Department of Anesthesiology

All University of Illinois Anesthesiology residents are required to complete a scholarly project in accordance with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requirements:

• The curriculum must advance residents’ knowledge of the basic principles of research, including how research is conducted, evaluated, explained to patients, and applied to patient care.
• Residents should participate in scholarly activity.
• The sponsoring institution and program should allocate adequate educational resources to facilitate resident involvement in scholarly activities.

Each resident must complete an academic assignment. This assignment usually occurs during the final 24 months of training, but it may, at the program director’s discretion, occur earlier. Academic projects may include grand rounds presentations, preparation and publication of review articles, book chapters, manuals for teaching or clinical practice, or similar academic activities. Alternatively, a resident may elect to develop and perform or participate in one or more clinical or laboratory investigations. The Review Committee expects that the outcomes of resident investigations will be suitable for presentation at local, regional, or national scientific meetings and that many will result in peer- reviewed abstracts or manuscripts. A faculty supervisor must be in charge of each project and investigation.

American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) states in its 2010 Booklet of Information:

There are options for research during the anesthesiology residency. Interested residents could spend approximately 25% of a 3- or 4-year training program, and 38% of a 5-year program, engaged in scholarly activities. Suggested templates for research during the anesthesiology residency are posted on the ABA website at www.theABA.org. The program director must develop a plan with strict guidelines for research activity and “work product” oversight if a resident’s research activities will be more than six months. The resident must be enrolled in an ACGME-accredited anesthesiology program and remain active in the educational component of the program while pursuing research. Involvement in scholarly activities must result in the generation of a specific permanent “work product.” Review of scholarly activity and the permanent work product will occur at the local level by a Scholarship Oversight Committee responsible for overseeing and assessing the trainee’s progress and verifying to the ABA that the requirement has been met. The Scholarship Oversight Committee must consist of three or more faculty members. The program director may serve as a trainee’s mentor and participate in the activities of the Scholarship Oversight Committee, but should not be a standing member. By prospective (at least four months in advance) application to the Credentials Committee of the ABA, exceptions will be considered for: Aggregating research time normally allocated across the clinical base and clinical anesthesia years into one or more years, allowing a significant amount of time to be used for research as a block Leave of absence from the clinical program for research activities Additional months in research, especially if the research is prospectively integrated in the training program A resident must have a satisfactory Clinical Competence Committee report for six months of clinical anesthesia training immediately preceding any research period unless prospectively approved by the ABA Credentials Committee.

Scholarly projects may include a Departmental Grand Rounds presentation, a Midwest Anesthesia Research Conference oral presentation (MARC) or an oral presentation at a national meeting with relevance to the practice of Anesthesiology or one of our sub-specialties.

The majority of our residents participate at least once and usually several times in the annual MARC and many also present a research poster at a national meeting (link here). University of Illinois anesthesia residents achieve tremendous success in the MARC competition. For example, in 2012, University of Illinois anesthesia residents had a total of 21 presentations and won 1st or 2nd place in 6 categories. Winners included: 1st place in Basic Sciences (poster), General Anesthesia, Neuroanesthesia, Obstetrics, and Pediatrics; 2nd awards were achieved in Airway, and a 3rd place in Cardiovascular-Thoracic anesthesia and Pediatrics.

Participation in clinical and basic science research projects is available to all residents and is coordinated through the Program Director. A number of residents that plan on pursuing an academic career and fellowship training engage in a laboratory-based project.

• Midwest Anesthesia Research Conference