Didactic Program
Educational Program
Resident Conferences: Resident Conferences: CA-1&2 and CA-3 conferences have been separated to promote more focused learning objectives for the residents. These small group sessions allow for a more interactive forum for discussion between the residents and the staff anesthesiologists.
Introductory Lecture Series:
Orientation Lecture Series: A one week block of daily presentations covering very basic and practical information intended to facilitate resident start-up in clinical anesthesiology. The orientation series is scheduled during the first week of clinical activity.
Tutorial Lecture Series: A four week block of daily presentations focusing on the basics of anesthetic practice with an emphasis on physiology, pharmacology and procedural techniques. The tutorial series is scheduled during the month of September.
CA-1 Tutorial: Designed as a three week series of daily staff presentations to acquaint new residents with the “nuts and bolts” of anesthetic practice. This conference provides a fast-paced review of Miller's Basics of Anesthesia text during the first month of training.
CA-1 & 2 Conference: Scheduled as weekly, faculty-based presentations throughout the year. The CA-1&2 conference is organized as a two year series of rotating topic blocks with a special emphasis on physiology and pharmacology. The rotating block format provides appropriate continuity and sequencing to ensure that residents receive exposure to a broad selection of topics.
CA-3 Conferences: Scheduled weekly in the afternoon. The CA-3 conference is conducted in a "mock" oral format by one of five Oral Board examiners within the department. Assigned reading for each session is from Stoelting's "Anesthesia and Co-existing Disease." This conference has received consistently high praise from our CA-3 residents.
Anesthesia Grand Rounds: Grand Rounds are regularly scheduled as part of our Wednesday morning educational series and consist of formal presentations by visiting professors, Department of Anesthesiology faculty, extra-departmental DHMC faculty and CA-3 residents. Every resident is expected to present at Grand Rounds during their CA-3 year.
Case Conference: Also scheduled as part of our Wednesday morning educational series this case-oriented session is considered by many to be the premier teaching conference of the didactic program. Pertinent articles are distributed in advance to facilitate the discussion.
Chief's Rounds: A monthly, case-based conference led by the Department Chair. Residents are responsible for presenting a case from the day's upcoming O.R. schedule and participate in a discussion of case-related educational issues. Chief's Rounds also serve as the venue for periodic review and updates on the resident Practice-Based Learning and Improvement project(s).
Journal Club: The departmental journal club provides a monthly forum for review and discussion of pre-selected articles from the current literature. The primary goal of this conference is to familiarize the resident staff with various methods of statistical analysis and to encourage a critical evaluation of the literature.
Morbidity and Mortality Conference: Also scheduled as part of our Wednesday morning educational series, this case-oriented session is considered by many to be the premier teaching conference of the didactic program. Pertinent articles are distributed in advance to facilitate the discussion.
Quality Assurance Conference: A monthly meeting moderated by the chairperson of the Anesthesia Quality Assurance Subcommittee, this conference endeavors to bring about measurable improvement in patient care services provided by the Department of Anesthesiology. We achieve this goal not only by focusing on the identification, review, and evaluation of anesthesia-related incidents and accidents, but through design and implementation of systems-based changes to help prevent the problem in the future.
TEE Conference: A biweekly conference open to all interested faculty and residents. Case-based, interactive presentations are facilitated by a number of faculty members with experience and expertise in TEE.
Regional Anesthesia Conference: A biweekly conference series open to all interested residents and faculty. Dr. Sites directs this conference series which focuses on a variety of issues related to regional anesthesia and the DHMC regional block service.
Practice Management Seminar Series: A bimonthly evening seminar open to residents, fellows, their spouses and significant others. Presentations are focused specifically on issues related to practice management and the "business" of medicine. This series also provides a venue for program alumni to review and discuss various aspects of their own practice.
Endowed Lectureships: The department sponsors two endowed lectureships on a recurring basis. The Harry H. Bird Endowed Lectureship honors a former chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and focuses on health care policy related issues. The Burnap Endowed Lectureship was created to honor the career and contributions of Dr. Thomas K. Burnap and brings international experts to Dartmouth to speak on clinically useful innovations in Anesthesiology.
