Stanford Anesthesia Didactic Education Program

Anesthesia Resident Education : Anesthesia residents enjoy the annual refresher course provided by the Department.
At the end of each resident year, an Anesthesia Refresher Course is held over two days on a weekend for our residents. Each day, 5-7 lectures are presented. Our faculty, many of whom give ASA Refresher Courses at our society's annual meeting, give a lecture on a subject of their particular expertise with extensive handouts. Some lectures are delivered by faculty from other institutions. As of 2007, we have integrated an response system into the course so that everyone in the audience can instantaneously respond and view the group's responses to questions asked by the lecturer.
Each year the department sponsors hands-on workshops to reinforce clinical education in a more relaxed setting.
The Regional Anesthesia Workshop utilizes cadaver dissection, live and inanimate models to teach various aspects of regional anesthesia techniques.
The CA1 Airway Workshop teaches basic fiberoptic airway management skills using multiple stations and various teaching models. The goals of this workshop are:

Difficult Airway Workshop : CA-1 anesthesia residents working with Bainton models under the supervision of Dr. Vladamir Nekhendsy.
- Develop basic skills for handling the scope, rotating the scope, centering the image, and use of the 'channel'
- Mapping, devising a plan, working with straight vs inverted images
- Familiarity with oral and nasal anatomy
- Use of Williams airway/Patil-Syracuse mask
- Placing scope into right and left mainstem
- FOI via LMA classic, with tube-in-tube, nasal RAE, Aintree catheter
- Anterograde wire-assisted FOI via LMA
- FOI via LMA-Fastrach
The CA2/3 Airway Workshop for more senior residents gives residents hands-on trainging in the following:

Difficult Airway Workshop : CA-3 anesthesia residents working with fiber optic equipment, lower airway anatomy, double-lumen endotracheal tubes and bronchial blockers.
- Fastrach LMA
- Video MAC and Glidescope
- Bullard and Bonflis retromolar rigid fiberoptic techniques
- Lower airway anatomy and use of DLTs, bronchial blockers
- Cricothyrotomy, Transtracheal Jet Ventilation
- Combitube, Retrograde Intubation
The Clinical Competence Committee carefully monitors each resident's progress. Each resident chooses an individual faculty advisor with whom the Committee consults. An In-Training Exam is given once a year and practice oral exams are administered twice each year to all residents as preparation for the American Board of Anesthesiology certification process. Each year, residents receive three weeks of vacation. The department pays the travel expenses of any resident or fellow who presents a paper at a scientific meeting describing original research done at Stanford. Every year, $500 is available to each resident for the purchase of educational materials.

