Why is Anesthesia so easy to get into?

[automan]

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Compared to the other specialties, the average USMLE score is like 20 lower (210's compared to 230's)

It is also one of the lowest when you look at %AOA and past research.

When I look at my schools past match states, (for 2000-2004), the majority of the successful applicants are from the bottom half of the class.

I always thought anesthesia was one of the "roAd" specialties but looking at the data, it looks much less competitive than the others.

Do people just choose other specialties because they don't like anesthesia, or am I missing something? Are people afraid of CRNAs?

Isn't anesthesia still paying big bucks and offering a great lifestyle?

 

[ketafol]

I think one thing that makes it a little less competitive is the sheer number of available spots. I believe there are around 1300 each year. Radiology may have half that, and certainly derm and optho spots are very limited.

 

[MD Dreams]

I would say anesthesia is in the middle of the road with respect to the level of difficulty getting in. Certainly, the more well known a program, the more difficult.

I believe you mean CRNA's vs. CNA's.

 

[automan]

I would say anesthesia is in the middle of the road with respect to the level of difficulty getting in. Certainly, the more well known a program, the more difficult.

I believe you mean CRNA's vs. CNA's.

I think you are seeing things............(jk - i fixed it)

If it is mid range, does anyone have an idea why?

Aren't the hours good? Isn't the pay spectacular? (I really don't know, we had a lecture on anesthesia today, and the prof said the pay was pretty high compared to everything else.)

Are people just bored with the gas? Are they afraid of CRNAs? Are they afraid of getting named in a lawsuit?

 

[MD Dreams]

I think anesthesia is not for everyone and that is why not as many people may pursue it (although the numbers are increasing).

I think you have to have the following characteristics to enjoy anesthesia:

1. Want to be a consultant rather than have your own patients
2. Have short patient interaction, most of it with the patient sleep. No long term follow-ups
3. Like the OR environment
4. Be able to deal with the stress
5. Be hands on person
6. Be ok with being behind the scenes
7. etc.

The pay is great right now, but the future is uncertain (as is with many other specialties).

The CRNA issue is certainly a concern which has been discussed extensively on this forum.

Life style is variable. Probably pretty good if you are doing bread and butter in a surgicenter. May not be so good if you are in an academic setting or doing emergency cases.

I think anesthesia is just something that many people do not think about when they go to medical school. It is not the traditional doctor role.

I think people are catching on to the many benefits of anesthesia (such as the ones you mentioned) and that is why more people are pursuing the field.

 

[automan]

Thanks, it seems like an uptapped gold mine to me. I have a feeling this will follow the trends of derm and rads with it getting more and more competive as the "new age" med students search for lifestyle. I can't imagine many people loving derm(oh, that is a very interesting rash you've got there, let's see if we can fix that) and Rads has some drawbacks. Bottom line is people are starting to realize that work is work, and having a life outside of work is important. It puzzles me why anesthesia hasn't become ultra competitive like the other fields. I have asked a few attendings and several of them have said do gas, so it looks like the people "in" medicine know this, but the wideeyed students are behind the ball.

We will have to wait and see.

 

[SexPanther]

I think the competitiveness of gas is definitely on the upswing. At least this was the consensus on the interview trail in talking with fellow students and program directors, etc.

 

[Darwin]

Over the past 4-5 years the field has become increasingly more competitive:

210's will not guarantee you a slot anymore, as it would 7-8 years ago. I know of a couple people in the 210's last year who only landed 3-4 interviews at "uncompetitive" programs, and one didn't even match. Many programs have interview cut-off's in low to mid 220's. I know of many where the average board score of those interviewed is mid-high 230's (there was a thread on this not too long ago).

I may be wrong, but I believe more people matched %-wise into ENT last year than into anesthesia (not to say anesthesia is more competitive, there's a difference). Above poster is correct in that one of the reasons it not as "competitive" as rads/ophto etc. is because of the sheer # of slots. I would argue, however, that the large majority of those who matched well in anesthesia over the past couple of years would have been competitive for rads/ophtho, etc.

Average # of hours per week is 52, average salary 280's - 300's. It is along the "ROAD".

The CRNA debate has been ongoing for the past 30-40 years. Senior faculty can remember engaging in these types of issues at the beginning of their career. It's certainly a big threat, but many believe not as big as it's made out to be on this forum. I doubt it's "scaring" people away from anesthesia, if if it is...well, people need to better educate themselves. If anything, the field is expanding at a rate faster than any other field in medicine, and there's more than enough opportunity to find your niche within its realm, whatever that may be in the future.

In the end, anesthesiology is becoming increasingly more and more competitive, and will likely continue to do so until the next fall in average income to low-mid 200's. All specialties go through these competitive cycles. It's funny when you learn how uncompetitive the current "competitive" fields were 20-30 years ago. And in 20-30 years from now when fields like rads are so outsourced that it's difficult to find a job, it will be just as easy to get into as it was not so long ago. Just don't pick the field for lifestyle issues as they are today...this WILL change, and you have to be happy with what you're doing on a daily basis.

 

[Duckie24]

I have a feeling this will follow the trends of derm and rads with it getting more and more competive as the "new age" med students search for lifestyle. I can't imagine many people loving derm(oh, that is a very interesting rash you've got there, let's see if we can fix that) and Rads has some drawbacks.

I can't even begin to tell you how many radiologists told me how happy I would be in anesthesiology while I was on my rads rotation. And this coming from the dudes at our hospital who have (from what I could gather the very few hours I actually had to show up while on rads) a tremendously sweet gig going at our hospital.

I think a lot of this just might be due to personal preference. I'm on ENT right now, and the doc I'm with was telling me today how great it is to be at a baseball game and have one of his patients come up to him and thank him and tell him how great he is. I don't need that kind of ego trip all the time. I'm happy being the behind the scenes dude.

Plus, I don't want a bunch of people bothering me while I'm out on the town. 😀

 

[invitro]

I don't think the OP is accurate in his/her assessment about the field. Anesthesia is a lot more competitive than it was 5 years ago. This year, I had to look for a PGY2 spot that was open and I was amazed at the caliber of people going into the field. Many of the co-interviewees were switching from other high-powered fields (like optho, ENT, ortho) so they brought their scores with them.

It's not to say that gas is as hard as derm, rads, ortho, ent etc. because it's definitely not. I think that if you are in the upper half of your class with boards ~215-220, you should match at a pretty strong uni program. Remember the best of the best (like JHU, MGH, UCSF) and "awesome city programs" (like sinai, NYU, UCSD, Uchicago) are harder....at my medicine prog that I switched out of, everyone going into anesthesia was going to the "top" new york progs (columbia, Sinai, NYU) and no one had a step 1 less then 225.

One thing is for sure, it is definitely NOT like it was 5 years ago. A family friend of mine matched at one of the above programs with a 200! and a pretty mediocre medical school transcript from an unranked US med school. He told me he was wooed by MANY of the top programs....he was interviewing in 2001. Can you believe some programs paid AIRFARE for the interviews back then!!

Psych, PM and R, IM, ob-gyn, path, peds, even gen surg to a degree (NOT TOP 20 programs for any of these specialities) are easy to match into. I don't think gas is that way, or will be for at least the next couple of years.

Just my 2 cents, from interviewing, talking to people etc.

 

[johankriek]

Thanks, it seems like an uptapped gold mine to me. .

it certainly not untapped neither is it a goldmine. It's a living. The reason why anesthesia is not the most competitive is because the number of slots and it is not for everyone like someone said above. You have to have the correct mentality. You have to concede a lot in anesthesia.

 

[Trisomy13]

just a comment on the perceived "lifestyle". this is mostly with respect to the relative lack of direct responsibility when away from the hospital, i.e. your time is YOUR time. no calls at night. and the salary, which is good compensation but far from what the big dogs in surgical sub-specialties can achieve. with exceptions of course. i caution you to learn more about what a typical day is really like. when you start talking about how the "hours are good" it shows that you have some misunderstanding. the hours are early, and the days can be long, as you must be in the OR prior to surgery and stay until the cases are done. this includes nights on call, weekends, etc. I have always thought it stuck out in the roAd specialties for those very reasons. Derm? come on.. OMG HE HAS A MOLE! PAGE DERM STAT!!!

 

[Idiopathic]

There were 600 unmatched candidates last year, this year probably closer to 1000. How competitive do you think it is now?

 

[amyl]

look at the original post -- 2000-2004. I think that it has been the last two matches and the one coming up that sound super competitive.

 

[automan]

There were 600 unmatched candidates last year, this year probably closer to 1000. How competitive do you think it is now?

I'm pretty sure your wrong. Unless you are including FMIGs in your numbers.

According to the information provided by the NRMP for last year, there were 965 US Senior applicants. All but 63 matched.

902/965 = 94% success rate.

Also 206 people applied with a USMLE step 1 score of LESS THAN 200, and 163/206 or 80% matched. That means you can score close to the bottom quater of all Step 1 test takers and still have an 80% chance of matching!

I know this is a gas forum, but do people think it really is hard?

Also, compare the lifestyle of internal med to gas, there is no question gas is much easier and the pay is much better for the majority of the doctors out there.

 

[badgas]

I'm pretty sure your wrong. Unless you are including FMIGs in your numbers.

According to the information provided by the NRMP for last year, there were 965 US Senior applicants. All but 63 matched.

902/965 = 94% success rate.

Also 206 people applied with a USMLE step 1 score of LESS THAN 200, and 163/206 or 80% matched. That means you can score close to the bottom quater of all Step 1 test takers and still have an 80% chance of matching!

I know this is a gas forum, but do people think it really is hard?

Also, compare the lifestyle of internal med to gas, there is no question gas is much easier and the pay is much better for the majority of the doctors out there.

Ok, I think you have over-trolled your welcome.

 

[automan]

reality is harsh!

 

[The_Sensei]

reality is harsh!

Jealousy is harsher......didn't match, did we?

 

[badgas]

Didn't match because he still hasn't taken the USMLE. It's funny how some tool who is begging for study advice is making posts about pathetic USMLE scores. Even if you get above a 200, you still have interviewing to deal with. That is not going to come easy for you.

 

[badgas]

Oops. Just saw your MCAT posts from October. WTF is wrong with you?

 

[powermd]

I'm pretty sure your wrong. Unless you are including FMIGs in your numbers.

According to the information provided by the NRMP for last year, there were 965 US Senior applicants. All but 63 matched.

902/965 = 94% success rate.

Also 206 people applied with a USMLE step 1 score of LESS THAN 200, and 163/206 or 80% matched. That means you can score close to the bottom quater of all Step 1 test takers and still have an 80% chance of matching!

I know this is a gas forum, but do people think it really is hard?

Also, compare the lifestyle of internal med to gas, there is no question gas is much easier and the pay is much better for the majority of the doctors out there.

Are you using the perceived competitiveness of different fields of medicine to influence your choice of career?

If so, good for you! You are ahead of the game already. People will ostrasize you in the future if you pick a specialty that has an average board score of MATCHED US GRADS of 210. It is much better to pick a specialty with impressive match statistics like a high US GRAD UNMATCHED RATE, high %AOA, and high matched resident board score 2000-2004. I can't stress this enough.

Every day on the way to the OR locker room to begin another shameful day of anesthesiology, people who don't know me shake their heads in disgust when the see my badge reads "ANESTHESIA". I know what they're thinking. They're thinking that I must have a LOW USMLE STEP1 SCORE, NO PAST RESEARCH, and that it's highly unlikely I may have been AOA. If only the true heros, the men and women of rads, integrated-plastics, ortho, or derm would accept me, I could summon the will to go on. But they will see that I AM ANESTHESIA, a specialty with a LOW UNMATCHED US GRAD RATE, and would laugh at me if I even asked to sit at their table in the cafeteria at lunch.

Oh NBME, why hast though forsaken me?

 

[The_Sensei]

Are you using the perceived competitiveness of different fields of medicine to influence your choice of career?

If so, good for you! You are ahead of the game already. People will ostrasize you in the future if you pick a specialty that has an average board score of MATCHED US GRADS of 210. It is much better to pick a specialty with impressive match statistics like a high US GRAD UNMATCHED RATE, high %AOA, and high matched resident board score 2000-2004. I can't stress this enough.

Every day on the way to the OR locker room to begin another shameful day of anesthesiology, people who don't know me shake their heads in disgust when the see my badge reads "ANESTHESIA". I know what they're thinking. They're thinking that I must have a LOW USMLE STEP1 SCORE, NO PAST RESEARCH, and that it's highly unlikely I may have been AOA. If only the true heros, the men and women of rads, integrated-plastics, ortho, or derm would accept me, I could summon the will to go on. But they will see that I AM ANESTHESIA, a specialty with a LOW UNMATCHED US GRAD RATE, and would laugh at me if I even asked to sit at their table in the cafeteria at lunch.

Oh NBME, why hast though forsaken me?

FANTASTIC!! 👍

 

[me454555]

As one of my friends told me last night while we were talking on the phone "I could never do anesthesia. Its so boring and slow. I hate watching the monitors all day and I need a faster paced field". Believe it or not, this is common view point among many med students. Most people have a specific idea of what a doctor does. I.E. see many pts, diagnose them, treat them. Anesthesia doesn't fit that mold. Most people don't like doing anethesia. Its a very self selective field. As has been described by many docs its 90% bordem and 10% sheer terror.

 

[automan]

I really don't know what's going on, and why everyone here had their feelings hurt by the truth. I am not trying to piss anyone off, but it looks like I did so.

Here's how it went:

I asked the question because I thought anesthesia was pretty cool, and I may be interested in doing it.

I looked up the stats and saw they were much lower than I expected.

I asked why they are so low if anesthesia is so cool.

People got mad at me for calling their specialty easy to get into.

They told me it was indeed hard to get into.

I showed them the numbers and they get angry and attack me personally.

The end.

I fail to see why everyone got so defensive.

 

[automan]

As one of my friends told me last night while we were talking on the phone "I could never do anesthesia. Its so boring and slow. I hate watching the monitors all day and I need a faster paced field". Believe it or not, this is common view point among many med students. Most people have a specific idea of what a doctor does. I.E. see many pts, diagnose them, treat them. Anesthesia doesn't fit that mold. Most people don't like doing anethesia. Its a very self selective field. As has been described by many docs its 90% bordem and 10% sheer terror.

I think this must be the major factor. The job itself is not very fun and you are b!tch slapped around by the surgeons all the time. I guess they feel venting on an online chat board helps their self esteem. I personally thought it was a pretty sweet field. Lot's of cool phys/path/pharm.

 

[badgas]

I really don't know what's going on, and why everyone here had their feelings hurt by the truth. I am not trying to piss anyone off, but it looks like I did so.

Here's how it went:

I asked the question because I thought anesthesia was pretty cool, and I may be interested in doing it.

I looked up the stats and saw they were much lower than I expected.

I asked why they are so low if anesthesia is so cool.

People got mad at me for calling their specialty easy to get into.

They told me it was indeed hard to get into.

I showed them the numbers and they get angry and attack me personally.

The end.

I fail to see why everyone got so defensive.

Maybe because of your arrogant tone? Maybe it's the fact that you have no idea what you are talking about and come onto this forum with dated numbers telling people how easy things are? Why are you all over the forums talking about USMLEs while you supposedly just took the MCATs in January? Also consider the fact that anyone worried only about money and lifestyle is not someone I want as a potential future co-worker. Pick path please.

 

[invitro]

OP-

Study for your mcats and do well. You are right in that anesthesia is very doable to match into if you are slightly above average in your class....provided you are a US MD. You will have to work harder if you end up going to a DO school, and even harder if you decide to go overseas for your MD.

I will stand by my original statement in that is still hard to match at the top programs (BWH, JHU, UCSF, etc.). I felt interviewing for PGY2 spots this year was rough. I feel I am a decent candidate, and I was egstatic to find a position at a strong program out of the match. I don't feel the numbers you posted about last year's match show this. But again, just my experience.

It's probably better that you worry more about where you are going to go for med school now than what you are going to do for a job. For all you know by the time you graduate, anesthesia will be back to the mid 90's and anyone who can speak english and hold a laryngoscope will be able to match. 😀

 

[automan]

Maybe because of your arrogant tone? Maybe it's the fact that you have no idea what you are talking about and come onto this forum with dated numbers telling people how easy things are? Why are you all over the forums talking about USMLEs while you supposedly just took the MCATs in January? Also consider the fact that anyone worried only about money and lifestyle is not someone I want as a potential future co-worker. Pick path please.

2006 is about as current as it gets. Maybe you can travel through time?

 

[salmonella]

Compared to the other specialties, the average USMLE score is like 20 lower (210's compared to 230's)

It is also one of the lowest when you look at %AOA and past research.

When I look at my schools past match states, (for 2000-2004), the majority of the successful applicants are from the bottom half of the class.

I always thought anesthesia was one of the "roAd" specialties but looking at the data, it looks much less competitive than the others.

Do people just choose other specialties because they don't like anesthesia, or am I missing something? Are people afraid of CRNAs?

Isn't anesthesia still paying big bucks and offering a great lifestyle?

Reasons why people don't like anesthesiology:
-doesn't fit many people's idea of being a doctor: see clinic patients, round in hospital, diagnose disease, formulate treatment, perform surgery, family conference, etc.
-stuck in the OR all day
-deal with unpleasant surgeons (bring operating table up/down for them, answer their pages)
-high stress environment
-high risk/law suits
-surgeons get all the glory, thanks, thank-you cards, cookies, Christmas gifts
-No drug rep lunches, nice pens, notepads, etc.
-high risk of getting addicted to drugs (5 times more likely compared to other specialties)
-don't get to dress up in nice suits for work; have to wear hospital scrubs for the rest of your career
-constant irritating competition with CRNAs
-huge job market fluctuation; difficult to predict its future
-hospitals don't care as much about anesthesiologists because they don't directly bring income for the hospitals, unlike surgeons who bring in patients/cases (=profits)

 

[powermd]

One man's prison, another man's paradise.

Reasons why people don't like anesthesiology:
-doesn't fit many people's idea of being a doctor: see clinic patients, round in hospital, diagnose disease, formulate treatment, perform surgery, family conference, etc.

Clinic? Rounding? Even IM people bemoan these duties. Occasionally we diagnose something. We're always treating. Our procedures aren't surgery, but then again, we're not on our feet for hours straight. Pre-op/post-op visits are family confrences enough for me. How many "goals of care" discussions does one need to have before ALL you hairs go gray.

-stuck in the OR all day

Not if you're supervising mid-levels or residents.

-deal with unpleasant surgeons (bring operating table up/down for them, answer their pages)

Not if you have a nurse tending the bedside for you. They better not ask us to answer their pages. Their beepers will end up in the field.

-high stress environment

Not boring.

-high risk/law suits

Not true.

-surgeons get all the glory, thanks, thank-you cards, cookies, Christmas gifts

Patients show me sincere appreciation all the time. I can do without the cards, cookies, and gifts.

-No drug rep lunches, nice pens, notepads, etc.

You've got to be kidding on this one. I'll buy my own lunch. My own pens.

-high risk of getting addicted to drugs (5 times more likely compared to other specialties)

Only a problem for the weak.

-don't get to dress up in nice suits for work; have to wear hospital scrubs for the rest of your career

I have a cool scrub cap. I'll wear my nice suit to dinner while the surgeon is still operating, and the internist is rounding in the hospital after clinic.

-constant irritating competition with CRNAs

It's only constant if you read SDN. In the real world the ACT works nicely.

-huge job market fluctuation; difficult to predict its future

In any area of medicine. One thing is certain, people won't stop demanding anesthesia.

-hospitals don't care as much about anesthesiologists because they don't directly bring income for the hospitals, unlike surgeons who bring in patients/cases (=profits)

True!

 

[Fusion]

I have a cool scrub cap. I'll wear my nice suit to dinner while the surgeon is still operating and the internist is rounding in the hospital after clinic.

I don't comment on posts much anymore, but I liked this one (and this is coming from a possible surgery prospect too!) 👍

 

[dhb]

-high risk of getting addicted to drugs (5 times more likely compared to other specialties)

Isn't that a positive aspect? 😀

 

[chicamedica]

I quickly scanned through the posts on this thread and have a few comments. First of all, awesome post up there powerMD!

I dont know about easy to get into right now--last year in my med school graduating class, at least 20 people that i know of applied to anesthesiology. 50% DID NOT MATCH. None of them were able to scramble (other than into prelim programs). This was probably the worst match outcome of any of the specialties applied to that year from my class, just for the sheer number of unmatched applicants (50%=10 ppl). The fact is that competitiveness tends to be cyclical in some specialties, anesthesiology being one of them. I would not say it's easy to get into around now. That said, as someone mentioned, there are a LOT of residency positions available to match into every year so it'll never be quite as highly competitive as plastics or derm, or nsurg, etc.

As for the misconceptions about what anesthesiology work entails, sadly it's not just rampant among med students, i hear them from IM attendings all the time during my prelim year right now.

Regarding the relatively higher addiction rate compared to other medical fields, i somewhat disagree with powermd's explanation. this is not necessarily an issue of being weak to temptation. I think the reason for the stats is more that ppl who have addictive/drug abuse tendencies might be attracted to this field for the reason that those drugs are easily accessible--in other words, they self-select too. For this small subset, the meds will be a temptation. The majority of us though have no issues with this. I have no desire and would never want to be anything but AAOx3. i dont even want that stuff on my fingers, ick!

 

[powermd]

Isn't that a positive aspect? 😀

I neglected to mention that diverting narcotics is an EXCELLENT way to supplement your income through residency.

 

[Trisomy13]

I neglected to mention that diverting narcotics is an EXCELLENT way to supplement your income through residency.

don't even joke about it

 

[miamidc]

I agree with PowerMD about all of that...but if you do want some of the other things said in this post, u can always get a pain fellowship.

 

[pgy13]

joking about drug addiction in anesthesia...not funny

 

[ReefTiger]

Everything is based on perspective. Is anesthesia easy to get into? For some yes, for some no. Crappy programs get less of the best applicants.

Remember, what you believe is YOUR reality, irrelevant of facts. I've never felt subserviant to surgeons. The surgeons need anesthesia because the patient needs anesthesia. I have no problem adjusting the bed for the surgeons. I always let them know when I begin to move it and I ask them to tell me when it is in good position for them and the patient. I do this with the attitude that I am helping to provide the surgeon with improved ability to help the patient.

If your mindset and attitude is in the best interest of the patient it shows. If you respect yourself it shows. If you think you don't get any respect, you won't.

I have only had to defend myself to surgeons a couple of times, and when I did THEY shut up. My approach has always been to be quiet until I have proven my skills. From there I will initiate conversations with residents or attending surgeons, usually from the inquisitive angle about what they are doing, or why they are doing that. I am interested in what they do, not pretending to be, and it shows.

I now have surgical attendings that I converse with easily during a case or even in the physicians lounge. The other day one of the ENTs told me I ran a case at attending level. I had a pedi-CT surgeon tell me good job at the end of a stage 1 Norwood that I did on a neonate. Surgery residents like working with me. Nurses like working with me. Am I boasting as a CA-2? No, I am enjoying reaping what I sow. Training myself to have a positive mindset is an ongoing process. In the beginning it is difficult, but it gets significantly easier as you get back ten fold what you give. Try saying thank you to people and be sincere when you say it. Make a conscious effort to smile when you walk down the hall.

When you do, you'll be surprised to find that people you never talked to are smiling back at you and will bend over backwards to help you.

What most people see as disadvantages in Anesthesiology I see as advantages. Always remember, or at least learn, statistics can never tell the whole story. I would recommend to anyone going into residency to choose a specialty that you enjoy the subject matter. Enjoy and be curious about what you must read for that specialty. You get more out of residency that way. Residency has taught me, among many things, that all specialties have vast amounts of information pertaining to them regardless of type of specialty.

I NEVER bad mouth different specialties. I may have negative opinions on individuals from varying specialties, but I respect EVERY specialty. It has taken me a long time in my life to appreciate that people are different and that doesn't make them better or worse. I'm glad there are people that hate anesthesiology and those who love OB.

Thanks for trolling here, for without your snide posts and thread I would not have thought about posting this👍 Why don't you think about things from this perspective: Anesthesiology must be easy to get into because there are so many spots available that they actually take people that make less than, but within 1 standard deviation of the national mean of USMLE step 1. Which really is easy to do since medical schools (US) probably only accept college students above the mean or better on the MCAT. And if you think about it, you really only have to be mediocre to even get into college to sit for the MCAT. So, if you just took the MCAT but are not admitted to medical school in a US MD program you're probably just mediocre until you prove otherwise. Don't get me wrong, college is nice and all. I had a great time, but anyone can get in. Have you seen some of the people you are competing with for grades? It's pretty awesome you are getting A's in classes with people who made less than 1000 on their SAT or less than 19 on ACT. It should be simple to smoke classes in medical school when you compete with people on the same, or God-forbid higher, level as yourself. From there it is cruise control to passing all USMLE convincingly and landing a prized "competitive" residency so you don't have to deal with feeling like less of a doctor like us poor anesthesiologists.

This is all simple provided you are not mediocre, of course🙂

 

[nimbus]

The other day one of the ENTs told me I ran a case at attending level.

Coming from an ENT, this means the patient did not move too much during the case and actually woke up at the end.

 

[ReefTiger]

Yeah, I know! Pediatric ENTs who work on the glottis and larynx in 2-6 month old kids can't tell the difference between good anesthesiologists🙄

 

[lvspro]

-high risk of getting addicted to drugs (5 times more likely compared to other specialties)

The numbers for these facts come from flawed studies. The critical assumption, among the many, is that all fields of medicine have the same detection and action initiation rates as anesthesiology. Anesthesiologists, being the shrewd quality control people we are, have better rates of detection/axn init. than the other fields, and this is shown in studies that don't have the critical flaws in it that the others do. Hence, anyone telling you that it's 5x is wrong, it's actually closer to 1.5... even so, slightly higher chances of addiction do exist. I'm under the impression that it's an access/curiosity creature, but I'm no expert. As someone else mentioned, addiction is definitely a weakness.

 

[The_Sensei]

As someone else mentioned, addiction is definitely a weakness.

The ENTIRE field of addiction medicine MAY disagree with you on that one😎

 

[fakin' the funk]

As someone else mentioned, addiction is definitely a weakness.

This reminds me of that Mitch Hedberg bit. Alcoholism is the only disease you can get yelled at for. "Otto, you're an alcoholic!" "Otto, you have lupus!" One of those two doesn't sound right.

Is lupus a weakness?

 

[n2bait]

This reminds me of that Mitch Hedberg bit. Alcoholism is the only disease you can get yelled at for. "Otto, you're an alcoholic!" "Otto, you have lupus!" One of those two doesn't sound right.

Is lupus a weakness?

Funny, I thought of this joke while reading this thread. There is nobody better than Mitch for one-liners.

Ironically, Mitch ended up dying from a complication of drug and alcohol abuse (overdose?) just about a week after I saw him perform in Chicago. When I saw him, he was really %*^$#@ up on something, and told about 20 minutes worth of jokes all wrapped up in the stage curtain...

When we treat addiction as a weakness, people are more likely to feel ashamed and less likely to get help. Just my two cents...

 

[powermd]

The ENTIRE field of addiction medicine MAY disagree with you on that one😎

Addiction is a disease, but shooting up drugs from our Pyxis out of curiosity, knowing well the dangers of use and addiction, is definitely weakness.

I'm quite curious what my patients experience, but there's no way in hell I'd attempt to find out first hand. Unless, of course, I have a good reason. Like surgery!