Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine

We are fortunate as physician anesthesiologists to exist within a profession that supports so many different types of medical practice. A look at the ACGME Anesthesiology Subspecialty listing reveals nine accredited anesthesiology specialty fellowship programs: Addiction Medicine, Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine, Clinical Informatics, Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Obstetric Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine, Pediatric Anesthesiology, and Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine. Just four years ago, when my career path took me from UT Southwestern in Dallas back to Houston, there were only five accredited fellowships: Adult Cardiothoracic, Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine, Obstetric Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine, and Pediatric Anesthesiology. And the list of non-ACGME-accredited fellowships is also growing, including Leadership in Perioperative Medicine, Medical Simulation, Neuroanesthesiology, Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology, Transplant Anesthesiology, Trauma Anesthesiology, etc. The future is bright for those whose choice is to become a physician anesthesiologist. It is just as bright for those who are early in...