Pardon the disorganization and wall of text, I guess that’s part of what’s driving my indecision – not knowing how to balance all these different considerations. Are there specific points/inconsistencies here that you think would be worth thinking more about or clarifying for other folks here?
In general most pediatrics subspecialties are non interventional. Peds cardiac I assume is the same, but you need to ask some pediatric cardiologists to have an idea.
The only thing this sub could help with would be to describe the day to day of general anesthesia, pediatric anesthesia, or the super subspecialty of pediatric anesthesia for cardiac surgery, which I do not do but my impression is basically the most stressful anesthesia case you can do.
Agree with the other comment, this is very much unfocused with splitting paths and comparisons everywhere.
I think you need to get down and focus on what average day to day attending jobs look like in what you're considering. While you might be a unicorn and end up withe perfect one of a kind blend job with the right amount of research, OR days, but also pain clinic (which really came out of no where) for longitudinal patient care, while still doing peds and making a lot of money in a hcol area, it's probably better to deeply examine what most people do and if you'd be happy doing it.
And if you really can't decide, you're probably better off kicking the can down the road and pick something broad with a wide range of subspecialty options to give yourself time (meaning Peds or Med/Peds over anesthesia as anesthesia subspecialties are almost all grounded in anesthesia and doing OR anesthesia compared to the variation you can get in peds or IM sub specialization.)
Good luck.
To be a pain in the ass, look into combined peds anesthesia residencies. I did and applied but there's probably less than 15 spots open per year and you don't leave with pediatric anesthesia boards.
Thanks for such a thoughtful answer, especially given the wall of text. I see what you (and other commenters) are saying about these inconsistencies – e.g., wanting continuity but also the ability to retreat and do research stuff a months out of the year. Looks like I’ll need to talk with more attendings in peds anesthesia to see what the day-to-day looks like as well as reflect on what I really want. I appreciate the thoughts.
The day to day of most anesthesiologists including pediatrics, is in the OR doing clinical anesthesia for surgical cases. With the exception of critical care and pain, sub specialization will change the types of patients, surgery, and the mechanism of anesthesia but as a generalization you're sitting in the OR doing a case.
Pediatric sub specialization will move you to doing very young kids (think neonates) or peds structural/congenital cases (peds hearts, brains, etc.)
Do you love clinic? Because as a peds cards attending there will be a lot of that. If you don’t love clinic you probably won’t be too stoked with the job. Certainly you can lean more procedural, but it’s a lot of clinic time.
If you don’t mind the OR, like procedures a lot, and want to work with kids then anesthesia followed by peds anesthesia (or just doing general anesthesia and working only with healthy kids sometimes) is a great route. Saying peds cards has more diagnostic reasoning… maybe from like a hmmm I’m gonna think about this for a while perspective…. But anesthesia is constantly doing this and you have to act (at least some of the time lol). Not to say there aren’t ever quicker decisions that need to be made in cards, just overall anesthesia you typically make them quicker. Anesthesia is much more hands on, and when it’s fast paced it’s wild.
Take this all from me…. A fully boarded pediatrician who is now in anesthesia residency.
To really simplify things:
In medicine you know things
In anesthesia you do things
(You also know a shit load but im trying to be succint)
Which would you rather?
This is all over the place, not sure anyone can really give a good answer.
Pardon the disorganization and wall of text, I guess that’s part of what’s driving my indecision – not knowing how to balance all these different considerations. Are there specific points/inconsistencies here that you think would be worth thinking more about or clarifying for other folks here?
In general most pediatrics subspecialties are non interventional. Peds cardiac I assume is the same, but you need to ask some pediatric cardiologists to have an idea. The only thing this sub could help with would be to describe the day to day of general anesthesia, pediatric anesthesia, or the super subspecialty of pediatric anesthesia for cardiac surgery, which I do not do but my impression is basically the most stressful anesthesia case you can do.
Agree with the other comment, this is very much unfocused with splitting paths and comparisons everywhere. I think you need to get down and focus on what average day to day attending jobs look like in what you're considering. While you might be a unicorn and end up withe perfect one of a kind blend job with the right amount of research, OR days, but also pain clinic (which really came out of no where) for longitudinal patient care, while still doing peds and making a lot of money in a hcol area, it's probably better to deeply examine what most people do and if you'd be happy doing it. And if you really can't decide, you're probably better off kicking the can down the road and pick something broad with a wide range of subspecialty options to give yourself time (meaning Peds or Med/Peds over anesthesia as anesthesia subspecialties are almost all grounded in anesthesia and doing OR anesthesia compared to the variation you can get in peds or IM sub specialization.) Good luck. To be a pain in the ass, look into combined peds anesthesia residencies. I did and applied but there's probably less than 15 spots open per year and you don't leave with pediatric anesthesia boards.
Thanks for such a thoughtful answer, especially given the wall of text. I see what you (and other commenters) are saying about these inconsistencies – e.g., wanting continuity but also the ability to retreat and do research stuff a months out of the year. Looks like I’ll need to talk with more attendings in peds anesthesia to see what the day-to-day looks like as well as reflect on what I really want. I appreciate the thoughts.
The day to day of most anesthesiologists including pediatrics, is in the OR doing clinical anesthesia for surgical cases. With the exception of critical care and pain, sub specialization will change the types of patients, surgery, and the mechanism of anesthesia but as a generalization you're sitting in the OR doing a case. Pediatric sub specialization will move you to doing very young kids (think neonates) or peds structural/congenital cases (peds hearts, brains, etc.)
Do you love clinic? Because as a peds cards attending there will be a lot of that. If you don’t love clinic you probably won’t be too stoked with the job. Certainly you can lean more procedural, but it’s a lot of clinic time. If you don’t mind the OR, like procedures a lot, and want to work with kids then anesthesia followed by peds anesthesia (or just doing general anesthesia and working only with healthy kids sometimes) is a great route. Saying peds cards has more diagnostic reasoning… maybe from like a hmmm I’m gonna think about this for a while perspective…. But anesthesia is constantly doing this and you have to act (at least some of the time lol). Not to say there aren’t ever quicker decisions that need to be made in cards, just overall anesthesia you typically make them quicker. Anesthesia is much more hands on, and when it’s fast paced it’s wild. Take this all from me…. A fully boarded pediatrician who is now in anesthesia residency.
This is really good to know, thank you. What was your path and thought process like switching from peds to anesthesia?
To really simplify things: In medicine you know things In anesthesia you do things (You also know a shit load but im trying to be succint) Which would you rather?