Need some advice about getting Anesthes

[GasDaddy]

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Hey guys,

 

[ThinkFast007]

Hey guys,
Im currently a 3rd year med student at St. Georges Univ (foreign med school) and am interested in anesthesiology. I got a 225/91 on step 1. my grades in basic sciences werent that great, about a 2.85 or so. i really want to do anesthes for the lifestyle, more hands on approach, and being able to live a good life. it seems my school is able to match anesthes well, but i hear its getting really competitive lately. so my questions.....

what should i do to get an anesthes residency? am i in ok shape? board scores ok?

how is the lifestyle for anesthes? do u really have that much free time? i hear so many different stories about that. it looks like u cant ever get away from being on call. how often do u have to be on call as a working anesthesiologist?

do u have to work in a group or can u work alone for a hospital?

what about salaries? how much do u make on average? i hear varying answers about this?

will we have a job for life and still get paid wel and have a good lifestyle for our lifetimes?


sorry guys, this is all over the place. i reallly never have time to post. im in the ER at my hospital now. im oncall today, im doing my first rotation in medicine. anyhow, i appreciate any replies and help. i really thinki awnt to do anesthes, but really want to make sure i know what im getting into. thanks gyus
-gasdaddy

I got this one guys...

GasD, check the FAQ's and do a search on here, you'll see these q's asked and answered.

 

[chicamedica]

don't do it just for the lifestyle.

find a field you actually enjoy doing (you're only just starting rotations and can't possibly know yet). Any field can be tailored to have more free time. And all of them are cyclical pay-wise. You can have a great life with any specialty, as long as you enjoy it. If you're miserable doing actual anesthesiology practice, you're not gonna have a good life, even with all the free time and (currently) good pay.

from my experience with anesthesiology residents and attendings, i've noticed 2 breeds, the ones that actually love the acuity of the field and anesthesiology for what it is, and then the ones who didn't like anything in medicine and chose anesthesiology by default b/c it's supposedly such a great lifestyle. Funny, the latter are invariably the mean, bitter ones. They don't seems happy at all.

"Do anesthesiologists have that much free time?"

How much free time were you told? I'm sure it depends on how hard one wants to work. I don't know, it just seems like a bad sign if someone is looking for a field with "a lot" of free time as a major factor. Are you sure medicine is really for you?

Anesthesiology may have its down times, but there are often moments of high stress where a patient is dying right in front of you, in a split second (e.g. massive hemorrhage from an injured subclavian artery). You have to be mentally prepared with a lot of knowledge and expertise at the ready, in case such a situation arises (and they can happen even with a routine mundane surgery) If your heart isn't in it, and you're lackadaisical about things, just wanting to chill out, patients are gonna die.