Education & Training
The Education Council of the Anesthesiology Department has developed a comprehensive curriculum for residents. Upon completion of our program, our residents are well-prepared to pursue competitive fellowship opportunities, a career in academics, or enter directly into private practice.
CA-1 year is mostly in a traditional lecture format supplemented by case discussions organized by subject. A CA-1 preceptorship takes place during the summer of the CA-1 year in order to acclimate residents to the operating room and the practice of anesthesiology. New residents work with one attending for two weeks. Each resident class has its own weekly didactic lecture. CA-1 lectures are podcasted and available to medical students, residents, and faculty on Classes V2. This helps residents who are unable to attend the sessions due to schedule conflicts benefit from the lectures.
The CA-2 year marks the transition from being a clinical beginner to becoming competent in many aspects of general anesthesia. Advanced subspecialty training in cardiac, neuro and pediatric is the focus of the CA-2 clinical curriculum. Residents assume leadership roles within the on-call teams in the operating rooms and while covering consultation and cardiac arrests outside the O.R.
During the CA-3 year there are weekly mock oral sessions and practice written questions in preparation for the ABA board exam.
Research Scholars Program
In 2006, we inaugurated the Research Scholars Program (RSP) to promote the training of Anesthesia residents who have a keen interest in either basic science or clinical research. This program provides active guidance for finding a research mentor, picking a research project to be initiated during the residency, and establishing a career path in research. RSP trainees undertake the same clinical training as other residents during the CA-1 through CA-3 years, with the exception that RSP trainees will undertake 6 months of full-time research during the CA-3 years, as allowed by the ABA. After the CA-3 year, RSP trainees will typically go onto 2 more years of full-time research in their chosen topic, under the guidance of their mentor and supported by the NIH T32 post-doctoral training grant in the department. Research Scholars may choose to work with investigators within the department, or in other clinical or basic science departments at Yale.
Clinical Scientist Track
Third-year Anesthesiology residents may take a series of advanced clinical rotations, or they may choose to participate in the Clinical Scientist track. In this program, residents spend six months focusing in depth and participating in faculty research on questions of advanced academic clinical interest.
Departmental Support
Wherever your educational interest, career aspirations and intellectual curiosity take you, our mission is to provide the departmental support you need. Whether it be research, contributing to a clinical program, serving on a committee, advancing an educational project, teaching medical students, or designing a new device, we are here to help you achieve your goals.
We also have a library and access to hospital funds that can be used for books, conferences and other personal items, such as handheld computers and smartphones.
Other features of the Department of Anesthesiology residency program include:
- A cadaver lab in the Yale School of Medicine to correlate anatomy with regional anesthesia techniques
- Weekly departmental Grand Rounds, including a morbidity and mortality conference
- Weekly Chair rounds with Dr. Roberta Hines
- Journal Club meetings held at on campus
- The department has access to a new Simulation Lab across the street from the hospital. The Stimulation Program is still expanding; currently sessions are being held monthly. The residents gather at the Simulation Lab to go over common and uncommon scenarios. The goal is to train residents to respond correctly to realistic situations in a mock operating room set-up.
