Why did you want to become an anesthesiologist?
The interviewer is trying to get to know you better on many levels, so your answer should be straightforward yet heartfelt. All of medicine is a special vocation, but anesthesiology is a bit different in that the turnover of patients is very rapid, although the patient-doctor relationship is just as important. It is also special because it blends on-the-fly science with the person, one patient at a time. Tell the interviewer why being an anesthesiologist differs from that of other specialties and why that difference is important to you.
"As I visited all of the medical specialties through medical school, anesthesiology stood out because it allows one to enter the dynamic physiology of the human body. In that respect it is very scientific, but it is also very special as it allows the physician actually to partner with that physiology on a human level as well as on the scientific level. That makes it as fulfilling as it is fascinating."
"For me, the practice of anesthesiology allows the therapeutic management of a patient 's physiology that works in tandem with another therapeutic procedure to fix a specific problem. In this way I am a crucial partner in a team approach that makes another therapy possible and successful."
"I chose anesthesiology, but it was practicing it that has allowed me to more clearly understand why. As an anesthesiologist I have the unique honor to earn the complete trust of a patient, and this is what I mean: in every other specialty the patient is aware of what is happening during evaluation, decision-making, and therapy. If he or she gets better with a medication, for example, there is awareness of what is happening as the improvement happens; alternatively, with complications of therapy, the patient experiences the physical as well as the mental repercussions, such as fear or frustration, but is also grounded by that awareness. Yet, in anesthesiology there must be a special type of trust to allow someone--myself--to manage life and survival while the patient is totally unaware, regardless of whether things are routine or involving literal battles for survival that depend on me and my abilities. That trust is an honor, because it's a testimonial to your interaction with a patient that allows it--a patient you've just met!"
