Anaesthesia!

[thatonekid]

Wednesday at 9. 8 eastern is a bit early for the more western time zones.

[TimmyMax]

Hey guys,

Okay, I guess there is a split opinion on this issue. Therefore, I will do two sessions- one tonight at 2100, as planned and another on Wednesday night at 2100 (or we can do a bit later, if the time difference is an issue- let me know!). See y'all a little later!

[leviathan]

Shoot...did you guys meet up tonight? I got stuck @ hospital late. I'll try again Wednesday.

[katabolik]

would it be possible for someone to post a transcript or a summary or something? i missed both days this week

[medicg]

Just wondering what the job market for anesthesiologists is like right now in western Canada? What is it projected to look like in the next 5-10 years?

[TimmyMax]

Hey guys,

Just thought that I'd post a little update on the practical/financial side of things...

I've been in independent anesthesia practice now for almost 18 months. Since I wasn't amongst the lucky few who had a full-time position lined up (it's a long story, how I got screwed out of a position) to start when I finished on July 1st, I found myself with a crapload of debt, no income and no real job prospects. That said, the most important part was that I had an FRCPC and an independent practice license in hand (although that was a pain in the ar$e to get as well, for reasons that are stupid, but whatever).

Anyway, I ended up being contacted by the hospital that screwed me out of a full-time job, asking about my availability to locum later in the month of July. At this point, I was pretty much desperate to work, so I agreed, filled out their credentialing package and worked for a couple of days there. Before I left, they asked me to come back for two weeks in September and a few extra weeks in October. The other hospital in town heard about a new anesthesia locum in town and also got in touch with me, offering me a couple of weeks in October as well.

Since my job prospects in Ontario were looking pretty grim, I had asked one of the people that I had trained with in London before residency ended who had a staff position lined up if her hospital would be in need of a locum. She put me in contact with the chief of her department, and it turned out that they needed somebody for the entire month of August. Since this was in another province, I needed another license for that province, which was easy enough to fill out the paperwork and obtain (much easier than Ontario!). So now I had work for all of August (with a week off thrown in there to boot!).

Another guy who I had trained with in London had been screwed out of a job in another Ontario city emailed me while I was gone. He had been locuming a few places in Ontario and told me about one locum that he liked and that they were looking for people. So I contacted that place, and sure enough, they needed a locum for September. Another credentialing package followed, and now I had solid work until November!

Basically, from then on in, I began to contact places which either I knew had recently built new hospitals or thought might be cool to visit. My friend put me in touch with the Northern Specialist Locum Program, which is a great program designed to bring specialists to the north for locums with the hope of ultimately recruiting them. It gives out great financial incentives and reimburses your costs, so all you really end up paying for while away on locum is your food and entertainment. The rest is covered for you.

So I contacted the major Northern Ontario cities, set up locums up there, and before I knew it, I had work for the rest of the year. By now, the locum offers were coming in so fast that I started to have to decline them. I was essentially living for free on the road, and making a great living while doing it!

And best of all were the job offers. Everywhere I locumed wanted me to join their staff permanently! After tipping off the hospital where I wanted to end up about the offers that I was getting and considering from other places, they eventually ponied up with an offer that was acceptable to me. They had been humming and hawing about a permanent position for me (ironically the same hospital that originally screwed me out of a job), mostly based on budget constraints, was the official party line, but I knew that it was really because they have a bunch of older staff that need to retire.

And the best part about being a locum??? You never have to ask anybody for vacation time- you just don't book yourself anywhere during the time you want off. I took 3 weeks off over the Christmas holidays, the first time that I had had both Christmas AND New Year's off since I was a 2nd year medical student!

So needless to say, since my wife and I were essentially still living like residents (we still have our apartment in London, which serves as our home base), albeit jet-setting ones with had minimal overhead, the money kept rolling in, and since we hadn't bought anything major (since I didn't know exactly where I was going to end up), the debt started to come down. Fast.

On the day I finished residency, my wife and I had $250K in debt and things were looking bleak. 13 months later, my LOC was in the black for the very first time. We are now in the market for a new car, new laptops, a house and one seriously long Caribbean vacation!

So I guess the moral of the story is to not let things that are crappy, out of your control or both get you down. If you keep your nose to the grindstone and your eyes and ears open, doors will open for you, especially in this field!

If you have any questions about anything, feel free to PM me. I'll get back to you eventually!

[youngdad]

Thanks for posting. I won't be an anesthesiologist, but it is still helpful to read stuff like this from people on "the other side."

Best of luck in your career!

[Lactic Folly]

That's a great story, TMax. Thanks for sharing.

[thehumanmacbook]

Awesome man - love how you made a bleak situation into a great one.

[leviathan]

Thanks for the post Timmy. In a way, would you rather there be too few jobs available than too many? I feel like if we start getting a shortage of anesthesiologiosts, that's going to give the government incentive to start allowing CRNAs to practice in Canada. While I support their work in a monitored environment, they are fighting to claim equality to MDs and starting to win the right to fully independent care in the US. Their most recent victory has been getting the right to run pain clinics, just like fellowship trained anesthesiologists. I dont want to turn this into another CRNA debate but thought it would be interesting to hear your thoughts since you had to go through that stressful situation.