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Residency Program

Conferences

Grand Rounds

Our Grand Rounds Conferences are held at 7:00AM on Monday Mornings.  The start time in the operating rooms is delayed by 1 hour on these mornings so that all are able to attend. The anesthesiology attending staff from both New York Presbyterian’s Cornell Campus and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, as well as anesthesia residents, CRNA’s and medical students attend Grand Rounds. 

The Grand Rounds consist of 50-minute presentations by nationally and internationally recognized experts in the field of anesthesiology.  Recent Visiting Professors have included:

Visiting Professor	Affiliation	Talk
Barbara Leighton, MD	Professor of Anesthesiology and Obstetrics & Gynecology Washington University	“The Potential for Obstetrical Anesthesia Research”
Mark Norris, MD	Atlanta, Georgia	“Clinical Update on Obstetrical Anesthesia”
Stanton Shernan, MD	Assistant Professor of Anesthesia Brigham & Women’s Hospital Harvard University	“Perioperative Myocardial Ischemia and Reperfusion Injury”
Stephen Small, MD	Assistant Professor of Anesthesia & Critical Care University of Chicago	“Human Error and Medicine”
Mark Newman, MD	Professor and Chairman Duke University	“Neuroprotection in Cardiac Surgery”
Debra Schwinn, MD	Professor of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Cancer Biology Duke University	“Perioperative Genomics and the Clinical Researcher”
Zeev Kain, MD	Professor of Anesthesiology, Pediatrics and Child Psychiatry Yale University	“Myths in Pediatric Anesthesia”

Additionally, Visiting Professors spend the hour after Grand Rounds with the class of residents assigned to the Monday Morning Teaching Block.  The format each visiting professor uses varies from case discussion to lecture, but the residents enjoy the opportunity to interact.

Monday Morning Teaching Blocks

The center piece of our resident teaching is the “Monday Morning Teaching Block.”  These consist of 3 - 4 hours of in depth exploration of a topic following the morning’s Grand Rounds Conference.  The teaching schedule is set up so that on each Monday, in rotation, either the first, second or third year residents are relieved of all clinical responsibilities.  They meet with 1-2 attending anesthesiologists who guide them through the morning’s educational endeavor.

There are many potential advantages to this type of scheduling of educational seminars.  Some of them include the opportunity for residents to explore a topic in more depth than would be allowed by a 45-60 minute lecture.  In addition the residents are allowed to be active participants in their learning process.  As each group of residents meets individually, the schedule can be tailored to their level of training.  The teaching is more effective when geared to a specific group as opposed to having to be useful for CA-1 through 3 residents where inevitably some of the material is over the heads of the most junior learners and a repeat for the most senior learners.

Monday Morning Conference 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM

CA-1 Residents	The CA-1 sessions consists of one hour of formal presentation, with slides and summary handouts, one hour of more interactive learning (ie: debate, case discussion, etc), and one hour of discussion of a relevant review of a “classic” article or journal club.
CA-2 Residents	The CA-2 sessions consist of one hour of topic presentation with slides and summary hand-outs, one hour of more interactive learning (ie: debate, case discussion, etc), one hour of journal club focusing on current literature and one hour of key-words review.  Each resident is assigned to prepare 1-2 key words related to the day’s topic and chosen from the previous year’s in-training examination.  In addition to presenting the topic, residents will be expected to prepare a brief written summary of the topic for collection and distribution to all residents at the end of the academic year.
CA-3 Residents	The CA-3 sessions consist of two 45-minute power point presentations, given by 2 different residents.  Each presentation is followed by 15-30 minutes of questions and answers and further discussion.  The third hour of the session is dedicated to critical review of 1 or 2 articles related to the topic of the day or discussion of a case related to the topics presented.

Weekday Morning Conference

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday Mornings, residents meet for class specific lectures and discussions.  The sessions are structured so that at the end of the three year continuum in anesthesia, the resident has been exposed to all topics from the ABA suggested Content Outline.

CA-1 Lecture Series Tuesday Mornings 6:15 AM – 7:00 AM		The CA-1 Lectures are didactic in nature and supplemented by current or historically relevant selections from the anesthesia literature.  The goal of the series is to provide: •    In depth understanding of the pharmacology of commonly used medications •    In depth understanding of the basic physiologic principles of organ systems and the effects of anesthetic agents on these •    Comprehensive review of the fundamentals of anesthesia •    Introduction to the subspecialty practice of anesthesia	Stoelting’s Pharmacology and Physiology Miller’s Anesthesia
CA-2 Problem Based Learning Discussions Wednesday Mornings 6:15 AM – 7:00 AM		The goal of this lecture series is to promote case-based, problem-oriented, resident-centered discussion of the common or “classic” dilemmas in anesthetic practice.  The discussants meet in an informal and supportive learning environment.  Faculty in the Department moderate each session.  Discussants receive their PBLDs and suggested readings in advance of the session.  They are expected to supplement these readings with other materials of their own choice.	Selected Cases from the ASA PBLD Book 2001, 1998, 1995, 1994 Selected readings from the anesthesia literature
CA-3 Critical Analysis-Oral Board Series Thursday Mornings 6:15 AM – 7:00 AM		The goal of this Oral Board Series is to: •    Promote critical analysis of common pre-, intra-, and postoperative problems faced by the anesthesiologist during practice •    Provide exposure to the oral board process as practiced by the American Board of Anesthesiology •    Develop a prioritized framework in which to discuss patient care and the practice of anesthesia in a comprehensive and organized fashion •    Stimulate the development and anticipation of relevant questions related to specific situations in the practice of anesthesia	Stoelting’s Anesthesia and Co-existing Diseases Benumof’s Anesthesia and Perioperative Complications

Other Conferences

CA-1 Introductory Lecture Series	July & August Monday – Friday 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM	During the summer, educational efforts turn to the new CA-1 residents.  Each afternoon, residents are relieved of their clinical responsibilities so they may participate in an introductory lecture series that emphasizes the fundamentals of anesthetic practice.
CA-1 Chief Resident’s Conference	Every other Friday Morning 6:15 AM – 7:00 AM	Newly instituted, this series is led by the Chief Residents and by faculty nominated by the resident house-staff for their teaching abilities.  The discussions are based on actual cases from the annals of the New-York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical College Department of Anesthesiology. Selected articles from the anesthesia and general medical literature relevant to the cases discussed are distributed.
Cardiac Conference	Tuesday Mornings 7:00 AM – 8:00 AM	The goal of this conference is to supplement the clinical exposure of residents and fellows with didactic lectures, journal clubs and case presentations relating to cardiac anesthesia.  All members of the cardiac team and those residents assigned to the cardiac block rotation participate in the conference.
Pain Conference	Wednesday Mornings 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM	The goal of this conference is to supplement the clinical exposure of residents and fellows with didactic lectures, journal clubs and case presentations relating to acute and chronic pain management.  All members of the Tri-Institutional Pain Team and those residents assigned to the pain block rotation participate in the conference.
OB Conference	As scheduled on the Labor & Delivery floor	The goal of this conference is to supplement the clinical exposure of residents with didactic lectures, journal clubs and case presentations relating to obstetrical anesthesia.  The attending anesthesiologist assigned to the Labor & Delivery Suite on any given day leads the conference.  All residents assigned to the obstetrical anesthesia rotation participate in the conference.