نصائح لاطباء الامتياز بشهادة الاختصاص بطب التخدير و العناية المركزة

Writer: Dr. Hatem Adel Azzam *

Anesthesiology And Critical Care is a unique specialty in many ways.
First of all its one of the most wanted specialties not just in Saudi Arabia but worldwide, it’s a blend of knowledge from all the other specialties, if you like to know a little about a lot, have limited patient contact, enjoy being in the operation theater, like working with your hands, and have that bit of challenge every now and then, this is defiantly the specialty for you.

The role of a physician anesthesiologist extends beyond the operating room. He or she is responsible for the preoperative assessment of the patient, an evaluation process that carefully considers both the patient’s current state of health and the planned surgical procedure that allows physician anesthesiologists to make judgments about the safest anesthesia plan for each individual patient. A physician anesthesiologist is also responsible for the well being of the patient postoperatively while the patient emerges from the effects of anesthesia. They are often involved in the management of acute postoperative pain, as well as chronic and cancer pain; in cardiac and respiratory resuscitation.

Some of the benefits of being an anesthesiologist are:

– Every case is different in a way so you always have that challenge
– Knowing a little about a lot
– Your always constantly learning and discovering new things and acquiring new skills
– Working with your hands
– Being able to work in the ICU and take it as a sub specialty later on
– You have a wide variety of sub specialties such as:

Pain management, regional anesthesia, cardiac anesthesia, pediatric anesthesia, neuroanesthesia, obstetric anesthesia or critical care medicine

– If you are on call you get the next day off
– Anesthesia consultants get a bonus % on their salary because it’s one of the rare specialties

Some of the things you need to be aware of:

– You will be one of the first people to show up in the hospital and sometimes be the last to leave
– Things can get stressful in the operation theater
– You need to be able to be collective and calm in times of crisis and not panic
– Being able to take a decision in stressful situations
– Anesthesia isn’t stressful all the time but there will be these moments and you will face them so you have to be prepared
– It’s always good to get something to read in the operation theater on days when you have easy cases that go smoothly

Tips on applying for Anesthesiology And Critical Care:

– Try to score high on the SLE exam preferably above 70 -75 %
– As there is no selection exam for anesthesiology

– Have at least one elective course in anesthesiology

– Have at least one out of the three recommendation letters from an anesthesiology consultant

– Have at least one research related to Anesthesiology

-ATLS course, ACLS course and Airway managment Courses are always a plus if done before applying and will be good on the C.V.

– Work at different hospitals and get to know the anesthesia team and the working environment

– Prepare for your interview and practice, some hospitals like to ask anesthesia related questions so it’s always better to read the basics and keep them in mind.

Some of the books I’ve found helpful:

– Handbook of Clinical Anesthesia “seventh edition” by paul G.Barash
– Lecture Notes “Clinical Anesthesia 3rd edition”
– Oxford American handbook of “Critical Care”

Don’t hesitate to contact me on my E-mail for any questions and good luck to you all.

* Dr. Hatem Adel Azzam , Anesthesiology resident 2014-2015  at King Fahad Medical City
H.Azzam@hotmail.com