Anesthesiology might seem like an appealing career option for people who want a decent earning. However, once you go into the nitty gritty details of the job, you will know that it is not as easy as it seems. You need to get habitual of best practices along with managing time. At times, it can also become overwhelming as the job comes with losing a lot of lives along the line. It can also put you in a position where everything is touch-and-go type, and nothing is predictable.

All these things make the job hard for an individual. So, if you are thinking of pursuing this career, you need to think again. If you need some help in knowing how hard it can get, then you can go ahead and read the reasons that can explain why anesthesiology is so hard. 

Specialising In Anesthesiology Requires Patience And Determination

To complete the study of anesthesiology, one needs to spend 9 to 12 years of their life. 4 to 6 years are required to obtain a double degree. And a minimum of 4 to 5 years of practice is required as a medical professional. Thus, completing education in anesthesiology requires a lot of patience and determination. 

Responsibility Of A Patient’s Life

It goes without saying that the decisions an anesthesiologist take are life-changing ones. They decide the medicines a doctor can prescribe to the patient. If the decision is faulty, it can cost the patients their life. Due to this reason, anesthesiologists always have stress in their minds.

Issue With Drugs And Shortages

There are some specific drugs that do not have any alternative. So, if a patient is critical and requires a particular kind of drug and it is not available, it can be quite stressful for the anesthesiologist as they can’t come up with a backup plan for it.

Problems With People Susceptible To Addiction

It’s difficult to administer drugs to people who are susceptible to addiction. Anesthesia is a drug that can make people lose their senses. Sometimes people who do not use drugs start using them because they were administered anesthesia for their treatment. Going through all these situations and thinking about the impact they can have on people is tough for an anesthesiologist.

Long Hours And On-Call

Anesthesiologists can’t really plan their day way ahead of time. It is because their shift can quickly turn into a long one. At times this can also frustrate the professionals, which is not good for the kind of work they do.

Taking The Right Decision Is Tough

Knowing that the decisions anesthesiologists make can change the entire course of someone’s life medically is difficult to digest. Moreover, doctors are humans as well, and they can make mistakes too. But there is no room for trial and error for them, which always puts them in a tough position. 

One Mistake And The Whole Career Can Go Away

It goes without saying that once you mess up a case with a client, the trust will never be the same. Doctors will stop trusting the anesthesiologist. Also, if the mistake is so big that it costs someone their life, it will never go away. In the worst-case scenario, your career can suffer. Due to this reason, an extensive training period is required for anesthesiologists so that they can improve their mistakes. 

It’s Tough To Clear Older Patients For Surgery And Anesthesia

When it’s about giving drugs, it’s tough to make decisions for older people. Most of the time, their medical reports come fine, but when they are given the drugs, they feel the side effects. Thus, it’s nearly impossible to always make the right decision in the case of older people. Unless, of course, you are experienced with such cases.

Emotional Stress

Being in the medical line means you might save some lives, and you might lose some. Although professionals know that it’s part and parcel of their job, it’s still hard to come to terms with sometimes.

Not to mention if the doctor gets attached to the patient and then loses him, it can take an emotional toll. Since anesthesiologists are largely associated with surgical procedures, losing a patient’s life is quite common.

No Balance Between Personal And Professional Life

It is nearly impossible to balance the grind when you are an anesthesiologist. There could be several emergency cases in a day, and your 12 hours shift can turn into 24 hours one. Forget about your personal life; at times, you do not even get the time to sleep for 2 to 3 days straight. To master the art of balancing work and personal life, you should follow the footsteps of Dr Anthony Singh | healthdirect.

It’s Stressful To Find Alternative Solutions For Patients Who Can’t Take Anaesthesia

Many times patients have a medical history that is so critical that they can’t have anaesthesia. In severe cases, it’s the job of an anesthesiologist to provide them with alternative solutions. However, it is also possible not to have an alternative solution. Or sometimes, the patients disagree with following up with the solutions provided by the anesthesiologist. Therefore, finding the right alternative and then convincing the patients that it’s the right solution becomes daunting.

Hard To Let It Go

This one is the worst one of all. When a doctor deals with patience, he works towards improving their health and treating the illness. Sometimes a challenging case comes where doctors must find solutions independently. However, sometimes it’s too late for the patient to go through the treatment due to the delay in finding the right solution. This can be overbearing for the doctors, and they can find it hard to let their patients go without treating them.  

Bottom Line

So, these are some of the reasons why anesthesiology is so hard. If you have decided to pursue this career path, then do it only if you are passionate about it. Otherwise, it can suck all the fun out of your life.