I don't know man. Worst in medicine? That is a bit too gloomy for me.
When I think worst in medicine I think Gen. surg and most of their subspecialties, FP, peds, vascular, OB/GYN... IM and most of subspecialties outside of cards and GI. Anesthesia is far from the worst. No clinic, no patient phone calls, you are "off" when you are off. You are not doing the same boring procedure every day and in fact anesthesia can be pretty interesting from day to day. Hearts, transplants, peds, acute and chronic pain, trauma, ortho all sorts of cancer, plastics/reconstructive, critical care and a billion different procedures to boot. Not being stuck in clinic is a big feather in our hats.
It definitely caters to a certain personality type no doubt. The worst part of anesthesia is the call. Some centers have OR's going 24/7- mine included. The key is to get a big enough group that you can spread the call around or a small enough group where call backs are rare. Been in both those group types. But you can also tailor your call system. For our group, you don't have to take 24 hr call. You can just drop off of it. You'll make less, but you won't suffer any long nights but with that, you also don't get the post call day off.
My week so far: Monday 4th call, Tuesday off, Wednesday 1st call (shifts starts at 3pm), today off. Was home at 8:30 pm last night and slept all through the night
. I am a regular 7-3pm dude tomorrow.
Pay is above average for medical specialties. We do make a huge difference and are able to handle a lot of situations.
Can be a lifestyle choice as you get close to retirement... cutting back is easy to as we don't have any overhead. Took 16 weeks last year, more this year. A lot of specialties don't have this option. Either you are in or you are out.
It isn't the worst job in medicine even w/ all the BS that is out there. Just remember, every subspecialty is under attack from consolidation.
Give it some time, my wife is super chill and was a bit shy to the specialty when she started. Fast forward 15 years, and she has done it all. Hearts, peds, regional, trauma, etc. She's 5'4" and deals with all the surgical personalities- she is well respected in our community. Things change after residency 100%. Also, keep in mind we are in historical demand right now. Good luck OP, it isn't a perfect specialty... but it is FAR from the worst.