Anesthesia vs. GI

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aprilrain

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I'm a fourth year med student, really torn between GI and anesthesia. People often say that these two fields have nothing in common and give me a raised eyebrow, but I'm looking for a combination of good lifestyle and hands on procedures, so both fit.

I'm currently taking a research year right now to figure out which I want to pursue. But I'm still feeling the pressure to figure this out as soon as possible so that I can focus my research in either one. Any help would be appreciated!

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I've never heard any gastroenterologist describe their work as having a "good lifestyle". Sure, ass-plumbing is lucrative, but then there's the whole banding of varices, lower GI bleeds, and other emergencies that keep them up all night, not to mention the less pleasant clinical aspects like hepatitis management etc. Plus the whole general internal medicine part in residency.

Anesthesia, on the other hand, has from whaT I've been told, a more flexible lifestyle - that is, if you want to do hardcore call and work 100 hours a week, you can, and if you want to do the "mommy track" you can. Plus, the procedural and intellectual work is probably more varied than that of a GI, and unless you do pain, clinical follow-up is not a common thing.

Maybe I'm wrong about both. But this is what I've heard.
 
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I'm a fourth year med student, really torn between GI and anesthesia. People often say that these two fields have nothing in common and give me a raised eyebrow, but I'm looking for a combination of good lifestyle and hands on procedures, so both fit.

I'm currently taking a research year right now to figure out which I want to pursue. But I'm still feeling the pressure to figure this out as soon as possible so that I can focus my research in either one. Any help would be appreciated!

What you want to determine is if you are more into Internal Medicine or Anesthesia.

GI is medicine. It's a slightly different part, but it has far more in common with things like Pulmonary and Cardiology and on and on and on than it does with Anesthesia.

Because you might find you don't want to do GI after being an IM resident and then that would suck if you were an IM resident that didn't want to do medicine.
 
What you want to determine is if you are more into Internal Medicine or Anesthesia.

GI is medicine. It's a slightly different part, but it has far more in common with things like Pulmonary and Cardiology and on and on and on than it does with Anesthesia.

Because you might find you don't want to do GI after being an IM resident and then that would suck if you were an IM resident that didn't want to do medicine.[/QUOTE

I think you should do an elective in both and then do what you like..
 
Agree with above and you should do an elective in both. Your interests may also change with time. Going the IM route would give you more options for other subspecialty training and you could always transfer to Anes if you end up not liking IM (even at the end of 3 years... It has been done). If you find another subspecialty of IM you like along the way (eg cards or pulm/ccm which are related to aspects of Anes), you aren't shut out of those options. If you are looking to do just routine procedures like colonoscopies and are not interested in the more complex aspects of gastroenterology (that were alluded to in a post above) you may want to really reflect on your reasons for thinking about this field. The electives will help inform your decison. Healthcare is changing, and you really need to enjoy what you do to weather the coming "storm". Very insightful people in the Anes SDN forum have already commented on the CRNA issues facing that field, but it's not isolated to Anes: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/vi...ractitioners-helping-cut-cost-of-colonoscopy/

Your intern year regardless of which you choose will involve mindless drudgery, but it gets better. The problem is that a medical student often follows an IM intern around and thinks the whole field is like that. On the other rotations you follow senior residents to do procedures or see intellectually fascinating consults, hence IM gets a bad rap as a field to choose because of the type of exposure we often get as students. Subspecialty fields of IM are different. You spent a lot of time and effort to get to this point, and you dont want to do something that someone else will one day replace you to do because of real and necessary cost-containment constraints on our system. Do your electives, ask a lot of questions, do some self-reflection and choose wisely.

Good luck. Hope to see your excited post-match post on here sometime (regardless of what you choose).
 
Agree with above and you should do an elective in both. Your interests may also change with time. Going the IM route would give you more options for other subspecialty training and you could always transfer to Anes if you end up not liking IM (even at the end of 3 years... It has been done). If you find another subspecialty of IM you like along the way (eg cards or pulm/ccm which are related to aspects of Anes), you aren't shut out of those options. If you are looking to do just routine procedures like colonoscopies and are not interested in the more complex aspects of gastroenterology (that were alluded to in a post above) you may want to really reflect on your reasons for thinking about this field. The electives will help inform your decison. Healthcare is changing, and you really need to enjoy what you do to weather the coming "storm". Very insightful people in the Anes SDN forum have already commented on the CRNA issues facing that field, but it's not isolated to Anes: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/vi...ractitioners-helping-cut-cost-of-colonoscopy/

Your intern year regardless of which you choose will involve mindless drudgery, but it gets better. The problem is that a medical student often follows an IM intern around and thinks the whole field is like that. On the other rotations you follow senior residents to do procedures or see intellectually fascinating consults, hence IM gets a bad rap as a field to choose because of the type of exposure we often get as students. Subspecialty fields of IM are different. You spent a lot of time and effort to get to this point, and you dont want to do something that someone else will one day replace you to do because of real and necessary cost-containment constraints on our system. Do your electives, ask a lot of questions, do some self-reflection and choose wisely.

Good luck. Hope to see your excited post-match post on here sometime (regardless of what you choose).
Not sure if you can even try to make a convincing parallel between NPs doing colons and the CRNA problem for anesthesia. It's like comparing a ripple to a tsunami. Is it conceivable that NPs would take a considerable chunk out of GI's market? I guess... but there would have to be a big push from WITHIN the gastroenterology field for that to happen - much like what happened within the anesthesiology field.
 
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Not sure if you can even try to make a convincing parallel between NPs doing colons and the CRNA problem for anesthesia. It's like comparing a ripple to a tsunami. Is it conceivable that NPs would take a considerable chunk out of GI's market? I guess... but there would have to be a big push from WITHIN the gastroenterology field for that to happen - much like what happened within the anesthesiology field.

I thought GI's problem was with family doc's doing their procedures.
 
Thanks everyone for your input!

I've talked to a couple fellows this past week and Im slowly realizing that GI is not as chill as I initially thought. (I naively thought that anything non surgery is "lifestyle friendly".) I like GI especially out of all the IM subspecialties because it just makes sense to me - everything comes so naturally. I was also on the liver inpatient service for four weeks during my third year and found it challenging but really enjoyable.

Anesthesia on the other hand, I like the procedural aspect, but I can't lie, I want to have a family so the lifestyle aspect of it is huge. However, it seems like that with "CRNA problem" that I would have to specialize. of all the specialties in anesthesia, I like critical care the best (at this moment, premature I know) which is not lifestyle friendly.

Anyway, I'm doing a sub I in medicine and anesthesia later on this year, hopefully that will help!

Thanks again everyone!
 
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While that is a nice story with an N of 1, there are hundreds of articles talking about Family Medicine vs Gastroenterology when it comes to colonscopies. As far back as 2005, you'll see articles mentioning 5% of family docs performing colonoscopies. That's a lot. I'm sure it has grown since then.

http://www.familypracticenews.com/search/search-single-view/colonoscopy-turf-war-draws-in-fps/778963a79f.html
 
Thanks everyone for your input!

I've talked to a couple fellows this past week and Im slowly realizing that GI is not as chill as I initially thought. (I naively thought that anything non surgery is "lifestyle friendly".) I like GI especially out of all the IM subspecialties because it just makes sense to me - everything comes so naturally. I was also on the liver inpatient service for four weeks during my third year and found it challenging but really enjoyable.

Anesthesia on the other hand, I like the procedural aspect, but I can't lie, I want to have a family so the lifestyle aspect of it is huge. However, it seems like that with "CRNA problem" that I would have to specialize. of all the specialties in anesthesia, I like critical care the best (at this moment, premature I know) which is not lifestyle friendly.

Anyway, I'm doing a sub I in medicine and anesthesia later on this year, hopefully that will help!

Thanks again everyone!
Hey Aprilrain., I find myself in the same position and I happened to stumble on your post! I apply for match this year and am in a fix! Please could we revisit this thread so u advise me on what you ended up choosing? IM (GI) path or anaes? how bad is the crna issue? thank you
 
That's not true. GI docs are often their own boss if you open own clinic. You set your hours. Anesthesiologists are mostly slaves of the hospital. But of course if enter busy academics practice both will be busy and have bad lifestyle. But hey you make more in GI and less stress of people dying on you
 
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The main difference between the two specialties is that a GI doc will never be an anesthesiologist's bitch. :p
 
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But hey you make more in GI and less stress of people dying on you

Bad GI bleeds can die in a hurry. And GI docs are one of the few specialtists I interact with in the middle of the night in my community practice. Sure they potentially have more autonomy than we have, but it's no walk in the park like Derm.
 
GI will be replaced for screening by diagnostic labs in not so distant future.
Still will be needed for therapeutic scopes though, so no huge drop in income.

Money is FAR better there now, know more than a few making a couple mil a year. Lifestyle not that bad, but yes they have some night cases.

Totally different life though...clinic, hospital rounds, pull with admin because you bring in revenue...


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Bad GI bleeds can die in a hurry. And GI docs are one of the few specialtists I interact with in the middle of the night in my community practice. Sure they potentially have more autonomy than we have, but it's no walk in the park like Derm.

Yea but they are probably scoping in endoscopy suite or somewhere where there is an anesthesiologist and the responsibility goes to the anesthesiologist to keep the patient alive
 
In case anyone is worried about the difficulty of going from IM>GI or any other medical subspecialty, here's NRMP's fellowship match data (2017) for U. S. Grads only. Obviously it doesn't tell you how competitive fellowship applicants are within each fellowship. For instance, I think we can assume the average GI fellowship applicant is going to be overall more competitive than the average nephrology applicant (e.g., have more research publications, come from a better/academic IM program). Still, the overall percentages seem reasonable and hopeful for U. S. Grads who desire a fellowship.

Cardiology
-U. S. Grads 482/537 (89.8%)

Endocrinology
-U. S. Grads 103/108 (95.4%)

Gastroenterology
-U. S. Grads 319/377 (84.6%)

Hematology and Oncology
-U. S. Grads 287/332 (86.4%)

Infectious Disease
-U. S. Grads 162/169 (95.9%)

Nephrology
-U. S. Grads 64/68 (94.1%)

Pulmonary and Critical Care
-U. S. Grads 289/323 (89.5%)

Rheumatology
-U. S. Grads 94/114 (82.5%)
 
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The thought of an IM residency followed by a 3 year GI fellowship is enough to deter me. If you like lots of variety in the settings where you practice and procedures you perform, then anesthesia might be your gig. Both specialties have potential for excellent earning. I think anesthesia is a bit more controllable with regards to tailoring your practice setting to your lifestyle. IM sucks IMHO. The paperwork and patient f/u are a nightmare... unless you love spending uber amounts of time on paperwork. In anesthesia you'll rarely/never have to break it to people that they have horrible cancer. The list goes on... but hey im definitely biased. I love anesthesia, even as a resident.


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That's not true. GI docs are often their own boss if you open own clinic. You set your hours. Anesthesiologists are mostly slaves of the hospital. But of course if enter busy academics practice both will be busy and have bad lifestyle. But hey you make more in GI and less stress of people dying on you
The thought of an IM residency followed by a 3 year GI fellowship is enough to deter me. If you like lots of variety in the settings where you practice and procedures you perform, then anesthesia might be your gig. Both specialties have potential for excellent earning. I think anesthesia is a bit more controllable with regards to tailoring your practice setting to your lifestyle. IM sucks IMHO. The paperwork and patient f/u are a nightmare... unless you love spending uber amounts of time on paperwork. In anesthesia you'll rarely/never have to break it to people that they have horrible cancer. The list goes on... but hey im definitely biased. I love anesthesia, even as a resident.


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hello Tesla., as a resident, whats your advice regarding the crna issue? I honestly love anesthesiology but would like to be fully informed. Does it pose a problem in the field? how best has it been addressed in anesthesiologists' favor? thank you!
 
hello Tesla., as a resident, whats your advice regarding the crna issue? I honestly love anesthesiology but would like to be fully informed. Does it pose a problem in the field? how best has it been addressed in anesthesiologists' favor? thank you!
 
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hello Tesla., as a resident, whats your advice regarding the crna issue? I honestly love anesthesiology but would like to be fully informed. Does it pose a problem in the field? how best has it been addressed in anesthesiologists' favor? thank you!

Jesus christ man.
 
FM would be a huge threat since they truly control the "referral" base......

I think it's an exceptional FM doc who even wants to do colonoscopy. Some GS do it too but most would rather not.
 
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hello Tesla., as a resident, whats your advice regarding the crna issue? I honestly love anesthesiology but would like to be fully informed. Does it pose a problem in the field? how best has it been addressed in anesthesiologists' favor? thank you!

Theres no advice about it. It's just whats happening right now. The truth is most likely in the future, anesthesiology will mostly be a CRNA field, with anesthesiologists only doing the most complex cases, and after that probably completely CRNA field. Question is how long will that take. They are on the attack, we are on the defense, even if they win little by little, eventually sooner or later they will take us out. I dont remember the last time ive heard about us attacking CRNAs
 
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I dont remember the last time ive heard about us attacking CRNAs

For some reason it is politically incorrect to say anything bad about nurses. I mean anything. Yet for some other crazy reason it's perfectly OK to rage on and on about rich doctors who are incompetent and it's a good thing the nurses are there to save you from being killed by them. There are thousands or tens or thousands or maybe even hundreds of thousands of lazy incompetent nurses amongst all the other great ones, you just aren't allowed to mention that fact.

I mean I cannot keep count of how many memes and pics and stories float around on facebook about some awesome hard working nurse that goes above and beyond to help their patient. Yet you almost never see something similar about a doctor working long unglamorous hours to do the same thing. Then we get something so greedy and self serving as CRNAs fighting for independent practice and it's considered uncouth to talk about it publicly.

I just want to know when CRNAs stopped being nurses who are supposed to advocate for the best care for each patient and instead want to provide their own "good enough" care instead.
 
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For some reason it is politically incorrect to say anything bad about nurses. I mean anything. Yet for some other crazy reason it's perfectly OK to rage on and on about rich doctors who are incompetent and it's a good thing the nurses are there to save you from being killed by them. There are thousands or tens or thousands or maybe even hundreds of thousands of lazy incompetent nurses amongst all the other great ones, you just aren't allowed to mention that fact.

I mean I cannot keep count of how many memes and pics and stories float around on facebook about some awesome hard working nurse that goes above and beyond to help their patient. Yet you almost never see something similar about a doctor working long unglamorous hours to do the same thing. Then we get something so greedy and self serving as CRNAs fighting for independent practice and it's considered uncouth to talk about it publicly.

I just want to know when CRNAs stopped being nurses who are supposed to advocate for the best care for each patient and instead want to provide their own "good enough" care instead.
They even make t-shirts!

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Good marketing. I see posters all over the hospital saying stuff like it's a crime to assault your nurse, or thank your nurses, nurses week, etc.
 
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I really want to swap that last one's picture to one of the many pics I have of posteriorly enlarged nurses playing farmville instead of working.

I readily admit I had an addiction to taking those photos as a resident.


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I really want to swap that last one's picture to one of the many pics I have of posteriorly enlarged nurses playing farmville instead of working.

I readily admit I had an addiction to taking those photos as a resident.


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Almost every day, I walk in on a CRNA playing with/on the smartphone. Interestingly, I never find them reading anesthesiology. Probably because the latter is not included in the DNP curriculum. :p
 
Theres no advice about it. It's just whats happening right now. The truth is most likely in the future, anesthesiology will mostly be a CRNA field, with anesthesiologists only doing the most complex cases, and after that probably completely CRNA field. Question is how long will that take. They are on the attack, we are on the defense, even if they win little by little, eventually sooner or later they will take us out. I dont remember the last time ive heard about us attacking CRNAs

I disagree. However, it's possible that we sit side by side in rooms with them, in a "collaborative model". But, you are not just going to replace MD's with CRNA's. Remuneration? That's a different story.

Even if the sky falls, I think it will be a fun, mostly enjoyable, and good field. Our skills are needed more and not less. It's not going to be a low paying field anytime in my career, I suspect. But, sure, we might make less in the future. We'll fight to prevent that to the extent it's possible.

Midlevel encroachment is just a fact of life in American healthcare.
 
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I think a clear distinction between GI and anesthesia, will be whether you enjoy internal medicine or not. Although GI is the most interventional of any internal medicine general subspecialty (so not including IC or EP) it is still a very intellectual specialty. It just so happens that the inpatient portion of GI which is what is typically experienced by medical students are the emergent cases, ie bleeds, impaction,and ingestion that require procedures. If you enjoy medicine and want to do procedures, there's no other perfect specialty than GI.
 
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I think a clear distinction between GI and anesthesia, will be whether you enjoy internal medicine or not. Although GI is the most interventional of any internal medicine general subspecialty (so not including IC or EP) it is still a very intellectual specialty. It just so happens that the inpatient portion of GI which is what is typically experienced by medical students are the emergent cases, ie bleeds, impaction,and ingestion that require procedures. If you enjoy medicine and want to do procedures, there's no other perfect specialty than GI.
+1. If you're a thinker, do GI. If you're a doer, choose anesthesia.
 
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I didn't read through the thread, but the answer to this question is a definite GI. I know multiple gastroenterologists making well over $1 million a year. They work hard, but I would say I work just as hard. I'm aware of gastroenterologists that are even employed by hospitals making over $1 million in salary. Money isn't everything, of course, but it is a lot of things.

The midlevel intrusion into GI is much further off than it is in anesthesia and is likely not ever going to happen in major cities like Boston, NYC, Chicago, etc. The job market can be tight in populated areas for medicine subspecialists, but not necessarily any worse than anesthesia.

If your hesitation for choosing IM + subspecialty is that IM rounds are boring as an intern then I don't know how to fix your shortsightedness.

There's my take on this debate. GI all the way. In the "make hay while the sun is shining" mindset, GI wins all day, everyday.
 
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thank you very much for the advice! I have finally decided to go the IM route!
 
If you wan't lifestyle... GI.
I work with a few GI docs, mostly outpatient stuff. They do lineups of 10-20 patients 2x per week. Rest of the time hey have office hours. Their own office, own staff, etc... A few HMO contracts with steady flow of patients. Making tons of money yet being their own boss. Anesthesia you are just sitting around waiting for someone else to finish THEIR work. Sorry, but after all the macho "i'm in charge of life and death" type stuff, at the end of the day, whether you are doing a spine case or a sedation case, you are just waiting for someone else to complete their job so you can finish yours. Sum total of induction, charting, a few boluses, emergence and delivery to PACU = about 20 minutes of total work for any given case. Yeah, some people will no doubt comment that it's more involved than that, but it's not. We can pretend we are standing there, involved in the surgery, but in reality just bystanders. If I could go back I would not be doing anesthesia. I would pick a specialty where the patient is MINE, not a 'service' oriented one like Anesthesia.


I'm a fourth year med student, really torn between GI and anesthesia. People often say that these two fields have nothing in common and give me a raised eyebrow, but I'm looking for a combination of good lifestyle and hands on procedures, so both fit.

I'm currently taking a research year right now to figure out which I want to pursue. But I'm still feeling the pressure to figure this out as soon as possible so that I can focus my research in either one. Any help would be appreciated!
 
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Sum total of induction, charting, a few boluses, emergence and delivery to PACU = about 20 minutes of total work for any given case. Yeah, some people will no doubt comment that it's more involved than that, but it's not.

One could argue that this is a reason to do anesthesia. Do 20min of actual work, get paid for 4hours.
 
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It's cool at first, but eventually it gets really really old. When walking past OR's I see anesthesiologists always sitting with their phone in their hand, hunched over and miserable. It's not something you want to do lifelong. Most like the money but would LOVE to get out of it if they can make the same amount doing just about ANYTHING else. There are days I'd rather be outside laying tile than sitting in the OR listening to a surgeon pontificate about how his technique is the best, or having a 64 year old nurse, mother of 3, asking me what I did over the weekend which is only a setup for her to tell me abut her weekend. Honestly, there are more pleasant ways of making money. lol.

One could argue that this is a reason to do anesthesia. Do 20min of actual work, get paid for 4hours.
 
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lol listening to the vitals is still work. otherwise id have my headphones on and be watching a movie

One of the older anesthesiologists at our facility will leave the room after intubation. Turns on the vent waits for eveything to get started then walks out. The break room is RIGHT next door to the OR he always chooses. He just heats up his coffee, chats with anyone standing there. Sometimes the nurse will come out and tell him Dr. ___ the machine is alarming. To which he goes back in. Yes, he was reported several times, nothing was done.
lol listening to the vitals is still work. otherwise id have my headphones on and be watching a movie


It's hard work alright... pretending something could go wrong at any second. lmfao
 
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+1. If you're a thinker, do GI. If you're a doer, choose anesthesia.

Some days I do a lot of thinking, some days a lot of doing. That is what most of us like about GI; the variety of clinical practice.
 
Good marketing. I see posters all over the hospital saying stuff like it's a crime to assault your nurse, or thank your nurses, nurses week, etc.

Nurses are traditionally female. Therefore it is natural for nursing to have taken on female traits, self victimization, unionization, untouchable status, criticizing of those more knowledgeable than them.
 
If you wan't lifestyle... GI.
I work with a few GI docs, mostly outpatient stuff. They do lineups of 10-20 patients 2x per week. Rest of the time hey have office hours. Their own office, own staff, etc... A few HMO contracts with steady flow of patients. Making tons of money yet being their own boss. Anesthesia you are just sitting around waiting for someone else to finish THEIR work. Sorry, but after all the macho "i'm in charge of life and death" type stuff, at the end of the day, whether you are doing a spine case or a sedation case, you are just waiting for someone else to complete their job so you can finish yours. Sum total of induction, charting, a few boluses, emergence and delivery to PACU = about 20 minutes of total work for any given case. Yeah, some people will no doubt comment that it's more involved than that, but it's not. We can pretend we are standing there, involved in the surgery, but in reality just bystanders. If I could go back I would not be doing anesthesia. I would pick a specialty where the patient is MINE, not a 'service' oriented one like Anesthesia.

Why not do pain
 
Nurses are traditionally female. Therefore it is natural for nursing to have taken on female traits, self victimization, unionization, untouchable status, criticizing of those more knowledgeable than them.
You were funny until this s hit. Totally unnecessary. Glad you think f the women in your family this way.
 
People are missing the point regarding the merits of being an anesthesiologists vs. any other type of specialists. Ask an old tired surgeon how much he likes doing the same old surgery 20 yrs later. I see all sorts of specialists getting bored of the same routine day in and day out. It's not specific to one area of medicine. Have a life outside of medicine and you'll be fine. For now, the surgeon can have the glory, I'll take the money. ;)
 
You were funny until this s hit. Totally unnecessary. Glad you think f the women in your family this way.
The truth can be funny at times.
Glad you brought up family, yes the women in my family, and yours, are mostly that way.
 
It's cool at first, but eventually it gets really really old. When walking past OR's I see anesthesiologists always sitting with their phone in their hand, hunched over and miserable. It's not something you want to do lifelong. Most like the money but would LOVE to get out of it if they can make the same amount doing just about ANYTHING else. There are days I'd rather be outside laying tile than sitting in the OR listening to a surgeon pontificate about how his technique is the best, or having a 64 year old nurse, mother of 3, asking me what I did over the weekend which is only a setup for her to tell me abut her weekend. Honestly, there are more pleasant ways of making money. lol.

You're what, about 10 minutes out of residency? Miserable and bitter already?
 
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