Hi there,
In my program, we are dependent upon each other and have plenty of mutual respect. I just finished a rotation through the SICU with two more senior residents who were anesthesiologists. They were awesome folks who had a very high level of knowledge and practice. They were great about helping me put in Swan lines and getting many procedures done. When it came to debriding wounds and the like, they deferred to me. The head of our STICU is an anesthesiologist/critical care specialist who is a wonderful professor with a broad depth of knowledge about Surgical Critical Care.
Anesthesia manages both our Acute and Chronic Pain service here. It is a great relief to be able to pick up the phone and get a consult for either Acute or Chronic Pain whenever necessary. We are all colleagues and none of my surgical attending physicians feels the need to have an adversarial role with any of the anesthesia attendings or fellows. Then again, I am in an excellent program with thorough professionals on both sides of the drape.
You can bet that when someone needs to berate another specialty or colleage for ego enhancement, there is a major problem with the person doing the berating. There is usually some major insecurity floating about that has no room in good medicine.
njbmd