Residency

[Zumba]

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Hi guys,

Trying to get some advice on my residency choices when I apply next year. I have considered a number of options, and have seriously considered anesthesia and radiology.

Can anyone advice on what the current state of anesthesia is? I've heard there are issues with CRNA and compensation, and possibly a tight job market. Anyone care to give their thoughts on this?

 

[Arch Guillotti]

Hi guys,

Trying to get some advice on my residency choices when I apply next year. I have considered a number of options, and have seriously considered anesthesia and radiology.

Can anyone advice on what the current state of anesthesia is? I've heard there are issues with CRNA and compensation, and possibly a tight job market. Anyone care to give their thoughts on this?

There's a lot of doom and gloom but I think it's pretty good overall, all things considered.

 

[Zumba]

There's a lot of doom and gloom but I think it's pretty good overall, all things considered.

What are avg salaries for graduating residents, and how likely is it that the job market will improve?

 

[Zumba]

Anyone else care to share their thoughts on this whole thing?

Also can anyone provide the pro/cons of anesthesia vs. rads? Thanks!

 

[WholeLottaGame7]

Anyone else care to share their thoughts on this whole thing?

Also can anyone provide the pro/cons of anesthesia vs. rads? Thanks!

There are tons of threads on the pros/cons of anesthesia; you could spend the better part of a day reading them all. To get the pros/cons of radiology you'd have to go to the radiology forum. Not many people here have done both anesthesiology and radiology residencies, so any radiology pros/cons you get are going to be second-hand.

That said, my wife is a radiology resident, and let's just say I'm glad I'm doing anesthesia and she's glad she's doing radiology. I don't think it's a personality issue since we have similar personalities, but our medical interests are very different. That leads me to my next point: make your decision on what is going to personally give you the most satisfaction, not what's going to make you the most money or offer you the best job market, because you have no idea what's going to happen in the next 20 years. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, I'd rather make primary care money doing anesthesia than anesthesia money doing primary care.

All you can do is get as much exposure as you can to each field and make the best guess as to what you'd be happy doing for the next 30-40 years, emphasis on "guess." There's no way to know exactly what you're getting yourself into, just like there was no way for you to know exactly what medical school was going to be like.

Best of luck.

 

[pgg]

how likely is it that the job market will improve?

Magic 8 ball say, 'not likely' but time will tell. There are many many factors here, from the overall economy, to health care reform, to demographic shifts, to a bump in delayed anesthesiologist retirements due to the 2008 stock market shenanigans ...

Also can anyone provide the pro/cons of anesthesia vs. rads? Thanks!

That'd be like making a list of the pros and cons comparing eggplants and rutabagas.

The two specialties have essentially nothing in common.

 

[Zumba]

There are tons of threads on the pros/cons of anesthesia; you could spend the better part of a day reading them all. To get the pros/cons of radiology you'd have to go to the radiology forum. Not many people here have done both anesthesiology and radiology residencies, so any radiology pros/cons you get are going to be second-hand.

That said, my wife is a radiology resident, and let's just say I'm glad I'm doing anesthesia and she's glad she's doing radiology. I don't think it's a personality issue since we have similar personalities, but our medical interests are very different. That leads me to my next point: make your decision on what is going to personally give you the most satisfaction, not what's going to make you the most money or offer you the best job market, because you have no idea what's going to happen in the next 20 years. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, I'd rather make primary care money doing anesthesia than anesthesia money doing primary care.

All you can do is get as much exposure as you can to each field and make the best guess as to what you'd be happy doing for the next 30-40 years, emphasis on "guess." There's no way to know exactly what you're getting yourself into, just like there was no way for you to know exactly what medical school was going to be like.

Best of luck.

Thank you for your feedback I did also want to ask, could you care to comment on how the whole call system/typical schedule is like in anesthesia? Do you work a 7-5pm type of job, are you on 24 hour call, etc? I am not entirely clear on how that works and I'd love some clarification.

 

[Zumba]

Magic 8 ball say, 'not likely' but time will tell. There are many many factors here, from the overall economy, to health care reform, to demographic shifts, to a bump in delayed anesthesiologist retirements due to the 2008 stock market shenanigans ...






That'd be like making a list of the pros and cons comparing eggplants and rutabagas.

The two specialties have essentially nothing in common.

Ok. Care to comment on the whole CRNA issue? Do you think that that they realistically are a threat to the field of anesthesia, will they replace anesthesiologists/will there be a decreased need for anesthesiologists in the future?

 

[Nooblet]

Ok. Care to comment on the whole CRNA issue? Do you think that that they realistically are a threat to the field of anesthesia, will they replace anesthesiologists/will there be a decreased need for anesthesiologists in the future?

howabout read all the threads that are out there first, then come back and ask all remaining questions

 

[pgg]

Ok. Care to comment on the whole CRNA issue? Do you think that that they realistically are a threat to the field of anesthesia, will they replace anesthesiologists/will there be a decreased need for anesthesiologists in the future?

This is like Penny asking Sheldon to teach her a little bit about physics. 🙂


Short version: I don't personally feel my livelihood or job prospects are meaningfully threatened, in either the short or long term.

The long version is over here.

 

[WholeLottaGame7]

Thank you for your feedback I did also want to ask, could you care to comment on how the whole call system/typical schedule is like in anesthesia? Do you work a 7-5pm type of job, are you on 24 hour call, etc? I am not entirely clear on how that works and I'd love some clarification.

You're probably confused because there are about a hundred different call systems out there. My program has weeks of night float, my med school had a rotating numbered system, etc etc. It's one of the questions you should ask during interviews if it's something that's important to you.

As for the CRNA issue, what pgg said.

Also, I'd consider changing your status to "medical student" and not "resident." Usually your status is pretty evident from the level of questions/commentary, but some people don't take kindly to people who misrepresent themselves. Just FYI.

 

[Zumba]

You're probably confused because there are about a hundred different call systems out there. My program has weeks of night float, my med school had a rotating numbered system, etc etc. It's one of the questions you should ask during interviews if it's something that's important to you.

As for the CRNA issue, what pgg said.

Also, I'd consider changing your status to "medical student" and not "resident." Usually your status is pretty evident from the level of questions/commentary, but some people don't take kindly to people who misrepresent themselves. Just FYI.

Ok, thanks again. Sorry, I am not entirely sure how to change the status? I'm not trying to misrepresent anything, just an honest mistake. My apologies.

 

[pgg]

Ok, thanks again. Sorry, I am not entirely sure how to change the status? I'm not trying to misrepresent anything, just an honest mistake. My apologies.

Top left ...

My account --? your profile


On that page, the "about me" tab

First field is status with a little pencil icon next to it to change.

 

[Zumba]

Top left ...

My account --? your profile


On that page, the "about me" tab

First field is status with a little pencil icon next to it to change.

Ok changed! I also would like to ask something in regards to compensation. It seems that fields like FP are getting paid 190-200+ coming out of residency. What is the typical pay for a Gas grad coming out of residency? I've heard in the 220-250k range, not sure if I am right or not. If that is the case, just curious why it's considered a high paying specialty. It seems that it would be much harder to train/work/match into Gas than FP. any thoughts on this?

 

[polar403]

Ok changed! I also would like to ask something in regards to compensation. It seems that fields like FP are getting paid 190-200+ coming out of residency. What is the typical pay for a Gas grad coming out of residency? I've heard in the 220-250k range, not sure if I am right or not. If that is the case, just curious why it's considered a high paying specialty. It seems that it would be much harder to train/work/match into Gas than FP. any thoughts on this?

http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/compensation/2011/anesthesiology

Your number is probably right for coming directly out of residency. Just depends on where you want to practice. If you want to stay in a larger city with high supply and low demand, your salary is going to be lower. If you're willing to move to certain areas of the midwest or rural areas, you're going to be compensated a lot more. Also just depends on how the group is set up that you take the job with.

 

[Zumba]

http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/compensation/2011/anesthesiology

Your number is probably right for coming directly out of residency. Just depends on where you want to practice. If you want to stay in a larger city with high supply and low demand, your salary is going to be lower. If you're willing to move to certain areas of the midwest or rural areas, you're going to be compensated a lot more. Also just depends on how the group is set up that you take the job with.

So if both specialties are around the 200k mark, why is gas something considered a more high end specialty/better lifestyle than something like FP/IM/peds/psych if they both get paid about the same?

 

[polar403]

So if both specialties are around the 200k mark, why is gas something considered a more high end specialty/better lifestyle than something like FP/IM/peds/psych if they both get paid about the same?

Did you not read the report? Or ANY of the reports on the other specialties? For example:

Internists' income by and large is within the range of $125,000 to $299,999, with a plurality earning from $150,000 to $249,999. Just under 10% of internists earned $300,000 or more.

A median annual salary of $325,000 makes anesthesiology among the most highly paid specialties among respondents to Medscape's survey. Only radiologists, orthopedic surgeons, and cardiologists earned this much or more. Twenty percent of respondents earned $300,000 to $349,000, and 25% earned $350,000 to $449,000. The highest earners among anesthesiologists are subspecialists, particularly those who focus on pediatrics and cardiology.

You're not going to necessarily start off right out of residency with the highest salary in any specialty.

 

[AppTrail]

I think you should really consider meeting with your med school advisor or dean or something...I'm sure there are anesthesia advisors and career advisors, etc. People on this forum tend to get annoyed by questions that can be easily answered if you do simple research and search this specific forum.

 

[ssmallz]

It's really very simple if you wanna be a radiologist go into a rads residency if you want to be an anesthesiologist do a residency in anesthesia. The rest is just details

 

[Zumba]

It's really very simple if you wanna be a radiologist go into a rads residency if you want to be an anesthesiologist do a residency in anesthesia. The rest is just details

I'm considering a number of things, and certainly have not decided yet. I'm asking on here because it's not like I can go into my dean's office and be like hey dean, what type of compensation can i get with rads vs anesthesia? Or how do CRNAs affect anesthesia practice? Will Obamacare really plummet radiology?

Those are subjective things that only people in practice can comment on. I am not sure why it's so bad to ask. I'm sure all of you who are now practicing did at some point.

 

[medking]

I think you should really consider meeting with your med school advisor or dean or something...I'm sure there are anesthesia advisors and career advisors, etc. People on this forum tend to get annoyed by questions that can be easily answered if you do simple research and search this specific forum.

This.

To be honest, you don't really seem like a third year medical student. You're asking questions a first year would be asking, perhaps even a pre-med.

 

[WholeLottaGame7]

I'm considering a number of things, and certainly have not decided yet. I'm asking on here because it's not like I can go into my dean's office and be like hey dean, what type of compensation can i get with rads vs anesthesia? Or how do CRNAs affect anesthesia practice? Will Obamacare really plummet radiology?

Those are subjective things that only people in practice can comment on. I am not sure why it's so bad to ask. I'm sure all of you who are now practicing did at some point.

The issue is that for the most part, everybody that posts here is a doctor (or well on the way to being a doctor). Which means, everybody's busted their hump working hard to gett here. So when somebody comes on here and asks other people to do what it would take them approximately 13 seconds to do on their own using the search function, it is not looked upon highly.

 

[TIVAndy]

I'm considering a number of things, and certainly have not decided yet. I'm asking on here because it's not like I can go into my dean's office and be like hey dean, what type of compensation can i get with rads vs anesthesia? Or how do CRNAs affect anesthesia practice? Will Obamacare really plummet radiology?

Those are subjective things that only people in practice can comment on. I am not sure why it's so bad to ask. I'm sure all of you who are now practicing did at some point.

These are all good questions to ask, and is appropriate to ask on this board. But they have been asked, addressed and argued over millions of times on this board. If you actually read the past threads, you'll probably come to a conclusion that no one.. on this board can predict the future. Even the attendings. Do they have an opinion? Yes. Is there a concensus? No. Just pick a specialty that you like... is the conclusion that you'll get at the end.

 

[Arch Guillotti]

To the OP:

You are getting some static here because all the questions you have asked have been discussed many times before in the past. Searching through some old threads will yield an enormous amount of information.

From your post history, it seems that you are mostly concerned with compensation and lifestyle. I don't recommend anesthesiology if this is all that interests you.

 

[AppTrail]

Compensation can be pretty variable depending on location, size of city/town, demand, etc. Don't put too much weight on compensation and here's why: I would argue that if you are more miserable but make more money, your net utility/happiness is less than if you were happy with your specialty and make less money. Money is a big part of life, but spending a majority of your waking hours working, I would argue that being satisfied is more valuable. This concept may or may not apply to you, however.

Try to arrange a meeting with the dept chair/or program director at your school. Or arrange shadowing opportunities with both specialties. Ask what aspects they like or dislike. Ask what a typical day is like. Ask what changes in the specialty they see coming in the future. These are the questions you should be asking, not compensation.

 

[Nooblet]

honestly based on your posts here and on your other thread, it doesnt seem like you are a med student at all.

 

[ssmallz]

I'm considering a number of things, and certainly have not decided yet. I'm asking on here because it's not like I can go into my dean's office and be like hey dean, what type of compensation can i get with rads vs anesthesia? Or how do CRNAs affect anesthesia practice? Will Obamacare really plummet radiology?

Those are subjective things that only people in practice can comment on. I am not sure why it's so bad to ask. I'm sure all of you who are now practicing did at some point.

They are bad things to ask because no one knows the answer. None of us can predict the future so pick the field you like the most and go with it.