bandn said:
I am a current MS-III and am mulling around between anesthesia and path. While I think I would go nuts in path, I am very interested in lifestyle and money. Right now, I am going for anesthesiology, but was wondering what people think about about the two fields as far as lifestyle, salary, malpractice, etc. If I go anesthesia, for all of you who have recently matched, what are some good programs? I live in Ohio but will go almost anywhere! Thanks!!
Yo
Anesthesiologists typically take call if they want to make good money. Even so, there are jobs out there at outpatient surg centers from 7-3, that pay reasonably well for the hours. Another thing about anesthesia is that the job can be stressful at times. It's pretty routine, but when things go bad, they go bad pretty damn fast. The key to being a good anesthesiologist, IMNO, is being able to handle the pressure of a patient who's just trying their hardest to die while maintaining control, and keeping them above ground. One other thing about anesthesia is that it's very hands-on. I once had a radio resident tell me "I just hate peoples' secretions, and fluids." If you don't like the person-person interaction, then anesthesia will be a tough job indeed.
Path: Great cash, and lifestyle. Less call, usually, and their jobs are not on the same level of "critical" attention to the patient as anesthesia. This is not to say that pathologists don't have critical points... like an intra-op biopsy looking for + margins is pretty important, but it won't really kill the pt (usually) if you hesitate. Path is also a pretty "academic" job. Lots of very fine IM-like details to know.
Rads: As much as people say these guys don't work, most of the radiologists I know work 40-50 hours a week. Again, great pay, and lifestyle, less call, and less of said "critical" attention. I don't want to put down rads guys b/c I can count a few times that they were able to find things that I couldn't see, even after they pointed it out to me during an emergent CT. These guys, IMHO, are on the same academic level as path.
Malpractice is a little more pricey for anesthesia, and less so for rads, and path. If anything goes wrong during surgery, you're the first guy they look at... not the surgeon.
Good programs... look it up on the faq's b/c I've rambled enough for one night.
G/L with your decision.
One other thing, make sure you can see yourself doing this for about 20-30 years b/c life sucks when you spend all day doing something you hate.
Later
