Radiology vs. Anesthesia overall Lifestyle
Started by monkeyman727
Get help with your application
Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I really hope that gas is as challenging as is professed on this board because I'm taking a leap of faith and applying to the specialty. I love everything about anesthesia. The only concern I have is that I will not be challenged enough. We shall see.
I'll be honest here. You know if you go on a Anesthesiology board you expect answers like, "anesthesia rocks, it's the best specialty". In the same manner you will hear that about surgery,IM,etc. Every specialty will likely think they are the saviors of the world. This is your carrier. I dont think it should be about a leap of faith. But hey what do I know...
good luck.
Seriously though, I think non-interventional rads has a seriously kick butt lifestyle.
The reason I said "leap of faith" is not because I'm not informed about the various aspects of anesthesia (all which I like) but because everyone keeps saying "you won't know what it's like until your in the drivers seat" which I can't be until I'm a resident. Any field will take some leap of faith given the time constraints under which we have to make a decision.
anesthesia is not as intellectually challenging as it is challenging in other ways.. its physically challenging after some tough calls... you have to be politically savvy.. you have to know when to assert yourself and when it really doesnt matter.. you are under time constraints all the time.... you have to be there early to get things going.... you cant have a bad day and keep to yourself because people are always calling and needing you and you have to constantly do t all those i deal with fine.. but others would rather not deal with those things... Radiology i would imagine to be more intellectually stimulating..
You think critical care isn't challenging? Although we don't get paid well for it....critical care medicine is a branch of anesthesia where outcome is measured in how your patient leaves the hospital.....feet first or on their feet.
Look, the way I look at it is, do you want to be a doctor? Or do you want to be a scientist? Not that there's anything wrong with being a scientist.
Radiologists, pathologists, those guys are scientists.
Anesthesiologists are doctors.
If a flight attendant asks for medical help on the airplane, I know my radiology and pathology friends wouldn't step forward.
In fact if they did, I'd laught at them.
Radiologists, pathologists, those guys are scientists.
Anesthesiologists are doctors.
If a flight attendant asks for medical help on the airplane, I know my radiology and pathology friends wouldn't step forward.
In fact if they did, I'd laught at them.
That's actually a good way to think about it. Thanks.
I am not an anesthesiologist, but once upon I wanted to be a orthopedic surgeon. I worked my tail off on my ortho rotation and at the end of it had a heart-to-heart with my attending. I will never forget his advice and I think it bears repeating:
Basically, everything in medicine becomes boring after awhile. It's one thing to be a Johnny-on-the-spot kick butt intern or resident when you're in your 20's, but when you're in your 50's and having to drag your *ss out of bed to see some latest victim of the knife and gun club because your group covers the trauma call at the community hospital or grandma fell out of bed and broke her hip, etc, etc, etc...it gets old.
So, yes, you should do what you love, follow your bliss, and all the other good stuff that is written on motivational greeting cards. But, remember, after it becomes boring all you'll be left with is the lifestyle.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
True that!
When I was in med school, I was having a discussion about my career choices with a transplant attending (I knew the guy from before I went to med school) Surgery was my first choice, partly because I thought I'd be bored doing anything else. He told me even liver transplants get boring after you've done enough. I didn't see how that could be possible, and proceeded to match into surgery. Now I'm PGY3 in surgery, feeling beaten down and spit out by life (and in this case job=life, even in a program that does very well with adhering to the 80 hours restrictions). Life is looking pretty good to me on the other side of the curtain, and I'm considering switching. Sometimes operating is fun, but most of the time it's just work...work that is more exausting than you can imagine, work that you can never predect when you will be done with.
Lifestyle is much more important than I ever imagined.
Wow, two kicka** pieces of advice! Thanks for throwin out nuggets like this to we young'uns out there.
I've got an interventional radiology buddy who would strongly disagree with your "Radiholiday" definition.
His calls are worse than mine.
I've said this numerous times in previous posts.
IR is a different beast altogether from diagnostic radiology. Those guys easily work gen. surg. hours.
Similar threads
