Why I chose to become an anesthetist
As a junior doctor before I started anaesthesia I was involved in treating many sick patients both in medical and surgical wards. It became obvious to me that it was always the anaesthetist who was called to the most severely ill patients or those with untreatable pain. I was inspired by the skill, the compassion and the downright "cool" of these colleagues and I aspired to be like them.
Those inspirational clinicians brought me into the specialty of anaesthesia, one of the truly holistic medical specialties with our involvement across perioperative and pain medicine.
Anaesthesia has a strong tradition of developing great physician leaders. Some of the greatest physicians in the last 200 years were also anaesthetists: individuals such as John Snow, Virginia Apgar, Harold Griffith and John Bonica were all anaesthetists who changed medicine with their innovation and leadership.
I was asked recently by some medical student colleagues about why anaesthetists often become leaders in medicine. As an example our own CEO at The Ottawa Hospital, Dr. Jack Kitts, is an anaesthetist.
I noted 3 key factors:
1. Anaesthesia is a holistic specialty, caring for all patients in all specialties and we usually take the holistic view for patient care. We have a strong knowledge of how patients are cared for across the medical system.
2. Anaesthetists are team players and often become team leaders in and outside the operating room. We are good at balancing the concerns of several different professions and focusing these on patient care.
3. Due to the holistic nature of our specialty we usually work right across the hospital and have strong contacts with family and community medicine.
All of the above attracted me to the specialty of anaesthesia. Students often cite the attraction of managing physiology and pharmacology and the "hands-on" nature of our specialty but anaesthesia is so much more than that. Anaesthesia is the practice of medicine and that is why I chose to become an anaesthetist.
Those inspirational clinicians brought me into the specialty of anaesthesia, one of the truly holistic medical specialties with our involvement across perioperative and pain medicine.
Anaesthesia has a strong tradition of developing great physician leaders. Some of the greatest physicians in the last 200 years were also anaesthetists: individuals such as John Snow, Virginia Apgar, Harold Griffith and John Bonica were all anaesthetists who changed medicine with their innovation and leadership.
I was asked recently by some medical student colleagues about why anaesthetists often become leaders in medicine. As an example our own CEO at The Ottawa Hospital, Dr. Jack Kitts, is an anaesthetist.
I noted 3 key factors:
1. Anaesthesia is a holistic specialty, caring for all patients in all specialties and we usually take the holistic view for patient care. We have a strong knowledge of how patients are cared for across the medical system.
2. Anaesthetists are team players and often become team leaders in and outside the operating room. We are good at balancing the concerns of several different professions and focusing these on patient care.
3. Due to the holistic nature of our specialty we usually work right across the hospital and have strong contacts with family and community medicine.
All of the above attracted me to the specialty of anaesthesia. Students often cite the attraction of managing physiology and pharmacology and the "hands-on" nature of our specialty but anaesthesia is so much more than that. Anaesthesia is the practice of medicine and that is why I chose to become an anaesthetist.