EDUCATION

The one-year clinical fellowship initiates a career as a lifelong learner in pediatric anesthesiology and perioperative care. The overall goals of the program are to foster the development of the following:303

• A broad clinical experience that develops proficiency in functioning independently as an anesthesia consultant caring for neonates, infants, children, and adolescents undergoing a wide variety of surgical or diagnostic procedures.
• Technically proficient skills in pediatric airway management and pediatric invasive monitoring.
• A comprehensive understanding of the developmental, pharmacological, anatomical, physiological, and psychological changes that occur with age and disease that will prepare the fellow for future subspecialty
• Proficiency in treating pediatric acute pain and significant experience with chronic pediatric pain diagnosis and management principles.
• An understanding of, and proficiency in, pediatric advanced life support and introduction to pediatric critical care
• An introduction to academic and professional development and scholarly activities including teaching and supervision, evidence-based practice, clinical research, institutional and specialty service, quality improvement processes and leadership.

Rotations

• Main OR (8 Blocks): Fellows are exposed to the full array of pediatric cases, including out-of-OR experiences. Fellows have priority for index and interesting or challenging cases. Throughout this time, fellows are scheduled for two weeks of perioperative medicine* that provide an opportunity to supervise, run the board, participate in remote anesthesia, staff the PACU and preop areas, or to focus on special techniques such as elective practice of advanced airway techniques. In addition, some vacation time is typically taken from this block.
• Cardiac Anesthesia (2 blocks): Fellows rotate in two cardiac OR’s, the cath lab, bedside PICU procedures, cardiac MRI, and occasionally into general OR’s for CV patients having non-CV surgery. Fellows can expect to complete about 15 cardiopulmonary bypass cases each month.
• Pain (1 block): Fellows develop independent skills managing a comprehensive, acute, inpatient pain service. In addition, focused experience with regional blocks can be arranged. The outpatient clinic provides an introduction to chronic pain management, as well as exposure to adjuvant therapies including acupuncture, meditation, and relaxation techniques.
• Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (1 block): Fellows rotate four weeks on the 3rd floor cardiac ICU, and function as integral team members in a role equivalent to the junior pediatric fellow. There is direct patient care and on-call responsibility. PICU faculty provide a didactic curriculum and daily bedside teaching.
• Elective: Typically booked as one 2-week elective slot. The fellow may choose additional time in CV, pain service, or in neonatology critical care. Additionally, some fellows arrange for ‘away rotations’ or an international medicine experience with one of our many participating faculty members. Research and other elective options are available with approval from the Program Director.

Didactics

• Fellow Conference: Held every Monday from 7:00-8:15 am.  Conferences include an exploration of Core topics, chapter reviews, PBLD’s and case discussions.  Additionally, oral boards preparation are included within this fellow level conference. Presented by departmental faculty, visiting speakers, and the fellows (chapter reviews).
• QA (M&M) Conference: Held at 6:30 am each Friday; faculty moderate on topics and cases from our practice; each fellow moderates at least one conference during the academic year.
• Evening Seminar Series: Workshops, professor's rounds, journal clubs and some guest speaker seminars are held in the evenings at 5:00 pm about 13 times throughout the year. The emphasis is on discussion and professional development.
• Anesthesia Visiting Professor Series: This series, which takes place 4-5 times per year, has historically been offered at 5:00 pm and 6:30 am, Thursday and Friday, respectively. A robust series of nationally known invited speakers of national repute speak on timely and often controversial topics.
• Cardiac Multidisciplinary Conferences: Held several times per month; these include a weekly cath conference, as well CV QI, journal club and reviews of core cardiac lesions.
• Simulation Sessions: Eight simulator sessions are held from 4:00-6:00 pm each month. PALS training is typically one of the first sessions in the academic year.  Simulation training occurs at our STAR simulation center, or with the mobile SimBaby™.
• Board Preparation Series: An annual ten-session board preparation series takes place from late winter to early spring to assist fellows preparing to take their applied exams in the upcoming year.
• Additional Opportunities: Daily there is a robust series of lecture topics. Fellows participate when they are able and PICU, pain service, and the elective month offer opportunities to attend pediatric grand rounds, noon case conferences, etc.