Was there an aspect of the residency program that was unexpected and required adaptation on your part? 

• Develop an ability to synthesize information  

What is your favorite alcoholic drink? 

• Red wine especially Brunello

• I'm quite fond of international history, especially Europe, so my travels have led me to appreciate the "little local wine"

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How many hours of work per week on average? 

• 70 hours

• Too much... but I'm from another generation, a lot of departmental and faculty involvement. I went from 90 hrs/week to around 60.

• Now it's less worse....on average 70?

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Do you follow the recommendations you give to your patients?  

• No not the time

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What do you think is the most difficult medical practice? 

• Family medicine 

• Family medicine: You need to know a little/a lot about ALL subjects! And having to deal with all the sometimes unrealistic demands of patients.  

In your opinion, what is the easiest medical practice? 

• Anesthesia 

• ???

Would you be friends with your colleagues if you had met them outside of work? 

• YES for some but NO for others. As in all walks of life!

• Yes, I would be friends with most of my colleagues. We have an extraordinary department

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How many hours of work per week on average? 

• 50

• I work 4 days a week (by choice). I therefore work on average 35-40h/week.

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Do you follow the recommendations you give to your patients? 

• No ! I am not fasting in the morning when I go to SOP!!! For the rest, yes I follow my own recommendations (among others: no smoking).

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What do you dislike most about your practice? 

• Negative comments about compensation

• Little freedom in my schedules, we finish when the case is over.... no matter what time....

• No control over the end time of my day .... to carry out my other faculty meeting or teaching tasks.

• On-call hours (working at night can be draining) 

• Guards... I think we have the busiest guards in the hospital. So it's exhausting

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What is the level of contact with patients? 

• At 2 meters. I have daily contact with patients but it is brief and non-recurring. Paradoxically, it is a contact that is rich since we intervene at a time of anxiety and fear for the pts.

• For me, enough. The important thing is not the relationship with the patient, but to organize myself so that the "surgical aggression" is done with the least possible consequence. (pain, hemodynamic stability, complications .....)

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What personality traits are typical of your profession? 

• Calm in a critical situation

• Being Cartesian, with a great knowledge of human physiology, pharmacology and physics, especially of birds.

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What is your average sleep time per week?

• I would say between 7-8 hours per night!!! Children are worse than work for keeping us awake!

• 8h/night on weekdays and 10h/night on weekends. So 60h/week. Plus 30 min naps in PM when I can! I've always needed a lot of sleep… I never cut there!

What is the best advice you have received? 

• Trust each other.  

What is the most common criticism you receive? 

• That I am severe as my 7 year old son would say!!!! Demanding would say my residents.

• I am looking forward

How would your colleagues describe you? 

• I hope fun while being demanding. 

• Organized, dynamic

If you had to specialize in something else, what would it be and why? 

• General surgery - I wanted to work in an operating theater

• Emergency physician. I prefer acute, urgent problems

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What does your daily life look like? 

• Typical day of an anesthetist: operating room with multiple coffees!

• Wake up 6.15 a.m., preparation, arrival at the hospital 7.40 a.m., SOP all day until 4-5 p.m. During the day, I also answer my emails, teach residents or externs… Back home, I take care of the children (lunch, homework, playing together…). I try to do 30 min of sport. Sunset  children around 8 p.m. Then, I crash on the couch: TV or reading with my boyfriend!

What do you think is the most important factor for a successful residency in your specialty? A career in your specialty? 

• To be hardworking but above all to have the well-being of the patient at heart. Patients put their lives in our hands - the relationship of trust must be complete from the start.

• Ability to work under stress. Ability to work in a team.

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What specialty would you never do? Why? 

• Endocrinology. way too complicated

• Paediatrics... too many people involved in the patient-doctor relationship

During your medical studies, what did you do on a Friday evening? 

• Palestra parties

• Well bored........I was studying 😞

What are the difficulties, the least pleasant aspects that you encounter in your specialty? 

• Lack of control over the work schedule, reconciling teaching obligations with clinical obligations. Work-family balance

• Manage the prioritization of access to the operating room for emergencies in the evening, at night and on weekends.

Does your specialty take jokes well at work? 

• It's mandatory because everyone knows it's always the anesthesia's fault if something happens...

• Yes ! Besides, if you can't have fun at work, you have to change jobs!

Do students/residents sometimes make you feel overwhelmed? 

• All the time but it's motivating.

• Yes. Sometimes, their probing questions make us realize that we will never know everything and that we forget many things that we knew...  

If your specialty had to have a romantic relationship with another which one would it choose? 

• Psychiatry: a calm and nervousness in a couple to compensate.

• Our specialty would not exist without surgeons!

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What car do you drive? 

• Volvo XC90

• I've always liked sports cars but comfortable... Currently, a Q60 from infinity

How do you plan your vacation? 

• You should ask my wife.

• 5 weeks according to my spouse's schedule and the rest, according to my various administrative tasks. Well yes, when you spend all your days in operating rooms, holidays are also made for working......