Didactic Teaching and Conferences

Monthly Educational Sessions

• Introductory Course - is held during the first week of July each year. During this time all new CA-1 residents have no clinical duties, and spend their time in problem-based learning, tutorial and simulation based formats. Residents are taught the basics of anesthetics, and what a new resident needs to know in order to get started. In addition, demonstrations of the more common anesthesiology technical tasks are organized, such as starting intravenous and arterial lines, intubations, and spinal anesthesia.
•  Immersion Course - is held during July and August. The object of this course is to provide a thorough grounding and assimilation of basic anesthetic information. This course enables CA-1 residents to rapidly acquire sufficient theoretical knowledge, so they can better understand what they are learning clinically, and function as trainee consultants, rather than technicians.
• Regular Course – is an annual didactic series that runs from September through June where every resident has 2 hours of protected time each week where an attending and a resident provides an educational teaching course covering a set topic from ABA/ITE curriculum. There is a separate curriculum for CA-1 residents (WEB – Wednesday Educational Block) geared towards the ABA – Part 1A Basic Examination. The CA-2 and CA-3 residents lead the THEB (THEB = Thursday Educational Block) is designated as a 2 year curriculum based on the ABA/ITE syllabus geared towards the ABA Part 1B Exam. In the month of August, THEB sessions consist of practice management, legal issues and financial planning.
• Friday Morning Meetings – Departmental level meetings with faculty, residents and fellows, with presentations consisting of visiting professors, grand rounds, morbidity & mortality, and journal clubs.
• Quarterly Resident Meetings – consist of meetings with the program director.
• Mock ABA OSCE Examinations - A 7 station authentic ABA practical exam in Spring semester, for the graduating CA-3 residents .
• Mock Orals- An authentic ABA practical exam is administered twice a year, for CA-2 and CA-3 residents by department faculty.
• Basic Review Course – an internal three day review course every Spring as part of our year long strategy to prepare our CA-1 residents for the ABA basic exam.  This is a highly structured and interactive course with internally crafted material developed over the last 5 years.
• Advanced Review Course- During the CA2 year, residents spend 3 days of protected academic time where they are immersed in review of general anesthetic principles and subspecialty review with faculty established in their respective fields to prepare for the In-Training exam and Advanced Board exam.
• Simulation –  Once a week, a resident from each class (PGY-1 to CA-3 year) will have a full academic day to work in the  Clinical Skills Education Testing Center. This results in each resident getting 3 – 4 simulation experiences per year. Vital anesthesia simulations are created to train for intra-operative emergencies, interactions with patients, their relatives and peer Physicians. The scenarios also include methods to improve quality and patient safety by simulating an RCA or presenting a QI project which prepares the learner  for the ABA Part 2 practical exam.