Tell me it’s going to be okay...

[BLADEMDA]

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[BLADEMDA]

But these difficult specialties often have high ratings of "regret" among physicians, and specialty satisfaction and regret don't necessarily correlate with how hard-working the doctors in them are. Some specialties are just not as conducive to nice lifestyles as others. At this point, I'm considering going into anesthesia and accepting that whatever happens, happens.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Stop Whining About Job Satisfaction | White Coat Investor

Do physicians have it worse than other professions when it comes down to job satisfaction? Truth is, medicine is a pretty good job when you step back and take a look at it from an outside perspective.

www.whitecoatinvestor.com

Every survey has different results. Your "risk" by choosing anesthesia is much higher than most other specialties. Medicare reimbursement is the lowest among all specialties. CRNAs are not a future theoretical threat. They number 54,000 and claim equivalency to physicians today. Good employment positions are very hard to find and salaries have stagnated due to AMC/hospital employment. Good Private practice jobs are drying up and much, much harder to find. While the future for Medicine may look dim that is still better than Anesthesiology where the outlook is worse. Every year another state "opts out" of supervision requirements by a Physician.

The job itself is also an issue. On the East Coast and many parts of the midwest the only jobs available are supervisory ones. If you decide you want to actually practice your specialty you won't be allowed in 1/2 the country. For example, almost every practice I contact to work for would rather hire a CRNA than an Anesthesiologist even if the cost was the same. That is their model and they won't deviate from it.

The climate is much like ER/EM was 5 years ago. The job market appears good and everyone gets a position. But, that could easily change like EM/ER over the next 5 years as the CRNAS continue to increase in number and scope.

Overall, If I had a Step 1 score of 250 I would avoid Anesthesiology completely and choose something else. For those Med students with fewer options I recommend a fellowship and a positive outlook on life when it comes to making lemonade from lemons. To be clear, I don't dislike my specialty nor the day to day work of my job but I firmly believe there are much better choices.

 

[GassYous]

It's amazing that they won't let you sit your own cases even if you want to

 

[BLADEMDA]

Answer this question: Is the massive increase in the number of persons in the USA over the age of 65 good for Anesthesiology?

 

[BLADEMDA]

U.S. - seniors as a percentage of the population 2022 | Statista

In 2022, about 17.3 percent of the American population was 65 years old or over; an increase from the last few years and a figure which is expected to reach 22 percent by 2050.

www.statista.com

 

[anbuitachi]

I reached out to my politically active colleagues and they mentioned that dealing with CMS one of their top priorities and their focus has been redirected in this direction.

that probably should've been their #1 priority... always. until its fixed.

 

[anbuitachi]

Dont look down on IM hospitalist... dont have to do clinic, can do procedures if want to (obviously less than procedural fields). when i was a resident on medicine, i did procedures like IV placement, central line, paracentesis. IM hospitalist can have VERY good pay per hour. especially if you supplement with locum

 

[anbuitachi]

CMS Releases 2022 Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program Proposed Rule

www.asahq.org

every year there are cuts or proposed cuts. very tiring. in 2040 you'll be making equivalent of todays 100k after adjusting for inflation/purchasing power

 

[<(^_^)>]

Currently 46,000 PA/NP graduate a year (~450,000 total). It won’t be long before their graduating class surpasses the cumulative total of CRNAs. Why does that matter? Greater lobbying power. Oh, and there are more opt out states for NPs than CRNAs anyway. The “mid level argument” against anesthesia is outdated, especially with the development of “physician associates”. Again, anyone that thinks they can avoid mid-levels in their career or that their career is “safe” in some sense is in for a rude awakening.

Live modestly, save aggressively, and realize any MD has a fantastic life compared to >90% of Americans, and 99% of people on the planet.

 

[nimbus]

While we continue to train more and more CRNAs, this is what Ortho does. Our specialty could be just as good as theirs if we did not sabotage ourselves.

Lawsuit Alleges Practicing Physicians Block New Residency Program

OrthoSC torpedoed residency program to maintain Myrtle Beach monopoly, lawsuit alleges BY DAVID WEISSMAN UPDATED NOVEMBER 22, 2021 12:16 PM A potentially prosperous orthopedic surgery residency program was shut down due to threats by a group of Myrtle Beach-area doctors who “did not want to be...

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[Blockit]

While we continue to train more and more CRNAs, this is what Ortho does. Our specialty could be just as good as theirs if we did not sabotage ourselves.

Lawsuit Alleges Practicing Physicians Block New Residency Program

OrthoSC torpedoed residency program to maintain Myrtle Beach monopoly, lawsuit alleges BY DAVID WEISSMAN UPDATED NOVEMBER 22, 2021 12:16 PM A potentially prosperous orthopedic surgery residency program was shut down due to threats by a group of Myrtle Beach-area doctors who “did not want to be...

forums.studentdoctor.net

Yeah, you can do that when you have something called leverage. In our specialty, we have none of that.

 

[deleted126335]

While we continue to train more and more CRNAs, this is what Ortho does. Our specialty could be just as good as theirs if we did not sabotage ourselves.

Lawsuit Alleges Practicing Physicians Block New Residency Program

OrthoSC torpedoed residency program to maintain Myrtle Beach monopoly, lawsuit alleges BY DAVID WEISSMAN UPDATED NOVEMBER 22, 2021 12:16 PM A potentially prosperous orthopedic surgery residency program was shut down due to threats by a group of Myrtle Beach-area doctors who “did not want to be...

forums.studentdoctor.net

If true, it is really dumb to put that in an email.

 

[vector2]

Currently 46,000 PA/NP graduate a year (~450,000 total). It won’t be long before their graduating class surpasses the cumulative total of CRNAs. Why does that matter? Greater lobbying power. Oh, and there are more opt out states for NPs than CRNAs anyway. The “mid level argument” against anesthesia is outdated, especially with the development of “physician associates”. Again, anyone that thinks they can avoid mid-levels in their career or that their career is “safe” in some sense is in for a rude awakening.

Live modestly, save aggressively, and realize any MD has a fantastic life compared to >90% of Americans, and 99% of people on the planet.

You're right that every specialty has to deal with mid-levels one way or another, but I still wouldn't minimize the fact that anesthesia is more in the boat with the threat faced by PCPs and EM than it is with the threat faced by more "advanced" IM, surgical, and rads subspecialties.

The AANA propagandists are able to sway clueless administrators and lawmakers because anesthesia is so safe, and because when I'm doing my job really well it barely looks looks like I'm doing anything all (to the untrained eye).

When med students ask, I tell them yes there is a pervasive mid level threat in all of medicine, but I'd rather be in the position where the nurse has to be able to read a cerebral angiogram and stent a vasospastic MCA, or perform a laryngectomy and neck dissection, or implant an LVAD, or explant and reconstruct an infected aortobifem graft, etc, before they could "take my job."