If not Anesthesiology, what do you recommend students to go into?

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MDanesth said:
Sometimes bitching is a luxury. Look at what we Americans complain about. If you are occupied with very basic necessities such as putting food on the table each day or ensuring you have proper shelter, the bitching likely is way lower.

Every field has it's challenges. Also, to an extent SDN Anesthesiology is a vent for some of our frustrations. It doesn't mean we have this attitude in day to day life. It's a "safe place" (god I hate that phrase) to vent......
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This forum is probably more active than the surgical forum too because we have more time to whine online in cases, between cases or when we're covering.
 
vector2 said:
Radiology? You mean the field where recently one has had to do a 5 yr residency and 1-2 one-year fellowships before entering the job market?
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Job market is strong for radiology now. Also its hard to imagine that there will ever be mid level radiology providers. The job requires actual medical knowledge. Ours can basically be done by a competent respiratory therapist for the most part. (just kidding, but not so much...)
 
Hork Bajir said:
Blade has done 10 billion art lines, 26 million LMAs, and 13 trillion blocks (half of them with exparel, each of which lasted for the better part of 6 months)
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All while running 4 rooms and putting in 10 central lines a day in the ICU.:prof:
 
vector2 said:
Radiology? You mean the field where recently one has had to do a 5 yr residency and 1-2 one-year fellowships before entering the job market?
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Hasn't been like that for a while now. Market is doing well. It's really good for the guys who got into the field with non 250 step scores when everyone was crying doomsday and now are getting a decent job without having to do a fellowship.
 
GassYous said:
Hasn't been like that for a while now. Market is doing well. It's really good for the guys who got into the field with non 250 step scores when everyone was crying doomsday and now are getting a decent job without having to do a fellowship.
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Well yeah, with all the noctors ordering unnecessary imaging we obviously will need WAY more radiologists.
 
In all seriousness, I'm a CAA with 10 years of experience in the field that's going back to medical school this year... are these concerns big enough for me to give up the knowledge/skill base I have and switch fields ? There are several fields I have interest in but the main idea of me going back to school was to become an anesthesiologist. Thoughts?
 
Endee said:
In all seriousness, I'm a CAA with 10 years of experience in the field that's going back to medical school this year... are these concerns big enough for me to give up the knowledge/skill base I have and switch fields ? There are several fields I have interest in but the main idea of me going back to school was to become an anesthesiologist. Thoughts?
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8 years is a very long time
 
Endee said:
In all seriousness, I'm a CAA with 10 years of experience in the field that's going back to medical school this year... are these concerns big enough for me to give up the knowledge/skill base I have and switch fields ? There are several fields I have interest in but the main idea of me going back to school was to become an anesthesiologist. Thoughts?
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I'm an M4. Congrats on the acceptance. Even if you intend to work toward matching into an excellent anesthesiology residency, you should keep an open mind. I'm guessing your clinical exposure to other fields of medicine outside the OR isn't optimal so you might be surprised at what you end up enjoying along the way.
 
dannyboy1 said:
Job market is strong for radiology now. Also its hard to imagine that there will ever be mid level radiology providers. The job requires actual medical knowledge. Ours can basically be done by a competent respiratory therapist for the most part. (just kidding, but not so much...)
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The only field without midlevel encroachment is probably pathology. Some mid levels think they’re pretty good at reading their surgical sub specialty imaging, like a thoracic surgery PA reading chest CT’s. However, I’ve never heard of a midlevel (or even another physician) claim they can read an H&E slide.
 
wendalltwolf said:
Are you sure about Psych, because they not only compete with NP’s, but also with social workers and psychologists. Also I heard that the VA was considering allowing psychologists to prescribe.
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As of now, the market is great... A couple of psych residents where I am sign on for ~300k/yr M-Th (36 hrs/wk).
 
Spikebd said:
The only field without midlevel encroachment is probably pathology. Some mid levels think they’re pretty good at reading their surgical sub specialty imaging, like a thoracic surgery PA reading chest CT’s. However, I’ve never heard of a midlevel (or even another physician) claim they can read an H&E slide.
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Spikebd said:
Path assistants are entirely different from clinical midlevels. Zero threat from them. The pathologists did one thing right with their midlevels.
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No physicians in this day and age will act one a midlevel pathologist or a midlevel radiologist... Mid level will learn how to do brain surgery before they let them make this critical clinical decision. These two specialties require too much basic science...
 
Splenda88 said:
No physicians in this day and age will act one a midlevel pathologist or a midlevel radiologist... Mid level will learn how to do brain surgery before they let them make this critical clinical decision. These two specialties require too much basic science...
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It sounds comical even to consider the idea of a midlevel pathologist or radiologist.
No midlevels will be generating life-altering cancer diagnostic reports, probably ever.
 
Spikebd said:
However, I’ve never heard of a midlevel (or even another physician) claim they can read an H&E slide.
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Except dermatologists 😉

In all seriousness, most don’t know this but dermatology residency you get quite a lot of derm-path training and it’s a big % of the board certification test (actually sitting at a scope with slides). Not full breadth pathology- but 1 year of fellowship and you can read all the skin path better than a general pathologist can.
 
doctalaughs said:
Except dermatologists 😉

In all seriousness, most don’t know this but dermatology residency you get quite a lot of derm-path training and it’s a big % of the board certification test (actually sitting at a scope with slides). Not full breadth pathology- but 1 year of fellowship and you can read all the skin path better than a general pathologist can.
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Dermatologists wouldn’t go into it if it weren’t a nice job 😂. Plenty of pathologists go on to do dermpath, and some med students should probably take this into consideration. Plus there’s GI path to fall back on, also.
 
Last edited:
www.diagnosticimaging.com

Radiology Extenders Outperform Radiology Residents with Chest X-ray Interpretations

Cases drafted by radiology extenders saved attending radiologists nearly one hour a day.
www.diagnosticimaging.com www.diagnosticimaging.com

never say never....

And of course the ever-present AI boogeyman (sure, not next year, or 5 years...but 10 years? Harder to say).

Even the most stereotypically “perfect” fields such as dermatology have doom and gloom if you look for it (why do NP/PAs get all the easy patients, and when they excessively biopsy it actually makes them more money?)

At the end of the day you’re probably better off taking a moment to examine what field is most interesting to you or compatible with your life goals, vs trying to pick the “best” specialty which easily might have considerably worse lifestyle/practice by the time you graduate.

Just ask the people that went into EM because of the absurd job offers a few years back...
 
As a pediatric resident planning to apply to a second residency in anesthesiology, posts like these are always unsettling to hear. I still believe the positives outweigh the negatives in anesthesiology. My alternatives as a pediatric resident would likely be general pediatrics or neonatology (I enjoy both), which both have increasing mid-levels as well. Besides, I don't know if many of the earlier posters are considering the negative mental burden of spending half of your day writing documentation. Maybe in 20 years I'll have a different perspective, but would any of you in my position choose differently?
 
prinzmetal7 said:
As a pediatric resident planning to apply to a second residency in anesthesiology, posts like these are always unsettling to hear. I still believe the positives outweigh the negatives in anesthesiology. My alternatives as a pediatric resident would likely be general pediatrics or neonatology (I enjoy both), which both have increasing mid-levels as well. Besides, I don't know if many of the earlier posters are considering the negative mental burden of spending half of your day writing documentation. Maybe in 20 years I'll have a different perspective, but would any of you in my position choose differently?
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Great for jumping into a sinking ship...
 
prinzmetal7 said:
As a pediatric resident planning to apply to a second residency in anesthesiology, posts like these are always unsettling to hear. I still believe the positives outweigh the negatives in anesthesiology. My alternatives as a pediatric resident would likely be general pediatrics or neonatology (I enjoy both), which both have increasing mid-levels as well. Besides, I don't know if many of the earlier posters are considering the negative mental burden of spending half of your day writing documentation. Maybe in 20 years I'll have a different perspective, but would any of you in my position choose differently?
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Keep in mind that working for a pediatric salary would already throw many posters here into conniptions. Anesthesiology may be a “sinking ship” but as I said earlier, plenty of people in every field (on SDN) think their ship is sinking, even in derm, and those same people would look at the “boat” of pediatrics and declare it already sunk.
 
<(^_^)> said:
www.diagnosticimaging.com

Radiology Extenders Outperform Radiology Residents with Chest X-ray Interpretations

Cases drafted by radiology extenders saved attending radiologists nearly one hour a day.
www.diagnosticimaging.com www.diagnosticimaging.com

never say never....

And of course the ever-present AI boogeyman (sure, not next year, or 5 years...but 10 years? Harder to say).

Even the most stereotypically “perfect” fields such as dermatology have doom and gloom if you look for it (why do NP/PAs get all the easy patients, and when they excessively biopsy it actually makes them more money?)

At the end of the day you’re probably better off taking a moment to examine what field is most interesting to you or compatible with your life goals, vs trying to pick the “best” specialty which easily might have considerably worse lifestyle/practice by the time you graduate.

Just ask the people that went into EM because of the absurd job offers a few years back...
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That study is complete garbage and even a short read of it will show you why. IIRC it got retracted.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
That study is complete garbage and even a short read of it will show you why. IIRC it got retracted.
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Of course, I just found it funny that people said there was no way that mid-levels would ever be a thing in radiology...meanwhile they already exist.

www.radiologybusiness.com

10 Things Radiologists Need to Know About Radiology Extenders

Medicare recently relaxed its rules on the supervision that non-physician radiology providers must have by radiologists for their respective practices to get reimbursed. In the wake of the change, these “midlevel providers” are likely to grow in importance as well as in numbers.
www.radiologybusiness.com www.radiologybusiness.com

Any familiar themes come to mind? The old guard having profits juiced by extenders, growing desire to independently bill for procedures, reduced supervision requirements by CMS, corporatization of medical practice etc.

My point wasn’t that radiology is DOOMED, more that many fields are struggling with very similar issues.
 
<(^_^)> said:
Of course, I just found it funny that people said there was no way that mid-levels would ever be a thing in radiology...meanwhile they already exist.

www.radiologybusiness.com

10 Things Radiologists Need to Know About Radiology Extenders

Medicare recently relaxed its rules on the supervision that non-physician radiology providers must have by radiologists for their respective practices to get reimbursed. In the wake of the change, these “midlevel providers” are likely to grow in importance as well as in numbers.
www.radiologybusiness.com www.radiologybusiness.com

Any familiar themes come to mind? The old guard having profits juiced by extenders, growing desire to independently bill for procedures, reduced supervision requirements by CMS, corporatization of medical practice etc.

My point wasn’t that radiology is DOOMED, more that many fields are struggling with very similar issues.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but they don’t really exist. That paper doesn’t demonstrate that at all lol.
 
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