Published
34 Posts
^^^^
To clear up: depending on specialty, how one sets up a business or chooses to practice, if you decide to go the MD route, you don't necessarily do a lot of call or even work a lot (barring residency, etc). Examples: one pulmonologist got tired of doing a lot of hospital- & office-based work, so he eventually opened a clinical research center & sees very few pts (he gets some pretty lucrative research contracts from pharmaceutical companies, so he doesn't need to see a lot of pts). Another guy from his former group now works part-time in his own office-based practice (about 15 hrs a week - has a PA there the hrs he's not there) & does call only on his own pts (ie he's not hanging around the hospital drumming up new consults from the hospitalists, so he ends up doing very little call) and he supplements that with several "moon lighting" jobs such as interpreting sleep studies (which take all of 10 mins each - he usually goes in once a week to read 5-10 studies), etcetera. Those are just a few examples. The point is: depending on what avenue(s) one pursues as an MD/DO, it's VERY flexible & one can pretty well work as much or as little as one wishes (and it doesn't necessarily have to be pulling call all night in a hospital) - some of it very lucrative & rewarding in other ways too. Again, basically, food for thought for some of the extremely bright/high GPA nursing students who may not have considered these types of options (which are certainly very viable for these types of good students).
666 Posts
well in my case it boils down to time and money. it will only take me around 27-32 months vs. 4 yrs of med school and other 3 or so of residency. i have put myself in a financial position where i can graduate from a 27-30 somthing month crna program with essentially little payback in the long run. if i was doing the med school route i'd be looking at some 200k plus. lord knows i have much respect for anyone who goes through med school and finishes a residency to become a board certified doc, heck i work along side many who i admire and respect. but at age 30 i'm a little late in the game and alittle to cynical for med school.
1. The pre-reqs for medical school go beyond chemistry. It also includes general physics, calculus, and general biology which all or none maybe required for nursing/CRNA school.
2. It takes a minimum of 7yrs to become a CRNA (average seems to be about 9-10 yrs), and a minimum of 12yrs (there are early acceptance to medical school and some other routes which will allow you to complete it sooner, but 12yrs is for the traditional route which most anesthesiologists will fall under) to become an anesthesiologist.
3. What most people seem to forget is that just because you want to become an anesthesiologist, orthopod etc. doesn't mean you will get selected into one of those residency programs. Those residencies are highly competitive and only the students that did the best in medical school will get selected for those residencies.
4. A pre-med student's GPA maybe a little lower than a nursing student's GPA, but the pre-reqs for medical school are generally much tougher classes than what we take in nursing school. I was premed at one point before switching to nursing, so I have actually taken both sets of classes.
5. People become CRNAs for a variety of reasons, but you will find that we are often in our mid 20's all the way up to mid 40's or older. With the average CRNA student age probably being around late 20's to early 30's which is much older than the average med student. SRNAs are working adults that went back to school which is much different than the traditional med student.
6. Most CRNAs are very happy with the salary they make, and find it is good compromise between work and lifestyle being a CRNA.
7. There isn't anything that is done specifically by an anesthesiologist that can't or isn't done by CRNA somewhere. You can as independent or dependent as you want when you are CRNA. The only thing that really separates the jobs between CRNAs and anesthesiologists is the educational track and the average salary each of us makes.
Other than that it is highly variable why each CRNA chose the track they did.
100 Posts
meandragonbrett
2,438 Posts
1) They don't want to be physicians
2) They don't want to be married to their career or their medical practice.
3) Some people like shift work
4) Many CRNAs work Monday-Friday 7-3 with no weekends, no holidays, and no call.
5) CRNAs do not necessarily have *less* responsibility than an Anesthesiologist.