What You'll Do

  • Administer anesthetic or sedation during medical procedures, using local, intravenous, spinal, or caudal methods.
  • Monitor patient before, during, and after anesthesia and counteract adverse reactions or complications.
  • Provide and maintain life support and airway management and help prepare patients for emergency surgery.
  • Record type and amount of anesthesia and patient condition throughout procedure.
  • Examine patient, obtain medical history, and use diagnostic tests to determine risk during surgical, obstetrical, and other medical procedures.
  • Position patient on operating table to maximize patient comfort and surgical accessibility.
  • Decide when patients have recovered or stabilized enough to be sent to another room or ward or to be sent home following outpatient surgery.
  • Coordinate administration of anesthetics with surgeons during operation.
  • Confer with other medical professionals to determine type and method of anesthetic or sedation to render patient insensible to pain.
  • Coordinate and direct work of nurses, medical technicians, and other health care providers.

Essential Skills

Critical Thinking 4.5/5
Active Listening 4.12/5
Monitoring 4.12/5
Judgment and Decision Making 4.12/5
Reading Comprehension 4.0/5
Writing 4.0/5
Science 4.0/5
Complex Problem Solving 4.0/5
Speaking 3.88/5
Social Perceptiveness 3.75/5
Time Management 3.75/5
Active Learning 3.62/5

Career Fit Overview

Use this summary to sense whether the day to day rhythm and focus of this path line up with what energizes you.

Top passions

  • Analyst: Investigating problems and finding patterns keeps you engaged.
  • Helper: Supporting people and making a difference matters to you.
  • Maker: Building and fixing energizes you. You like tangible results and practical tools.

Common styles

Attention to Detail, Dependability, Integrity, Stress Tolerance, Achievement/Effort

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Key Abilities

This career demands strong capabilities in the following areas:

Problem Sensitivity 5.0/5
Oral Comprehension 4.5/5
Deductive Reasoning 4.5/5
Written Comprehension 4.25/5
Inductive Reasoning 4.25/5
Oral Expression 4.12/5
Near Vision 4.12/5
Written Expression 4.0/5

Technologies & Tools

AetherPalm InfusiCalc Anesthesia machine software AtStaff Physician Scheduler Drug database software EDImis Anesthesia Manager Electronic medical record EMR software Epic Systems Healthpac Medical Billing Medical calculator software MEDITECH software Microsoft Access Microsoft Excel Microsoft Outlook Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft Word Skyscape 5-Minute Clinical Consult Skyscape AnesthesiaDrugs Web browser software

Work Environment & Style

Common Styles for This Career

  • Attention to Detail (High importance: 4.89/5)
  • Dependability (High importance: 4.84/5)
  • Integrity (High importance: 4.55/5)
  • Stress Tolerance (High importance: 4.49/5)
  • Achievement/Effort (High importance: 4.46/5)

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How to Become One

This career requires extensive preparation, typically including a graduate degree (Master's or Doctoral) and several years of experience. Most professionals in this field have invested significant time in education and training.

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Also Known As

This career is known by many different job titles across industries. Here are all the variations:

Ambulatory Anesthesiologist Anaesthesiologist Anesthesiologist Anesthesiology Pain Management Physician Anesthesiology Physician Anesthetist Cardiac Anesthesiologist General Anesthesiologist Medical Doctor (MD) Obstetrical Anesthesiologist Pediatric Anesthesiologist Staff Anesthesiologist Staff Anesthetist