The great majority of our graduating residents pass the written board exam on their first attempt. We promote our residents learning from day one through a comprehensive lecture program, and by making it as easy as possible for all residents to attend these conferences. Each morning before the start of surgery, when everybody is awake and available, we have our daily conferences. We get together for coffee and doughnuts and discuss an anesthesia topic. Our conferences include:
Patient Management Conference A clinical case scenario in the format of the oral board exam
Journal Club A review of the clinical and basic science literature
Pharmacology Conference A weekly discussion of the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic actions of anesthesia-related drugs
Survey of Anesthesia A weekly in-depth, didactic lecture on an essential anesthesia topic
Subspecialty Conferences A clinical review of pain, obstetric, pediatric, cardiac, and neuroanesthesia
Keywords An in-depth summary of a topic from the in-training exam keyword list
ACE Questions An every-other-week conference discussing questions from the Anesthesiology Continuing Education component of the Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology (MOCA) program. This satisfies that program's lifelong-learning and self-assessment requirements, and exposes residents to essential knowledge material that is likely to be seen on the annual In-Training Examination
Morning Report An every-other-week Socratic method-type conference in which all aspects of one of that day's cases is discussed. It's lively and freewheeling, and encourages preparedness and thinking on your feet
In addition, each month there is either a Grand Rounds visiting speaker or a morbidity and mortality conference held in the department. We feel that this combination of educational conferences and opportunities for social interaction provide our residents with exposure to academic topics, nationally known speakers, and the excitement of transferring book knowledge into clinical reality.
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