Why anesthesiology?

[Frizz88]

Hello guys, this is my first post in this forum. First I would like to say that I'm not from US. I live in Brazil (so sorry for my bad english). In one year I'll be gratuating in the med school, and I'm kind of lost of what to apply for residency. I don't like clinics really much, so right now I'm thinking about Surgery and Anesthesiology. I really like surgery right now, but i don't know if I will still like it in 10+ years, as I want to have "some" time to be with my family, and i don't want my life to be just work. Anesthesiology seem to have a better "lifestyle" but I keep thinking about the routine of the anesthesiologist and I'm afraid to get bored with it as the time goes by. So i would like to ask is what make you enjoy anesthesia, and if you have a good lifestyle and time for your family.
Thank you in advance and sorry for my english again.

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[gasattack3]

Picking any specialty can be difficult. Anesthesia is boring to watch, but fun to practice. Even for some of the more "boring" cases, I find the "finesse" part of it fun (having a patient wake up very smoothly, not in pain, not having N/V). Getting slick at doing anesthesia can be very rewarding. I'm still a CA2, so maybe it'll get old, but I would think that one's 2000th THA or lap chole would also as pertains to our surgical colleagues.

I also very much enjoy seeing results fast. You get essentially "instant" feedback/gratification. The hands on aspect of anesthesia is fun for me.

***I would not go into anesthesia if you have a huge ego. We are a support service and our internal customers are the surgeons. It's just the way it is. I'm completely fine with that.

Also, I see TOO MANY medical students rotate through our department who have horrible interpersonal skills. Big mistake. Perhaps in the past our field could afford to take on such introverted weirdo's, but I'm not sure the market will tolerate that too much in the future.

You need to be very flexible. Are you the type of person who needs to PLAN everything in their life? Do you need structure? Consider this, because even as a resident your day can change very drastically. IMHO you need to be FLEXIBLE to be good at this job. If you get bent out of shape if you get an add-on for an emergent Ex-lap in an unstable patient coming down with one 22 G PIV from the SICU (or even from the ER), then you may have a tough time in this field. These cases are likely to get become more common than less as our population becomes older, much mor frail, and sick etc.

Then again, you don't have to work at a larger tertiary care hospital. You can always just work at an endo suite, but you still need to get past residency.

 

[doctor712]

Bom Dia Frizz 88 e bem vindo ao SDN,

Anestesia nao e um campo de estudo que e praticado com horas de expediente. Ha muitos pacientes doentes com suas vidas nas maos destes medicos. Por estas razoes e muitos outras, anestesia e muito estressante. No futuro, por causa do "Obama Care", anestesiologistas nos Estados Unidos vao ser pagos menos do que eles ganham agora.

Meus amigos que escolhem esta profissao, fazem porque eles tem paixao pelo estudo de Fisiologia e farmacologia "complexa/avancada" (?), nao pela vida facil - essa e a realidade.

Boa Sorte,

d712

 

[Frizz88]

Bom Dia Frizz 88 e bem vindo ao SDN,

Anestesia nao e um campo de estudo que e praticado com horas de expediente. Ha muitos pacientes doentes com suas vidas nas maos destes medicos. Por estas razoes e muitos outras, anestesia e muito estressante. No futuro, por causa do "Obama Care", anestesiologistas nos Estados Unidos vao ser pagos menos do que eles ganham agora.

Meus amigos que escolhem esta profissao, fazem porque eles tem paixao pelo estudo de Fisiologia e farmacologia "complexa/avancada" (?), nao pela vida facil - essa e a realidade.

Boa Sorte,

d712

Thank you for you answer, but I never sad that anesthesiologists have a easy life, I just think that the lifestyle of an anesthesiologist looks better than the lifestyle of a surgeon.
I never liked pharmacology, but maybe because of the way it is teached in the university. I like knowing about meds and how to administrate then thought.

 

[doctor712]

Frizz,

I didn't mean to say that you thought they have an easy life, just to convey that it shouldn't be considered a "lifestyle" specialty. At least, that's the common thought around here. Perhaps some Anesthesiologists will chime in...

Continued success,

D712

 

[bala1]

Working long hours on some body elses schedule. That is your life as an anesthesiologist. Very little flexibility in day to day scheduling. If you work full time, the only way to do something during the day ie. post office, school luncheons, pick up kids at a half day, early dental appointment, is to have a post call day off. If you are a day to day worker the only way is to ask for a day off or take a week off on your vacation. There is no, Ill be in a little later... Im not sure 4 year residency is worth that. The stress is much higher than any other specialty in my opinion and not sure the pay is much higher. oh, another thing. Most of us have minimal control of our destiny.

 

[D P356]

Working long hours on some body elses schedule. That is your life as an anesthesiologist. Very little flexibility in day to day scheduling. If you work full time, the only way to do something during the day ie. post office, school luncheons, pick up kids at a half day, early dental appointment, is to have a post call day off. If you are a day to day worker the only way is to ask for a day off or take a week off on your vacation. There is no, Ill be in a little later... Im not sure 4 year residency is worth that. The stress is much higher than any other specialty in my opinion and not sure the pay is much higher. oh, another thing. Most of us have minimal control of our destiny.

It's official; bala1 is unhappy with their life and is likely the same individual complaining with different screen names. No one is sorry for you that your life isn't what you want. Get a hobby.

 

[bala1]

It's official; bala1 is unhappy with their life and is likely the same individual complaining with different screen names. No one is sorry for you that your life isn't what you want. Get a hobby.

My happiness has little to do with the truth. When given lemons, make lemonades right? . Anyone wanna refute my claims?

 

[jetproppilot]

Hello guys, this is my first post in this forum. First I would like to say that I'm not from US. I live in Brazil (so sorry for my bad english). In one year I'll be gratuating in the med school, and I'm kind of lost of what to apply for residency. I don't like clinics really much, so right now I'm thinking about Surgery and Anesthesiology. I really like surgery right now, but i don't know if I will still like it in 10+ years, as I want to have "some" time to be with my family, and i don't want my life to be just work. Anesthesiology seem to have a better "lifestyle" but I keep thinking about the routine of the anesthesiologist and I'm afraid to get bored with it as the time goes by. So i would like to ask is what make you enjoy anesthesia, and if you have a good lifestyle and time for your family.
Thank you in advance and sorry for my english again.

I'm thinking you're a TROLL and you are using this site clandestinely for your needs; I'm thinking you need to read doctor 712's message in your "native language,"

LOL!!!!

Nice try man.

Please tell me what CRNA school you graduated from.

 

[Frizz88]

I'm thinking you're a TROLL and you are using this site clandestinely for your needs; I'm thinking you need to read doctor 712's message in your "native language,"

LOL!!!!

Nice try man.

Please tell me what CRNA school you graduated from.

What the hell are you talking about?
I was an exchange student in US back in 05/06, i went back to my country, and today i study medicine in my Country, i dont even know what CRNA means, and dont want to. Im asking here about this profession because i didnt find a brazilian forum to do so, and i thought that would be people mature enought to help me, and some people are indeed mature, but YOU look like a fu** high school freshman. If you dont have anything to say, please shut up and dont come talking all that bull** to me.

 

[Sublimazing]

This escalated quickly

 

[WholeLottaGame7]

Gotta be honest, my first thought was troll, also. Couple red flags: A) your first post is asking about anesthesia lifestyle, B) you claim to be a med student yet don't know that surgeons have clinic, C) you highlight your foreign-ness, which could be seen as an attempt to sound naive about hot-button US anesthesia topics, D) you have clearly not even attempted to use the search function.

If you're not a troll, then I apologize. If that is the case, then all your answers will be less painfully found using the search function. Best of luck.

 

[Frizz88]

..

 

[Frizz88]

Gotta be honest, my first thought was troll, also. Couple red flags: A) your first post is asking about anesthesia lifestyle, B) you claim to be a med student yet don't know that surgeons have clinic, C) you highlight your foreign-ness, which could be seen as an attempt to sound naive about hot-button US anesthesia topics, D) you have clearly not even attempted to use the search function.

If you're not a troll, then I apologize. If that is the case, then all your answers will be less painfully found using the search function. Best of luck.

A) Im just curious to know if being an anesthesiologist is what we see in the surgery room
B) Sorry for writing clinics, what i mean was general practice (I think, not quite sure how to translate that one).
C) Sorry for saying that im from another country
D) Yes I did, and found a topic similar to this one from 3 years ago, so I wanted to create a new one to see what the current users think about

 

[ssmallz]

Bala's assessment isn't that far off and I would warn any future medical students to take his comments very seriously and consider them before entering into this specialty.....as an anesthesiologist you have very little control over your own life. You work till the cases are done and the OR is covered. If a surgeon wants to tack on a bs case an inconvenient time, there's really nothing you can do about it. These cases won't all be emergent but you stay until the cases are done. You are a service provider and you need to get used to that mentality...You are there to facilitate things and it's an art to figureing out which issues to stand your ground on and which to be passive. This can be very tricky because it goes against our very nature as physicians. This field is very rewarding b/c you get to make a real difference in peoples lives and you do a lot of good. You are compensated fairly, not well, for the work you do and you will always have a job. Such is the life of an anesthesiology. Go into it with your eyes open and you will be happy, ignore the downsides to your own peril