Interested in anesthesiology?

Pre-Med & Medical School Careers in Medicine
1

I am wanting to become an anesthesiologist, but because no one in my family has background of being one, I am a little unsure of the exact process. Could someone walk me through the steps of getting there? For example, what would I major in for my undergraduate? How many years of schooling would I have total? What tests would I eventually have to prepare to take? And what schools should I look at that have great medical programs?

I also would like to know what it’s really like being an anesthesiologist. I have a pretty good idea from books and resources I’ve studied, but would like to know firsthand from someone who has had experience with it.

Thanks in advance :slight_smile:

2

Probably not very helpful but my mom is a Pharmaceutical Rep so she encounters lots of anesthesiologists, and she always comments how they are always the happiest and upbeat people who truly love there jobs. Also heard they make a pretty good salary so it sounds like a pretty solid job

3

There are 3 ways to work in anesthesia:

  1. anesthesiologist–this a specially trained physician. This requires 4 years undergrad, 4 years of med school, 5 years of medical residency. 13 year sin total. Medical schools don’t have a preference about what your undergrad major is so long as you complete all pre-med requirements. MCAT required for admission to med school. USMLEs (series of 4 exams) required for med school graduation, residency eligibility and medical licensing. BASICs (series of 4 exams) required to obtain board certification.

https://residency.wustl.edu/Choosing/SpecDesc/Pages/Anesthesiology.aspx

  1. nurse anesthetist/CRNA --this is an advanced nursing specialty. It requires a BS RN which takes 4 years, followed by 1 or more years of critical care nursing experience and a 2 years specialized masters. 6 years of education/ 7 years in total. Undergrad major in nursing. NuCLEX required to get nursing license. NCE required for specialty licensing.

http://www.aana.com/ceandeducation/becomeacrna/Pages/Nurse-Anesthetists-at-a-Glance.aspx

  1. anesthesiologist assistant – this is a specialized graduate degree. It requires 4 years undergrad plus 2 years of master’s degree. 6 years in total. Undergrad major can be in any subject so long as you complete the required pre-reqs. GRE required for admission for grad school. NCCAA exam require to qualify for practice license.

https://aaaa.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/aaaa_career_information%20flyer.pdf

Both CRNAs and AAs work under the nominal supervision of a physician.

4

Thank you so much @WayOutWestMom for the information! This really helped. Do you happen to know, between the three, which one does the most when it comes to a surgery? Like who actually does pu

5

Thank you @GriffBaum! That did help, thanks for your input :slight_smile:

6

@ladygrace

Your post got cut off. I assume you were going to say “put you under”–and the answer is all 3 do that.

Anesthesiologists handle the most complex and difficult anesthesia cases (e.g people with complicating factors like pulmonary disease or myasthenia gravis or during long, complex surgery like heart transplants) while CRNAs and AA handle the routine or uncomplicated cases (e.g. simple tonsillectomy or hysterectomy or a knee replacement)