency I would not be able to get paid while doing a second residency is this true? Lastly I have been practicing medicine for the last 2 years if I were to leave my current position I am sure I will have to have tail insurance would a residency program pick this up? Any advice is greatly appreciated thank you.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[dragonfly99]

Hi there,
I'm not in anesthesia but have several friends who are.
If you like procedures and can deal with surgeons and occasional moments of panic/terror while having attention to detail, it sounds like it might be a good field for you.
Anesthesia residents have to do a prelim year before they begin 3 years of anesthesia residency, but your fp residency would satisfy that I would think. They allow them to do medicine, surg. or "transitional year" so I am sure it would suffice.

They would not hire you for anesthesiology residency without paying you. I believe the issue has to do with Medicare/the gov't and what it will pay for a resident to be trained. There was talk in the past that they would not pay for someone going to a 2nd residency but I don't believe that is true...since lots of folks do a 2nd one. I think mostly the issue was with surgical residents switching from 1 surgical field to another...the gov't I think wouldn't pay the new residency for an extra year of training if the new/2nd residency wanted the resident to do one (to make up for deficiencies/lack of overlap in training from their previous surgical residency). I am not 100% sure about this. Best thing to do would be call some of the local medical school(s) anesthesiology departments and ask for an informational interview with the program director. He/she should be able to tell you.

I would poke around and inquire at multiple anesthesiology programs to find out if there are any open 2nd year spots available (maybe not any more for this year, but maybe for next year). Based on my friends' experiences and what I have seen posted online, there are spots that open up periodically, some that are "outside the Match". You could sign up for Findaresident, which the NRMP runs. It is a site where program directors post open spots in all specialties. There is also Openspots.com, but in my opinion that site is a little bit of scam. I had a friend who switched from surgery to anesthesia...did it by sheer gruntwork on her part, just calling around to different programs, etc. and finally found a spot in New York City where she wanted to live.

Yeah, primary care is sucking right now, isn't it? I think more primary care docs will quit with this latest Medicare madness.

Dragonfly
a medicine fellow

 

[bubalus]

Anesthesiology training is 1 prelim year and 3 of anesthesiology. Your FP would count for the first year only.

You can apply by contacting your medical school and going through the match, or you can send a CV and cover letter to all the anesthesiology programs you could conceivably want to attend. Or you can do both.

Residency programs get a subsidy from the government. It's quite a bit of money. From that they pay you, pay for your benefits, and cover some of the additional expense from less efficient care. The length of the subsidy is the number of years it takes to be board eligible in the specialty you spend your PGY-1 year in. General surgery = 5, FP = 3, IM = 3. So if you do an internal medicine internship then do an anesthesiology residency, the IM prelim year gets 100%. The anesthesia program gets 100% for the next two years, but 50% for the last year. Since you've done a full FP residency, the program would only get 50% from you. Will programs consider that? I don't know. Depends on the program.

Yes, you have to have tail insurance, and there is no way in hell a program is going to pick that up for you. You're probably talking 1-2 years of your premiums, and that's a fair chunk of change.

Good luck.

 

[GoGreen04]

Does anyone know if you could receive credit for a year of OB residency? I am thinking of switching from OB to anesthesia.

 

[fpanes]

GoGreen04- I switched from FP (out of private practice) to anesthesia, but someone who graduated from my program last year had done a year of OB. I am not 100%, but I think he went straight into a CA1 slot from a PGY1 year of OB. It may vary by program, so ask around to residency coordinators. I think most disciplines would be recognized as sufficient for the PGY1 year.

 

[periopdoc]

There are currently two FPs in my program who went directly into the CA-1 year. They both were in practice before deciding to start the anesthesia residency. I suggest you learn a bit about anesthesia and the residency then let me know and I could give them your contact info. You will get paid the same as every other resident in the program. Because of the ACGME monopoly, the salaries at the various residency programs are all pretty identical and I seriously doubt that you will find anyone who will cover your tail.

I did my OB internship and then bailed. I had less than 20 hours between walking out of the hospital in Baltimore as an OB intern and walking into the hospital in Seattle as an anesthesia resident.

When I decided to leave, I sent an application via ERAS to the programs I was interested in. I then called the program directors directly and requested interviews. It took a lot of persistence on my part in calling and emailing the PD's and making a pest of myself, but I got the interviews I wanted and I eventually got into the program I wanted.

It can be done.

- pod