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Status Sciaticus

Status Sciaticus

Anesthesiology and Interventional Pain Medicine
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Hello all,

Graduating next year and looking to apply to general anesthesiology positions, and was interested in/around the Seattle area. Anyone have experience or information for the local groups in the area? I came across Pacific Anesthesia, Rainier Anesthesia, and USAP seattle.

thanks in advance.
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I've fled the area, but Evergreen and Overlake (Matrix?) are desirable groups. Several people from the residency class below mine went to Tacoma General and seem to be happy there. Feel free to PM me questions, but I knew I wanted to leave the area and didn't job search there so my knowledge is limited.
 
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The friends I had in Seattle are all moving to Idaho.
 
GandalfTheWhite said:
Hello all,

Graduating next year and looking to apply to general anesthesiology positions, and was interested in/around the Seattle area. Anyone have experience or information for the local groups in the area? I came across Pacific Anesthesia, Rainier Anesthesia, and USAP seattle.

thanks in advance.
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I’ve talked to people from Pacific before. I had good impressions based on conversations. Very open and seem fair. If things lined up I may be living in WA right now, but you know, pandemic and all
 
Twiggidy said:
I’ve talked to people from Pacific before. I had good impressions based on conversations. Very open and seem fair. If things lined up I may be living in WA right now, but you know, pandemic and all
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lemme know how your interviews turn out if you do go.
 
Anyone knows anything about CAG in Vancouver, WA? It is recruiting a lot.

Tax wisely Vancouver WA seems to be the best place in the Country.
 
Can someone provide more details about Matrix Anesthesia or M2 anesthesia?
 
narcotics999 said:
Anyone knows anything about CAG in Vancouver, WA? It is recruiting a lot.

Tax wisely Vancouver WA seems to be the best place in
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I was resident classmates with four of the current members of CAG. I can tell you that all four of them are stellar people. I don’t know much of anything about their group, but stellar people tend to produce stellar groups.
 
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My understanding is CAG was mostly based out of Vancouver WA until recently when they received a contract for a hospital in Portland, OR. So the recent increase in hiring has been to staff the Portland hospital, not due to people leaving the group.
 
pasgasser2 said:
Can someone provide more details about Matrix Anesthesia or M2 anesthesia?
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It's an outfit run by one of the biggest, narcissistic douche-bags I have ever met. You will drive miles and miles doing peds dental cases in dental offices so you will be your own backup. They supply all their own equipment and you carry it with you I believe or some may be kept at the offices. You will make a nice chunk of change but you will likely eventually get tired of driving around like a drug rep. I looked into it when I was in Vegas and the guy came to the OR where I used to do dental and observed me, couldn't stand him the minute we met and he couldn't stand me either. It's all about fast wake ups and with peds, I don't mess around. Peds all day doesn't sound like fun to me. I hate how they like to turn blue.
 
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chocomorsel said:
It's an outfit run by one of the biggest, narcissistic douchbags I have ever met. You will drive miles and miles doing peds dental cases in dental offices so you will be your own backup. They supply all their own equipment and you carry it with you I believe or some may be kept at the offices. You will make a nice chunk of change but you will likely eventually get tired of driving around like a drug rep. I looked into it when I was in Vegas and the guy came to the OR where I used to do dental and observed me, couldn't stand him the minute we met and he couldn't stand me either. It's all about fast wake ups and with peds, I don't mess around. Peds all day doesn't sound like fun to me. I hate how they like to turn blue.
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That sounds like M2 anesthesia, I'm pretty sure I saw them advertising peds dental on gaswork before....yeah no thanks. Matrix anesthesia on the other hand seems to contract with the hospital in Bellevue where all the tech millionaires live...bet their payor mix is ridiculous. In an area like that though, anesthesiologists are probably living in dinkiest houses at the bottom of the food chain
 
agammaglobulin said:
My understanding is CAG was mostly based out of Vancouver WA until recently when they received a contract for a hospital in Portland, OR. So the recent increase in hiring has been to staff the Portland hospital, not due to people leaving the group.
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I see. Who lost the Portland Hospital contract? I hope it was an AMC.
 
Matrix Anesthesia covers Overlake and Evergreen hospitals and several ASCs and offices in the eastside cities of Kirkland and Bellevue.
Valley Anesthesia covers Valley Hospital and the south end of the eastside.
Pacific Anesthesia has several hospitals including St. Joes in Tacoma and just north of Seattle at Swedish Edmonds.
Tacoma Anesthesia Associates covers Tacoma General and Mary Bridge Children's Hospital.
Bellingham Anesthesia Associates covers basically everything in Bellingham
Columbia Anesthesia group covers Vancouver and one Portland hospital as described above.
All these groups are good groups that are locally owned and are either mostly physician or physician only practices.

USAP-WA covers Swedish/Providence hospitals in downtown Seattle and in Issaquah and Somnia Anesthesia covers Providence Everett.
Kaiser is also an option in Seattle and Bellevue.
 
slabb said:
Matrix Anesthesia covers Overlake and Evergreen hospitals and several ASCs and offices in the eastside cities of Kirkland and Bellevue.
Valley Anesthesia covers Valley Hospital and the south end of the eastside.
Pacific Anesthesia has several hospitals including St. Joes in Tacoma and just north of Seattle at Swedish Edmonds.
Tacoma Anesthesia Associates covers Tacoma General and Mary Bridge Children's Hospital.
Bellingham Anesthesia Associates covers basically everything in Bellingham
Columbia Anesthesia group covers Vancouver and one Portland hospital as described above.
All these groups are good groups that are locally owned and are either mostly physician or physician only practices.

USAP-WA covers Swedish/Providence hospitals in downtown Seattle and in Issaquah and Somnia Anesthesia covers Providence Everett.
Kaiser is also an option in Seattle and Bellevue.
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thoughts on rainier anesthesia?
 
chocomorsel said:
It's an outfit run by one of the biggest, narcissistic douche-bags I have ever met. You will drive miles and miles doing peds dental cases in dental offices so you will be your own backup. They supply all their own equipment and you carry it with you I believe or some may be kept at the offices. You will make a nice chunk of change but you will likely eventually get tired of driving around like a drug rep. I looked into it when I was in Vegas and the guy came to the OR where I used to do dental and observed me, couldn't stand him the minute we met and he couldn't stand me either. It's all about fast wake ups and with peds, I don't mess around. Peds all day doesn't sound like fun to me. I hate how they like to turn blue.
Click to expand...

Every traveling office-based peds dental anesthesia gig I've ever seen or heard about through friends who got suckered into doing it has struck me as extremely high risk exploitative work .

No PACU or competent/trained person to watch kids in recovery
Huge skim by the dentist - high ca$h payments for anesthesia, hourly rate for the anesthesiologist
Despite that huge profit margin, ancient or otherwise terrible used/refurb equipment

No way.
 
Matrix may be selling out. You at least have time to see it play put. Unfortunate for the 6-7 new hires they just made though.
 
Pacific is one of the few all-MD, productivity-driven groups left. They are not owned by private bankers like every other group in the area (that's USAP et al.) In fact, they rejected attempts to get them to sell out. If you want to get paid for your hard work and you can fit the group, Pacific is a no-brainer. If you want to get a disincentivized gig where you are sometimes in a room, sometimes babysitting CRNAs, and getting a very flat rate (i.e., your productivity/RVUs not closely tracked) so the harder you work the less you make, go elsewhere to ANY of the groups in the area that have sold out but want to tell you about all the wonderful care they give and what a wonderful place they are to work (and it's true, you will get out a lot earlier often when not incentivized). But remember, your skills will atrophy when you're clicking computer buttons to supervise nurses instead of doing anesthesia like they are.
 
GandalfTheWhite said:
Things that people say, just before selling out for $500, Alex.

Tejas pulled the same line a few years back, and so did one of the dallas groups (not sure of name, maybe pinnacle?)
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Okay... but it's also what people say when they have no plan or desire to sell their business to companies running a failed business plan for a few upfront bucks followed by long term issues with staffing.
 
GandalfTheWhite said:
Things that people say, just before selling out for $500, Alex.

Tejas pulled the same line a few years back, and so did one of the dallas groups (not sure of name, maybe pinnacle?)
Click to expand...

Right you are. Had a group tell me the same thing. Found out they were in active negotiations at that time and couldn't say anything to me during the interview

FYI, Pinnacle in the DFW area was a collection of many different groups and were USAP-like before they became USAP.
 
sethco said:
Right you are. Had a group tell me the same thing. Found out they were in active negotiations at that time and couldn't say anything to me during the interview

FYI, Pinnacle in the DFW area was a collection of many different groups and were USAP-like before they became USAP.
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That is some bs
Sucks cause dallas is nice
 
GassYous said:
That is some bs
Sucks cause dallas is nice
Click to expand...

Meh. I could sit around here complaining about all the ways I have been wronged, but it actually turned out pretty well for me. I like the area, the job, and my income. My biggest complaint about the area is the traffic, even though everything is so spread out. That and everybody thinks they are Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500 when they are driving.

I wonder if the Anesthesiologists that are in the USAP practices in Seattle feel the same way. No idea
 
sethco said:
Meh. I could sit around here complaining about all the ways I have been wronged, but it actually turned out pretty well for me. I like the area, the job, and my income. My biggest complaint about the area is the traffic, even though everything is so spread out. That and everybody thinks they are Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500 when they are driving.

I wonder if the Anesthesiologists that are in the USAP practices in Seattle feel the same way. No idea
Click to expand...

You should see the people in our area. Stop signs are a suggestion, some people don't even slow down as they blow past 5 seconds after the light changes to red. I see this daily. Loud motorcycles that give you the finger after they nearly roll themselves under your front wheel doing stupid crap between the lanes. I just watched a video of a huge crash on the freeway with some ******* in a truck switching 4 lanes at once and a guy speeding away after knocking over a rental truck.
 
sethco said:
Meh. I could sit around here complaining about all the ways I have been wronged, but it actually turned out pretty well for me. I like the area, the job, and my income. My biggest complaint about the area is the traffic, even though everything is so spread out. That and everybody thinks they are Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500 when they are driving.

I wonder if the Anesthesiologists that are in the USAP practices in Seattle feel the same way. No idea
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dude, coming to NYC from DFW, I miss the I35 or 75 traffic compared to NYC. Hell, even the 635 is more tolerable. Grass is definitely greener situation lol
 
GandalfTheWhite said:
dude, coming to NYC from DFW, I miss the I35 or 75 traffic compared to NYC. Hell, even the 635 is more tolerable. Grass is definitely greener situation lol
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NYC traffic only sucks cause of volume. Most people know how to drive. At the very least they will signal to let you know if they're about to do something stupid. That is not the case on the west coast where people will be jamming in the hov lane then suddenly switch 5 lanes to get off at their exit.
 
NY traffic is brutal and only LA is worse. NY traffic is the soul sucking , lose your will to live type of traffic. The type where you’re slamming the steering wheel because some Dumbfduck decided to run out of gas on the Belt at 630AM, or another soul snatched by the potholes of Cross Bronx or just the why the Fduck is there standstill traffic on the BQE at 2 am. And LIE is supposed to be a 4 lane high way that needs at least 2 more during the day time.
 
PlayToWin said:
NY traffic is brutal and only LA is worse. NY traffic is the soul sucking , lose your will to live type of traffic. The type where you’re slamming the steering wheel because some Dumbfduck decided to run out of gas on the Belt at 630AM, or another soul snatched by the potholes of Cross Bronx or just the why the Fduck is there standstill traffic on the BQE at 2 am. And LIE is supposed to be a 4 lane high way that needs at least 2 more during the day time.
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The thing that gets me is when there's a crash on the bqe at 5 am or 2 pm. How do you get into a crash when there's not that many people on the road? A drive that should take 30 minutes and usually takes at least an hour can easily stretch to 2. And people will keep letting others cut in from the side. Drives me batty. I've had someone throw several nickles at my car for not letting them cut in from the shoulder.
 
GassYous said:
The thing that gets me is when there's a crash on the bqe at 5 am or 2 pm. How do you get into a crash when there's not that many people on the road? A drive that should take 30 minutes and usually takes at least an hour can easily stretch to 2. And people will keep letting others cut in from the side. Drives me batty. I've had someone throw several nickles at my car for not letting them cut in from the shoulder.
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maybe a lil sumptin for your troubles . Everyone cuts , they let others do it because they just did it themselves .
 
PlayToWin said:
maybe a lil sumptin for your troubles . Everyone cuts , they let others do it because they just did it themselves .
Click to expand...

That drives me especially nuts! You just cut and jacked up traffic and then let other people cut too as if you driving over all the double lines wasn't bad enough! I never let em in.
 
Apologize in advance for reviving this old thread. I’m wondering which hospitals in the Seattle / Bellevue / Tacoma area that do a fair amount of cardiac Aside from UW?
 
I work in South Sound region and have recent experience in Portland too, if anyone has specific questions you can PM me and I could answer to the best of my ability.
 
EYY said:
Apologize in advance for reviving this old thread. I’m wondering which hospitals in the Seattle / Bellevue / Tacoma area that do a fair amount of cardiac Aside from UW?
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Pacific is looking for a cardiac anesthesiologist in Tacoma and have a listing on Gasworks. Worth a look. Only group I came across giving you partner pay day 1 on a production basis. Swedish also looking if you dont like the reverse commute but 2 year track and their starting pay is a CRNA rate for the first two years.
 
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GandalfTheWhite said:
Pacific is looking for a cardiac anesthesiologist in Tacoma and have a listing on Gasworks. Worth a look. Only group I came across giving you partner pay day 1 on a production basis. Swedish also looking if you dont like the reverse commute but 2 year track and their starting pay is a CRNA rate for the first two years.
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crnas are making more than anesthesiologists lately apparently
 
GandalfTheWhite said:
who says places will give you an option? They may want to have 4 ORs running rather than 1.
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Well if they are going to pay a crna more than the anesthesiologist, what I'm saying is i will just sit in the OR chair myself and they can fire that crna
 
coffeebythelake said:
Well if they are going to pay a crna more than the anesthesiologist, what I'm saying is i will just sit in the OR chair myself and they can fire that crna
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it makes sense if theres one CRNA and one MD, but if you have 4 ORs that need to be staffed but there arent 4 anesthesiologists, then both you and the hospital and also the patients are SOL. Of course you can just up and leave, but that option isnt readily available to everyone.
 
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