An undergraduate degree in medicine takes between four and six years. Then there is a one-year minimum requirement for both internship and residency. After which you can specialise in anaesthetics, which takes five years. It usually takes people between 10 and 15 years to complete.
To become an anaesthetist, you must first become a qualified medical practitioner and then specialise in anaesthetics. To become a medical practitioner, you need to study a degree in medicine. Alternatively, you can study a degree in any discipline followed by a postgraduate degree in medicine.
It takes a minimum five years' training to become an anaesthetist in Australia and NZ.
A full-time public anaesthetist will typically earn about $300,000 to $450,000 per year, including on-call. The hourly pay for regular in-hours work is around $150-$200 per hour.
The average anaesthetist salary in Australia is $198,065 per year or $102 per hour. Entry-level positions start at $190,624 per year, while most experienced workers make up to $214,393 per year.
Is anaesthetics competitive in Australia? Due to the great salary and rewarding nature of the job, yes, anaesthetists is a competitive field of medicine, but once you finish your training more opportunities become available.
It shows surgeons are easily able to pay their mortgage, but their colleagues the anaesthetists are doing very well too. Anaesthetists have higher median pay because their pay is pretty evenly distributed — not many of them are making smaller sums.
What's a fair price for a unit of anaesthesia? The Medicare Benefits Schedule says a reasonable unit price for anaesthesia is $19.80 – this price hasn't moved since 2013. However, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) pegs it a lot higher at $84 per unit (at the most).
Neurosurgeons are the highest paid physician specialists, earning an average of $788,313 annually, according to Doximity's "2023 Physician Compensation Report." The results were drawn from survey responses from 190,000 physicians over the last six years, including 31,000 in 2022.
The work of an anaesthetist is complicated. They use a lot of medical tools that require expert fine motor skills. If you are an anaesthetist working in an operating theatre you can develop physical fitness and stamina. This is because surgeries can take many hours, requiring you to stand for the duration.
The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA), which includes the Faculty of Pain Medicine, is the professional body responsible for the specialities of anaesthesia and pain medicine. The college represents around 7100 specialist anaesthetists and pain medicine physicians and 1800 trainees.
To become an Anaesthetist in Australia, you must complete a 4 to 6 years medical degree followed by a 1-year Internship, two years Residency program, and five years of ANZCA training. If you want to know how to become an Anaesthetist in Australia, this detailed guide is for you.
Earnings and hours
Full-time workers work an average of 47 hours per week in their main job.
The average anaesthetic technician salary in Australia is $82,511 per year or $42.31 per hour. Entry-level positions start at $73,033 per year, while most experienced workers make up to $130,650 per year.
Does Medicare reimburse anaesthetist fees? Yes. Medicare will pay for any anaesthesia that is part of a Medicare-covered surgery or treatment.
The average pay for a Nurse Anesthetist is AUD 236,968 a year and AUD 114 an hour in Australia. The average salary range for a Nurse Anesthetist is between AUD 159,480 and AUD 291,708.
There are no nurse anaesthetists practising in Canada, Australia, New Zealand or the United Kingdom. In the United States, at the completion of anaesthetic training, the doctor takes a written examination. The successful candidate must then pass an oral examination to become a Board Certified anesthesiologist.
Obstetric anesthesia is the highest-paid anesthesiology subspecialty with an average annual salary range from $217,000 to $582,000 a year. In comparison, the average salary range for a general anesthesiologist is between $200,000 a year to $330,000 a year. Anesthesiology is a high paying career.
Anesthesiologists made a median salary of $208,000 in 2021. The best-paid 25% made $208,000 that year, while the lowest-paid 25% made $208,000.
The mean intelligence test score of orthopaedic surgeons was also statistically significantly greater at 105.19 (10.85) compared with 98.38 (14.45) for anaesthetists.
Like other medical doctors, they must follow undergraduate education with four years of medical school. After medical school, a physician specializing in anesthesiology completes a four-year anesthesiology residency program.