Clinical Experience
The clinical experience at our program is among the best in the country. We see a broad range of cases, patient populations, and care environments in the multiple clinical sites where we rotate. Emory University Hospital serves as our quaternary-care academic medical center, while Grady Memorial Hospital is Atlanta’s public hospital and premier Level I trauma center.
Residents also rotate at:
- Emory University Hospital Midtown
- Emory Ambulatory Surgery Center
- Atlanta's VA Medical Center
- Emory Orthopedic and Spine Center at Executive Park
- Egleston Hospital at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
All of these hospitals are within a 10-mile radius of Emory’s main campus.
With each class comprised of 16 residents, we are able to ensure that residents have access to the most interesting and educational cases at each clinical site.
As CA1s, residents have the opportunity to take part in complex cases such as liver transplants and Level I trauma resuscitations. Subspecialty training typically begins in the latter half of the CA-1 year.
On our cardiac rotation, we take part in tertiary care cardiothoracic surgery, with cases including ventricular-assist device placements and heart/lung transplants. We also gain exposure to postoperative management of cardiothoracic patients with a rotation in the CV-ICU. The Emory University Hospital SICU provides additional training in critical care with a focus on end-stage liver and surgical oncology patients.
We manage high-volume and high-risk OB at both Grady Memorial Hospital and Emory University Hospital Midtown. We train at one of the highest-acuity pediatric hospitals in the country, providing care for complex syndromic patients while also gaining foundational experience with a healthy pediatric population. Residents have the opportunity to start acquiring regional anesthesia skills early in CA-1 year while at Grady before progressing to dedicated time with the Emory and Emory Midtown Pain Services.
Emory offers opportunities for basic science, clinical, and quality research in the Anesthesia Department. Many of the core faculty are involved in quality improvement projects and often involve residents in their academic pursuits or serve as mentors for residents to create projects for themselves. We also enjoy great support from the department to attend and present at local, regional, and national anesthesiology conferences.
Didactics
In addition to the individualized intraoperative teaching between faculty and residents, site-specific conferences occur Tuesday through Thursday and include case presentations, mock oral boards, as well as keyword and subspecialty lectures.
Grand Rounds occur on Tuesday afternoon and Thursday morning each month from September through June. These conferences feature either faculty speakers from our department or visiting professors.
Each month, residents are excused from clinical duties on one Tuesday afternoon to come together as an entire program for a wide range of didactic experiences.
First-year anesthesia residents have a robust orientation experience during the first 6 weeks of training that includes didactics on basic anesthesia practice, one-on-one time in the ORs with attendings and buddy calls with upper-level residents.
Board review lectures are incorporated into the didactic schedule for CA1s throughout the year in order to prepare for the Basic exam in June. Residents at all levels also practice managing rare intraoperative events in the simulation lab, which are scheduled throughout the year.