Exposure to Anesthesiology

[ComradeDoktor]

I know how much you guys love premeds posting in your forum, but I'm hoping you're gonna be nice to me . The school I'll be starting at doesn't have much exposure to anesthesiology besides a fourth-year elective. Anesthesiology is on a short list of specialties I'm interested in right now (medicine and peds are the other ones), and I'd love to get some exposure to it to see if it's for me. How would I do that? Is shadowing an anesthesiologist as an ms-1 at all useful, or would I just be totally lost since I wouldn't know the pharmacology and physiology behind it yet?

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[Stellar Clouds]

Shadowing is never a waste of time. Do it as much as you can.

You can also gain more exposure during your surgery rotation as an MSIII. I would often ask the anesthesiologist if I could help out during induction of my own surgery patients.

 

[adenocard]

I'd venture to say most schools don't provide anesthesiology experience until the 4th year and usually as an elective. You can join an interest group and shadow when you become an MS1 to gain more exposure too.

 

[gravitywave]

Shadowing is never a waste of time. Do it as much as you can.

You can also gain more exposure during your surgery rotation as an MSIII. I would often ask the anesthesiologist if I could help out during induction of my own surgery patients.

I'd venture to say most schools don't provide anesthesiology experience until the 4th year and usually as an elective. You can join an interest group and shadow when you become an MS1 to gain more exposure too.

strongly agree. if you want to explore anes as a med student, you certainly do not have to wait until fourth year to do it.

same goes for any specialty that isn't represented by a core third year rotation.

 

[evilbooyaa]

During my 12 week surgery rotation, they let us do 3 weeks of a surgical sub specialty (which included options such as ortho,ophtho,breast, uro,and anesthesia). Ask upperclassmen if that option is available in your school. If not, do what everyone else has suggested (Anesthesia IG meetings, etc. etc.)

 

[qwerty89]

MCW offers 3 weeks of Anesthesia during the standard 3rd year curriculum. I.E. not an elective.

 

[punkedoutriffs]

MCW offers 3 weeks of Anesthesia during the standard 3rd year curriculum. I.E. not an elective.

Wonder why. Extra strong department? Course director is an anesthesiologist?

 

[mvenus929]

MCW offers 3 weeks of Anesthesia during the standard 3rd year curriculum. I.E. not an elective.

UVA has a 2 week rotation in anesthesiology as a part of the 12 week surgery block (6 weeks general surgery, 4 weeks surgical subspecialties, 2 weeks anesthesia). They used to only have a week (for my class), but they recently restructured the clerkship curriculum to include more anesthesia time. And more EM time, which my class was not too happy about.

 

[WaylonS]

When I started med school, I was 100% certain that I wanted to go into anesthesiology. During my first year, I did an elective in anesthesiology, and I realize I actually hated it. Point is, if you think you might like something, go shadow and find out!

 

[ComradeDoktor]

When I started med school, I was 100% certain that I wanted to go into anesthesiology. During my first year, I did an elective in anesthesiology, and I realize I actually hated it. Point is, if you think you might like something, go shadow and find out!

What happened if you don't mind me asking?

 

[evilbooyaa]

What happened if you don't mind me asking?

Some of the negatives of Anesthesia from someone(some of them are not negatives for everybody, mind you):
No long-term interaction with patients
Disrespect from surgeons
CRNA creep
Disrespect from surgeons
Disrespect from surgeons
Disrespect from surgeons
Disrespect from surgeons
Disrespect from surgeons

 

[Daodejing]

Some of the negatives of Anesthesia from someone(some of them are not negatives for everybody, mind you):
No long-term interaction with patients
Disrespect from surgeons
CRNA creep
Disrespect from surgeons
Disrespect from surgeons
Disrespect from surgeons
Disrespect from surgeons
Disrespect from surgeons

+1. From the gas forum, the job market is also becoming increasingly saturated.

 

[Stellar Clouds]

+1. From the gas forum, the job market is also becoming increasingly saturated.

If you believe all that doom and gloom in the anesthesia forum, you would have quit medical school a long time ago and went into finance.

 

[Daodejing]

If you believe all that doom and gloom in the anesthesia forum, you would have quit medical school a long time ago and went into finance.

lol didn't say I believed it; just that it was stated by some attendings there. Obviously, I can't form an opinion having limited exposure to the field. Congrats on matching btw

 

[Stellar Clouds]

lol didn't say I believed it; just that it was stated by some attendings there. Obviously, I can't form an opinion having limited exposure to the field. Congrats on matching btw

Thanks!

I'm just giving you a hard time It's quite depressing in that forum at times.

 

[ComradeDoktor]

Some of the negatives of Anesthesia from someone(some of them are not negatives for everybody, mind you):
No long-term interaction with patients
Disrespect from surgeons
CRNA creep
Disrespect from surgeons
Disrespect from surgeons
Disrespect from surgeons
Disrespect from surgeons
Disrespect from surgeons

So, I've been wondering about that. I've always assumed CRNA's would get more straightforward surgeries and healthy patients, while MD anesthesiologists would do the high-risk cases. Is that how it works, or do CRNA's really do everything MD's do?

 

[WaylonS]

What happened if you don't mind me asking?

I did research during and after college, and I did the anesthesia for our animal surgeries. I really enjoyed preparing drugs, monitoring the animals during surgery, and taking care of them afterwards. Naturally, I thought I would enjoy anesthesia, but I didn't, and here's why

1. Anesthesia is boring--really boring. I think I enjoyed anesthesia in my research job because it was only part of my job. If I had to be an anesthesiologist day-in and day-out, I'd hate my life. Granted the role of the anesthesiologist will be very different in a CABG versus in a lap chole, but I still found the complicated cases to be boring

2. It seems like anesthesiologists are going to get screwed more than any other specialty in medicine under the ACA. In any field I've shadowed in or done rotations in, we always talk about the future of medicine and how things will change, some for the better and some for the worse. However, whenever I went to anesthesia grand rounds, they were always talking about how stuff was about to hit the fan and how they needed to rebrand themselves to stay relevant. More specifically, with bundled payments, it seems like anesthesiologists are more worried about getting screwed than any other specialty I've come across

3. I was really turned off by the bad bedside manner of most of the anesthesiologists I met. I remember seeing patients before surgery, and often times, they would be upset or anxious. Rarely did I ever see a resident or attending try to comfort the patient: they didn't have to give a long speech or hug the patient, they just had to say something nice to comfort them. Instead, most residents and attendings went through their pre-surgery checklist like robots

I went to medical school because I wanted to interact with patients; obviously many of the residents and attendings I met went into anesthesiology because they didn't want to have extensive patient interactions. Does that make anesthesiologist bad doctors? Hell no, it just illustrates the point that each field of medicine has a different feel to it, and what may be right for you may not be right for someone else. Ultimately, the only way you're going to figure out what is right for you is when you start your rotations/start shadowing

 

[mvenus929]

So, I've been wondering about that. I've always assumed CRNA's would get more straightforward surgeries and healthy patients, while MD anesthesiologists would do the high-risk cases. Is that how it works, or do CRNA's really do everything MD's do?

I think it depends on what sort of hospital you work in. There are some hospital where all the MDs do is help with the induction and wake-up with CRNAs, and thus are running like 5 rooms at once. There are other hospitals where the MDs actually sit and do the anesthesia. I imagine things like cardiac cases are less likely to be done by a CRNA.

 

[projectlogic]

Thanks!

I'm just giving you a hard time It's quite depressing in that forum at times.

It most certainly is.. but sometimes I get that depressive vibe from SDN in general.

I did research during and after college, and I did the anesthesia for our animal surgeries. I really enjoyed preparing drugs, monitoring the animals during surgery, and taking care of them afterwards. Naturally, I thought I would enjoy anesthesia, but I didn't, and here's why

1. Anesthesia is boring--really boring. I think I enjoyed anesthesia in my research job because it was only part of my job. If I had to be an anesthesiologist day-in and day-out, I'd hate my life. Granted the role of the anesthesiologist will be very different in a CABG versus in a lap chole, but I still found the complicated cases to be boring

2. It seems like anesthesiologists are going to get screwed more than any other specialty in medicine under the ACA. In any field I've shadowed in or done rotations in, we always talk about the future of medicine and how things will change, some for the better and some for the worse. However, whenever I went to anesthesia grand rounds, they were always talking about how stuff was about to hit the fan and how they needed to rebrand themselves to stay relevant. More specifically, with bundled payments, it seems like anesthesiologists are more worried about getting screwed than any other specialty I've come across

3. I was really turned off by the bad bedside manner of most of the anesthesiologists I met. I remember seeing patients before surgery, and often times, they would be upset or anxious. Rarely did I ever see a resident or attending try to comfort the patient: they didn't have to give a long speech or hug the patient, they just had to say something nice to comfort them. Instead, most residents and attendings went through their pre-surgery checklist like robots

I went to medical school because I wanted to interact with patients; obviously many of the residents and attendings I met went into anesthesiology because they didn't want to have extensive patient interactions. Does that make anesthesiologist bad doctors? Hell no, it just illustrates the point that each field of medicine has a different feel to it, and what may be right for you may not be right for someone else. Ultimately, the only way you're going to figure out what is right for you is when you start your rotations/start shadowing

Well said.

 

[deleted547339]

Just pick up a book of crosswords.

Sorry, had to. lol.

 

[ComradeDoktor]

I did research during and after college, and I did the anesthesia for our animal surgeries. I really enjoyed preparing drugs, monitoring the animals during surgery, and taking care of them afterwards. Naturally, I thought I would enjoy anesthesia, but I didn't, and here's why

1. Anesthesia is boring--really boring. I think I enjoyed anesthesia in my research job because it was only part of my job. If I had to be an anesthesiologist day-in and day-out, I'd hate my life. Granted the role of the anesthesiologist will be very different in a CABG versus in a lap chole, but I still found the complicated cases to be boring

2. It seems like anesthesiologists are going to get screwed more than any other specialty in medicine under the ACA. In any field I've shadowed in or done rotations in, we always talk about the future of medicine and how things will change, some for the better and some for the worse. However, whenever I went to anesthesia grand rounds, they were always talking about how stuff was about to hit the fan and how they needed to rebrand themselves to stay relevant. More specifically, with bundled payments, it seems like anesthesiologists are more worried about getting screwed than any other specialty I've come across

3. I was really turned off by the bad bedside manner of most of the anesthesiologists I met. I remember seeing patients before surgery, and often times, they would be upset or anxious. Rarely did I ever see a resident or attending try to comfort the patient: they didn't have to give a long speech or hug the patient, they just had to say something nice to comfort them. Instead, most residents and attendings went through their pre-surgery checklist like robots

I went to medical school because I wanted to interact with patients; obviously many of the residents and attendings I met went into anesthesiology because they didn't want to have extensive patient interactions. Does that make anesthesiologist bad doctors? Hell no, it just illustrates the point that each field of medicine has a different feel to it, and what may be right for you may not be right for someone else. Ultimately, the only way you're going to figure out what is right for you is when you start your rotations/start shadowing

I'm really curious what you're going into now! Did you feel like it was boring because there was too much downtime, or did you not find the cases intellectually stimulating?