Survey of Anesthesiology Residents' Perceptions of Critical Care Medicine as a Career

Anesthesia-based critical care medicine (CCM) is at a crossroads at the turn of the millennium. Although anesthesiologists were pioneers in the field of critical care, their surgical and pulmonary medicine counterparts have now eclipsed them in terms of both numbers and influence. In the United States, anesthesia-based CCM is a niche specialization of anesthesiology, while in Europe, anesthesiologists play a central role in critical care. Anesthesia-based critical care physician production has remained low on an annual basis. Some medical students join anesthesiology residencies with an interest in critical care training, but this enthusiasm appears to diminish as the number of years of residency grows. In the United States, anesthesiology residents have been unable to fill many critical care fellowship spots consistently. This survey aims to investigate the factors that influence residents' decision to pursue a career as a critical care physician, as it is essential to comprehend the underlying reasons for such a decline.

• Survey (Other): There will be no interventions for study participants. Participants will be asked to complete a survey.

Primary outcomes

• Decline in applying to CCM fellowships [3 months]: Examining the declining applying to CCM fellowship whether due to intrinsic factors (i.e., nature of CCM practice) vs extrinsic factors (i.e., job market and relative competing compensation)

Sex: All, ages: 18 Years to any

Inclusion Criteria:

* Anesthesiology residents at Stanford

Exclusion Criteria:

* Non-anesthesiology residents at Stanford

• Hanson CW 3rd, Durbin CG Jr, Maccioli GA, Deutschman CS, Sladen RN, Pronovost PJ, Gattinoni L. The anesthesiologist in critical care medicine: past, present, and future. Anesthesiology. 2001 Sep;95(3):781-8. doi: 10.1097/00000542-200109000-00034. No abstract available. PMID 11575554

• Ban CH Tsui, MD, Study director, Stanford University