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
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
