Questions

[durban]

I am a third year who is whittling down my list of options and had a couple of questions. Doesn't anesthesiology get boring? And aren't CRNA's going to take over a lot of the jobs? JUST KIDDING!!!!
Seriously: Anesthesiology is not typically one of those fields you hear students getting fired up about in medical school, partly, I think, because of a lack of exposure. Do any of you residents or practicing anesthesiologists think that a "love" for pharm/physiology is necessary to stay happy in the field? I worked as a surgical PA for two years and personally witnessed anesthesiologists take some crap off of my doctors. Has this ever been an issue for you? Finally, the CRNA issue aside (which in my region seems to be a nonissue) and acknowledging the unpredictablilty of medical financial issues, are there any reimbursement issues on the horizon which bother you at the moment?
My apologies in advance if these have been covered already.

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[UTSouthwestern]

Do a search on this forum. These questions have been answered ad nauseum and the last thing we need is another MD vs. CRNA flame war.

 

[Tenesma]

i will answer one of your questions.... as it hasn't been answered enough - and this is in regards to the love of pharm and physio....

your career choice should be based on what bread and butter things you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life.... love of pharm and physio is great if you are interested in teaching, but that eventually becomes less important post-residency....

if you are thinking of IM - will you be content managing diabetes, HTN for the rest of your life
if you are thinking of Gen SUrg -will you be content doing hernia/choles for the rest of your life
if you are thinking of derm - will you be content with acne and skin biopsies.....

Of course, each field/specialty has its special moments of awesomeness - but you have to be also happy doing the bread and butter for a long, long time.... for general anesthesia: will you be content with putting people to sleep and waking them up for the rest of your life
for cardiac anesth: will you be content w/ putting people to sleep, doing a TEE, titrating up the Norepinephrine and dropping them off in a unit?
for chronic pain: will you be content prescribing narcotics
for interventional pain: will be content doing steroid injections and facet blocks all day

i suggest that you look at fields from that point of view....

 

[erasmus31]

for interventional pain: will be content doing steroid injections and facet blocks all day

i suggest that you look at fields from that point of view....[/QUOTE]


I know this is off the topic of the original post, but can anybody tell me if there is a difference in training between pain management, and interventional pain? Are they 2 different fellowships? Are they the same amount of time?

Any quick response is appreciated, and I don't want to end the OP's question, so please consider that as well.

Thanks.

 

[Tenesma]

same fellowship.... just a matter of your exposure and how you plan to run your own clinic or the deal that you strike with your future employers...