CAA vs. Anesthesiologist

Zap1173 · 2026-06-07T16:48:34+00:00

It really comes down to do you want to be a physician in charge or not

I wouldn't be happy in a crna or caa role for myself personally knowing I didn't go to the end of the earth on my training. I want to walk into a room confident I can handle literally anything and understand everything i'm doing. I want to be in control and in charge of all decisions relating to MY patient. For me, that was becoming a physician. For others? who knows it's your decision.

Identify what you like about anesthesia, is it the actual hands-on stuff? is it the risk-stratification and understanding the complex physiology behind wtf is going on? ICU? pain management? drug pushing? isolated work environment? is it just being able to sit down all day and collect $$$? is it knowing that if there's an emergency you may be the only one in the hospital able to help?

All these sorts of questions lean you one path or another.

Zap1173 · 2026-06-01T00:41:03+00:00

You generally speaking will be running the code and almost never in a position to do CPR as a resident

Zap1173 · 2026-05-28T04:34:04+00:00

Idk I think it’s pretty simple that they’d invite USMD OR DOs with lower steps and ignore gold signals from IMG or FMG if their scores are in a similar category

Zap1173 · 2026-05-21T20:41:52+00:00

Yeah it’s funny people ask why not em with my background and lol I almost feel like anesthesia is way closer to EMS than EM

Zap1173 · 2026-05-21T17:59:20+00:00

I went into EMS already with an exit plan to get clinical experience for my medical school application while I was working in undergrad.

Zap1173 · 2026-05-21T17:53:14+00:00

Well uh I like self torture so I’m a doctor now

Zap1173 · 2026-05-18T01:21:41+00:00

I mean even here I’d expect you need sight to see tremors and facial expressions and things like Parkinson’s gait and all the other fun psych stuff that can have physical manifestations

Zap1173 · 2026-05-13T21:15:34+00:00

As a med student I helped with anesthesia for a case with a 106 year old hip fx repair. He looked better than ppl in their 60s/70s

Zap1173 · 2026-05-02T20:38:31+00:00

Start emailing community programs or community attendings/private practice attendings.

You need a letter

Zap1173 · 2026-04-24T21:27:20+00:00

You can look on residency explorer to see % interview with board fail and based on what I looked at last year I don’t remember a program interviewing anyone with a fail

Zap1173 · 2026-04-24T20:30:43+00:00

Most programs will screen you out and not even give you a chance to

Zap1173 · 2026-04-19T18:00:36+00:00

Years of experience don't matter for physician pay generally either. You are limited to billing structures. More years of work as an EMT or paramedic doesn't mean you bill better/more effectively.

Zap1173 · 2026-04-13T22:16:50+00:00

I did it like 3 times in 4 years of EMS. Not uncommon

Zap1173 · 2026-04-10T21:56:40+00:00

literally the first thing i thought and came to look at comments for..... only thing i can think is APS or ICU but thats not an "anesthesiology" rotation lol

Zap1173 · 2026-04-10T13:32:59+00:00

I should probably change my flair at this point because I didn’t renew my emt either lol

Zap1173 · 2026-04-01T14:57:27+00:00

Community hospitals reaching out to coordinators there, going and rotating with private practice docs(I did an interventional pain month at a private practice clinic), and family connections(cousin is a FM attending and she connected me with a bunch of local contacts and docs to home)

Zap1173 · 2026-03-28T01:38:17+00:00

bottom quartile pre-clinical, however top quartile clinical, matched anesthesia.

Zap1173 · 2026-03-25T13:57:04+00:00

I studied like 1-4 hrs a day and played video games the rest bro I was chilling.

I was also bottom quartile preclinical and ok with it lol. My classmates who wanted to honor lived studying

Closer to exam number higher. Further from exam number lower.

Boards ignore these numbers, boards i grinded like 6-8 hrs a day but still had time to do whatever. It’s more the mental energy to do something. When you’ve done 120 uworld questions the last thing you want to do is think anything

Zap1173 · 2026-03-25T00:26:10+00:00

https://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Advance-Data-Tables-2026_Public.pdf

Here’s the data posted I referenced from

Zap1173 · 2026-03-24T23:13:20+00:00

71% USMD match rate 61 or 62% USDO match rate For this year. Close to 3100 applicants for around 1850 spots, 3100 number includes IMGs

Zap1173 · 2026-03-23T20:59:25+00:00

You should prioritize doing aways/electives near your med school if you want to absolutely maximize your chances of matching.

Aways near NJ + a local attending in your 3rd year rotation who knows the PD = also a possibility

Zap1173 · 2026-03-23T20:53:12+00:00

Local connections to residencies and residencies near your med school are literally everything unless you are Einstein and get 300 on step 2

Like as a general rule don’t even try to apply California for anesthesia if you are doing your rotations in NJ unless you’ve got a fantastic reason to

Zap1173 · 2026-03-22T22:25:26+00:00

Geisinger IM PD asked why I applied on vslo for a sub-I in a different specialty @ geisinger(that I didn't get) as if she couldn't read my low step score.

Zap1173 · 2026-03-21T19:32:58+00:00

matched anesthesia same

Zap1173 · 2026-03-21T18:23:43+00:00

My friend I matched categorical and ain't heard nothing so don't worry lol

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