Another option is the Clinical Scientist Track, in which residents spend six months performing clinical or laboratory research and six months in advanced clinical assignments. Each of these opportunities is available in several variations. The presence of a large group of experienced nurse anesthetists facilitates the assignment of residents to the most educational clinical cases. This also facilitates the process of relieving residents for didactic conferences each day, thereby providing residents unequaled access to teaching conferences. For more than 20 years, the department's philosophy has been to keep the residency program relatively small to enhance didactic education, faculty contact and exposure to the most educational clinical cases.
Didactic conferences fall into several categories.
An introductory lecture series each July and August prepares new residents for the clinical challenges they will face. Subsequent didactic lectures and Grand Rounds presentations are grouped in blocks related to subspecialties or to categories such as neuromuscular blocking drugs, local anesthetics, cardiovascular physiology and pharmacology. Many of the conferences are interactive, problem-oriented discussions. Anesthesiology residents at Allegheny General Hospital have the opportunity to teach medical students, residents from other services, their fellow anesthesiology residents, nurses and other allied health professionals. To enhance learning and prepare for future educational roles, residents occasionally prepare and develop didactic conferences delivered to fellow residents under the supervision of an assigned faculty adviser.