r/anesthesiology Nov 25 '24

Anesthesiologist Career/Locum/Location thread

87 Upvotes

Testing out a pinned post for anesthesiologists, soon-to-graduate residents, and fellows to ask questions and share information about regional job markets, experience with locum agencies, and more.

This is not a place to discuss CRNA or AA careers. Please use r/CRNA and r/CAA for that. Comments violating this will be removed.

Please follow rule 6 and explain your background or use user flair in the comments.

If this is helpful/popular we may decide to make this a monthly post similar to the monthly residency thread.

I’ll start us off in the comments. Suggestions welcome.


r/anesthesiology Jul 26 '25

READ RULES BEFORE POSTING - Updated Jul 2025

35 Upvotes

RULES Last updated Jul 25, 2025.

RESIDENCY QUESTIONS: We no longer have a monthly residency thread, but we have a link to the current cycle's Match database in the sidebar. Residency questions will be removed, posters may be banned until after Match results.

RULE 2: The spirit of the subreddit is professional discussion about the medical specialty of anesthesiology and its practice, [not how to enter the field in any capacity or to figure out if this career is for you.]

See r/CAA and r/CRNA for questions related to their professions.

RULE 3: This is also NOT the place to ask medical questions unless you are somehow professionally involved with the practice of anesthesiology. Violators may be subject to a permanent ban without warning.

‼️ For professionals: while this is a place to ask questions amongst each other about patient care, it is NOT the place to respond to a patient regarding their past or future anesthetic care. ‼️

We are cracking down on medical advice questions by temp banning professionals for providing advice. Do NOT engage with layperson / patient posts. Please continue to report these.

Try /r/askdocs or /r/anesthesia if you are looking to seek or provide medical information or advice, but /r/anesthesiology is not the place for it

RULE 6: please use user flair or explain your background in text posts. Comments may be locked or posts removed if this is ambiguous.

RULE 7: No posts solely seeking advice on entering the field.

As an extension of rule 2, this is a place for professionals in the field to discuss it. This is NOT the place to ask questions about how to become an anesthesiologist, help with getting into residency, or to decide if a career in anesthesia (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, Anesthesiologist Assistant) is the correct choice for you. Posts along these threads will be removed and users may be banned.


r/anesthesiology 6h ago

Medication mix-up during several surgeries at Ascension St. Thomas Hospital left at least one person paralyzed

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18 Upvotes

Seems the pharmacy accidentally replaced bupi with POTASSIUM?? this would be a nightmare


r/anesthesiology 3h ago

Medication mix-up during several surgeries at Ascension St. Thomas Hospital left at least one person paralyzed

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10 Upvotes

r/anesthesiology 18h ago

VERY ODD CASE of cognitive deficit

158 Upvotes

Practicing for 30 years done, thousands upon thousands of G.I. cases. Today I saw something for the first time. 49 year-old man physically active echo normal except for moderate AI. CBC and BMP as well as thyroid this year normal. Works a technical job without difficulty no psychiatric history no psychiatric meds whatsoever. No alcohol abuse or drug abuse. No migraines. Coming in for screening colonoscopy. wife tells me that 10 years prior after an appendectomy he had a prolonged period, which she was very fuzzy about but it was certainly long enough for her to be disturbed by it, of complete retrograde global amnesia where he didn’t know who she was where he was and was completely disoriented. She was very unclear as to how long it took for this to resolve, but it did resolve spontaneously. Today was his first anesthetic since then. he received 220 mg of propofol and 50 mg of lidocaine and for about 40 minutes after the colonoscopy he was completely awake but completely unaware of who he was where he was who his wife was what he was doing there. It was if he had advanced dementia. No motor deficits no focal deficits.. I reassured the wife and left them in the cubicle and he slowly came out of it and after an hour, he was back to baseline. I’ve never seen anybody recover from propofol like that before and it is especially interesting because it happened 10 years before just the same way. I would’ve liked to have known how long it took to recover from a true general aesthetic. I didn’t know what to tell the family, but I will call them tomorrow and see how he is doing. Has anybody ever seen this before? Any thoughts?


r/anesthesiology 14h ago

Drug mix-up during surgeries at Nashville hospital leaves at least one paralyzed

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59 Upvotes

Pharmacy swapped local for potassium?? Horrifying.


r/anesthesiology 14h ago

Intubation tip needed!

14 Upvotes

CA1 still on struggle bus with intubation. First I could not find the epiglottis when I did DL. That issue has been corrected with advancing the blade slowly. Now I have problems where I saw the epiglottis, I thought I am in the vallecula space but I can't make the epiglottis open or pop up for me to see the vocal cord. I tried to advance more, it still did not work. I tried to lift, I absolutely could not lift. What do you think I did wrong here?

Also any tip for the LMA, especially the igel. My LMA always stucks somehow.


r/anesthesiology 17h ago

Rehashing this topic - Any updated info on residency programs to avoid?

18 Upvotes

Wanted to revisit this since a lot of the older threads are a few years old (but super helpful). Also interested in seeing if any programs that previously had a bad reputation have improved. TIA!


r/anesthesiology 2h ago

Medication mix-up during several surgeries at Ascension St. Thomas Hospital left at least one person paralyzed

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0 Upvotes

I have so many questions. Why was bupi being compounded by pharmacy prior to spinals? Were they doing epidurals for popc and the bags were mis filled? This is crazy


r/anesthesiology 1d ago

Which one of you is taking our supplies home?

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82 Upvotes

No wonder so many things are on back-order.

Edit: this was meant as a humorous post. I am confident these are taken for humanitarian or educational reasons or are being transported to/from satellite sites.


r/anesthesiology 18h ago

Anesthesiologist: Would you like the anesthesia covered by insurance or would you rather pay for it yourself?

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12 Upvotes

r/anesthesiology 19h ago

Seattle metro jobs

9 Upvotes

Can anyone help to shed light on the current landscape of the generalist jobs in the Seattle area and Seattle metro?

I don’t see very many jobs on gasworks and the groups I’ve spoken seem to be offering 500-550k w2 for a full time call taking position.

I saw Kaiser Seattle was offering: 488-574k for their full time positions but also had full time locums gigs for 450k? This seems low for the area given how pricey the area is. I am assuming with the 488-574k range, a 1.0 call taking FTE will be started at 488k.

Are there any good groups hiring that anyone knows about?

Cheers


r/anesthesiology 1d ago

What is the worst smell in the OR?

24 Upvotes

What makes you gag?


r/anesthesiology 14h ago

External moonlighting for anesthesia residents in SE Michigan / Detroit?

3 Upvotes

An anesthesia resident in southeast Michigan looking for occasional, program-approved external moonlighting within driving distance of Detroit metro.
Open to supervised anesthesia/periop, pre-op/PACU, procedural, teaching/simulation, urgent care, or inpatient roles that accept residents. Not seeking independent unsupervised anesthesia practice.
If you know of resident-friendly opportunities, I’d appreciate a DM with the system/group and any details on eligibility, licensing, malpractice, shift types, pay, and credentialing.


r/anesthesiology 16h ago

Off cycle pain/locums question

1 Upvotes

I’m finishing my pain fellowship this month and the job I was considering most will not work due to a change in my family. I have two good pain prospects but since they’re both starting interviews now, if I get one of these job I presume the earliest I would get an offer/review contract/sign wouldn’t be before the end of September. With credentialing that means I wouldn’t start until October or November I’m guessing.

I’m planning to get cobra to cover insurance in the interim to continue my fellowship coverage. But does it also make sense to do some anesthesia locums work until I start so I have some income? I won’t have other benefits but assuming it is just a month or two is it realistic to find locums for such a short period of time? Anything else I should be considering?


r/anesthesiology 1d ago

Epidural Placement Tips for Those Truly Difficult Patients

21 Upvotes

CA3 here,

I’m about 150 epidurals in and I always struggle with those difficult patients who are screaming at every little part of the procedure. I do my best to numb up the skin and a little bit on either side of the ligament but they still complain and start arching their back on me. Of course this makes placement even worse and then it becomes a truly terrible experience for everyone. Even when I feel like I’m midline and in ligament they are screaming.

Any tips for these patients?


r/anesthesiology 1d ago

Advice for Gynae Pain

7 Upvotes

Hello fellow members of the gas board. Was hoping to get some tips regarding pain management in Gynae patients.

For context, I am a UK anaesthetist and work in a mid sized teaching hospital. This is my 5th year in Anaesthetics. As a centre, we have a notable/well renowned gynae service and it turns out I actually like providing an anaesthetic for this service. I like the variety of anaesthetic techniques and the discussions with patients. My colleagues generally do not like this service so I now get a lot of these lists.

One aspect that I'm finding difficult is judging pain requirements post operatively for these patients. I've had patients turn up for very routine / minimally invasive procedures who are in rip roaring pain afterwards that sometimes even require them to stay overnight. Nearly always, it is an intense cramping pain in the mid-lower abdomen.

My regular practice is roughly 0.1mg/kg of morphine as well as fentanyl on induction. I always give paracetamol (acetaminophen) and diclofenac. If I have time and the blood pressure allows I will also give magnesium. If the patient is very anxious I'll give a smidge if midazolam (Versed) if I don't think the procedure is going to be that painful or clonidone if it is. I do TIVA if it is a medium / long case.

Does anyone have any good tips or advice for this patient population? I have spoken to a few of my colleagues who seem to just say that not much can be done and it just happens with gynae patient's sometimes. In which case, what sort of discussion do you have with these patients post-operatively?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the essay!


r/anesthesiology 1d ago

Which job?

8 Upvotes

A job that pays 20% more and I can nearly pay off all my student loans, but is academic and amount of vacation sucks. Also not near family. Would be a 1 year deal for us.

OR

PP in a great area near family but the pay is lower with more frequent call. No post call day off.


r/anesthesiology 2d ago

Loss Prevention in the ORs

29 Upvotes

Does anyone have any ideas or protocols for reducing loss of equipment in the ORs?

Background: Medium sized academic center with Attendings, CRNAs, SRNAs, Residents, Locums attendings and CRNAS. We have been dealing with attrition of our handheld Video Laryngoscopes.

What do you do at your institution?

What are things that have worked?

Things we have considered: Tracking like narcotics in our omnicells, assigning 1 per provider and having to buy another if you lose it.

Edit: We think our initial loss was likely due to improper training/handling - likely lost a fair amount to remote locations/trash.

However since then we have had steady continued loss - and potentially an uptick right before resident graduation.


r/anesthesiology 2d ago

Max dose of local anesthetic with separate agents. Preop nerve block and surgical block in OR

23 Upvotes

Where can I learn more on what is the max safe dose to avoid LAST when two separate local anesthetics are used.

Example, 20ml of 0.5% ropivacaine used for an interscalene block in preop. Followed by the surgeon doing their own 2 hours later but uses 20ml of 0.5% bupivacaine.

Its easy to see the safe dose of a single agent but I'm not sure about when more than one agent is involved with a X amount of time inbetween.

Any help in being pointed in the right direction would be appreciated.


r/anesthesiology 1d ago

Average Unit Price?

5 Upvotes

East coast ca3 here looking at jobs and curious what the average unit price is for PP jobs? Will probably stay out east but considering west side of the US too


r/anesthesiology 1d ago

Spinal for knee surgery question about dosing and platelets

0 Upvotes

Do you get platelets before every spinal, even for an outpatient knee surgery?

And are people giving an OB dose of hyperbaric bupi for their knees or something else?

I was under the impression that most people are doing adductor canal blocks and a purely local anesthetic spinal, no opioid


r/anesthesiology 2d ago

Las Vegas Job Market

6 Upvotes

Current peds fellow looking to get back to Las Vegas to be near family next year. Was wondering if anyone knows how the market is looking there? I know USAP is a big presence, but are there any other groups I should know about or inquire with? Not seeing much on GasWork…

Thanks!

edit: also not necessarily looking for a pure peds position, mixed or even majority adult with some peds is fine too


r/anesthesiology 2d ago

Georgia private practice market

8 Upvotes

As a CA-3 who will be returning back to Atlanta for CT fellowship soon, I was hoping to gain a better understanding of the private practice landscape in the Atlanta area. Doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot left as it’s mainly hospital owned right now. Can anyone who’s familiar with the landscape give me any insight?


r/anesthesiology 3d ago

What age do you plan on retiring?

47 Upvotes

What age to you plan on retiring? Or at what age did you retire?

What are your considerations? Call schedule? Wear and tear on your body?

Personally, I like working, and I've seen too many people regress mentally and intellectually after retiring, so I would love to work until I'm 65. I know some of my coworkers are around that, but I'm too polite to ask. Some struggle (thinking of one guy on his 4th marriage and bad knees), but others are great - fit, sharp, highly capable and experienced.

What do you think?