The Duke Anesthesiology Residency Program offers a wide variety of learning experiences and resources for trainees including didactics, simulation, and more. This pageprovides an overview of the resources and educational opportunities available to residents during their four years at Duke.
Residency Didactics
In addition to intraoperative and bedside teaching, Duke Anesthesiology offers a strong didactic program for trainees. Each lecture series is organized by faculty leaders to ensure that content is up to date and provides residents the knowledge they need to become world-class anesthesiologists. Trainees have the opportunity to evaluate the lectures and provide feedback to presenters to help ensure the sessions are relevant to the needs of learners.
ACGME Anesthesiology Core Requirements: IV A 3: The curriculum must contain didactic instruction through a variety of learning opportunities occurring in a conference setting, in the clinical setting, or online that encompasses clinical anesthesiology and related areas of basic science. Other topics from Internal Medicine that are important for the preoperative preparation of the patient, from surgery as to the nature of the surgical procedure affecting anesthetic care, and from obstetrics that impacts anesthetic management of the patient should be included. The material covered in the didactic program must demonstrate appropriate continuity and sequencing to ensure that residents are ultimately exposed to all subjects at regularly held learning exercises.
Intern Lecture Series
The goal of the intern lecture series is to introduce interns to anesthesiology fundamentals at the beginning of their anesthesiology training. Topics include pre-operative screening, pain management, and ultrasound basics, among others. Lunch is provided for this series that meets once a month on Thursdays from noon to 1:00 p.m.
CA1 Lecture Series: Anesthesiology Fundamentals
This series is designed to build on the intern lecture series by providing trainees a concrete base of anesthesiology as they begin their anesthesiology rotations. Three primary topics are covered over the year:
- General cardio-pulmonary physiology and management
- Renal, hematologic, gastrointestinal and endocrine physiology
- Basics of intraoperative anesthesia management and introductions to subspecialty anesthesia topics (OB, CV, and neuro)
The final portion of the series is devoted to board review topics. This series meets on Tuesday afternoons from 5 – 6 p.m.
CA 2/3 Lecture Series: Subspecialty Anesthesiology
This lecture series is a two-year curriculum that provides advanced residents with in-depth knowledge of anesthesiology subspecialties. Many of these sessions are taught using novel methodologies, including flipped classroom, games, peer-to-peer learning, and case-based discussions.
For many sessions, pre-work is posted online in our course management system. During the live session, residents will participate in active learning activities such as case-based learning, large and small group discussions, and review games in a “Jeopardy” format. This series meets on Wednesdays from 5 – 6 p.m.
All Residents Lecture Series: Thursday Series
The Thursday afternoon lecture series is designed to provide trainees with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed as well-rounded attending anesthesiologists post-training. This series focuses on the following ACGME competencies: practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, and systems-based practice. During the course of the year, residents will participate in the following activities on Thursday afternoons from 5 – 6 p.m.:
- M&Ms (6x/year)
- Twitter Journal Club (3x/year)
- QI lectures
- Nuts and bolts meetings with residency program leadership
- Leadership development sessions
- Mock orals
- TEE Interactive Series (see TEE below).
Resident TEE Curriculum
The Resident TEE curriculum is a6-month curriculum for CA-2 and CA-3 residents focused on basic perioperative TEE; including image optimization, recognition of valvular abnormalities, ventricular dysfunction, andhands-on image acquisition.
Simulation
In addition to didactics, Duke Anesthesiology trainees have the opportunity to participate in world-class simulation activities. These sessions use various modalities of simulation, including task trainers for procedural skills as well as high-fidelity mannequins for case-based scenarios. A faculty champion, often division-specific, leads each session. The curriculum is developed and standardized in collaboration with simulation staff to ensure a paramount learning experience for all participants.The chart belowreflects simulation-based education for graduate medical education in the Department of Anesthesiology.
Intern Survival Skills:Procedure-based simulation training including central line, airway management, and IV placement led by Dr. Sharon McCartney.
Subspecialty Case-based Scenarios:Organized by Dr. John Eck, these regular sessions rotate CA-1, CA-2, and CA-3 learners through cases created by champions in each subspecialty.
Anesthesia Crisis Resource Management (ACRM):Complex case-based scenarios that challenge CA-2 and CA-3 learners with crisis resource management-focused debriefings. The course originated with Dr. Ankeet Udani.
Education Highway
Trainees have access to the Education Highway, an online departmental repository for learning materials. This tool provides opportunities for self-directed learning in addition to supporting the flipped lectures. Each division has a space, curated by a faculty member with expertise in that area, to house educational videos, significant papers, protocols, and other learning materials. Each week, a recording of the departmental Grand Rounds lecture is posted for viewing by those unable to attend.
Advising and Coaching
Each resident has the opportunity to choose a faculty adviser. In addition to the support provided by the resident’s adviser and residency program leadership, the department’s PhD educator, Ashley Grantham, is also available for individual educational coaching.
Other Resources
The following individuals are available to answer questions about the educational opportunities available in the department for trainees:
Annemarie Thompson, MD
Vice Chair, Education
Director, Anesthesiology Residency Program
Professor of Anesthesiology and Medicine
Angela Pollak, MD
Assistant Director, Anesthesiology Residency Program
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
Sarah Cotter, MD
Assistant Director, Anesthesiology Residency Program
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
