Anesthesiologists
Administer anesthetics and analgesics for pain management prior to, during, or after surgery.
Most important skills
- Critical Thinking
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Reading Comprehension
- Monitoring
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Speaking
- Science
Key knowledge
- Medicine and Dentistry
- English Language
- Biology
- Psychology
- Mathematics
- Customer and Personal Service
- Chemistry
- Physics
What the work involves
- 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.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Investigative, Social, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Post-Doctoral Training (69.2% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 10 years (34.7%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 4 years, up to and including 10 years (35.7%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Anesthesiologists is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 97% of occupations compared | 98% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 85% of occupations compared | 65% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 67% of occupations compared | — |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 80% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 98% of occupations compared | 81% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 93% of occupations compared | 64% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 85% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 94% of occupations compared | 83% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 2.41%
- Constant contact with others: 97.59%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0.76%
- Fairly important: 14.33%
- Important: 0.76%
- Very important: 18.66%
- Extremely important: 65.49%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2026
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 13.22%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 13.98%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2026
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 17.18%
- Some freedom: 15.62%
- A lot of freedom: 67.19%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2026
Time pressure
- Never: 0.87%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 18.37%
- Every day: 80.76%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2026
Conflict situations
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 17.14%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 2.23%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 63.91%
- Every day: 16.72%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.76%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 47.08%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 46.26%
- Every day: 5.91%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2026
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 17.48%
- Fairly serious: 0%
- Serious: 0%
- Very serious: 0%
- Extremely serious: 82.52%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2026
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O*NET-SOC 29-1211.00 · SOC 29-1211 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8