General Information
The Anesthesiology residency, sponsored by the Department of Anesthesiology at the School of Medicine on the Bowman Gray Campus, is consistently acknowledged throughout the academic anesthesia community to be one of the very best teaching residencies. Great teaching is something we value in ourselves and expect from our colleagues. The Residency Review Committee (RRC) for Anesthesiology of the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has given full approval of the residency program for the longest allowed period of time. Our next review will be in 2011.
We are very proud of our 261 graduates. As a group, they have scored above the 90th percentile on the national In-Training Examination. Since 1967, 99% of those residents who completed their training with us became certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology. All of them easily secured excellent positions prior to graduation.
The American Board of Anesthesiology requires that all candidates complete four years of residency training, a clinical base year (CBY) in postgraduate year one (PGY-1), and three clinical anesthesia years (CA-1, CA-2, and CA-3) in postgraduate years two through four (PGY-2, PGY-3, and PGY-4). Through the match, we offer 11 CBY (PGY-1) positions at our medical center consisting of five months on the medicine service that includes one month in the medicine intensive care unit and one month in emergency medicine, one month in the Preoperative Assessment Center, one month on the arrhythmia consult service, one month in the neonatal intensive care unit, two months of surgery, one month of obstetrics, and a one-month introduction to the operating room that includes four sessions in the Patient Simulation Laboratory. In addition, we offer one Clinical Anesthesia-1 (PGY-2) position through the match for a total of 13 positions.
Through ERAS only, the department accepts applications from medical students in the fourth year of school and from physicians who have graduated from an approved medical school or after postgraduate experience. Medical students are encouraged to apply through the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) for entry at the CBY as a PGY-1 (Anesthesiology C), and/or in the Clinical Anesthesia-1 year as a PGY-2 (Anesthesiology S). Students applying for entry at the CA-1 (PGY-2) level must remember to apply for a PGY-1 position at another medical center. As of July 2005 our resident totals are 10 PGY-1s, 16 PGY-2s, 15 PGY-3s, 15 PGY-4s, and 10 clinical fellows.
We offer an excellent range of anesthesia, preoperative medicine, pain management, and intensive care unit experiences at a highly respected tertiary and quaternary care center and level one trauma center with 24 in-patient and seven ambulatory operating rooms, dedicated services for chronic pain management, acute pain management, and preoperative assessment, a 66-bed surgical intensive care unit, a dedicated Preoperative Assessment Center, and Brenner Children's Hospital. The 6600 obstetric anesthetics are administered at the nearby Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center. Faculty from the Department of Anesthesiology have significant management roles for all of these locations and services.
The residents average 100 peripheral nerve blocks each on their regional anesthesia rotations. For the last two years several residents have earned the TEE certification as PGY-4s (CA-3s). Formal one-hour long didactic sessions involving the entire department occur three times weekly. The subspecialty areas also sponsor regular conferences and journal clubs. Mock orals are offered twice yearly. Research by residents is not required, but well supported, including additional support for presentations at regional and national meetings. Six months of research time may be arranged during the three clinical anesthesia years. An active Patient Simulation Laboratory is in place. An automated anesthesia information management system is being installed. All residents are ACLS, PALS, and ATLS certified before completion of their training.