Intraoperative education is an essential component of this residency program, and is facilitated by a high ratio of faculty members to residents, a high acuity patient population, and an education structured specialty curriculum. In addition, the first-year, second-year and third-year clinical anesthesia resident classes (CA-1 through CA-3) have separate weekly lectures along with experience-appropriate sessions in the human-patient simulation laboratory.
The didactic aspect of IU School of Medicine’s anesthesiology residency program is structured to develop the necessary knowledge, judgment, and professionalism required of a board-certified anesthesiologist. The first-year (CA-1), second-year (CA-2), and third-year (CA-3) clinical anesthesia residents cohorts attend weekly lectures. The CA-1 residents follow a curriculum designed to optimize their performance on the ABA BASIC examination, which is taken at the end of CA-1 year. The CA-2 and CA-3 residents focus on advanced concepts, oral board exam prep, and mock OSCE practice, which prepares them for the ABA ADVANCED and APPLIED examinations. Residents are provided print textbooks, access to digital textbooks, online question banks, and other anesthesiology resources to support their academic success. Also, educational funds are available to residents to fund conference attendance, presentations, and research.
In addition to didactics, residents participate in high-fidelity, human-patient simulation sessions approximately once per quarter. CA-1's attend a simulation boot camp for procedural skills practice on task trainers and run an intraoperative code scenario during their orientation week. The Department of Anesthesia has also introduced a point of care ultrasound (POCUS) curriculum to facilitate residents’ development of an expanding skillset as technological advances shape our field. The curriculum is ultrasound-focused didactic, simulation, and clinical training for POCUS, TTE, and TEE. Online resources provide a knowledge base for hands-on learning with manikins and standardized patients. A 2-week rotation provides residents with an opportunity for clinical practice and in-depth instruction from certified faculty members.