Med Students --

[IctalSmile]

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Are you guys getting as sick as I am of hearing preceptors say, "Oh....anesthesia huh? I guess the lifestyle is pretty good......" when they ask you what your thinking about going into?

This just really grinds my gears....

#1 -- I loved my anesthesia rotation. It was seriously the best and subsequently quickest month I've ever had. I love how you have to know your S because it could hit the fan at any moment. You have to REALLY know MEDICINE.

#2 -- To hell with this damned notion that it's all about lifestyle..... Like Jet said a while back...you can have a lifestyle in any specialty if your good at it, efficient, and want that kind of lifestyle.


But, with all that said, they can say whatever they want. Really makes no difference to me. They can stay oblivious, and I'll stay happy with my choice.

I'll step down from my soapbox now.....

 

[militarymd]

Your preceptors only say that because your colleagues who say they want a lifestyle specialty are choosing anesthesia.

 

[Kubed]

"Anesthesia hu? I wish it wasn't so boring, I would love a lifestyle like that."

or

"Man, i just can't imagine you sitting here doing nothing all day."

I don't mind hearing stuff like that. I'm praying for a 90% drop off in applications this year based on rumors like that. 😀

 

[QofQuimica]

I never tell non-anesthesia attendings what I'm planning to do, but rather what I'm *not* planning to do. (I'm a third year, so I can get away with not having a solid answer yet.) Sometimes the attendings will then start making a pitch for their own specialty, which often leads to an interesting discussion. It fascinates me to hear why people would ever fall in love with something as boring as derm or as icky as gyn. 😛

 

[IctalSmile]

"Anesthesia hu? I wish it wasn't so boring, I would love a lifestyle like that."

or

"Man, i just can't imagine you sitting here doing nothing all day."

I don't mind hearing stuff like that. I'm praying for a 90% drop off in applications this year based on rumors like that. 😀

you and me both Kube......well, I'm hopin that 90% drop is true for next year too, lol.

 

[CalCoug]

Are you guys getting as sick as I am of hearing preceptors say, "Oh....anesthesia huh? I guess the lifestyle is pretty good......" when they ask you what your thinking about going into?

I seem to get this the most from doctors who have outpatient clinic from 8-4 everyday. Now I just say "yup, getting to work at 6am everyday, running around the hospital taking care of sick people who could crash at anytime, and knowing your patients will never remember who the hell you were, that's my kind of lifestyle"

 

[Leverage]

Are you guys getting as sick as I am of hearing preceptors say, "Oh....anesthesia huh? I guess the lifestyle is pretty good......" when they ask you what your thinking about going into?

This just really grinds my gears....

#1 -- I loved my anesthesia rotation. It was seriously the best and subsequently quickest month I've ever had. I love how you have to know your S because it could hit the fan at any moment. You have to REALLY know MEDICINE.

#2 -- To hell with this damned notion that it's all about lifestyle..... Like Jet said a while back...you can have a lifestyle in any specialty if your good at it, efficient, and want that kind of lifestyle.


But, with all that said, they can say whatever they want. Really makes no difference to me. They can stay oblivious, and I'll stay happy with my choice.

I'll step down from my soapbox now.....

won't change prelim yr

 

[lord_jeebus]

I always said I was going into Anesthesiology and never had a response like that.

Most attendings were enthusiastic about and supportive of my choice. Some surgeons made some jokes but that was about it.

 

[antihero]

I pi$$ed of an anesthesiologist with a minority complex once. I am both rude and careless about making jokes, but this guy got ticked off because I wanted to have a look at the surgery instead of looking at the monitor together with him. Nobody had told me that I was only assigned to stay with the anesthesiologist, so that one dude had a real rant on me. Why the f**k did I do a rotation with them if I only wanted to hang out with the cool surgeons, huh? Truth is, neither surgery nor anesthesia is my thing, I just wanted to have a glance at both. When the guy found out that I just wanted to be a neurologist, everything was A-OK. 😀 I guess you can't help being confronted with not being top of the hierarchy, so you need decent coping mechanisms. That is bound to be harder for anesthesiologist, because quite often, the surgeons will be in the position where they are "in charge," the way I have understood things. I will probably get my share of $hit as well, y'know IMG planning on entering neuro? Wasn't good enuff for neurosurg, or derm, eh? Well, a) I ain't einstein, b) if I was, I would be working with my f-ing brain solving equations, and not playing a cut-n-sewing machine. If anybody said "I guess the lifestyle is pretty good," I would answer: not just the lifestyle. Everything is good. I love it.

 

[antihero]

Man, i just can't imagine you sitting here doing nothing all day

- Better than walking and doing nothing all day. - Yep. Just like the normal office job, xept this has the added bonus of saving people's lives. - Well, I am doing something. I am listening to my mp3 player.

 

[cfdavid]

Perhaps not the brightest thing, but I didn't hide the fact that I want to do anesthesiology while on my OB/GYN rotation. I still worked hard and showed interest. All was good. Better than lying about wanting to go into OB.....

 

[Jalopycat]

I 😀 I guess you can't help being confronted with not being top of the hierarchy, so you need decent coping mechanisms. That is bound to be harder for anesthesiologist, because quite often, the surgeons will be in the position where they are "in charge," the way I have understood things.

It never crossed my mind that I'm not on the same level as the surgeons. All it takes is to watch a code in the OR to know who's really running the show when it counts.

 

[climbingdocs]

Most of my attendings were cool about my choice and the ones that wrote my LORs included that fact I want to do gas in the letter.

 

[UTKB]

It never crossed my mind that I'm not on the same level as the surgeons. All it takes is to watch a code in the OR to know who's really running the show when it counts.

So true. I was in on one once, and the surgeons looked like deer in the headlights while the gas men were showing them what's up. Awesome!

 

[coprolalia]

So true. I was in on one once, and the surgeons looked like deer in the headlights while the gas men were showing them what's up. Awesome!

Depends on which type of surgeon you are talking about. If it's an orthopod, you're right. They'll just stand back and crap their pants while you take care of the situation.

If it's a cardiothoracic surgeon, OTOH, you are going to stand back and watch them while you crap your pants. The key to having solace and inner peace in the CT room is going in with the mindset that you are basically just along for the ride.

-copro

 

[jeesapeesa]

i'm first year, so what i hear most is "don't they just put the patient to sleep and wake them up?" this coming from fellow MS-I students. i can't wait to be in rotations when i actually encounter more educated ignorant comments like the ones presented by the OP.
👍

 

[UTKB]

Depends on which type of surgeon you are talking about. If it's an orthopod, you're right. They'll just stand back and crap their pants while you take care of the situation.

If it's a cardiothoracic surgeon, OTOH, you are going to stand back and watch them while you crap your pants. The key to having solace and inner peace in the CT room is going in with the mindset that you are basically just along for the ride.

-copro

This was a CT surgeon. There were 3 CT anesthesia faculty in the room also, so surgeon-badass stood back to watch, but if there were one crap-o resident in the room this surgeon would have eaten him.

 

[Airhead]

i totally agree with most of what has already been said....

from what i have seen (+/- dozen codes, several stats), anesthesia residents at our hospital surpass other residents (upper level medicine residents, all level surgery residents) in decision making and skills, especially when pt quickly crashing and creativity is needed....

 

[RxBoy]

If you go into anesthesia, you shouldn't care about admiration. I sure as hell don't. I don't want my patients/surgeons to respect me for what I "am"... but respect me because they don't need to waste time thinking about me. Does that make sense?

Ever go on a roller coaster? Do you respect the inspectors that make sure the roller coaster never collapses? Hell no.. you're too busy thinking about the ride. But when the roller coaster collapses... who gets blamed? Same for anesthesiologists. The lower you are on the radar, the better you're at your job.

Surgeons love the glory of being surgeons. I have enough self confidence. I don't need to partake in some adolescent pissing contest.

 

[lfesiam]

If you go into anesthesia, you shouldn't care about admiration. I sure as hell don't. I don't want my patients/surgeons to respect me for what I "am"... but respect me because they don't need to waste time thinking about me. Does that make sense?

Ever go on a roller coaster? Do you respect the inspectors that make sure the roller coaster never collapses? Hell no.. you're too busy thinking about the ride. But when the roller coaster collapses... who gets blamed? Same for anesthesiologists. The lower you are on the radar, the better you're at your job.

Surgeons love the glory of being surgeons. I have enough self confidence. I don't need to partake in some adolescent pissing contest.

seconds Rxboy.

here's a pic of Ego:

however, Ego is not heartless...you just have to find where the heart is!
It can be simple as mom's home cooking. 👍