Expert: JM Starkman, MD - 4/15/2010

Question
I am a high school senior working on a career research paper, and if you could answer any of the following questions it would help me out greatly.
What are the usual hours?
What are the best and most challenging parts of your day?

Answer
An anesthesiologist's working hours typically start about 6 AM (early surgeries need prep time, plus anesthesiologists must also ascertain that the operating room is "ready and safe", similar to a preflight check by a commercial aircraft pilot). Surgery and anesthesiologists' duties in most hospitals usually don't end until around the 4 or 5 PM hour, with surgeries, committee duties and outside-the-operating room tasks that can run much later or all night.  Generally, there are night call people who relieve day people, or one who works 24 hours will have off the next working day . But note that there is considerable variation.   The best part of the day is a complicated or difficult anesthetic that turns out perfect, and the patient is discharged from the operating room area stable, comfortable and pleased with his/her care on time!  Most challenging: the constant (literally) dealing with non-anesthetic, non-medical issues, interlopers, policy wonks and bureaucrats who contribute nothing, raise costs and maximize inefficiency.

Beware! The whole medical field is in a great state of flux and change right now and what is happening today will not be tomorrow--for good or bad.  Continue your senior research paper offline--walk into your local hospital and ask to interview personally their anesthesiologist for additional or opposing viewpoints.

Best of luck.