2 answers
Gus
Student
Kerrville, Texas
6
Questions
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What experience would I need to be an anesthesiologist
I am wondering what experiences I would need to become an anesthesiologist and how I would obtain these. #medical #healthcare
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2 answers
Mary Jane Shroyer
Director of Health Professions Career Community
102
Answers
Grinnell, Iowa
Updated
Mary Jane’s Answer
Anesthesiologists are physicians who specialize in anesthesia. Therefore, at the high school and college level, you would need the same experiences that any pre-medical student needs. Typically medical schools want to see that you have 1) engaged in community service, 2) developed your leadership skills, 3) explored the medical field, and, possibly, 4) participated in scientific research during your college studies.
While all your activities don't need to be medical in nature, beginning to explore the healthcare field can help you confirm this is the right path for you. Contact your local hospital to see if they have volunteer opportunities for students. Other avenues to explore are things like volunteering for blood drives or at nursing or veterans' homes. You should look for experiences that get you out of your comfort zone and talking with people who come from different backgrounds than yours--as a physician, you will be dealing with people from lots of different cultural, racial and ethnic, economic, and religious backgrounds.
You can ask an anesthesiologist if you can shadow them for a few days to learn more about their profession, but be aware that it can be challenging to shadow surgical procedures due to privacy and safety concerns. You might need to "work your way up", so to speak, by first establishing yourself as a reliable, responsible hospital volunteer before being allowed to observe a surgery. You may have more luck starting with shadowing your family physician and then asking if they can help introduce you to people who work in surgery.
For your extra-curriculars, look for opportunities to increase your leadership as you progress in your activities and clubs. Take the initiative to lead a committee, plan an event, or run for a club office. Step up and display the leadership and responsibility needed to be a team captain. Learn to be both a good teammate and a good leader. Again, everything you do doesn't need to be medically focused, so if you love a sport or music or chess club, stick with it! You can learn important things about yourself and others through these types of activities that will make you a more caring physician and you'll probably spend more time talking with patients about sports and music than you will about chemistry and math.
Find a local anesthesiologist and ask if they will do an informational interview with you and if they allow students to shadow.
While all your activities don't need to be medical in nature, beginning to explore the healthcare field can help you confirm this is the right path for you. Contact your local hospital to see if they have volunteer opportunities for students. Other avenues to explore are things like volunteering for blood drives or at nursing or veterans' homes. You should look for experiences that get you out of your comfort zone and talking with people who come from different backgrounds than yours--as a physician, you will be dealing with people from lots of different cultural, racial and ethnic, economic, and religious backgrounds.
You can ask an anesthesiologist if you can shadow them for a few days to learn more about their profession, but be aware that it can be challenging to shadow surgical procedures due to privacy and safety concerns. You might need to "work your way up", so to speak, by first establishing yourself as a reliable, responsible hospital volunteer before being allowed to observe a surgery. You may have more luck starting with shadowing your family physician and then asking if they can help introduce you to people who work in surgery.
For your extra-curriculars, look for opportunities to increase your leadership as you progress in your activities and clubs. Take the initiative to lead a committee, plan an event, or run for a club office. Step up and display the leadership and responsibility needed to be a team captain. Learn to be both a good teammate and a good leader. Again, everything you do doesn't need to be medically focused, so if you love a sport or music or chess club, stick with it! You can learn important things about yourself and others through these types of activities that will make you a more caring physician and you'll probably spend more time talking with patients about sports and music than you will about chemistry and math.
Mary Jane recommends the following next steps:
Yasemin G.
Aspiring physician
635
Answers
Updated
Yasemin’s Answer
Hi Gus! To be an anesthesiologist, you will need to go to medical school but beforehand you need a bachelor's from a 4 year university. That being said during your undergrad years as a college student you should prepare for medical school in volunteering, shadowing, taking prerequisites and maintaining a good GPA along with obtaining a competitive MCAT score (508+ MCAT and 3.7+ GPA). For academics, you need to take certain coursework like biology, physics, chemistry, etc., that will prepare you for medical school; in college you can be any major and apply to medical school, however it is important to take those prerequisites as they are required for entry and prepare you for the more difficult sciences in medical school. In addition to the required courses, I would also take the recommended ones too if you aren't a traditional science major; some of those courses can be genetics, anatomy and physiology, cell and molecular, and biochemistry. Some medical schools require biochemistry and some can omit it for the second semester of Organic Chemistry but I would advise to take it as it prepares you immensely for medical school and especially the MCAT ( you will need to know those amino acids in detail and their pKa!)
In addition to coursework and adding to the answer provided, I would recommend volunteering both clinically (patient interaction) and nonclincally. Nonclinical can be something that interests you like volunteering in a soup kitchen, mentoring students, or something that speaks on your behalf and that you like to do; it should be meaningful! I once read a student who volunteered finding individual's lost dogs through a forum, so really the opportunities can vary! In a clinical opportunity it is important to interact with patients because the admissions committee in medical school will ask how do you know if you are comfortable in medicine? It's important to get that experience to provide a substantial example; a kind of "talk the talk but also walk the walk" situation. Shadowing is also important as well, so I would recommend to get experience shadowing physicians; they can be in different areas, because I think it's good to have variety especially when entering medical school. Anesthesiology is usually branched off after you've completed about 3 years of medical school, you then begin to take more electives in the area you choose your speciality in your final year; while shadowing an anesthesiologist can be helpful, it shouldn't limit you to only one physician. Get to see how the physician you are shadowing interacts with their patients, talk with him or her, get to know them to know that you truly want to be a physician. Usually having a recommendation letter from a physician is preferred in medical school applications, so it is important to get them to know you and spend time shadowing them. As much as quality of your experiences matter, quantity can as well; make sure to have meaningful experiences but also long experiences as well. I would recommend to have at least 1 year of volunteering experience and about 50 hours of shadowing with a physician before applying, so maybe during the summer or from time to time during undergrad (however the more volunteering the better, so volunteering maybe in an ER for a couple hours a week during four years of undergrad is better than doing a 100 hours in a couple of months). Also if you have a part time job don't discredit it for your application to medical school; I was a server and it prepared me immensely because I had to think quick, juggle different things at one time, coordinate crowds of tables, and speak effectively to my customers among other things. I think where you work is important because you gain skills that can be related to medicine even if you aren't in a true medical setting.
Overall during undergrad, you are not preparing for speciality but more so medical school, through taking hard classes, demonstrating leadership and a will to help others and also your passion for medicine. I would recommend to check out AAMC.org as this is the official site to help premed students prepare for medical school as well as having a good premed adviser during college; they provide detailed information about classes to take and your overall progress. Lastly, as a small side note be surrounded by people who believe you, a small group is enough; I have a small group of close friends and my parents who believe in me and support me and that truly does make a difference. There will be people who will tell you how hard it is, or if you obtain a low MCAT score or a low grade that medicine is not right for you, don't listen to them! I had to take my MCAT twice, and struggled with some courses however success is in your hands, how hard you work and how disciplined you are.
I hope this helps!
Best of luck future doctor!
In addition to coursework and adding to the answer provided, I would recommend volunteering both clinically (patient interaction) and nonclincally. Nonclinical can be something that interests you like volunteering in a soup kitchen, mentoring students, or something that speaks on your behalf and that you like to do; it should be meaningful! I once read a student who volunteered finding individual's lost dogs through a forum, so really the opportunities can vary! In a clinical opportunity it is important to interact with patients because the admissions committee in medical school will ask how do you know if you are comfortable in medicine? It's important to get that experience to provide a substantial example; a kind of "talk the talk but also walk the walk" situation. Shadowing is also important as well, so I would recommend to get experience shadowing physicians; they can be in different areas, because I think it's good to have variety especially when entering medical school. Anesthesiology is usually branched off after you've completed about 3 years of medical school, you then begin to take more electives in the area you choose your speciality in your final year; while shadowing an anesthesiologist can be helpful, it shouldn't limit you to only one physician. Get to see how the physician you are shadowing interacts with their patients, talk with him or her, get to know them to know that you truly want to be a physician. Usually having a recommendation letter from a physician is preferred in medical school applications, so it is important to get them to know you and spend time shadowing them. As much as quality of your experiences matter, quantity can as well; make sure to have meaningful experiences but also long experiences as well. I would recommend to have at least 1 year of volunteering experience and about 50 hours of shadowing with a physician before applying, so maybe during the summer or from time to time during undergrad (however the more volunteering the better, so volunteering maybe in an ER for a couple hours a week during four years of undergrad is better than doing a 100 hours in a couple of months). Also if you have a part time job don't discredit it for your application to medical school; I was a server and it prepared me immensely because I had to think quick, juggle different things at one time, coordinate crowds of tables, and speak effectively to my customers among other things. I think where you work is important because you gain skills that can be related to medicine even if you aren't in a true medical setting.
Overall during undergrad, you are not preparing for speciality but more so medical school, through taking hard classes, demonstrating leadership and a will to help others and also your passion for medicine. I would recommend to check out AAMC.org as this is the official site to help premed students prepare for medical school as well as having a good premed adviser during college; they provide detailed information about classes to take and your overall progress. Lastly, as a small side note be surrounded by people who believe you, a small group is enough; I have a small group of close friends and my parents who believe in me and support me and that truly does make a difference. There will be people who will tell you how hard it is, or if you obtain a low MCAT score or a low grade that medicine is not right for you, don't listen to them! I had to take my MCAT twice, and struggled with some courses however success is in your hands, how hard you work and how disciplined you are.
I hope this helps!
Best of luck future doctor!