Anesthesiology salary
What is an anesthesiologist?
As you might guess, this is a job that you most probably encountered
during your lifetime. The anesthesiologist is the medical expert who can
help you in applying anesthesia on different parts of your body and he
is also the expert knowledgeable in the area of perioperative medicine.
Anesthesia is used in different medical interventions, such as:
dental interventions, surgery and others. Obviously, this medically
trained professional must know about your allergies, to make sure that
certain anesthetic substances wouldn’t cause you some negative side
effects. Thus, you can’t be an anesthesiologist without training!
Job description of anesthesiologists
The
job description
of the actual role of anesthesiologists differs from region to region,
across the world. For instance, in the UK, they call some of the expert
physicians anaesthetists and these are the medically trained experts who
can apply anesthesia. Generally, in the UK and in several countries all
across Europe, there are anaesthesia techs, who will help and assist
the physicians who are responsible with the actual duty of applying
anesthesia. This working relationship and structure is almost identical
to the roles of dentists in comparison with dental assistants.
However, contrary to the European situation, in the United States of
America, these professionals aren’t necessarily physicians or they
aren’t at all physicians. The US anesthesiologists have a good training
background, because they need to become resident physicians in
anesthesiology before being able to practice. On the other hand, if one
is interested in anesthesia and isn’t a physician, as mentioned earlier,
it is possible. These people, these medical experts are referred to as
anesthetists.
In most cases, you will be dealing with patients who require surgery.
Obviously, this isn’t necessarily the case with dental
anesthesiologists, but it is the case if you work in the emergency
service or in any private or state hospital. You will witness all kinds
of patients and some of them will also have a lot of fear or other bad
moods. While these things are real, you need to have a strong will and
character, not taking these aspects into consideration. You will always
have to work with surgeons, finding out the details about the surgery,
which is scheduled.
Obviously, the type and level of anesthesia depends on the type of
the surgery. Some cases demand general anesthesia, while other cases
will work just fine with local anesthesia. Also, the other health issues
of your patients influence a lot of things. For instance, if the
patient has a heart condition, previous strokes or diabetes, then extra
precaution is needed. Sometimes, you will have to trust the surgeon and
take risk in giving the anesthesia and hoping for the best (this is
obviously the case in situations when a quick decision can save a life).
These quick situations and solutions that are demanded must not freak
you out and you need to remain emotionally stable.
This job of being an anesthesiologist will always ask you to work in
the emergency service. Whether you like it or not, you will get there,
because that is where a lot of anesthesia is often needed. Speaking in
US terms, being an anesthesiologist instead of being an anesthetist is a
lot of advantage. The reason for this is because being an
anesthesiologist means that you also have the medical qualifications of a
physician, and the things you have learned while learning those parts
will help you in all of what follows next, from the first situation to
the last, enabling you to easily make up your mind when a more difficult
medical case is encountered with any of your patients.
You will also be responsible with managing the patient’s airway,
making sure that he/she gets enough air, even after the surgery had
started. If anesthesia is incorrectly applied or complications come, its
effects might suddenly wear off, in the middle of a complex surgery.
You must be highly prepared for such occurrences, because they can come
to you at any time. Ideally, before this happens, you will make the
necessary decisions and prevent it from happening. This is done by
correctly monitoring your patient during the surgery and recognizing the
signals the body sends before having the anesthetic effects worn off.
In some parts of the US, there are other specialists called CRNAs or
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesists. These experts are recognized
and accepted nationwide in the United States! Since there is an
increasing need and demand for anesthesiologists in the past couple of
years, there are better chances for everyone to become a professional
anesthesiologist. As soon as you decide to pursue such a career, you can
know that you are on a good track and you will succeed.
How to become an anesthesiologist?
The anesthesiologist training varies from country to country. We can
only talk about any further details if we consider the territories as
well.
The United States
As you probably know, not everyone who provides anesthesia is called
an anesthesiologist. However, these experts are trained under strict and
demanding circumstances. This serves to their benefit and the benefit
of patients as well, since the amount of training invested in an
anesthesiologist proves its real value when the professional gets to the
point of treating his patients.
Anesthesiologists, also speaking of the current situation in the
United States, have a 4-year long program of residency, during which
they are trained for all that is to follow once they begin practicing.
This residency is broken into two main parts, the first being an
internship and the second being for training only.
Internship
lasts for 12 months, while the remaining years will encompass all the
training. This training also means exams, thus they need to prepare a
lot and they must learn the depths of their profession.
During
the training,
it is important to learn about evaluating the health state of the
patient before a surgery. This is essential and of life-saving
importance and significance. Then, the enrolled students will know about
how to decide certain things based on the patients diseases he had
before the actual medical intervention. It is also essential to know
that pain might come in certain moments during any operation, thus the
anesthesiologist must be with his eyes on the patient to observe these
occurrences in time, to allow him to take the necessary measures.
Obviously, all levels of pain must be managed correctly, since the
patients aren’t meant to suffer there. All of these aspects are part of
the anesthesiologist residency program, making sure that the practicing
professionals can handle every situation once they are in place.
Monitoring the patient’s vital signs is also needed, because during a
surgery or other intervention, the heart might have palpitations and
many other such situations can occur.
Then, after the surgery, the recovery of the patient and pain
reduction is also important and all of these fall under the expertise of
the anesthesiologist.
Work Environment and Schedule
There are several things that will always be parts of the work environment:
- Special medical clothes / uniforms are needed
- You won’t work alone, because you will have medical assistants, surgeons or other medical experts to work with.
- Negative moods, stress and unpleasant sights are all a part of routine for an anesthesiologist.
- You need to socialize with the patient to make him feel comfortable,
but you also need to comfort the patient’s relatives and friends
- You will have to protect yourself against radiation, which might come on a daily basis.
- You will be physically close to your patients, sometimes only 1 inch or less away.
- You might have a team under you and you are always in charge and responsible for their mistakes.
- You can be called any time during a day or during the night
- You will generally work above the amount of a weekly duration of 40 hours
The schedule depends on many things, mostly on the situations and on
the workplace. For example, you can begin the day at 6 AM or 6:20 AM and
then end by 6 or 7 PM. However, it might also occur that you are off by
3 PM or that you only stay until noon time.
If the schedule says that you are on duty for the day, it means your
shift is an entire 24-hour shift. Then, normally, you have the following
24 hours free. Also, you might be working during any holiday. Being on
the duty is highly important for an anesthesiologist.
Anesthesiologist salary
If you want to ask me to tell you if it’s worth it or not, all I can
say before getting with the details to you is that it’s worth it. For
now, in April 2014, the
average anesthesiologist salary
in all regions of the United States goes around $350.000. Yes, you have
clearly seen that the payment amount is more than simply motivating.
The above statistics are pretty accurate, as a lot of information was
gathered before these figures were calculated. As an anesthesiologist,
you will have to pay attention to details and be very good with public
relations. The reason this is important is because you will deal with
all types of patients during your career. While some patients are easy
to handle, others will just be a pain. And, as you know, your salary
might get a raise if your supervisors observe how you can handle
patients correctly.
As a motivation, for some anesthesiologists with more experience and in better areas of the United States,
the salary
can go above the amount of $425.000 per year. Just think about this for
a minute! Wouldn’t that amount fit your wallet perfectly? To earn that,
you will need perseverance. Also
in 2015 the anesthesiologist salary is expected to grow with 5-10%!
Currently, the healthcare system is being consolidated. This means
that for all anesthesiologists who are currently looking for jobs, it’s
amazing news. It’s a future that stands in front of you unavoidably.
This future will not only bring the benefits of the anesthesiologist
salary, but it will also bring you the benefits of being stable in your
life and career. Having something like this for certain, especially now
in April of 2014, is more than something to hold on to.
As an anesthesiologist, among many things, if you want to be in a
position to demand a higher salary, I can for instance recommend you to
gather some patient data and any other relevant data. Why do you need
that data? It’s simple: when everyone claims that they deserve more, you
will also have solid arguments on why you, as an anesthesiologist,
deserve more as a compensation for your position. Since we live in an
era when information is going up and down on every channel, it’s not a
too hard thing to gather some of it for reference.
If you want to show your supervisors that you are not just an
ordinary anesthesiologist to get a salary of $250.000 per year (which is
among the lowest salaries nationwide, in the US), you can change the
stuff you work with. You see, the anesthetic drugs and all accessories
are manufactured in at least a dozen different places. Obviously,
different manufacturers demand different prices and they offer different
levels of quality. If you take a couple of days or weeks (depends on
how much it takes you), you can research on the drugs and accessories
you use, targeting to find the cheapest ones, which still have the high
quality to your standards and the standards of the institution you
belong to. This way, your supervisor will notice that you actually save
the institution’s money and it’s easier to get a higher salary or
surprise compensation or things like that. Amazing enough, isn’t it?
Other than the things mentioned before, there are a lot of challenges
and other unexpected situations that might occur in the life and career
of an anesthesiologist. For the sake of a good anesthesiologist salary,
you will have to deal with the following issues:
- Make sure you are hired in a prosperous area.
- Make sure that the institution you have chosen is a well-known one, to be a good point for your CV later (if needed)
- If you settle for the same hospital (or other institution), you
should make sure that as you work more and more, your salary grows
accordingly. If you sense that you have excelled in performance and the
salary is the same or lower, you might consider quitting and being hired
at another medical institution.
- Make sure you have all the necessary training. If there are extra
levels of training, you could consider investing time and money into
those. After all, it’s for your proof and looks great in an
anesthesiologist CV.
Anesthesiologist salary in Canada, Australia and UK
For people in Canada, the average per year goes between 96.000 CAD
and 170.000 CAD. This is not the same amount as it is in the US, but
remember that different countries/areas have different salaries and
generally, the anesthesiologist salary is enough if you live in almost
any country from these. The average (Canada nationwide) will be around
136.500 CAD per year.
As far as Australia goes, salaries for anesthesiologists range from
AU$65.000 to AU$310.000. These values are very similar to the US
anesthesiologist salary values. The average is around AU$150.000, per
year.
In the UK, salaries are different. We can consider them from a UK
nationwide average anesthesiologist salary of £17.000 to £236.000. The
UK situation and salary is mainly experience based, so the more the
experience, the higher the salary is. While the starting salary might
seem low, it quickly raises to amazing values.
Conclusion on anesthesiology salary
As you have seen, the anesthesiologist salary depends on a couple of
factors. First of all, it depends on which country you stay in and then
it depends on the experience, area, institution you belong to and so on.
Obviously, certification will always be needed.
What is good about the anesthesiologist salary is that it will always
be good and this job is one of the future! This is a job for the next
1-2 or even more decades – and this is something good to know, since
nowadays it’s quite hard to get some stability in work.
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