Clinical Facilities
Introduction
Our residents learn anesthesia in a variety of different locations in order to optimize their educational experience. These sites were selected as an adjunct to the clinical experience at UIH and each offers a unique perspective on anesthetic care.
University of Illinois Hospital
The University of Illinois Hospital is the flagship facility of the residency program. Residents spend the majority of their training at UIC during the CA1-3 year. As interns, trainees spend six months at UIC and six months at the VA hospital. Upon starting at CA-1 year, the majority of their time at UIC.
We offer 20 main operating room sites, two dedicated obstetrical operating rooms, three interventional radiology suites, two cardiac catheterization suits, three gastroenterology procedure rooms, and one dedicated bronchoscopy suite.
The Specialty Care Building (SCB) has officially opened its doors, serving as the hub for expert care and same-day surgery in the heart of the Illinois Medical District. This cutting-edge, 200,000-square-foot facility hosts specialty clinics, advanced imaging and diagnostic services, pharmacy facilities, and is the dedicated space for the Bruno & Sallie Pasquinelli Outpatient Surgery Center. We have one of the most robust transplant surgery and neuro-interventional radiology departments in the city of Chicago.
Jesse Brown VA Medical Center
The Jesse Brown VA Hospital is located at the western edge of the University campus, about a seven minute walk from the University of Illinois Hospital. Main OR rotations during all four training years, pain medicine rotations, and internal medicine, cardiology consults, and general surgery rotations during the Clinical Base Year, are conducted in this state-of-the-art facility, which opened in June of 2008. The VA offers excellent and varied clinical training. Each month, we send one junior resident and one senior resident to work with our seasoned anesthesiologist. Resident enjoy robust regional anesthesia and thoracic anesthesia training. Generally, residents are staffed one to one at the VA which lends to individualized clinical learning. Residents also rotate through the multidisciplinary pain clinic at the VA which offers a unique perspective on pain management to our complex veterans.
Northshore Orthopedic & Spine Institute- Skokie Hospital
Northshore Orthopedic & Spine Institute-Skokie Hospital is located in Skokie, IL. The Northshore University Health System is comprised of four hospitals, 2500 Physicians, 46 operating rooms, and nearly 40,000 cases per year. The Skokie hospital is dedicated to musculoskeletal care and involves surgeries for orthopedic joint and the spine. Our residents refine their regional skills at Northshore and are exposed to a high volume, incredibly efficient, and high turnover private practice model. This rotation is offered to our residents during the CA3 year.
Shriners Hospital for Children
Shriners Hospital for Children is located in Oak Park, a few miles west of our main campus. This is a CA-3 elective rotation for interested residents.
Loyola University Medical Center
Loyola University Medical Center is located in Maywood, IL, about 10 miles west of the University of Illinois campus. Residents are assigned to a two-month Cardiac Anesthesia Block at Loyola during the second and third year of anesthesia training. The first month is dedicated to Cardiac Anesthesia intraoperative management and the second month is the cardiac surgical intensive care unit. The Loyola Cardiac Service tackles some of the most complex and challenging cardiovascular cases in Chicago, performing over 1200 cardiac and thoracics cases per year. These procedures include: CABGs and valve replacements to complex aortic repairs requiring circulatory arrest, and heart and lung transplantation. It is a great opportunity for us to draw on the strengths of Loyola to supplement our cardiovascular experience at UIC. Our residents are assigned to Cardiac Anesthesia and Liver Anesthesia at UIC prior to the Loyola experience. In this manner, residents have a solid foundation in cardiac anesthesia concepts that are challenged in a higher acuity environment.
The Loyola Block exposes residents to the perioperative management of patients with end stage heart failure and/or advanced lung disease, including those requiring circulatory assist devices, such as intra-aortic balloon pumps (IABPs), left or right ventricle assist devices (VADs), and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support. Residents work closely with a dedicated group of cardiothoracic trained faculty as well as two cardiothoracic anesthesia fellows, with weekly didactics to reinforce topics encountered in the operating room.
At the end of this two-month period, residents feel comfortable with titration of vasopressors and inotropic agents, basic TEE interpretation, invasive line placement, and management decisions involved in ‘going on’ and ‘coming off’ cardiopulmonary bypass.