CRNA to MD

[Anesthetic_Tuna]

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Hey friends,

Need some advice from anyone willing to give it. I’m currently a CRNA looking at going back to medical school.

Background: I’m 30, married, kid on the way. I have a pretty good gig currently. I work at a busy adult/peds trauama center, take solo call, do all cases facility offers (peds, thoracic, trauma, etc.) no open hearts or transplants.

I’ve always wanted to be a physician. I fell into nursing and then kind of fell into CRNA school. Performed extremely well in CRNA school and got a coveted job right out of training. Being a CRNA is a great job and I’m mostly content with my current gig. My scope is large and I do all my own procedures (nerve blocks, central lines, lumbar drains, etc). The problem I have is that anesthesia is that it’s not hands on aside from a handful of procedures. It can be complex sometimes with sick patients but even then we give the same handful of meds or get creative with a nerve block to get them through surgery safely. That’s about as interesting as it gets.

I still have this urge to be doing surgery. I shadowed CT surgery when I was a nurse and thought it was what I wanted to do. Felt the same way when I did my heart rotation in training. I also find neurosurgery, particularly spine surgery, awesome. Gen surg does some awesome stuff as well.

I have a good friend in general surgery residency who loves it. All the surgeon I work with tell me “They could never do anesthesia. They love operating too much.” Surgeons at my current place don’t work that much. I work far more hours than them on an individual basis because my group takes a lot of call and we have a lot of service lines.

I need some real perspective to bring me down to earth. My wife is supportive of this transition as long as I give being a CRNA a real shot.

Should I ride off into the sunset being a CRNA and be somewhat unfulfilled professionally? Should I just go for what I really want with obvious massive sacrifices?

Thank you everyone

 

[jwk]

Hey friends,

Need some advice from anyone willing to give it. I’m currently a CRNA looking at going back to medical school.

Background: I’m 30, married, kid on the way. I have a pretty good gig currently. I work at a busy adult/peds trauama center, take solo call, do all cases facility offers (peds, thoracic, trauma, etc.) no open hearts or transplants.

I’ve always wanted to be a physician. I fell into nursing and then kind of fell into CRNA school. Performed extremely well in CRNA school and got a coveted job right out of training. Being a CRNA is a great job and I’m mostly content with my current gig. My scope is large and I do all my own procedures (nerve blocks, central lines, lumbar drains, etc). The problem I have is that anesthesia is that it’s not hands on aside from a handful of procedures. It can be complex sometimes with sick patients but even then we give the same handful of meds or get creative with a nerve block to get them through surgery safely. That’s about as interesting as it gets.

I still have this urge to be doing surgery. I shadowed CT surgery when I was a nurse and thought it was what I wanted to do. Felt the same way when I did my heart rotation in training. I also find neurosurgery, particularly spine surgery, awesome. Gen surg does some awesome stuff as well.

I have a good friend in general surgery residency who loves it. All the surgeon I work with tell me “They could never do anesthesia. They love operating too much.” Surgeons at my current place don’t work that much. I work far more hours than them on an individual basis because my group takes a lot of call and we have a lot of service lines.

I need some real perspective to bring me down to earth. My wife is supportive of this transition as long as I give being a CRNA a real shot.

Should I ride off into the sunset being a CRNA and be somewhat unfulfilled professionally? Should I just go for what I really want with obvious massive sacrifices?

Thank you everyone

There are a number of CRNAs who have made the jump to MD/DO, including a former ASA president as I recall.

Sounds like you're in a great gig now, but you're the only one who can make the decision. Do a good solid ROI evaluation. Figure out how much this will actually cost you to make the move. Remember - if going the surgery route (just GS, not subspecialty) you're looking at a minimum of nine years for med school and residency. Don't forget fellowships - almost everyone subspecializes, even within specialties. You have lost/diminished earnings that entire time. Cost of tuition (not cheap even for state schools). Likely lost/diminished contributions to your retirement plan. Do you have all the pre-req courses? Nursing programs rarely include things like organic, physics, and biochem.

I looked at going from CAA to MD around the time I turned 30. My break even was 20-25 years out, and that was in 1980s dollars, before the huge upswing in anesthesia compensation.