The University of Illinois Residency in Anesthesiology is a four year categorical program which trains excellent clinicians and leaders in our field.  Residents begin their training with an intern year at UIC and the Jessie Brown VA.  We have tailored this year to provide a solid foundation for the rest of the anesthesia training period.  Our interns get significant exposure to anesthesia as they spend a third (four months) of their intern year within our department with direct oversight by a solo attending.  The basics of anesthesia are emphasized daily throughout this four month period.  As a new initiative, we will offer a month long tutorial for all the interns at the end of the internship.  This month will include our Basics of Anesthesia didactic teaching, introduction to ultrasound and echocardiography, and an introduction to the quality improvement process.  We hope to expose our residents to these skills early so that they will master them throughout the residency.  Interns also spend four months on the medicine service, and one month on MICU, cardiology consult, emergency medicine, and surgical service.

The CA-1 year is a time of tremendous growth in clinical and basic anesthesia knowledge.  Residents begin the year with a two month tutorial involving daily didactic teaching.  We have completely renewed the orientation program to include hands-on training and problem based learning.  Our website includes videos of traditional didactic lectures on basic anesthetic concepts that residents review at home.  Our morning didactic time is used applying this information to clinical cases.  Upon completion of the tutorial period, residents are fully immersed in the operating room.  Our residents are exposed to obstetrics and off-site anesthesia early in their training so that they are prepared for any of these cases while on call.  Given the complexity of our patient population, CA-1 residents are exposed to high acuity situations very early in their training.  The majority of the year is spent in the main operating room but residents do a month of ICU, pre-operative clinic, PACU, and pain medicine.

The CA-2 year is a time of greater responsibility and exposure to more advanced surgical cases.  Residents rotate through various subspecialties within Anesthesiology including cardiac, liver, neuro-anesthesia, pediatrics and regional services.  Schedules vary depending on the particular interests of the resident.

Residents are given tremendous autonomy and responsibility as they enter their CA-3 year.   More than half the year is dedicated to elective time and is tailored to the resident’s interests.  Our senior residents experience a variety of clinical practice settings as they venture off to away rotations at Mount Sinai for trauma, Shriners Hospital for pediatrics and Loyola for cardiac.  Additionally, they spend time at the VA hospitals for thoracics/cardiac and pain medicine.  While Research opportunities are available throughout the residency, dedicated research time with faculty mentorship is available during the senior year.  Many residents participate in Global health rotations.