A Career As An Anesthesiologist

“It became apparent to all the world that surgical anesthesia had became a reality and that pain was no longer the master but the servant of the body,” by J. Collins Warren ("The influence of anaesthesia"). This quote describes pain being taken over by anesthesia in the surgical world. When you are little, you are asked what you want to be when you grow up. A common answer to this would be a nurse, or a doctor. As we are little, we don't think there is anything more to that. In reality, there are millions of stuff you can do in the medical field. Everyday people are hurt, or need medical care. There is never a dull moment in hospitals, facilities, or doctor’s offices. A big part of the medical field, is the medicine. Medicine is given before,
after, and during surgery, or any type operations. Medicine can also be a prescription, so you can also take it at one. One specific field that is very important with medicine, is anesthesia. Anesthesiologists are needed every day, and deal with medicine all the time. All careers are important in their own way. This happens to be a career that deals with human life in the palm of their hands. Anesthesia is a medicine that takes the pain away during surgery, it controls you, so you don't feel anything (Anesthesia Fact Sheet). An anesthesiologist is a doctor who practices anesthesia. Anesthesiologists are physicians specializing in preoperative care, development of an anesthetic plan, and the administration of anesthetics (What is an Anesthesiologist?). There are anesthesiologists that specialize in different areas also (infobase). They make sure that the patients body is not overstimulated or injured by a medical procedure and that the patient feels no pain while undergoing the procedure (infobase). Anesthesia is used in many ways, but the main one is during surgery. After looking at a patients medical history, that’s how the they know what type they have to give them (infobase)Their job can either be slowly planned, or rushed and need to make quick decisions. They mostly work in hospitals, facilities, or they teach at schools. When training to be an anesthesiologist, there are many things you have to do. First, you have to get through education. You must complete a 4-year residency, with 8 to 10 years of additional education (infobase). You must pass an examination to become licensed to practice medicine, to earn an MD (doctor of medicine) degree (infobase). Without this, you will not be able to continue with pursuing this career. In high school, you have to focus on preparatory classes. Mathematics and science, especially biology and chemistry, would be key things to also focus on (infobase). The required educations would be to have a bachelor’s degree, and four years of medical school (infobase). They also require about 8 years of being in a residency program. The residency program is basically a step before you advance. You finally, have to complete an additional fellowship year of specialty (infobase). This is so you get to know what you're doing 100 percent and are ready to take a bigger step. Taking a different language is also good (infobase) because there are a lot of patients you work with and not all of them speak English. This lets you communicate with most people you see. Communication is good because you will always have to talk to the patients. The salary of an anesthesiologist depends on where you are, and how high up they are. They are one of the highest paid specialists in the field of medicine (The DO). They are in the top five percent of other medical specialties. They can earn approximately $300,000, or $450,000 depending on how long you have been working. Many anesthesiologists receive a bonus in addition to salary, and anesthesiologists working (Job Outlook) in specific areas such as cardiology or pediatrics are paid at a premium (The DO). They also work many hours. Most of the time, they are on call (The DO). This means they can be called out to work any time of the day or night. When they are on call, they can either work up to 15 or 20 hours. In addition to being on call, they work twelve hour shifts a day. They have different rotations so sometimes their hours can be more (The DO). They can have 45 to 70 hours a week. You can also work part time, or choose your own hours, but this is not common. (The DO) In any job, there is always a bigger position on top of what you are. A lot of people in the medical field are always working hard to get to become something more. When you're an anesthesiologist, if you make it through the training and if you have your license, you have already made it to the top (Career Information Center). There is really nothing more, unless you want to pursue a position as the department head within specific hospital or facility (Career Information Center). Other than that, there is no bigger position. This is because all anesthesiologists already do the most. They all have the same job and do the same things, just on different people. There are many other jobs that relate to an anesthesiologist. Some examples are surgeons, internists, family physician, and professors. A surgeon is a medical practitioner qualified to practice surgery (Wha16). This relates to anesthesiologists because they both deal with handling other peoples lives. A Family Physician is for family medicine, which is a specialty devoted to comprehensive health care for people of all ages (Employment Outlook). Their job involves with medicine, which is what anesthesiologists do (Employment Outlook). Professors are similar because they can teach what they know. Doing this helps other people pursue in this career. Medical assistants are also related to it. There are many benefits and also working conditions to being an anesthesiologist. They work in hospitals and medicine facilities offering impatient and outpatient surgery (Benefits). They also benefit in insurance such as health, life, vision and dental insurance (Benefits). They get annual CME (continuing medical education) allowance. Anesthesiologists get employee stock purchase plan, professional liability insurance, and 401(k) with potential company percentage match (Benefits). That also includes long-term disability and long-term care insurance (Benefits). They have opportunities to participate in continuous quality improvement initiative (Benefits). Also, assistance with mandatory hospital credentialing and state licensing, and reimbursement of associated fees. (Benefits) There are many advantages of being an Anesthesiologist. There are jobs all around the world. As long as you have your degree, you will find a job anywhere (Career Information Center). All around the world, everywhere needs an anesthesiologist. This is because there are operations going on all over the place. Another good thing about being having a degree in medicine, is you are able to prescribe medicine (Career Information Center). There are many doctors and nurses in the world, but not all get to have this opportunity. If you see a patient with high blood pressure, you can treat them as fast as possible. Another perk of being an Anesthesiologist, is that you don’t have to work with the same patient continuously (Career Information Center). This makes the job more interesting. You do not have to work with the same person every single day. You get to experience new people. Finally, the last of many advantages, is you can work a part time shift (Career Information Center). This means that they have no real ties to patients beyond the anesthetic procedure, and therefore they have the advantage of being able to take longer vacations, work less hours, and etcetera (Career Information Center). Not all jobs have this opportunity to work part time. Of course, this is an option, but not many have that. There are also many disadvantages.
Anesthesiologists are not often recognized. When the patient is done with his or her procedure, they will thank the surgeon, and not the anesthesiologist (Anesthesiology Careers). This could be very frustrating because not only does the surgeon have a risky job, but the anesthesiologist does as well. They have the patient’s life in the palm of their hands. Not many people notice them. Another disadvantage would be it is a repetitive job (Anesthesiology Careers). The only different thing you will be doing is the different dosages of medication depending on the person. Other than that, you are pretty much doing the same thing over and over again, just with different people. There are very little procedures in this job (Anesthesiology Careers). Another catch would be you have to have skilled hands (Anesthesiology Careers). This is because if you make one little mistake, if you mess up, there are big consequences to that. As well it was an advantage, it is also a disadvantage. Since you don’t work with the same person over and over, and you are always working on new people, this can become disappointing. Once you are done with one person, chances are you will never see them again. Although they are your patience, they can also be your friend. One last disadvantage would be how you can be on call all hours of the day. Being on call means you can get a call at 3 in the morning, and have to go into the hospital to work. This can be good and bad. You can go all day without getting called out, but once you do, you have to stop everything you are doing, and go to
work.