Would i get an interview if i said..........

[Dr McSteamy]

.........on my personal statement, that i just like to sit on my ass all day and have minimal patient contact?

i doubt people would believe me if i just said "i like to make people feel at ease with no pain."

btw, i'm not trolling. I'm just trying to figure out if i should tell the truth or not on my PS.

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[fakin' the funk]

.........on my personal statement, that i just like to sit on my ass all day and have minimal patient contact?

i doubt people would believe me if i just said "i like to make people feel at ease with no pain."

btw, i'm not trolling. I'm just trying to figure out if i should tell the truth or not on my PS.

Tell the truth, also mention that you like research.

 

[Bertelman]

Don't hold back. Answer a couple emails on your blackberry during the interviews you will never get. Happened to me last year on a pre-interview dinner.

Keep it realz.

 

[lord_jeebus]

.........on my personal statement, that i just like to sit on my ass all day and have minimal patient contact?

I heard one of our applicants said pretty much that during an interview last year. This applicant didn't make the rank list.

 

[Narcotized]

i just like to sit on my ass all day and have minimal patient contact?

The obvious answer is no you won't get interviewed. I think it would surprise you many in anesthesiology are not lazy at all. And yes, many are. Like everyone else, I trained with a few and it sucked being stuck with their share of the work. You won't be liked.

As for patient contact, it's not all that minimal. I find it ideal. You have preop, awake procedures, induction, recovery, and disposition. You can make a point to spend a little time during each of these and build a patient/doctor relationship, or you can halfass blow through it. The rest of the time the patients are asleep which for me is a nice break. After an ER career I know I don't want constant awake interaction 10-12 straight hours.

 

[Dr McSteamy]

i ask this because during my anes elective rotation, the attending said just that.

when he was a 4th year ages ago, he was deciding on a specialty to go into, and he decided he wanted to sit on his ass for most of the day, so that was the big deciding factor for him to go into anes.

The other attending told me how she hated to deal with patients after an operation was done. she wanted to be over and done with the patient forever, and didn't want to waste time chit chatting with them. That's why she chose anes.

so I'm not saying they are lazy. it just seems impersonal and almost non-altruistic. You don't go into anes to develop relationships with pts.
so what else is left.........

the money is really good, malpractice is low. So what is there not to like? The hours can suck even though there is a lot of downtime, and the work isn't very exciting, but those are the least of my concerns. I'm only trying to put food on the table after all.

the problem is that I can't tell anyone that I like the money and the downtime, even though it is the truth. so I have to write some bullsht on my PS just so they'll give me a chance?

did you guys make up some bullsht reasons about why you like anes?
you may say you like research, but come on...... you know you'll never enter another lab for the rest of your life.

 

[cfdavid]

i ask this because during my anes elective rotation, the attending said just that.

when he was a 4th year ages ago, he was deciding on a specialty to go into, and he decided he wanted to sit on his ass for most of the day, so that was the big deciding factor for him to go into anes.

The other attending told me how she hated to deal with patients after an operation was done. she wanted to be over and done with the patient forever, and didn't want to waste time chit chatting with them. That's why she chose anes.

so I'm not saying they are lazy. it just seems impersonal and almost non-altruistic. You don't go into anes to develop relationships with pts.
so what else is left.........

the money is really good, malpractice is low. So what is there not to like? The hours can suck even though there is a lot of downtime, and the work isn't very exciting, but those are the least of my concerns. I'm only trying to put food on the table after all.

the problem is that I can't tell anyone that I like the money and the downtime, even though it is the truth. so I have to write some bullsht on my PS just so they'll give me a chance?

did you guys make up some bullsht reasons about why you like anes?
you may say you like research, but come on...... you know you'll never enter another lab for the rest of your life.

Go into radiology. WTF kind of attitude is that? I agree that medicine in general doesn't (and perhaps even SHOULDN'T) be some quest for martyrdom, but geez dude.....

 

[Dr McSteamy]

WTF kind of attitude is that? .

a practical one.

 

[Southpaw]

a practical one.

not really, you've yet to distinguish for me why you don't like rads or path, and you've yet to convince me what you'll give back to the field. no interview for you...next!

 

[anesthesiadoc]

a practical one.

I hope I interview you this year. Coming to Boston? Please continue to be as honest as possible during your visit.

 

[cfdavid]

a practical one.

I'm not going to convince you that another attitude towards your chosen profession may better serve both you and the field. But, you can be practical about career decisions yet put forth more enthusiasm that not only PD's will want, but your future resident colleagues will appreciate, not to mention future partners........

 

[coprolalia]

i ask this because during my anes elective rotation, the attending said just that.

when he was a 4th year ages ago, he was deciding on a specialty to go into, and he decided he wanted to sit on his ass for most of the day, so that was the big deciding factor for him to go into anes.

The other attending told me how she hated to deal with patients after an operation was done. she wanted to be over and done with the patient forever, and didn't want to waste time chit chatting with them. That's why she chose anes.

so I'm not saying they are lazy. it just seems impersonal and almost non-altruistic. You don't go into anes to develop relationships with pts.
so what else is left.........

the money is really good, malpractice is low. So what is there not to like? The hours can suck even though there is a lot of downtime, and the work isn't very exciting, but those are the least of my concerns. I'm only trying to put food on the table after all.

the problem is that I can't tell anyone that I like the money and the downtime, even though it is the truth. so I have to write some bullsht on my PS just so they'll give me a chance?

did you guys make up some bullsht reasons about why you like anes?
you may say you like research, but come on...... you know you'll never enter another lab for the rest of your life.

Go into radiology. WTF kind of attitude is that? I agree that medicine in general doesn't (and perhaps even SHOULDN'T) be some quest for martyrdom, but geez dude.....

No, no, no. This is perfect! In fact, I suggest you use this as your personal statement. I'm sure the anesthesiologists who told you those things are highly regarded by their peers, too. Sounds like you've got it all figured out.

Definitely listen to Bertelman's advice, as well. Bring your Blackberry or iPhone and check the Internet or chat with someone during the pre-interview dinner and, heck, during the actual interviews. Why not? Be sure to tell everyone how you're only in the game for the lifestyle, that you really don't like patient interaction, and that anesthesia seems like the easy choice for someone who's lazy... which is obviously why everyone chooses it. Good money + minimal work = ka-CHING.

We love lazy, stool-sitting colleagues in our profession who just want the big paycheck and can't get out the door fast enough. CRNAs love them, too. Good news, too, is the scrubs will hide all that weight you're gonna be putting on eating all those donuts and stool-sitting. You will get thenar hypertrophy, though, from all the web-surfing you're going to be doing on your PDA. But, don't worry. Not all exercise is bad.

After all, you do know why anesthesiologists have the highest death rate in the medical profession, don't you? Most get accidentally run-over running to the parking at 2:45 PM by the radiologists.

-copro

 

[2win]

No, no, no. This is perfect! In fact, I suggest you use this as your personal statement. I'm sure the anesthesiologists who told you those things are highly regarded by their peers, too. Sounds like you've got it all figured out.

Definitely listen to Bertelman's advice, as well. Bring your Blackberry or iPhone and check the Internet or chat with someone during the pre-interview dinner and, heck, during the actual interviews. Why not? Be sure to tell everyone how you're only in the game for the lifestyle, that you really don't like patient interaction, and that anesthesia seems like the easy choice for someone who's lazy... which is obviously why everyone chooses it. Good money + minimal work = ka-CHING.

We love lazy, stool-sitting colleagues in our profession who just want the big paycheck and can't get out the door fast enough. CRNAs love them, too. Good news, too, is the scrubs will hide all that weight you're gonna putting on eating donuts and stool-sitting. You will get thenar hypertrophy, though, from all the web-surfing you're going to be doing on your PDA. But, don't worry. Not all exercise is bad.

After all, you do know why anesthesiologists have the highest death rate in the medical profession, don't you? Most get accidentally run-over running to the parking at 2:45 PM by the radiologists.

-copro

"Most get accidentally run-over running through the parking at 2:45 PM by the radiologists."

 

[WholeLottaGame7]

No, no, no. This is perfect! In fact, I suggest you use this as your personal statement. I'm sure the anesthesiologists who told you those things are highly regarded by their peers, too. Sounds like you've got it all figured out.

Definitely listen to Bertelman's advice, as well. Bring your Blackberry or iPhone and check the Internet or chat with someone during the pre-interview dinner and, heck, during the actual interviews. Why not? Be sure to tell everyone how you're only in the game for the lifestyle, that you really don't like patient interaction, and that anesthesia seems like the easy choice for someone who's lazy... which is obviously why everyone chooses it. Good money + minimal work = ka-CHING.
-copro

The interview scene in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle comes to mind....

 

[coprolalia]

There are so many misconceptions about our field, which is actually one of the highest-stress in all of medicine. Hours of boredom... moments of terror... not being master of your own hours and always at the whim of the surgical schedule... hurry, hurry, hurry so you don't hold up people depending on you... get it done... dealing with patients acutely in pain... It's a real mind-f*ck sometimes. Definitely not for those necessarily seeking a "lifestyle" specialty (like PM&R).

-copro

 

[DO4lifer]

Don't hold back. Answer a couple emails on your blackberry during the interviews you will never get. Happened to me last year on a pre-interview dinner.

Keep it realz.

Bert, the applicant was obviously highly sought after.

"Hold on, PD at MGH sent me an email for dinner at his house, let me reply real quick."

"Oh geez, PD at UCSF wants to go golfing tomorrow? Oh I better answer, please excuse me."

Hope you offered the applicant a spot quickly before they got away!

 

[mille125]

.........on my personal statement, that i just like to sit on my ass all day and have minimal patient contact?

i doubt people would believe me if i just said "i like to make people feel at ease with no pain."

btw, i'm not trolling. I'm just trying to figure out if i should tell the truth or not on my PS.

You wouldn't really put this in your personal statement. I am convinced that you are only posting this to start a discussion about laziness in anesthesiology. You will not get any agreement about that on this forum.

Lets say that you do put this in your statement. If your interviewer, who reads your statement, asks you a followup question about this, what are you going to say? "Yes, i would love to come to your program so that it would allow me to make lots of money while doing no work and being lazy. All you do is sit on a stool right?"

Stop wasting our time with this BS

 

[Ferdie]

clearly you haven't been in the 3 am trauma or ruptured AAA or airway code saving someone's life if you think most of the work is boring. I can honestly and objectively say about 60% of my day is actively EXCITING, not just tolerable. Sure couldn't say that about any other specialty I've ever rotated through, including surgery... Pain of nonstop rounding cancelled out a lot of the excitement. And with that I should say that I actively visit the majority of my inpatients POD 1, all of my ICU drop offs POD 1, and all of my pre-op inpatients the night before. I have had patients and families tell me no one has listened to their concerns the way the rest of the anesthesia team and I do. So I'm thinking there's some quality patient interaction there, and maybe some altruism too if you believe in that crap. I love my job. And I love working with my happy colleagues. And I'm pretty confident you won't be one of them!

 

[Eta Carinae]

.........on my personal statement, that i just like to sit on my ass all day and have minimal patient contact?

i doubt people would believe me if i just said "i like to make people feel at ease with no pain."

btw, i'm not trolling. I'm just trying to figure out if i should tell the truth or not on my PS.

dude, I think you meant to post that on radiology or pathology.

so I'm not saying they are lazy. it just seems impersonal and almost non-altruistic. You don't go into anes to develop relationships with pts.
so what else is left.........

ayayay! again, go yell at rads or path. btw, what do u think the motivation for derm is...or plastics for that matter?

Not that I need to justify this or any other specialty to you but...

physician = scientist + clinician in different combinations

path = 99.9% scientist + 0.1% clinician or something close to that
rad onc = 90% scientist/research-nerd + 10% clinician
radiology = 10% scientist + 0% clinician + 90% recluse/hermitt
anesthesiology = 70% scientist (specifically chemist) + 30% clinician
Internal med = 30% pure scientist + still 100% clinician

I could go on and on


it all depends on what your inclinations are as an individual.
If you spent more of your undergrad career pre-med school TA-ing chemistry/physical chemistry labs, writing papers in chemistry etc, anesthesiology may be a natural fit for you.

For physics majors out there, rad-onc seems to be a big draw. If you were on the college swim/football/ whatever else team and you were occasioned to have a few arthroscopic procedures by the time you got to med school, you probably had early enough exposure to want to choose Ortho and will find like-minded people there as well.

Most people fall somewhere in between, spread across the specialities.

So before you rush to frown upon anyone's motives for going into any specialty, you should probably consider that there are several more factors that go into such a gargantuan decision than just profit-making motives.

 

[error404]

Going to join with most others in saying,
If you're interested in anesthesia because you're lazy and think its an easy job... stay out of our specialty.

You might get interviews-- but you certainly won't be a match for the top programs.

 

[amyl]

a good anesthesiologist gets plenty of interaction w their pts and does not sit on their ass all day. who have you been shadowing?

go rads, path or derm. don't be ashamed, if sitting around getting paid a lot is important to you and that is enough to get you out of bed in the morning and have self respect, go for it. give the OP a break, not everyone operates on the same level.... but if you really think you will go into anes to get paid a lot and sit on your ass, you will end up disappointed... and bad for our specialty.... so put that in your statement: maybe someone will think the honesty is charming ;-)