Excellent discussion and warning. I have not looked at anesthesiology salaries in more than 5 years, but when I was the Chief in Seattle, fellowship trained faculty had a slightly higher starting salary. If that is now not the case, our systems have failed in my humble opinion! I also used the career earnings potential as a rational reason for doing a second fellowship year focus on academic training. I was able to get promoted at 5 years for both associate and full professor principally because I was a successful scholar after this advanced training. Fellows better prepared to succeed academically in our department have frequent been promoted to associate and full professor years earlier than their colleagues without this training. Leaders of the system need to make sure we are not causing the extinction of our own specialty!
I talk to many residents who seem disinclined to do fellowship training given the current robust job market. My council is always to take a long view of a career. Medicine in the US is highly politicized with the growth of competition for our jobs by CRNAs increasingly likely. Job security in the future will be driven by the added value we provide by virtue of our training. My first advice to them is to take the extra year and do a fellowship now. That investment in time will likely pay dividends many times over throughout a lifetime career. Which fellowship is the next question and is driven by what someone finds appealing , but they don't often appreciate the many nuanced advantages of practicing pediatric anesthesia. Having transitioned mid-career after 17 years of adult practice, I appreciate the differences that make the everyday work taking care of kids rewarding. I find the collegial culture in a pediatric perioperative environment to be much more enjoyable than in adult practice. It is just harder to be abrasive and unpleasant around kids. In pediatric anesthesia, we enjoy the challenge of practicing in all subspecialty areas - there is less siloed practice than in many adult settings. Helping parents feel comfortable as you take their children from them has rewards. There is also the advantage of lifting small patients and saving your back! Helping trainees understand the value of a fellowship in the context of a career and demonstrating the benefits of pediatric anesthesia practice will hopefully help to meet the looming shortages.
Excellent discussion and warning. I have not looked at anesthesiology salaries in more than 5 years, but when I was the Chief in Seattle, fellowship trained faculty had a slightly higher starting salary. If that is now not the case, our systems have failed in my humble opinion! I also used the career earnings potential as a rational reason for doing a second fellowship year focus on academic training. I was able to get promoted at 5 years for both associate and full professor principally because I was a successful scholar after this advanced training. Fellows better prepared to succeed academically in our department have frequent been promoted to associate and full professor years earlier than their colleagues without this training. Leaders of the system need to make sure we are not causing the extinction of our own specialty!
I talk to many residents who seem disinclined to do fellowship training given the current robust job market. My council is always to take a long view of a career. Medicine in the US is highly politicized with the growth of competition for our jobs by CRNAs increasingly likely. Job security in the future will be driven by the added value we provide by virtue of our training. My first advice to them is to take the extra year and do a fellowship now. That investment in time will likely pay dividends many times over throughout a lifetime career. Which fellowship is the next question and is driven by what someone finds appealing , but they don't often appreciate the many nuanced advantages of practicing pediatric anesthesia. Having transitioned mid-career after 17 years of adult practice, I appreciate the differences that make the everyday work taking care of kids rewarding. I find the collegial culture in a pediatric perioperative environment to be much more enjoyable than in adult practice. It is just harder to be abrasive and unpleasant around kids. In pediatric anesthesia, we enjoy the challenge of practicing in all subspecialty areas - there is less siloed practice than in many adult settings. Helping parents feel comfortable as you take their children from them has rewards. There is also the advantage of lifting small patients and saving your back! Helping trainees understand the value of a fellowship in the context of a career and demonstrating the benefits of pediatric anesthesia practice will hopefully help to meet the looming shortages.
We need to focus on recruiting medical students from the pool of those considering pediatric sub specialties