Didactic Program

Conference Curriculum
A 36-month curriculum incorporating required board certification topics is designed to train you into qualified anesthesiologist-consultants. It starts with a rapid, broad overview of anesthesiology which then expands into focused concentration of major organ systems and anesthetic implications. Your didactic training will also develop your awareness as physicians in dealing with realities of patient care issues, governmental policies, insurance, business practices, hospital systems, personal growth, and life in general.

Chairman/Program Director/Resident (1st Monday, 6:30-7:30am)
This session provides residents an opportunity to discuss issues as a group and to bring to the attention of the Chairman and Program Director issues and concerns in clinical or educational systems for review and/or improvement. This also provides a means for the Chairman and Program Director to disseminate information of importance to the residents.

Case Conferences (2nd Monday, 6:30-7:30am)
How much you benefit from the curriculum will depend strongly on your participation. Therefore you will be, with faculty mentoring, analyzing patient cases to discuss medical and surgical issues in order to arrive at logical anesthetic plans. You should research and fortify your knowledge base prior to presenting your conclusions to your colleagues and faculty. You will practice your oral examination skills by engaging in lively discussions with your colleagues during these sessions. (In other words, you get to ask questions of your audience.)

Morbidity and Mortality(M&M) Conferences (3rd Monday, 6:30-7:30am)
Actual rather than hypothetical patient cases are discussed. The objectives are to improve patient care by learning from critical and “near-miss” perioperative events. Please use the outline provided in this manual for presentation for all M&M conferences.

Journal Club (4th Monday, 6:30-7:30am)
To encourage a life long habit of staying current with new research and specialty developments, you will be reading current literature. Three of your cohorts will assist faculty, led by Dr. Mike Anderson, in sifting through current and some “landmark” articles for advanced reading. All residents and faculty will then‘ discuss them as to scientific hypotheses, methodologies, conclusions, validity and any clinical applications.

Grand Rounds (Thursdays, 6:30-7:15am)
Faculty and guest speakers will present more traditional lectures on Thursday mornings. An attempt will be made to match lecture topics with the anesthetic focus of the month. However, since distinguished speakers from out of town may not be squeezed to match the departmental curriculum schedule, some variations should be expected. You should share your research projects with your own department. Previous residents have “practiced” on the home crowd before presenting at major conferences.

Special Workshops (Saturday Morning)
Certain faculty will assemble weekend workshops to enhance your education. Previous ones include Mock Oral Exams, TEE, Regional Anesthesia, Airway Management and Understanding Anesthesia Machines.

VA Morbidity and Mortality (Wednesdays, 6:30am)
Residents rotating at the VA attend weekly morbidity and mortality sessions in which cases are discussed that involved complications. This is an important means for residents to improve their own patient care, “practice-based learning and improvement”, which is one of the ACGME core competencies. This conference is organized by Dr. Hernandez.

VA Chapter Review (Thursdays, 3:00pm)
Residents rotating at the VA attend weekly chapter reviews, based on the textbook Anesthesiology by Morgan and Mikhail. This is specifically oriented to assist with board preparation. This conference is organized by Dr. Hernandez.

VA SICU Daily Conferences (Daily, 8:30am)
Residents rotating on SICU at the VA attend daily conferences in which issues pertinent to management of critically ill patients are discussed. This conference is conducted by one of the SICU weekly attendings, including Dr. Hernandez, Dr. Anderson, or Dr. Verber.

Pain Grand Rounds (Thursdays, 8:00am)
Residents rotating on the Chronic Pain Service attend Pain Grand Rounds, in which issues specifically pertinent to management of pain patients are discussed. This conference is organized by Dr. Eckmann.

Textbooks
Current additions of the text books, Basics of Anesthesia, by Stoelting and Miller and Adult Perioperative Anesthesia, by Daniel J. Cole and Michelle Schlunt, are provided to each incoming resident. In addition it is suggested that each resident obtain the following text, Anesthesia, 6th Edition by Miller.

Residents on subspecialty rotations are encouraged to read textbooks suggested in the subspecialty manual.