Some first year residents also get the opportunity to complete a month of regional anesthesia at the Long Beach VA Medical Center. You will spend two weeks assigned to the Post Anesthesia Care Unit. The PG III year is divided into a series of one-month subspecialty rotations at several medical centers. This 15 bed unit is managed by the Department of Anesthesiology along with a team that includes an anesthesia intensivist faculty, two PG-V fellows, two anesthesia residents and a surgical resident. The third year of residency gives senior residents an opportunity to focus on the sub-specialty area where they have the highest interest.
Residents generally divide their away rotations into two to three month blocks.
During your senior year, you will develop expertise in sub-specialty areas of anesthesia. You will perform as a consultant in anesthesiology and function as a perioperative physician. You will develop patient care plans in simple or complicated medical conditions and surgeries. You will receive supervision for anesthetic procedures, and it is expected that you will demonstrate sound clinical judgement while developing a clinical care plan for the patient with complex medical histories. At this point, it is expected that you will effectively communicate concerns with surgeons and other medical specialists regarding the perioperative management of patients.