Thursday, July 3, 2014

Help wanted

You need to have brain surgery. Wouldn't you want a surgeon who had experience in the field (as opposed to, say, removing ingrown toenails)?

Me, too.

So, this is an interesting job ad. A hospital is looking for an anesthesiologist. That's the person in charge of making sure you're deeply out when they cut you open, watches your vital signs to make sure you're not dying on the table, and then (hopefully) wakes you up after the surgeon has put you back together.

So shouldn't they want someone who'd previously done that a few times?

Apparently not:





Yes folks, you read that correctly. They want an anesthesiologist, but experience using anesthetic drugs and procedures is "preferred" though not, say, "necessary" or "required" or "a really good idea."

Let's look at it this way:


Astronaut wanted to fly large rocket full of highly explosive fuel at 17,000 miles per hour to International Space Station. Experience at operating rockets preferred.

Scientist needed to calculate origins of matter and to evaluate data relating to Higgs Boson. Experience with physics preferred.

Person needed to maintain nuclear warheads. Experience with handling lethally radioactive materials with potential to wipe out a city preferred.


Now, realistically, I'm aware it would be hard to become a board certified/eligible anesthesiologist without actually doing the procedures and giving drugs... but you never know. I trained with a guy who got through a 3 month surgical rotation without ever setting foot in the OR. And he passed.


Thank you, Jess!

15 comments:

Hildy said...

Even if the ad had explicitly required some years of hands-on experience as an anesthesiologist (or however medical people phrase such things), it would not have prevented idiots like your surgical-rotation colleague from applying. If my hiring experience is indicative, applicants think all requirements are suggestions. I recall looking for a technical writer with experience in a certain field and getting applications from people who didn't speak or write English. (Probably those are the same people who write instruction manuals for items requiring assembly.)

Anonymous said...

Next ad...

Brain surgeon wanted.
Experience with knives preferred.

Applicants...a butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker.

Anonymous said...

Does it have to be experience using it on other people, or does my recreational use count?

Anonymous said...

Suppose I don't have any FORMAL training but I have a sort of home lab in my basement where I drug people and then experiment on them?

Walter White said...

I'm interested in the job, and do have the necessary experience.

Anonymous said...

Though experience with the use of sedation or anesthesia is preferred, I did some experiments on mice in pharmacology demonstrating effects of anticholinergic drugs reversed by cholinergics (and, yes, this was many, many years before PETA). But, seriously, this ad doesn't eliminate the nightclub bouncers that might be accustomed to a little bonk over the head, or the open air operating fields during the Franco-Prussian wars. (I'm reading a good book about Mr. Koch and Sir Conan Doyle and search for effective therapies for treating tuberculosis.)

Charlotte said...

But if a politician has any experience, that is considered to be a bad thing.

Jillian said...

Going in for brain surgery on the 22nd. Sure as heck hope that the person working the controls has "some experience." ;)

Anonymous said...

The professional Human Resources Wpecialists know better than you. The only things needed are the proper credentials, no real world experience is required.

Zayrina said...

I am a nurse who has given out sleeping pills, can I apply? I could use the extra income.

Nana said...

As for protecting nuclear warheads ... some of us remember when those Guys protecting the silos turned out to be not just drug users, but drug runners. Many members of our beloved armed forces are people who had few options on leaving high school. Just saying...

Don said...

I used to listen to a guy on the radio who always insisted that he wanted the anesthesiologist to be the most experienced guy in the OR.

It is good advice. The guy slipping you into a drug induced near death sleep, is also going to be the guy waking you up from that sleep. He needs to know what he/she is doing.

cubiccow said...

Especially since the guy isn't just slipping you into a near death sleep, he is actually stopping your breathing and replacing it with manual or machine breathing. Most people aren't aware of that, but the anesthesiologist breathes "for you", basically.

I also passed without setting a foot in the OR during my four month rotation, but I was pregnant (so wasn't allowed) and have seen the OR beforehand in other training situations. To be fair, I also don't want to become a surgeon; I also prefer it if doctors know what they're doing. :P

Anonymous said...

On the plus side, at least they make sure you act right around the hospital.
"OTHER CREDENTIAL REQUIREMENTS:
Must maintain active unrestricted privileges at "

cliffintokyo said...

Perhaps the assistant is just needed to 'mind the gap' while the patients are out!

 
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