Education & Conferences - Anesthesiology Residency & Fellowships

We pride ouselves on the educational program we provide to our residents. We begin residency education with an intensive 6-week lecture series. This entails 2 hours each afternoon dedicated to a broad overview of preoperative, intraoperative, and recovery care. Some of the lectures are lead by our senior residents who provide a first-hand view on how to best launch a residency experience.

The remainder of the academic year involves 2 hours/week of lecture with a separate curriculum for CA-I residents and CA-II/III residents. The major goal of the resident three year curriculum is to completely cover the knowledge base as defined by the American Board of Anesthesiology.

In addition to the lecture series, five other educational formats are used. Weekly grand rounds are attended by the entire department and frequently feature invited guest lecturers. Monthly journal clubs are typically held at the home of a faculty member, where articles are discussed over dinner. A monthly “Key word exam/review” is a multiple choice exam in a format similar to the American Board of Anesthesiology written board examination. Following the examination, faculty review the questions and topics. Periodic simulation sessions are used to teach crisis management. Finally and perhaps most importantly, is bedside teaching, where residents and faculty focus on the challenges that each patient brings to their perioperative medical management.

Education and Conferences

All Department of Anesthesiology faculty participate in an active and current didactic education program. Components of our didactic program include:

• CA-1 Lecture Series - Weekly two-hour lectures provide a comprehensive exposure to clinical anesthesiology. Residents are assigned reading material and led through discussion by a faculty member with expertise in the topic area. This lecture series is aimed at introducing first-year residents to the entire scope of the field of anesthesiology through guided lectures and reading in each subspecialty.

• CA-2/3 Lecture Series - Weekly two-hour lectures based on detailed texts in physiology, pharmacology, and the anesthetic implications of co-existing disease. This 24-month series of lectures guides trainees through in-depth discussions of the entire range of knowledge expected of a consultant in anesthesiology.

• Anesthesia Grand Rounds and Morbidity and Mortality Conferences - Departmental Grand Rounds are held on a weekly basis, bringing together all of the members of the department. Grand Rounds presentations feature visiting professors, non-departmental UVM/Fletcher Allen faculty, and Departmental faculty. Morbidity and mortality conferences are case-based and are aimed at learning more from problems and challenges that have arisen in the course of delivering clinical care.

• Journal Club – This monthly conference is held on a weekday evening at the home of a faculty member. Residents are assigned articles and asked to present a brief synopsis of the published findings in an informal discussion style. Critical elements of our Journal Club include highlighting research design and statistical considerations with a goal toward developing skills in critical analysis of scientific literature.

• Key Words – This monthly conference is intended for all residents and is a systematic review of the American Board of Anesthesiology key word phrases. With faculty supervision, assigned reading material is reviewed in the context of ABA in-training examination-style questions.

• Monday Morning Clinical Conference – This is a weekly conference in which interesting cases are discussed by residents with the Program Director and other faculty members. Emphasis on sharing experiences and providing an evidence-based approach for patient management is encouraged.

• Regional and National Meetings – Our residents are encouraged and supported to attend regional and national meetings during the course of their residency. Two annual regional meetings, the Vermont Perspectives in Anesthesia and The Northern New England Critical Care Conference, are organized by Departmental faculty.