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Based on my limited experience in the OR, I've seen instances where surgeons treat the anesthesiologist like he/she was inferior and just a lackey. Did this ever happen to you?
I'm interested in anesthesia but I feel like I'd blow a fuse if another physician straight up belittled me, i.e. another physician.
@NYCdude
I saw that many times as well when I was a RN. It's sad to see that physicians treating other physicians like that. Not to mention that a few years ago it was harder to become an anesthesiologist than a surgeon...
I find it super odd when I see this as a medical student. Anesthesiologists are autonomous and are ALSO leaders of the OR in addition to the surgeons. They each have different roles. I talked with a pediatric anesthesiologist and she told me that one characteristic that a prospective anesthesiologist needs is assertiveness and I can see why that is needed in different instances in and out of the OR.
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It's usually the surgeon, not the anesthesiologist. THere are surgeons who treat people like crap no matter where they are, including other doctors. Some surgeons think they are gods and are the only doctors who matter. Surgery also attracts those types of med students. You will see surgeons treating EM docs, pediatricians, Internists, anesthesiologists, radiologists, inferiorly. In the old days, abuse from surgeons to residents/med students was rampant. There used to be instrument throwing, cursing/verbal often. I've never heard of an anesthesiologist throwing sevoflurane at a resident/student. When you work with surgeons on a daily basis, you just have to pick your battles. Unfortunately some surgeons are so narrow minded or arrogant that they see their surgery as the most important thing without looking at the whole picture. The anesthesiologist also works to the surgeons schedule. I've done completely elective cases (breast reduction, gastric sleeve..etc) in the middle of the night (like 12am..) because the surgeon felt like doing it then.
And also because surgeons usually hold more influence, because they bring in patients and make the hospital a lot of money. You'll occasionally see news articles or hear about it in your hospital about surgeon XYZ did a few bad things, yet isn't fired, etc, or surgeon xyz receives a ton of complaints but isn't fired. Patients often choose hospital XYZ for a specific surgeon. Sometimes they even come from out of state or out of country just for that proceduralist. No one is going to do that for an anesthesiologist.