Anesthesiology vs Rads

[MedManU]

I'm an MS3 who is considering Radiology or Anesthesiology as my specialty. I can't figure out which one would fit me best. I have good board scores and grades so those aren't really an issue. I have always wanted a career that keeps me busy and keeps bringing new things to the table so life doesn't get so mundane. I definitely want a job where I can have a good family life as well. I would consider myself more of a cerebral person than a surgeon type, but I do still enjoy procedures. I do enjoy reading about difficult anesthesia cases here on SDN.
Anesthesia:
Pros: I loved physiology in undergrad and in medical school and I think it is awesome to apply it and see it in action.
More social and people oriented.
Early start and relatively early finish to the day (usually).
You see a lot of cool surgeries.
Cons: I think long cases would get boring.
The whole CRNA issue (I don't know if I'd like the supervisory role or not and if I will be able to avoid that in the future).
Rads:
Pros: New problems to solve all day long. I think it'd be like solving puzzles for each new case.
Ability to do IR afterward if I end up wanting to.
A large breadth of knowledge is needed.
Cons: Sit in a dark room alone most of the day. That would get old I imagine.
I think my eyes would hurt.
Visual diagnosis is probably not my strong suit (but I'm sure it could be learned).

I have a couple questions about anesthesia. From the outside, it seems like more of a procedural field, but I know there is a good amount of problem solving as well. How many cases are very typical and just go through the motions vs having to change things up and find a new or different way to get the job done? Are there subspecialty fields that have more of the challenging cases than general anesthesia? (Interested in cardiothoracic, but I keep hearing cardiothoracic surgery is disappearing).
What do you guys think of rads vs anesthesia for me?

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[803]

I would suggest the one you like the most ..... no one else knows what that would be

 

[PMPMD]

Do a rotation in each. Consider pain managent and SICU rotations for more anesthesia options, and IR or something like neurorads for radiology.

 

[Jay K]

I'm an MS3 who is considering Radiology or Anesthesiology as my specialty. I can't figure out which one would fit me best. I have good board scores and grades so those aren't really an issue. I have always wanted a career that keeps me busy and keeps bringing new things to the table so life doesn't get so mundane. I definitely want a job where I can have a good family life as well. I would consider myself more of a cerebral person than a surgeon type, but I do still enjoy procedures. I do enjoy reading about difficult anesthesia cases here on SDN.
Anesthesia:
Pros: I loved physiology in undergrad and in medical school and I think it is awesome to apply it and see it in action.
More social and people oriented.
Early start and relatively early finish to the day (usually).
You see a lot of cool surgeries.
Cons: I think long cases would get boring.
The whole CRNA issue (I don't know if I'd like the supervisory role or not and if I will be able to avoid that in the future).
Rads:
Pros: New problems to solve all day long. I think it'd be like solving puzzles for each new case.
Ability to do IR afterward if I end up wanting to.
A large breadth of knowledge is needed.
Cons: Sit in a dark room alone most of the day. That would get old I imagine.
I think my eyes would hurt.
Visual diagnosis is probably not my strong suit (but I'm sure it could be learned).

I have a couple questions about anesthesia. From the outside, it seems like more of a procedural field, but I know there is a good amount of problem solving as well. How many cases are very typical and just go through the motions vs having to change things up and find a new or different way to get the job done? Are there subspecialty fields that have more of the challenging cases than general anesthesia? (Interested in cardiothoracic, but I keep hearing cardiothoracic surgery is disappearing).
What do you guys think of rads vs anesthesia for me?

Your post is:
1) horribly condescending to radiologists, anesthesiologists and surgeons
2) lacking in exposure to the above fields, apparent in your preface and pros/cons list
3) exceedingly blithe

You should (as recommended by others)
1) complete rotations in said fields as an active participant
2) repost when you ask whether you should be a pathologist vs emergency physician, and whether microscopes will hurt your eyes or working up "it hurts here" will become mundane

There... I've gone and done it, blithely insulted pathologists and emergency physicians...

 

[hivoltage]

Your post is:
1) horribly condescending to radiologists, anesthesiologists and surgeons
2) lacking in exposure to the above fields, apparent in your preface and pros/cons list
3) exceedingly blithe

You should (as recommended by others)
1) complete rotations in said fields as an active participant
2) repost when you ask whether you should be a pathologist vs emergency physician, and whether microscopes will hurt your eyes or working up "it hurts here" will become mundane

There... I've gone and done it, blithely insulted pathologists and emergency physicians...

oh leave him alone. he is just asking a question geezz

to answer him

I would gladly work up "it hurts here" or have the microscope hurt my eyes then deal with the bull sht we deal with on a daily basis.

 

[countingdays]

I'm an MS3 who is considering Radiology or Anesthesiology as my specialty. I can't figure out which one would fit me best. I have good board scores and grades so those aren't really an issue. I have always wanted a career that keeps me busy and keeps bringing new things to the table so life doesn't get so mundane. I definitely want a job where I can have a good family life as well. I would consider myself more of a cerebral person than a surgeon type, but I do still enjoy procedures. I do enjoy reading about difficult anesthesia cases here on SDN.
Anesthesia:
Pros: I loved physiology in undergrad and in medical school and I think it is awesome to apply it and see it in action.
More social and people oriented.
Early start and relatively early finish to the day (usually).
You see a lot of cool surgeries.
Cons: I think long cases would get boring.
The whole CRNA issue (I don't know if I'd like the supervisory role or not and if I will be able to avoid that in the future).
Rads:
Pros: New problems to solve all day long. I think it'd be like solving puzzles for each new case.
Ability to do IR afterward if I end up wanting to.
A large breadth of knowledge is needed.
Cons: Sit in a dark room alone most of the day. That would get old I imagine.
I think my eyes would hurt.
Visual diagnosis is probably not my strong suit (but I'm sure it could be learned).

I have a couple questions about anesthesia. From the outside, it seems like more of a procedural field, but I know there is a good amount of problem solving as well. How many cases are very typical and just go through the motions vs having to change things up and find a new or different way to get the job done? Are there subspecialty fields that have more of the challenging cases than general anesthesia? (Interested in cardiothoracic, but I keep hearing cardiothoracic surgery is disappearing).
What do you guys think of rads vs anesthesia for me?

Whatever specialty you pick, it's going to be mundane after a while.

Seeing cool surgeries isn't a reason to pick anesthesia. The surgeries aren't cool after a while, with rare exceptions. How much can you watch people sew and bovie?

 

[Jay K]

oh leave him alone. he is just asking a question geezz

to answer him

I would gladly work up "it hurts here" or have the microscope hurt my eyes then deal with the bull sht we deal with on a daily basis.

Yeah, I can be a real ass sometimes...

 

[El Dooderino]

oh leave him alone. he is just asking a question geezz

to answer him

I would gladly work up "it hurts here" or have the microscope hurt my eyes then deal with the bull sht we deal with on a daily basis.

I doubt you'd be happy doing either of these. Grass is always greener, some people would be unhappy no matter what they do

 

[hivoltage]

I doubt you'd be happy doing either of these. Grass is always greener, some people would be unhappy no matter what they do

you are right i wouldnt be happy, but i would be happier..

 

[davidjones]

Hey, I'm a rads resident going into IR, I troll here because my GF is anesthesia, and it's also more entertaining here :-D.

I was actually in your shoes, loved anesthesia, and to this day the best physician I have ever met was an anesthesiologist, who I was my preceptor during an anesthesia elective,

I'll list my pros/cons for each specialty when I was deciding; first, the cons for both rads and anesthesia, is that unless you do IR, SICU, or Pain (gas guys correct me if I left one out) the patient is always going to be "someone else's"; if you need to have total control than neither one is really for you, and that aspect of it really bothers me, because I don't have the mindset to do diagnostic rads and really only did it for IR.

Rads:
Pros: IR,IR,IR
also within the scope of IR: get to be part of a field that's completely changing it's face (sort of like rad onc in the 70s when it split) and lots of new therapies coming out: intra ophthalmic artery chemo for retinablastoma, autologos islet cell transplants into portal vein, RFA/Cryo of bone mets with CT (3 big prospective trials comparing it to EBRT with favorable results), all the new cancer therapies

lots of new technology to play with
cool procedures even as a resident
nuclear medicine is actually pretty cool
even general rads get to do biopsies and paras and thoras which breaks up the monotony of the reading room
being the guy other docs come to for advice (unless you're douchy)

Cons:
long long time to IR and if you love IR, chances are you won't really like DR

call is absolutely the worst thing ever; at my hospital the two worst call schedules are for 2nd year rads residents and 2nd year surgery residents (no sleep, tons of pages, all studies are stat)

somewhat isolating (the dark room thing), but it's actually there for a reason (i.e. to help you concentrate), if there was a reading room in the middle of the ER, than you would get image interpretation, well...similar to what you get from an ER doc :-D.


Anesthesia:
Pros:
pretty much all patients are "critical", high acuity, but enough boring stuff to not make you $h1t your pants at work every day

intubation is quite satisfying

loved the SICU

despite what other ways there are to get an ICU fellowship, I always though of anesthesiologists as the "critical care" docs

Pain seemed vaguely interesting to me (didn't know much about it at the time)

get instant satisfaction after each case (assuming patient survives)

get to tell patients "i'm going to keep you alive during surgery"

lots more hot girls in anesthesia (though rads is catching up based on the recent applicants)

see the "best physician" comment above

"basics" of anesthesia, physiology/pharmacology were more interesting to me than basics of radiology (anatomy/physics)

cardiac anesthesia is pretty sphincter tightening (if you like excitement)

Cons:
also somewhat isolating, though not even close to as much as rads

CRNAs (but more as an annoyance than an actual threat, like a mosquito but not carrying malaria, and not really something that even pushed me away from gas, but you'll have to deal with their type, advanced practice nurses, in IR as well)

can do interventional pain, but limited to other "interventional" procedures (which was the big thing for me, in IR there is an option of doing a pain fellowship (harder to obtain for IR) or hospice/palliative care fellowship too, get, but going from gas I could not learn to TIPS, y90, stenting etc.) I think that's how people like it though


ultimately my love of IR won out, but I caution you to not choose a field based on the fellowships within it (even though I did) , because 1)you may hate the underlying field; It's kind of dreary for me going to work, and I've had to find ways to work around the cons of DR like working at a free clinic, rounding on every patient I put a tube into, or inpatient I did a biopsy on, and rolling to the IR suites to scrub in on procedures if I have time, even staying late or coming in on the weekends when it's just the attending or fellow


and 2)you may not get the fellowship


so instead of doing rotations in the sub-specialty of each, do rotations (at least 1 month) in both general rads and gas and see if you can tolerate either one for the duration of residency, you may end up in the same position you are now (like both), may come to like one more than the other, or may hate both and decide to do something else; all except for the first possibility are steps forward

but I think they're both great fields, with a lot

 

[badasshairday]

Hey, I'm a rads resident going into IR............

but I think they're both great fields, with a lot

Thanks for the post. I am in the same boat as you were when you were in med school.

I am reallying thinking Radiology for IR, but love Anesthesiology too. I'm not exactly super stoked about DR, but I think I can stomach it for IR. I know for a fact that I really like Anesthesiology and got a good feel for it during my rotation since I had an awesome attending. It is going to be a tough choice.

 

[nick_carraway]

Thanks davidjones! Very insightful, since I think I'm the only person in my class bouncing between anesthesia (my first love) and radiology (my more recent love, for IR).

I'm early in the process, so curious what I'll end up doing but you've given me an idea of what to watch out for.

 

[DrVanNostran]

Thanks for the post. I am in the same boat as you were when you were in med school.

I am reallying thinking Radiology for IR, but love Anesthesiology too. I'm not exactly super stoked about DR, but I think I can stomach it for IR. I know for a fact that I really like Anesthesiology and got a good feel for it during my rotation since I had an awesome attending. It is going to be a tough choice.

Man, I am under a similar dilemma but not with Gas. I would love to IR, but going through DR seems like torture at this point. IM, EM, and Rads all seem great. I wish the DIRECT programs were more strong in terms of training DR/IR. But it seems like they have a bad pass rate on the DR boards. What to do, what to do!

 

[MrBurns10]

Man, I am under a similar dilemma but not with Gas. I would love to IR, but going through DR seems like torture at this point. IM, EM, and Rads all seem great. I wish the DIRECT programs were more strong in terms of training DR/IR. But it seems like they have a bad pass rate on the DR boards. What to do, what to do!

What about DR don't you like? The thing is that even if you get through radiology residency, many PP jobs will still require you to do some DR (there are fewer 100% IR jobs than you'd think). So I would recommend ensuring that DR is something you can deal with doing at least in part for the rest of your life.

On the other hand, there has been talk in recent years about splitting DR and IR completely and it looks like it may be heading in that direction. In that case, I'm sure the jobs would reflect that.

 

[MossPoh]

I get the impression that DR is difficult for a lot of people to totally love at first because, well, it is boring to watch other people think. There is also that feeling you are giving up seeing patients and are going to be locked into a backroom somewhere. Both of those are reasons why such a large percentage of people interested in IR at first. As one grows their knowledge, they begin to understand what it entails a bit better.

DR is a field that is tough for many people to compare with others by the, "What do you picture yourself doing in 20 years?" trick because one's mental picture instantly flashes over to a person sitting in a dark room rather than solving complex problems or as my dad put it, "Getting paid to play 'Where's Waldo?' every day".

 

[MedManU]

Thanks everyone for all the replies. Only time and experience will tell I guess.