Is general tone of this forum representative of anesthesia in general?

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Armadillos

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I've started considering anesthesia as a med-student because I really like physio/pharm and I think the option to go the pain route is also quite appealing.

Don't know how to ask this without coming across as a jerk, but a lot of the tone of posters on this forum makes it seem like anesthesiologists wouldn't necessarily be the most fun group of people to be around. Seems like many posts are extremely pessimistic, overly abrasive in relation to politics, extremely concerned with finances considering there are MD's in many fields making less than CRNAs even do, very derogatory towards medicaid patients, etc.

But my real life experience with anesthesiologists so far in med-school as been the complete opposite, they have come across has very caring/compassionate for their patients, very excited about about their profession and maintain a good outlook for the future despite the obvious fact that salaries will decline (along with those in all of medicine).

So are they just putting on a good face for me at school and then coming home and ranting here?
 
People are always pissier on internet forums. 80% of private practice anesthesiologists ive met are happy with their job.
 
Opinions and posters on this forum are not representative of the wider anesthesiology community in any way, shape, or form. Base your opinions on real people's opinions. Personally, I have met some disgruntled anesthesiologists in real life, but the fear, woe, and despair that I see here is just unparalelled. :laugh:
 
Yeah, this forum can get you down from time to time.
The reality of our state of affairs probably lies somewhere in the middle.

Actually, one of the reasons I went into this field was because EVERY anesthesiologist that I'd met up to that point was generally happy with their career choice. Recently, I've contacted an anesthesiology buddy of mine whom I've not spoken to in years (my bro's buddy more accurately). He relocated states because of family reasons (wife wanted better weather). Used to make >500K as a partner. Now closer to $350k as an employee of an AMC.

Dude was always saying "anethesia rocks". And he still does. When I asked this guy, recently, about his take on fellowships and CRNA's, he says don't do one you don't need it, and they've been saying that for years but the fact is they are still nurses...... etc. etc.. This is one guy, but he's AWAY from the Ivory Tower. He's out in the community (the new one is a VERY nice SE town), working hard, and making a good living. Not much doom and gloom from where he's coming from.

It's important to know that every field of medicine is changing, and will change. Our field has challenges to be sure. But, it's not all doom and gloom. I think it's important (though difficult) to step away from the Ivory Tower (and this forum) in order to gain some real perspective.

Oh, and as a CA2 resident, I'd do it again, for what it's worth.

I think that if you think you'll get rich in medicine and focus on "extremes" of income, you'll be disappointed. If you have a good attitude and make yourself valuable in the food chain, you'll do fine. You'll make a good living and have a rewarding career. A lot of this is up to us, as is the ability to change the state of our profession.
 
I say it is best doing something you like. 350k is a still a very good living in this country. Once you make over 400k and if you live in Manhattan, you end up paying in tax federal 39.6, NYS-aprox 9%, city-3.5%, medicare surcharge-0.9, medicare -1.45% for a total of 54.45% leaving you with 45.54 cents on the dollar. In my group I get $140 overtime, so if I keep 45.54 cents on the dollar, I am looking at about $60 bucks an hour after paying taxes. Atheletic trainors make more. The only difference is I have guaranteed work, I can work as little or as much as I want.

Just take it one day at a time. If it comes to a point where you need to do a fellowship, then do the fellowship. Right now I don't think it is needed.

Why is there so much complaining? Because it is something to do. Things could be much worse.
 
Honestly, compared to the other forums on SDN the Anesthesia forum is pretty great. Part of my interest in Anesthesia stems from some of the opinions I've seen on here.
 
Ahh, ok. I changed something in my post and thought you'd caught the ninja edit.

Angry-Typing.gif
 
Armadillos said:
I've started considering anesthesia as a med-student because I really like physio/pharm and I think the option to go the pain route is also quite appealing.

Don't know how to ask this without coming across as a jerk, but a lot of the tone of posters on this forum makes it seem like anesthesiologists wouldn't necessarily be the most fun group of people to be around. Seems like many posts are extremely pessimistic, overly abrasive in relation to politics, extremely concerned with finances considering there are MD's in many fields making less than CRNAs even do, very derogatory towards medicaid patients, etc.

But my real life experience with anesthesiologists so far in med-school as been the complete opposite, they have come across has very caring/compassionate for their patients, very excited about about their profession and maintain a good outlook for the future despite the obvious fact that salaries will decline (along with those in all of medicine).

So are they just putting on a good face for me at school and then coming home and ranting here?
Click to expand...

I think in general, anesthesiologists tend to be flexible, roll-with-the-punches kind. You almost have to be. That usually means being good-natured, too.

I, too, have not met many anesthesiologists who are burned out from their job, but I've met many who have a realistic skepticism for government involvement in healthcare. I've also never met an anesthesiologist who was willing to blow smoke up my skirt in order to draw me into the profession. I like that.

Those that I've worked with are not academic, so I can only attest to PP anesthesiologists who are "adjunct" faculty
 
gasattack3 said:
Yeah, this forum can get you down from time to time.
The reality of our state of affairs probably lies somewhere in the middle.

Actually, one of the reasons I went into this field was because EVERY anesthesiologist that I'd met up to that point was generally happy with their career choice. Recently, I've contacted an anesthesiology buddy of mine whom I've not spoken to in years (my bro's buddy more accurately). He relocated states because of family reasons (wife wanted better weather). Used to make >500K as a partner. Now closer to $350k as an employee of an AMC.

Dude was always saying "anethesia rocks". And he still does. When I asked this guy, recently, about his take on fellowships and CRNA's, he says don't do one you don't need it, and they've been saying that for years but the fact is they are still nurses...... etc. etc.. This is one guy, but he's AWAY from the Ivory Tower. He's out in the community (the new one is a VERY nice SE town), working hard, and making a good living. Not much doom and gloom from where he's coming from.

It's important to know that every field of medicine is changing, and will change. Our field has challenges to be sure. But, it's not all doom and gloom. I think it's important (though difficult) to step away from the Ivory Tower (and this forum) in order to gain some real perspective.

Oh, and as a CA2 resident, I'd do it again, for what it's worth.

I think that if you think you'll get rich in medicine and focus on "extremes" of income, you'll be disappointed. If you have a good attitude and make yourself valuable in the food chain, you'll do fine. You'll make a good living and have a rewarding career. A lot of this is up to us, as is the ability to change the state of our profession.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. Btw this applies to all fields of medicine. While doctors are not necessarily here only to save lives (and not care about money) I do think this is a great combination of good living and rewarding career.
 
cincincyreds said:
I say it is best doing something you like. 350k is a still a very good living in this country. Once you make over 400k and if you live in Manhattan, you end up paying in tax federal 39.6, NYS-aprox 9%, city-3.5%, medicare surcharge-0.9, medicare -1.45% for a total of 54.45% leaving you with 45.54 cents on the dollar. In my group I get $140 overtime, so if I keep 45.54 cents on the dollar, I am looking at about $60 bucks an hour after paying taxes. Atheletic trainors make more. The only difference is I have guaranteed work, I can work as little or as much as I want.

Just take it one day at a time. If it comes to a point where you need to do a fellowship, then do the fellowship. Right now I don't think it is needed.

Why is there so much complaining? Because it is something to do. Things could be much worse.
Click to expand...

It is not always where you are, but the direction that you are going.
 
dr doze said:
It is not always where you are, but the direction that you are going.
Click to expand...

Exactly. If things weren't going to get worse for 20 years, even 15 years really, I'd have a much more positive view about my choice of specialty. It's a very good job today. The future is questionable though.
 
To OP,

Dude take it from a practicing ophthalmologist, anesthesiologists are the HAPPIEST and most fun people to be around in my experience. It's much much worse with some other specialties. TRUST me.
 
Eyefixer said:
To OP,

Dude take it from a practicing ophthalmologist, anesthesiologists are the HAPPIEST and most fun people to be around in my experience. It's much much worse with some other specialties. TRUST me.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with you. Just out of curiosity, in your opinion, what are those 'worse' specialties with unhappy folks and why? General surgery and OB/GYN come to mind. Would you consider ophtho one of them as well?
 
I live and work in LA. Very very very tight ophtho market. If you guys think you have problems with good jobs in competitive markets, it's x1000 worse for us. Hospitals don't need us, our overhead is extremely high (65-70%), private practices are dying slow and painful death, it's easier to get struck by lightning then to get a Kasier ophthalmology job where I live. As a consequence, all ophthalmologists around here HATE each other. That's why I prefer hanging out with my anesthesia friends 🙂
 
Armadillos said:
I've started considering anesthesia as a med-student because I really like physio/pharm and I think the option to go the pain route is also quite appealing.

Don't know how to ask this without coming across as a jerk, but a lot of the tone of posters on this forum makes it seem like anesthesiologists wouldn't necessarily be the most fun group of people to be around. Seems like many posts are extremely pessimistic, overly abrasive in relation to politics, extremely concerned with finances considering there are MD's in many fields making less than CRNAs even do, very derogatory towards medicaid patients, etc.

But my real life experience with anesthesiologists so far in med-school as been the complete opposite, they have come across has very caring/compassionate for their patients, very excited about about their profession and maintain a good outlook for the future despite the obvious fact that salaries will decline (along with those in all of medicine).

So are they just putting on a good face for me at school and then coming home and ranting here?
Click to expand...

Most of us love anesthesia. I wouldn't pick a different specialty, even though the future of anesthesia practice is uncertain. Hell, I'd still pick medicine as a career if I had to do it all over again.

SDN is full of I-coulda-been-an-ibanker gripes, but medicine is still a great gig, in general, and anesthesia is the best of them.
 
All the faculty that I work with are happy with anesthesia, positive about the future, etc. Cuts may come, and we'll deal with them when they do, changing the business model as necessary.
Local politics are the primary cause of unhappiness.
 
scudrunner said:
Is copro an a active poster over there? Seems like I remember him saying that was where he was going to post, to avoid all if us non-physicians who shouldn't be posting in this forum.
Click to expand...

Anesthesiology took me from lower middle class to multimillionaire status over two decades.
Yes, I worked my arse off in practice and still do but the pot of gold was there for me. Those who came before me made even more money while working fewer hours.

I just hope the pot of gold is still there for you in 6-7 years. So, while you may read a lot of negative sentiment (even from me) it is simply because the future isn't going to resemble the past. You deserve an honest assessment of this field even if it may come off as negative from time to time.

One last thing when I was a med student I thought $100K was a lot of money. My dad never earned much more than $30K per year. But, once I tried living on that $100K including loan repayment, taxes,
Shelter, food, phone, cable, electric, etc. I quickly realized that I couldn't make it on that income. Fortunately, I was earning more than $100K (my plan was to save all income over $100K) so I just changed my approach to saving money until I could really afford it. I learned the hard way what pretax $100K really meant in the USA.
 
Last edited:
BLADEMDA said:
Anesthesiology took me from lower middle class to multimillionaire status over two decades.
Yes, I worked my arse off in practice and still do but the pot of gold was there for me. Those who came before me made even more money while working fewer hours.

I just hope the pot of gold is still there for you in 6-7 years. So, while you may read a lot of negative sentiment (even from me) it is simply because the future isn't going to resemble the past. You deserve an honest assessment of this field even if it may come off as negative from time to time.

One last thing when I was a med student I thought $100K was a lot of money. My dad never earned much more than $30K per year. But, once I tried living on that $100K including loan repayment, taxes,
Shelter, food, phone, cable, electric, etc. I quickly realized that I couldn't make it on that income. Fortunately, I was earning more than $100K (my plan was to save all income over $100K) so I just changed my approach to saving money until I could really afford it. I learned the hard way what pretax $100K really meant in the USA.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. Out of curiosity, was there no uncertainty back then?
 
This is what I think many of us respect about guys like you. Essentially, it's been a great ride for you yet you still chime in which some harsh realities that we face, when you could, simply, not care at all.

Thanks Blade.
 
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