I almost fainted, like, three times during my first
C-section that I ever scrubbed in for. [laughs]
There have been people who I have saved their lives,
that if it weren't for that person
going to bat for me to become a doctor,
I wouldn't be there to save them.
Things like that, you don't really realize what effect
you can have that echoes so far into the future
on someone's trajectory and someone's path.
[heartbeat reverberating]
Good morning, everyone.
Welcome to "A Day in the Life of an Anesthesiologist."
Today, I'm going to share with you
my journey towards becoming an anesthesiologist.
What my path was.
How I got where I am today
living this wonderful life with an awesome job that I love.
My journey to medicine was very non-traditional.
I was an undeclared major in college
when I first came to University of Texas at Austin
which is where I went to college.
I eventually decided on psychology.
I loved it.
I was a psychology major and about
into my end of my second year, so sophomore year,
I was in a class, a psychology class,
and I found out that, I said,
I raised my hand, I said,
"Well, if medical therapy,
"pharmacologic therapy, and counseling therapy
"are the best results for the patient,
"how do I go about prescribing
"medicines and learning about how to..."
I had no clue, okay.
Even though my mom's a doctor.
"How do I go about prescribing medicines for my patient?"
And they said, "Well, you can't do that.
"You have to refer them to a psychiatrist
"who is a medical doctor."
I said, "So there's no chance that
"I'll ever be able to prescribe medicines for my patients?"
And basically, my deal was, I didn't like
not having full control over the care of my patient.
The prospect of that was just not appealing to me.
They were like, "No, you have to go
"to medical school for that."
I was like, "Okay, then.
"I'll go to medical school."
I called my mom.
I was like, "Maybe I should go to medical school."
And she's like, "Okay."
I actually don't remember what their reaction was
but I started researching all
the requirements, all the prereqs.
I was way behind.
Most people start doing their prereqs for medical school in
starting their first year of college
and so I was already two years behind.
So I went ahead and started enrolling
in some courses for that following year, the third year.
I think I took some summer school classes too, that summer,
because I was just like, I need to get ahead.
I remember actually enrolling to
an MCAT course and being so lost.
The MCAT is the entrance exam for medical school.
I remember being in an MCAT course and being so lost
and it turns out it was because
I still hadn't taken organic chemistry
and so they were doing all this stuff
and I was like, "What are they talking about?"
Fast forward.
I applied to medical school.
And I was a psychology major and
because I took a whole bunch of...
I like.
I took so much, you all, I took so many courses.
I took so many courses.
I was totally out of my element.
I was the most senior person in each class.
All was taking class as a freshman.
I was a junior or a senior at that point.
It was so stressful.
And if I get to go back at time
and tell myself, "Kristina."
What I would say is, "Kristina, you need to just calm down."
You need to calm down.
You need to just focus on each course individually.
Make sure that you're giving it your best in each area
and not worry about how long it's going to take you.
The thing I would recommend,
I have sent all my interviewers updates.
I got their contact information.
I said, "Hey, here's how it's going.
"Blah, blah, blah."
And one of them really went to bat for me and
I will never forget that to this day
because there have been people who I have saved their lives,
that if it weren't for that person
going to bat for me to become a doctor,
I wouldn't be there to save them.
Maybe someone else would, but,
you know, it's things like that.
You don't really realize what effect you can have
that echoes so far into the future
on someone's trajectory and someone's path but,
yeah, the rest is history.
I started med school that fall.
I started medical school in the fall
and on the very first day, I met HB.
So that is my story on how I got into medical school.
It was a really, really long drawn out arduous process.
For me, it was so different
because I really felt the appreciation for being here.
Everyday, I looked around and I was so, so thankful.
I was like, "I can't believe I'm in medical school
"and I get to do this.
"And this is my job and this is going to be my career."
Because of that, I threw myself into it.
I blew myself out of the water
in terms of how I performed in all of my courses,
in all of my studies, and especially in my clinicals.
I scored very well in my clinicals every single time.
Really that was something to take note.
Is that they were some people who
got in very easily and it was no big deal for them.
And they dropped out.
Or they got their degree and then
they didn't pursue being a doctor.
They got their medical degree and then
they just didn't go to residency.
And it's like, what is the point?
You're taking up a valuable spot for someone else.
Someone that is like me that was just waiting
with stomach pains and gastritis and ulcers
just dying to become a medical doctor.
And people were there that just did not appreciate it.
All right, it's now almost 11 a.m.
We have gotten couple of epidurals done, C-section.
And I have a break.
I'm going to tell you a little bit
about applying to medical school.
I applied to medical school as a psychology major.
You do not have to be a medical degree holder or
pursuing a biology or chemistry degree.
It's not necessary.
Sometimes, I think it even makes you stand out.
You just have to make sure that since you're not
immersing yourself in the world of biomedical sciences
as much as someone else would,
that you really pay a lot of close attention
and do really, really well on
your prerequisite courses for medical...
The other thing you want to do is make sure
you get in a lot of volunteer experience.
It's something that they really look for
because they want to see how far above and beyond
you've gone beyond the minimum requirements
for entry into medical school.
It cannot be overstated how important your MCAT score is.
I believe there's different scoring now
than when I was applying to medical school.
I think it's completely changed.
I'm not entirely sure.
So I can't help you on that regard
but look at your percentiles.
Look at the average MCAT score needed
to gain acceptance to that medical school.
I think there's still a ton of
charts out there on the internet.
I'm sure there are,
I think I bought books because
the internet wasn't that helpful back then but
definitely look into the minimum acceptance score
requirements for MCAT for your entry into
the medical school that you're interested in.
Don't overapply.
Don't overextend yourself.
Don't apply to schools you know
you wouldn't want to go into.
Why? Because it's a waste of money.
Each application has its own set of fees,
is labor-intensive, and is things you have to follow up on.
You'd rather spend that time
really focusing your efforts
on the schools that you want to go into.
So contacting the admissions director
or the assistant director of admissions.
And saying, "I just submitted my application.
"I'm really looking forward to you receiving it.
"I would love to know if you have any questions about it.
"You know, I'd love to come tour the campus sometime."
Or something like that.
Just really kind of follow up and be that squeaky wheel.
Okay.
It is now 3:30.
I've put in a million more epidurals.
We've done another C-section.
And I have a minute to sit down
and answer some of your questions.
So, My Life as Katie says,
"What were your grades like in high school?"
My grades in high school were pretty much straight As.
Maybe the occasional B.
I can't really remember.
I don't think I had a 4.0 GPA.
But I think it was like a 3.89 or 3.9.
"How did you know anesthesiology was for you and med school?
"How did you handle so many years of intense schooling?"
Now.
The biggest thing for me is that
I was tenacious.
I was perseverant.
I do not give up on something easily.
Midpart comes because I'm a very stubborn person
and if I set my mind to something,
I'm going to do it.
If I want something, I'm going to get it.
I don't care I have to work to achieve something.
It's going to happen.
And it's not a if I'm going to achieve something
or if I'm going to do something, it's a win.
So it might just take me little longer
but I'm going to get there.
I know I'm going to get there.
So that's kind of
how I handled so many years of intense schooling
and that's kind of how...
I didn't know anesthesiology was for me
until my third year of med school but
you flip flop all the time on your specialty.
It's not a big deal.
But I just knew.
I knew because I felt a rush when I experienced it.
And someone let me actually do something for once
and I was like, "Wow, this is what
"you guys get to do all day?
"It's so cool."
Before that, I didn't know very much
about anesthesia as a specialty at all.
"Okay, what are the pros and cons
"of dating another medical student
"while you are also in medical school?"
So HB and I were in different classes.
He was a year ahead of me.
But...
So I wouldn't really recommend usually
dating someone in your class.
Although people did break up in our class.
Some people eventually got married too
that were dating within the same class.
It's kind of like dating within
a very small high school or something.
It's just, the drama, you know, whatever.
It's just like who are you comfortable sitting next to
and experiencing tests and exams and clinicals
with that person 'cause you're going to be paired up
so just keep that in mind
if you guys have a falling out.
"Did you ever consider becoming a CRNA?"
This is a great question.
I didn't know about nurse anesthetist
before I applied to med school.
It wasn't that I applied to med school
to become an anesthesiologist.
I determined that later.
I knew I wanted to be a doctor.
I didn't know what kind of doctor.
I was swept up by the prospect of
being a psychiatrist because I was a psychology major
and I could really kind of focus on
caring for the whole patient
from a pharmacologic perspective and
from a therapeutic perspective but
in the end, I decided it wasn't for me.
I started kind of thinking about trauma surgery.
I though about OB-GYN.
I though about pediatrics and then
I got to intubate someone one day
in the operating room and I was hooked.
It was anesthesia and that was it.
So CRNA wasn't really a thought in my mind
because I was already on the path to medical school
and I was already in medical school
by the time I determined I wanted to be an anesthesiologist.
Natasha Nicole asked, "Was there a time
"in your studies you legitimately felt
"it was the end and you couldn't continue."
Only one time and that was when my brother died.
I was a second year medical school student
in my first semester of second year medical school
and my brother died and I wasn't sure
if it was worth continuing.
But there was one thing that kept me going
and the reason I'm a doctor here today
and that is this channel.
My YouTube, my blog.
I started it because I wanted
a distraction from medicine and from...
We were studying depression and suicide at the time
so it was all very painfully ironic and
it was just very raw.
So I wanted a distraction, avoidance,
whatever you want to call it.
It was an escape and I kept going
because I really enjoyed it.
And now I'm here so I'm still doing it.
10 years later.
"Did you ever doubt yourself during your journey?
"I think a lot of us think that we aren't
"smart enough to be a doctor."
Absolutely.
There are so many people smarter than me.
But really, what it boils down to is
are you compassionate?
Do you have the courage and the strength to keep going?
So you're not going to be perfect in everything.
And you got to learn where you shine
and you got to appreciate yourself for your strengths.
You got to understand you're not
going to be perfect in everything.
So I wasn't great at certain things
but what I am really good at,
I picked a specialty that is really good for that.
I always got top marks for bedside manner
and I got top marks for procedures
and things being like,
what do you want to call it?
Dexterity and doing procedures.
I really enjoyed them and I was really good at them.
So, you know, that's good.
I was also very good at physiology
and understanding those concepts
like cardiac physiology, pulmonary physiology.
That's harder to grasp but once I got it, I got it.
Oh.
Heather says, "Would like to hear your worst
"story as an anesthesiologist."
That's it's own separate video.
I can't get into that.
It will make me cry and I don't.
I can't get into that.
But I will, maybe one day.
So Chuck Easton says, "Do you still handle
"more toxic cases as an anesthesiologist
"such as thoracic or cardiovascular anesthesia,
"neurosurgical or neonatal anesthesia, besides OB and..."
What's NORA cases?
I don't know what that stands for.
"If not, do you miss handling these subspecialties?"
Great question.
So I can do,
neurosurgical procedures.
That was bread and butter for me
where I trained in my institution.
And I can pick that up no problem.
Thoracic, I can do the same.
I do those occasionally here and there.
They just are less common cases.
Neonatal anesthesia, no.
The only person should really be handling
neonates is a pediatric anesthesiologist
or a resident who's being supervised
by a pediatric anesthesiologist.
That's because it's just different.
It's a different animal.
I've done it.
My very last case as a resident.
No, my very last case, pediatric case as a resident.
I intubated on call in the middle of the night
and did a procedure for a neonate who was 900 grams.
That's really, really small.
You know, that feels like eons ago
and I wouldn't want myself to do that now so I don't.
I do miss some of those but
I miss trauma a lot, actually.
I miss trauma.
I like trauma.
"Do you feel like anesthesia's truly a lifestyle
"specialty or do people overexaggerate?"
I don't know what you mean by that
but if you mean like it's a good specialty
to have a nice lifestyle, sure.
You can pick your hours, really.
But you're going to make less money the less hours you work.
Or if you don't take call like me.
You're going to take a massive pay cut.
But yes, it's more flexible because
you don't have to build a practice from the ground up.
You just show up for work and you get what you get and
you don't have to recruit patients and build a practice.
In that way, that's a very nice thing.
I could pick up and move to a different city
and I could join an anesthesia group there
and I would make the same money
and I wouldn't have to start over
again and marketing and all that.
I wouldn't have to do any of that.
"How does residency work?
"Do you get paid?"
Yes, residency is a paid training.
It's after you graduate from medical school.
It's your first job out of medical school
and you get paid about the...
Depending on where it is
because of the cost of living.
But it's about the average teacher salary
and you work about 80 to a hundred hours a week.
So very grueling.
Very intensive.
And you work under the supervision
of physicians at every single moment.
So you're always under the supervision of an attending
and your work is being double checked
by an attending and being supervised
and you're being trained and showed all the ropes
and you get about 16,000 hours of clinical experience.
So, a lot.
Way more than any other training for anesthesia out there.
Becoming an anesthesiologist
requires the most amount of training.
"Were you ever grossed out by anything
"in the beginning of med school
"but eventually became desensitized?
"That's something that's holding
"me back from medical school."
Hannah, don't let that hold you back.
You're going to see everything
and it can gross you out at the beginning.
I almost fainted three times during
my first C-section that I ever scrubbed in for. [laughs]
And that was like nothing.
I hope that was helpful.
And if you like these "Day in the
Life of an Anesthesiologist" videos,
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Thank you so much for watching.
And I will in see you in my next video guys, bye.