CC after Anesthesiology

[Ronin786]

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FFP, have you ever given thought to doing part time ICU work at one job and part-time anesthesia at another? I imagine it would require sacrificing some flexibility with regards to geography, but that could be a way to make more money and still do ICU.

 

[fakin' the funk]

A lot of opposite viewpoints on here -- it's great.

My experience: I did CCM fellowship because a) I like CCM, b) I wanted to be able to do CCM in practice, and c) I could afford (literally -- opportunity cost) to do it. No kids and not tons of debt at the time.

I'm not doing CCM currently, but having done the fellowship opened doors (not closed them as was others' experience) due to presumed facility with sicker cases etc. It gave me time to get Basic TEE certified. It got me lots of experience with difficult patients, difficult families, difficult procedures, conversing with surgeons professionally and personally, etc.

There are a lot of good reasons to do CCM, but making more money in the ICU than you would in the OR isn't one of them.

 

[MoMoGesiologist]

A lot of opposite viewpoints on here -- it's great.

My experience: I did CCM fellowship because a) I like CCM, b) I wanted to be able to do CCM in practice, and c) I could afford (literally -- opportunity cost) to do it. No kids and not tons of debt at the time.

I'm not doing CCM currently, but having done the fellowship opened doors (not closed them as was others' experience) due to presumed facility with sicker cases etc. It gave me time to get Basic TEE certified. It got me lots of experience with difficult patients, difficult families, difficult procedures, conversing with surgeons professionally and personally, etc.

There are a lot of good reasons to do CCM, but making more money in the ICU than you would in the OR isn't one of them.

Do you feel like it made you better in the OR despite not doing anesthesia for the fellowship year? Do you feel like there were downsides to doing ICU?

 

[deleted171991]

The downside is a $300K loss, an extra year of doing what other people tell you and that it restricts you to a combined job, which is tougher to find. Or you could just go back to anesthesia and forget about CCM. Or practice CCM and forget about anesthesia.

It doesn't matter whether it makes you a better anesthesiologist (it does), especially since you will be happy doing easier cases between the ICU weeks, for a rhythm change. You don't really need a fellowship to do tough cases in the OR, but if you want one for that, do cardiac. If you want to practice in the ICU, do CCM.

 

[Robotic Wis-Hipple]

At my shop the CCM trained people are mostly dual fellowship trained in CT/CCM and work half the time in the ORs and half the time in the unit. However there are 1 or 2 CCM trained docs that do neuro Anesthesia and work in the neuro/neurotrauma units. Lastly, the liver "team" guys are a complete mixed bag with a couple CT trained, a few CCM trained, and the rare no fellowship trained docs doing livers.

I think the CCM training is just that much more a victim of local and individual hospital culture/hierarchy than other subspecialties.

 

[AdmiralChz]

Dang FFP, with all due respect it sounds like you need a new job clearly your current one is jading you. And honestly you seem like a better fit for academics where your perspective would be more appreciated - plus, our (and many others) CICU jobs are being more filled with CCM folks, it's kinda hard to find a cardiac guy interested in covering the CICU these days.

 

[nimbus]

For residents, I would add that "being better at taking care of sick patients in the OR" is not a good reason to do a CC fellowship. Joining a busy practice that takes care of a lot of sick patients will make you better at taking care of sick patients and you will get paid while you get better.

 

[POW16]

CA-2 going into critical here. I love the medicine and the break from the OR. How common is it to have a set up with one week CCM,2 weeks in the OR and a week off/non clinical time every month ? I may be seeing this under the perspective of a resident but that sounds pretty good to me.

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[Ezekiel2517]

CA-2 going into critical here. I love the medicine and the break from the OR. How common is it to have a set up with one week CCM,2 weeks in the OR and a week off/non clinical time every month ? I may be seeing this under the perspective of a resident but that sounds pretty good to me.

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In academics, common. There are many places where the CCM attendings will cover nights 1700-0700 for a week (many times sleeping all night because the fellows and residents cover everything), then have the next 7 days completely off. And on their regular days, simply work M-F 0700-1700. Making 350-400K+ with full benefits, pensions, vacay, nonclinical time, etc. That's a solid gig if you ask me. I don't know many in PP that can match that package for the actual hours worked in the hospital.
For the PP groups that incorporate ICU, I know some that do it that way too

 

[POW16]

Glad to hear !

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[Dam272]

In academics, common. There are many places where the CCM attendings will cover nights 1700-0700 for a week (many times sleeping all night because the fellows and residents cover everything), then have the next 7 days completely off. And on their regular days, simply work M-F 0700-1700. Making 350-400K+ with full benefits, pensions, vacay, nonclinical time, etc. That's a solid gig if you ask me. I don't know many in PP that can match that package for the actual hours worked in the hospital.
For the PP groups that incorporate ICU, I know some that do it that way too

Wow.. That's something to look forward to

 

[BLADEMDA]

In academics, common. There are many places where the CCM attendings will cover nights 1700-0700 for a week (many times sleeping all night because the fellows and residents cover everything), then have the next 7 days completely off. And on their regular days, simply work M-F 0700-1700. Making 350-400K+ with full benefits, pensions, vacay, nonclinical time, etc. That's a solid gig if you ask me. I don't know many in PP that can match that package for the actual hours worked in the hospital.
For the PP groups that incorporate ICU, I know some that do it that way too

Yes. And after 10 years the work load drops even more while the salary goes up.