Burn out?

[pado13]

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I'm a 2nd year student seriously considering anesthesia. I have spent a great deal of time in the OR during the first to years of school and thoroughly enjoyed my time thus far. I have overheard a few of the attendings talk about the high burnout rate in anesthesia comapared to other specialties. I had not heard of this before. I'm aware the burnout rate in medicine is high for obvious reasons, but haven't thought of this field as one of the specialties more susceptible to this. Do any attendings/residents have thoughts on these comments?

 

[PMPMD]

I'm a 2nd year student seriously considering anesthesia. I have spent a great deal of time in the OR during the first to years of school and thoroughly enjoyed my time thus far. I have overheard a few of the attendings talk about the high burnout rate in anesthesia comapared to other specialties. I had not heard of this before. I'm aware the burnout rate in medicine is high for obvious reasons, but haven't thought of this field as one of the specialties more susceptible to this. Do any attendings/residents have thoughts on these comments?

Actually the cover of one of our major journals this month addresses this very topic. 51% of academic anesthesia chairs reported burnout, although their job description as chairs is very different from anesthesiologists in practice.

One potential reason for burnout in anesthesia is that some people chose this field for the wrong reasons - perceived lifestyle, underestimation of the stress involved, etc. Anesthesia is not a "chill" or "laid back" field, although many of its practicioners may give off that impression. It is acute medical management of surgical patients - which can be very stressful.

I would choose a field that you would still love if it paid $80k a year. Figure out what the bread and butter cases are for each field and ask, can I do 500 of those in a row and be OK with that? Don't pick anesthesia because you heard there's a guy who's making $500k and he's done every day by 2:30.

The hard part for med students is that the practice models you observe on your rotations may be nothing like the actual job you find yourself in once you're in practice.

 

[Khaos05]

So what is a "real" job as an anesthesiologist like? I've always heard that the lifestyle is good. While it's a plus (and a big one), it's not the only factor (nor is $); however, I would like to know what I'm potentially getting myself into. I don't want to think that MDAs have a 7-3 schedule with occasional lates/call and get through residency only to find out it's more like 7-10pm with occasional early days.

 

[countingdays]

More like 6-5 with some early and some late days. Of course every location is a little different.

 

[Intensivist]

People only mention at what time you finish, it seems like nobody cares too much about time of arrival to work, so far it's my biggest issue, atleast when it comes to timing and working hours, and it neglectable thing for me either.

 

[El Dooderino]

So what is a "real" job as an anesthesiologist like? I've always heard that the lifestyle is good. While it's a plus (and a big one), it's not the only factor (nor is $); however, I would like to know what I'm potentially getting myself into. I don't want to think that MDAs have a 7-3 schedule with occasional lates/call and get through residency only to find out it's more like 7-10pm with occasional early days.

can you link me to a school that grants "MDA" degrees?

 

[pgg]

One potential reason for burnout in anesthesia is that some people chose this field for the wrong reasons - perceived lifestyle, underestimation of the stress involved, etc. Anesthesia is not a "chill" or "laid back" field, although many of its practicioners may give off that impression. It is acute medical management of surgical patients - which can be very stressful.

So what is a "real" job as an anesthesiologist like? I've always heard that the lifestyle is good.

It's a lifestyle field because the pay is good and you're really done and free when you leave the hospital.

There are some cush jobs out there, but most of us work hard, early to late, with sick patients, at exactly the time in their lives when bad things are happening. I work mostly at two places. One is 7 AM to 2-4 PM most days with OB pager call from home - pretty cushy. The other is typically 6:30 AM to 5-7 PM with a 15-30 min lunch break ... some days have gaps between cases if the surgeon is running 2 rooms, but it's often nonstop movement for 10+ hours.

 

[PMPMD]

can you link me to a school that grants "MDA" degrees?

MD Anesthesiologist

 

[periopdoc]

MD Anesthesiologist

Says the Department of Redundancy Department.


All fields have burnout. Do you think the OB doing there 1000th C-Section is significantly less burned out than the anesthesiologist? How about the 10,000th cataract or mole? The best thing about anesthesia is that while it becomes a job, it provides you freedom from work when you leave work. Never underestimate how awesome that is.

It can be pretty frickin stressful at times, just (insert Dry Idea slogan).

- pod

 

[WholeLottaGame7]

MD Anesthesiologist

Swing and a miss on the sarcasm. He was making the point that we're MDs, not "MDA"s.