Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine

The rotation as a whole was great; I loved the hands on procedures, seeing the surgeries from the other side of the curtain, and thinking about physiology and pharmacology. My first experience at the VA and their population of patients was education and fun. I reaffirmed a lot that I knew about anesthesia and learned a lot about the immense planning, preparation, anticipation, and thinking that anesthesia involves. Although the perioperative period is short, I realized anesthesia involves a lot of patient care and family contact. The teaching was fantastic, and I really had a fun time.

I've always been somewhat interested in anesthesia given my past experiences. As an undergraduate, I serendipitously stumbled upon a seminar taught by anesthesiologist Dr. Rosenthal, an emeritus professor at Stanford. Since then, I have worked with anesthesiologists in clinical and research settings. I like the combination of procedures and medicine, the focus on one patient at a time, the defined length of care. My personality fits anesthesia well; I like being organized, planning, anticipating problems, and instant gratification. I enjoy the OR setting. If I went into anesthesia, I would further train in critical care or cardiac anesthesia because I like complexity and difficulty. I think after this rotation, anesthesia remains high on my list of possible specialties, but I know there are things I'd miss about medicine if I only did anesthesia.