For me, starting my anesthesia training was a welcome change from internship because I could begin to concentrate on learning the skills necessary to become a well-trained anesthesiologist. The ICU resident carries between 2 and 5 patients, and is responsible for organized presentations of the patient's information on rounds, as well as completion of the patients note. Morning rounds usually commence at 8 AM and last about 2-3 hours, as each patient is presented, discussed, and plans are organized for the day. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the ICU team has a noontime lecture on a particular ICU topic, given by the ICU fellows or attendings, and on Thursday afternoons, a multidisciplinary critical care grand rounds is held, combining the medical, neurologic and pediatric critical care staff. Between 4 and 5 PM, brief walk rounds for each patient takes place with the overnight attending and after this, the residents not on call that evening go home.
Overnight call is generally every fourth night.
On your post call days, you can go home after morning rounds and after your work is signed out. First, the opportunity to work alongside colleagues from other departments strengthens your working relationship with them. The group of attendings that work in both the surgical and cardiothoracic intensive care units are all anesthesiologists, and they also work in the operating room. Lastly, like most things in medicine, clinical experience is paramount. The ICU experience provides the opportunity to care for some of the most critically ill patients in the region, using some of the latest healthcare technology all the while integrating the experience with your anesthesia education.