The anesthesiologist profession is intriguing because it stands out from other health professions. It is a more specialized, critical, and high-pressure job, but still different from what a surgeon does. I thoroughly enjoyed AP Chemistry in high school, where we had labs and studied various topics including mixing of beakers and equilibrium charts, but I realize this is only a taste of what anesthesiology is. I wanted to learn more about it through interviewing a veteran anesthesiologist from my hometown, Oklahoma City. I interviewed Dr. Paul Le, my friend’s uncle, because he has been a board-certified anesthesiologist for about eighteen years and seems to have a nice, balanced life between work, family, and hobbies. After I told my friend
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Paul Le introduced himself as a board-certified anesthesiologist, who has been going at the profession for eighteen years. He completed an undergraduate pharmacy program at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, which gave him some background knowledge of medical drugs that anesthesiologists use in practice. After graduating from SWOSU, Le attended medical school at the University of Oklahoma, where he began to develop a passion for anesthesia. In his third year of medical school, in addition to his other rotations, he took an elective rotation with the anesthesiology department, which was the first time he became immersed in the field. Anesthesia stood out to Le, and when it came time to choose a rotation he was truly interested in during his fourth year in medical school, he gladly elected to take another anesthesiology rotation and began to see things come together. As he was going through rotations, he said, “You find out what you DON’T wanna do…like OB/GYN was not for me haha…” When I asked him if his pharmaceutical education played a role in his decision to choose anesthesia, he replied, “You study this in pharmacy, but in anesthesia you get to see it instantly because it’s IV. It tied things together, so part of the reason was pharmacy”, but the main reason was his personality. He saw himself as more of an acute care type of person than a chronic care type of doctor and was more interested in tackling a critical situation immediately and moving on than working in …show more content…
Furthermore, I understand what an anesthesiologist does, but hearing a day in the life from a first-person point of view made the profession more lively and information more credible to me. For example, Dr. Le walking me through his later years of medical school and residency and transitioning into his early private practice and his life now let me see this career track through a new lens. Although now Dr. Le has seen so many cases in the operating room and adjusted to the pressure of his art, he explained how he came about rotating in anesthesia late in medical school, how he worked tirelessly in residency under professional supervision, and how when he began private practice on his own, it was pretty nerve-racking and scary how someone’s life was literally at his control. I also have a slightly better idea of what it means to be on-call as an anesthesiologist. Dr. Le and his group usually alternate which days they take the typical 7pm to 7am on-call shift, where he would have to work on either emergency cases or simply cases that are not done by the late evening. In addition to this elaborated information, some beliefs I had were also confirmed during the interview. For example, Dr. Le
Paul Le introduced himself as a board-certified anesthesiologist, who has been going at the profession for eighteen years. He completed an undergraduate pharmacy program at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, which gave him some background knowledge of medical drugs that anesthesiologists use in practice. After graduating from SWOSU, Le attended medical school at the University of Oklahoma, where he began to develop a passion for anesthesia. In his third year of medical school, in addition to his other rotations, he took an elective rotation with the anesthesiology department, which was the first time he became immersed in the field. Anesthesia stood out to Le, and when it came time to choose a rotation he was truly interested in during his fourth year in medical school, he gladly elected to take another anesthesiology rotation and began to see things come together. As he was going through rotations, he said, “You find out what you DON’T wanna do…like OB/GYN was not for me haha…” When I asked him if his pharmaceutical education played a role in his decision to choose anesthesia, he replied, “You study this in pharmacy, but in anesthesia you get to see it instantly because it’s IV. It tied things together, so part of the reason was pharmacy”, but the main reason was his personality. He saw himself as more of an acute care type of person than a chronic care type of doctor and was more interested in tackling a critical situation immediately and moving on than working in …show more content…
Furthermore, I understand what an anesthesiologist does, but hearing a day in the life from a first-person point of view made the profession more lively and information more credible to me. For example, Dr. Le walking me through his later years of medical school and residency and transitioning into his early private practice and his life now let me see this career track through a new lens. Although now Dr. Le has seen so many cases in the operating room and adjusted to the pressure of his art, he explained how he came about rotating in anesthesia late in medical school, how he worked tirelessly in residency under professional supervision, and how when he began private practice on his own, it was pretty nerve-racking and scary how someone’s life was literally at his control. I also have a slightly better idea of what it means to be on-call as an anesthesiologist. Dr. Le and his group usually alternate which days they take the typical 7pm to 7am on-call shift, where he would have to work on either emergency cases or simply cases that are not done by the late evening. In addition to this elaborated information, some beliefs I had were also confirmed during the interview. For example, Dr. Le