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What's the draw to anesthesiology??? It seems like it would be boring.
Originally posted by Tenesma
ribcrackindoc... that is an odd way to ask a question on an anesthesia forum... but i will give you the benefit of the doubt, that maybe you are truly interested...
the draw in anesthesia: 1) i get to be in the OR and i don't have to deal w/ the crap on the floors (except for codes - and those are fun) 2) i get to use my hands a lot for procedures (intubations, lines, epidurals, spinals, bronchoscopies, local blocks, etc...) 3) i get to take care of the sickest people at their most criticial point (ie: take a sick ICU player and then add a surgical complication) 4) the lifestyle for the most part is pretty decent in larger programs 5) i will be making big bucks (>300,000) when i finish residency....
Now before i went into anesthesia, i was really worried that i would be bored to death - but now that i have been behind the curtain by myself making life and death decisions, I realize that most of good anesthesia is pre-emptive anesthesia (avoiding problems).... so your anesthesiologist who looks like he is relaxing is in fact running tons of scenarios through his head so as to avoid as many problems as possible...
I love my job
The pay is phenomenal, the hours are fantastic, and I love the people I work with. I have already been home several times by 10 a..m.
Originally posted by The_Gas_Man
This may last for another 3-5 years due to the increased number of people entering anesthesiolgy residencies. As more people enter the field, competition increases, and salaries subsequently decrease.
Originally posted by dimsum
That was a nice little glimpse into anesthesiology, ebaydove...
just brilliant..
I would add, that the word "exciting" was added into the gas vocabulary, just about the same time that salaries began heading up. I'm sure that it was pure coincidence, though ...
Originally posted by dimsum
Hi Naeblis,
a little correction to your note.....
anesthesia remuneration per procedure may have always been high, but dont assume that this is the same as salaries being high in anesthesia.
As recently as 1995, anesthesiologists were begging for 100k jobs, that were few, and far between...
this was due to the glut of anesthesiologists at the time.
That didnt mean that the remuneration was low. It was quite high, but was being made by people who owned the anesthesia practices, rather than the ones who were actually doing the procedures.
Owning an anesthesia practice is like having a nice kingdom.
In good times, everyone makes money. In bad times the practice owners make money, but the little anesthesiologists dont make money because there's too many available...
supply and demand..
Originally posted by Krafty
I don't know where people are getting their numbers from about this "slump" in mid nineties and MDA's not being to find jobs over 100k. That's not to say it didn't happen. However, most of what I hear of this time period is actually from non-MDA's talking about some anesthesiologist they knew through their sister's uncle's best friend.
After talking to several anesthesiologists it seems to me that there was a "hype" or a "scare" about the MDA market predictions (circa mid-90s). As a result practices scaled down on hiring and scared medical students stopped looking at the specialty. Whether this reflected true marketplace status quo - who knows.
I would encourage any MDA that looks at this board and was in practice for at least 10 years to come out and speak of how things seemed back then. We can continue to speculate, but I for once cannot find any solid evidence/numbers about what exactly transpired.
sirvandy said:Please somone answer the question! hehe. What is the average workweek for anesthesiology? And what average salary corresponds to this average workweek?
mikeshana said:Everything and every specialty gets boring.
Im sure a CT surgeon doing his 70th CABG is bored out of his freakin mind. Ben Carson is probably also bored when he does his 3rd VP shunt of the day
Mike
ribcrackindoc said:What's the draw to anesthesiology??? It seems like it would be boring.
manixter said:Anesthesia is boring if it is done correctly. Easy intubation, in a healthy patient, for routine surgery.
An unanticipated difficult airway is NOT boring-- just listening to the pulse ox going down down down is enough to give me PVCs
The multiple trauma emergency intubation in a c-collar in the ED is NOT boring-- especially when you factor in the bloody airway and the full stomach.
The AAA rupture that flatlines after induction when all you have is the 20G IV from an OSH is NOT boring.
The laboring woman who is wheeled into the OR with the OB resident's arm up her cooter holding in the prolapsed cord is NOT boring.
The 2 yr old who goes into laryngospasm after a routine hernia repair and turns as blue as your scrubs is NOT boring.
Figuring out how to anesthetize a patient with epidermolysis bullosa without tearing their skin off is a complete pain in the ass, but is NOT boring.
I could go on, but in general, the attitude that your patient may try to die RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, EVERY TIME YOU GO IN THE OR, is not out of place in anesthesia. Even with the best preparation, no anesthesia can really be called 'routine'.
I have never been bored.
--mir
Orpheus333 said:Your wages are high, yes. However, isn't malpractice insurance astronomical with such a position? Or is that a benefit provided by a hospital? (I would think a hospital would try no to because the costs are so outrageous)
My first post on this forum- I normally post on computer enthusiast forums but I figured that wouldn't enrich my future occupational path as much. I'm only in my freshman year of undergrad but I've wanted to do anesthesiology since soph. year of high school. neurology and bionic surgery also caught my eye.
Anyway, hello! I hope to learn a lot here!
G.O.B. III said:your avatar is amazing
Thewonderer said:1) How many patients are really that complicated (ICU pt who also develops complications during the surgery)? If they are THAT complicated, the surgeons would not even touch them in the first place! QUOTE]
Wrong. We see folks with crappy EF's, non functioning kidneys with sky high labile bp's that flip on a dime, transplant disasters (70 units of blood and 70 units of ffp), SIRS, old crusties with 4 MI's and multiple bypasses who still smoke, 500-600 lb monsters just waiting to crumple, you name it, frequently. If these folks need the operation versus death (or high probablility of life shortening morbidity) then they get the operation. Surgeons touch them all the time. They just need a good wingman up top.
Orpheus333 said:Your wages are high, yes. However, isn't malpractice insurance astronomical with such a position? Or is that a benefit provided by a hospital? (I would think a hospital would try no to because the costs are so outrageous)
My first post on this forum- I normally post on computer enthusiast forums but I figured that wouldn't enrich my future occupational path as much. I'm only in my freshman year of undergrad but I've wanted to do anesthesiology since soph. year of high school. neurology and bionic surgery also caught my eye.
Anyway, hello! I hope to learn a lot here!
Krafty said:I don't know where people are getting their numbers from about this "slump" in mid nineties and MDA's not being to find jobs over 100k. That's not to say it didn't happen. However, most of what I hear of this time period is actually from non-MDA's talking about some anesthesiologist they knew through their sister's uncle's best friend.
After talking to several anesthesiologists it seems to me that there was a "hype" or a "scare" about the MDA market predictions (circa mid-90s). As a result practices scaled down on hiring and scared medical students stopped looking at the specialty. Whether this reflected true marketplace status quo - who knows.
I would encourage any MDA that looks at this board and was in practice for at least 10 years to come out and speak of how things seemed back then. We can continue to speculate, but I for once cannot find any solid evidence/numbers about what exactly transpired.