Anesthesiology

Location

Rush

# Weeks

4

Hours/week on site

31-40, 61-70, 41-50 (2)

Open to M3s?

yes

Scheduled through OASIS?

yes

On Rush schedule?

yes

# other students

2, 3

Prerequisites

?

Interviewing/Step 2 flexibility

Dr. Outly, the course director, is pretty flexible. He just wanted to know upfront which days you needed off, we each took about 2 days off.

1 day off taken

2 days off for me 

Overnight call?

no

Work weekends?

no

Weekend call?

no

Is there an exam at the end of the rotation

no

Students required to give a presentation

no, yes (1)

Teaching hours/day

0-2, 1-2 (2)

Teaching style

Lecture given by resident or attending, In the OR

Suggested reading/pocket contents

Dr. Outly gives us a folder with multiple topics to read about so at minimum you can just read that. You basically need your stethoscope, all other tools you get there - IV starting "kit" (It's not really a kit, it's something you and your resident will put together in the beginning of the day containing lidocaine injections, multiple sizes of IVs, tourniquet, gauze, alcohol pads, etc.)

Anesthesia secrets

The text provided is excellent and worthwhile even for students not pursuing Anesthesia.

Structure of rotation

One-on-one with attendings/residents

Amt/quality of time residents/attendings

You spent all day with the resident in the OR. Attendings came in periodically. Both resident and attendings taught in the OR. We had lecture once a week with the course director for a 2 hour teaching session.

They'll let you tube patients, place A-lines, IV's, etc. Lots of fun.

This was completely variable, some residents like to teach and spend the whole time doing it, some attendings are the same, others will just have you chill and ask questions as they come up - each day you work with a different resident and attending team, on occasion you'll run into the same people. Some attendings will allow you to attempt every intubation, others only the easy ones, or none...

1-2hrs attendings excellent quality 8hrs residents average quality

Anesthesia was a worthwhile rotation. The majority of teaching is hands
on by the resident and attending to which you are assigned for the day.
It also provides an excellent opportunity to place IVs and learn airway
management.

Proportion of time evaluating pts alone

0-25% (2), 25-50%. 50-75%

# pts evaluated/day

2-6

Procedures

Once a day, A few times/day (3)

Typical day

Go to the holding area, see your patient, start their IV and any other lines, go back to the OR, intubate and repeat for next case. Lot of down time, after you finish intubating till the start of the next case.

Pre-op to meet the patient, around 7:00 am. 7:10, place IV 7:20, place breathing tube in sedated patient's airway. 7:25, place A-line, if necessary. Rest of the day is yours. (Go to another room and repeat the above process, or go home.)

The day prior to coming in the OR schedule is posted and you can check which rooms and resident/attending you'll be working with - usually this is posted after 3pm. So you come in about 30min or so prior to the first scheduled surgery and find your resident to introduce yourself. You will then proceed to meet each patient prior to surgery do a focused exam and start their IV. You also help set up the room for surgery and place all leads/position the patient/ perform any other procedures such as placement of arterial lines as needed per patient and allowed by your attending/resident. You practice ventilating with mask, and then intubate the patient (if allowed). There are also opportunities about 2X per week to observe Electroconvulsive therapy, assist with placement of those patients IVs - it's a good way to do multiple IVs for practice. During the surgery, depending on how long and what type there may be a lot of down time, but you will discover that a lot goes on behind that curtain if you stay and observe - constant monitoring of vitals, Urine output, blood loss, ventilation and awareness/paralysis.

See patient in preopholding at 0700, start case and then repeat

Days consisist of shadowing an anethesia resident who is directly
supervised by an attending. In addition you attend weekly teaching
sessions directly geared to students (these are excellent). You also
attend weekly grand rounds and have the option of attending lectures
geared to the residents.

Usefulness for any residency (# stars/5)

3, 5, 5, 3

Usefulness for this residency (# stars/5)

5, 5, 5, 5

Useful for other specialties

Anesthesia, anything Surgical, Emergency Medicine, anyone interested in critical care.

General Surgery, Internal Medicine

Overall rating (# stars/5)

5, 5, 5, 4

Recommended to other students (# stars/5)

5, 5, 5, 4

Other comments

Lot of down time…all the residents and attendings are really friendly, you get to do most of the procedures.

Dr. Outly is fantastic. Some people aren't crazy about him, but I don't know why. He loves to talk about anesthesia (maybe that's why?). I dunno. This can be a blow off rotation, but it really shouldn't be. The residents are great, the attendings are awesome. Enjoyed my month.

As with any rotation you'll get as much as you want out of this one. There is a lot of opportunity to ditch if you don't want to stay around, so this can be a very easy rotation. Even if you do stay the whole day, your resident will send you home around 4pm (most residents will), so even when you work hard you'll have many shorter days.

The amount of time spent working directly with attending physicians is
impressive. Although day to day teaching is dependent on your assigned
resident, overall the teaching is very good. The text provided is worth
reading.