The Two Fields of Radiology and Anesthesiology

Radiology/Anesthesiology

Two of the fields I am most interested in are anesthesiology and radiology. Each is attractive to me in its own way, and I look forward to being granted the opportunity to develop an expertise in one of them.

To me, an anesthesiologist is an expert in pain management - a provider of comfort. The role involves the specialized study of anesthetic drugs and the ways in which they interact with the human body. This requires acute understand of all of the body's functions, and the way the total systems work together. This is one of the main challenges that attracts me to anesthesiology.

Anesthesiology is a fascinating field to me because of the ability to provide relief for pain, and for the crucial role it fills in surgery. One of the biggest reasons for me getting into medicine is to help people, and anesthesiology allows me to perform that role in a very direct manner. I also love the diversity of anesthesiology. It would allow me to work in a wide range of situations, providing a range of different pain relief services to patients.

The complexity of the field is another reason I am attracted to anesthesiology. The field demands in-depth knowledge of each of the body's systems. Then this knowledge is applied to the field of pain relief, with each situation requiring its own unique assessment. It is a demanding field and I love that type of challenge, to tailor individual solutions to individual problems.

The direct role that an anesthesiologist plays in critical care is another draw to the study. That I will have an opportunity to work in such a demanding environment, where the challenges are both unique and immediate, is something I feel is an excellent fit for my personality.

The training that is required of a future anesthesiologist takes place in a four-year residency program. Because the field is applied to so many individual areas of medicine, the program of study will be comprehensive and multidisciplinary. Throughout the program, I expect to learn and perform multiple blocks each day, as hands-on experience is critical to becoming a qualified anesthesiologist. I expect extensive training on a simulator as well, to further build my experience level. I expect to see a highly varied patient list, as I rotate through many different functional areas of the hospital. I would expect exposure to at least two different hospital environments, one a busy hospital with a focus on critical care. The other might be a hospital with a focus towards elder care, as that is one of the most complex, challenging areas of anesthesiology due to the fragility and varied overall health of the patients.

Into this hands-on experience I expect to incorporate an extensive number of lectures, readings and educational seminars. This will help ease my way from academic learning into life as a hands-on anesthesiologist. Moreover, these will supplement the rest of my daily learning.

I am also drawn by the shortage of qualified anesthesiologists. This gives me a certain degree of security in knowing that there will always be a demand for my skills and that I will be able to secure a bright future for myself and my family. This shortage will also provide me with ample freedom to take my career in any direction I choose, and gives me flexibility in terms of choosing my subspecialization.

Radiology is another area of interest to me. Again, it is a discipline with a wide range of applications. I find the wide range of subspecialties to be particularly appealing. In common with anesthesiology, it is a field which deals with both individual areas of the body and the entire body as whole, functioning unit.

A radiologist to me is someone who uses medical imagery to assist in diagnosis. The images then must be interpreted and combined with other information and test results to ascertain a diagnosis. This involves knowledge of a wide range of medical subjects including equipment, diagnosis techniques and a number of different bodily systems.

I am also drawn to radiology because of the many areas to work with sophisticated technologies and techniques. There is an appeal to being at the cutting edge of medicine, and working in a field noted for its rapid pace of change.

Moreover, because radiologists consult on many different situations, the exposure to a wide range of subspecialties gives me the chance to learn more than if I chose another discipline. To be able to study a field that allows me to deal with diverse issues like oncology, endovascular and more in a single day is an attraction.

A expect a radiology training program to incorporate intensive study of the equipment used. The field is rich with diverse subspecialties and I would expect that an enormous amount of time goes into learning the equipment for each. In addition, extensive experience must be gained in interpreting the different images for each of these subspecialties.

One essential aspect of radiology training is to be kept abreast of the technological changes in the field during the time spent in residency. This challenge is not unique to radiology but certainly the field is more prone to rapid changes than some other specialties.

In addition to the study of equipment and images, I expect to rotate through the different departments of a hospital (pediatrics, nuclear medicine, etc.), learning how radiology applies to each. I expect to see a tremendous variety of cases, to hone my skills at interpreting the images.

This hands-on learning will be supplemented with additional readings, lectures and seminars to help keep me up-to-date on developments in the field and to help enrich my study. There will be focus on both general medical issues and issues pertaining to the radiology equipment with which I will be working.