The Resident in Anesthesiology must complete 12 months of accredited preliminary training prior to beginning Clinical Anesthesia (CA) training. This FCS training is embedded in the Categorical program. For the Advanced program, acceptable FCS training includes a transitional year, internal or emergency medicine, pediatrics, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, neurology, family practice, or any combination of these as approved by the program director.
Allegheny Health Network provides opportunities for prospective residents to do their FCS (PGY-1) year in the same institutions as their anesthesiology residency through preliminary years in medicine or surgery. Each fulfills the department’s FCS requirement.
It is a requirement of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that prior to beginning the CA-1 year, the resident must complete a qualifying examination (NBME/USMLE or COMLEX) that would serve as a basis for securing an unrestricted license to practice medicine in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Residents in anesthesiology have a reasonable on-call schedule and time-off policy that allows them to balance educational and service needs with personal and family needs. They begin taking night and weekend call with a more senior resident during their second month of clinical anesthesia and assume additional clinical responsibility commensurate with their experience and progress.
A member of the faculty attends all night, weekend and holiday emergency procedures. The frequency of night call averages one night in seven. The program is easily compliant with the ACGME limits on work-duty hours.
In July of each year, the Department of Anesthesiology conducts a series of tutorial sessions for residents beginning their first year of clinical anesthesia (CA-1). New CA-1 residents are paired with higher level residents who serve as mentors during the first month of training.
The first 3 months of the CA-1 year emphasize basic concepts and are devoted to fundamental aspects of anesthetic management. Subsequently, each CA-1 resident is selectively assigned to cases designed to provide graded experiences of increasing difficulty that progressively challenge the resident's clinical performance in the provision of anesthesia for:
The CA-2 curriculum emphasizes the theoretical background, subject material and clinical practice of the subspecialties of anesthesiology. Each resident is assigned to a series of rotations that guarantees adequate exposure at the consultant level of practice within the subspecialties of:
A dedicated regional anesthesia rotation at Allegheny General Hospital provides experience in regional anesthetic techniques, in addition to on-going experience in regional anesthesia at both West Penn and Allegheny General Hospitals.
Experience in caring for Level I trauma patients undergoing emergency surgery and/or airway management occurs on an ongoing basis. The Trauma Center at Allegheny General Hospital cares for patients in the region who experience penetrating and blunt force trauma.
The Burn Center at West Penn Hospital is one of the region’s largest and busiest burn centers, caring for patients referred to West Penn from the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
Anesthesiology residents also gain experience at Allegheny General Hospital with the specific anesthetic techniques used to manage the care of patients undergoing major organ transplantation, including heart, liver and kidney.
The American Board of Anesthesiology requires a 2-month experience in critical care medicine. During their dedicated critical care medicine rotation, residents care for a mix of medical and surgical patients at both AHN's West Penn Hospital and Forbes Hospital. Attending physicians from a variety of clinical backgrounds, including anesthesiology and internal medicine, direct residents as they provide comprehensive critical care management of patients in the units.
A modular approach to the Advanced Clinical Track (CA-3) has been developed with specific curricular objectives for advanced topics in clinical management or perioperative consultative practice. Residents may choose to focus on areas of interest and continue to develop their expertise in such areas as regional anesthesia, 3-D transesophageal echocardiography, pediatrics and obstetric anesthesia. Research time is optionally available.
