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Residency Training in Anesthesiology at the University Of Washington
The Department of Anesthesia at the University of Washington serves the educational needs for the five "WWAMI" states: Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. We offer 3 and 4 year residency training programs in anesthesiology with an opportunity for final year residents to undertake a 6 month research track. Training is conducted at our 4 main affiliated teaching hospitals all with national and international reputations. We provide a high volume of complex and interesting cases and residents have the opportunity to be taught by experienced faculty members, many of who are national and international leaders in their fields of expertise.
Brief History of UW
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Dr. John Bonica |
The University of Washington was founded in 1861 and is located in Seattle on the shores of Lake Washington. The UW School of Medicine has an outstanding national reputation for teaching, clinical service and research. Likewise, our department is ranked among the leading academic departments in the country. The Department of Anesthesiology was founded in 1960 by Dr. John Bonica, a world leader in regional anesthesia and pain management.
We pride ourselves on the depth and breadth of the training we offer. When a physician completes our program, he or she is equipped to handle any clinical situation in the perioperative period. The University of Washington Medical Center is located on the university campus and our residents and faculty have ready access to scientists in all disciplines so that collaborative efforts are facilitated. The Department has extensive grant-supported basic and clinical research programs and many externally funded grants.
Overview of Anesthesiology Residency Training at UW
A Top Notch Program
In April 2006, the UW anesthesiology residency training program was reaccredited by the ACGME for a period of 5 years, placing us in the top 20% of residency training programs nationally.
We are accredited for 63 residents in the clinical anesthesia years 1 though 3, (21 residents per year). We also offer 6 “categorical” positions for PGY1 residents who rotate through linked medicine and surgery rotations.
A top choice for Medical Students
Anesthesiology is an increasingly popular subspecialty for graduating medical students. The Department of Anesthesiology has close links to the University of Washington Medical School, offering 2 and 4 week clerkships for medical students from both the local medical school and from schools across the country. Anesthesiology is one of the top choices for graduating medical students and has consistently been in the top 5 choices of specialties which UW medical students match to after graduating, attracting between 7 and 11% of UW graduates since 2002. Of these upwards of 40% join our own residency program.
We welcome applications from external medical students to join our program for a clerkship - come and work with our residents and attendings and experience our training program first hand! - many current and former residents joined our training program after being favorably impressed as medical students.
Contact Kim Mabee kmabee@u.washington.edu 206 543 2474 for details about our clerkship opportunities.
Successful Graduating Residents
Residents enrolled in our training program are enthusiastic, dedicated, hard working physicians who have to deal with some of the toughest cases referred to our hospitals across the 5 “WWAMI” states. Consequently our graduating residents are highly sought after by private practice and academic institutions across the country. The following shows a break down of where the 130 graduates of our program from 2001 to 2007 have gone to practice anesthesiology.
| Activities of 130 residents after graduating | Number | % |
| Fellowship / Academic Institution | 14 | 11% |
| Washington state PP | 51 | 39% |
| Rest of the “WAMI” states | 9 | 7% |
| Other States, mainly West and Mid-west | 56 | 43% |
Graduating Residency Class of 2007
Click to enlarge
After three years of hard work and dedication, the class of 2007 celebrate at their graduation banquet!. This outstanding group of newly qualified anesthesiologists look forward to the next step of their careers in fellowship positions at the University of Washington, Oregon Health Sciences University and Cleveland Clinic and in private practices in Washington state, Alaska, Chicago and California..
Success in the American Board of Anesthesiology Examinations.
Our graduating residents who took the written ABA examination in 2005 had a 100% (19/19) first time pass rate and in 2006 the pass rate was 94% (17/18). Full certification by the ABA is granted after passing the oral boards examination usually within the first few years of graduating. Our pass rates over the last 5 years have well exceeded the national average:
| Year of Graduation | Total Graduated | ABA Certified (as of 2005) | National rates |
| 2000 | 18 | 17 - 94% | 726 - 78% |
| 2001 | 14 | 14 – 100% | 881 – 78% |
| 2002 | 19 | 15 – 79% | 962 – 75% |
| 2003 | 18 | 15 – 83% | 992 – 74% |
| 2004 | 19 | 13 - 68% | 808 – 58% |
| Total | 88 | 73 – 83% | 4369 - 72% |
Training Hospitals
Residency training at the University of Washington is conducted at the four major affiliated hospitals, University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC), Harborview Medical Center (HMC), Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center (CHRMC) and Veteran’s Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System (VA). Residents may also undertake subspecialty rotations at local private hospitals including Virginia Mason (regional anesthesia and ambulatory surgery), Evergreen (obstetric anesthesia) and Northwest (cardiac anesthesia).
Clinical Case Load
Our training program adheres strictly to the program requirements defined by the ACGME http://www.acgme.org/acWebsite/RRC_040/040_prIndex.asp
We are already planning for the curriculum changes to be implemented in July 2008, and for most of our rotations only minimal changes will be necessary to provide the required training opportunities.
Resident training in anesthesiology is in many ways an apprenticeship, with an emphasis on teaching and learning “on the job” in the operating rooms, intensive care units and pain clinics. The UW anesthesiology program provides ample clinical cases and training opportunities in all areas of clinical anesthesia, pain medicine and intensive care. A summary of the case logs from the graduating class of 2007 are shown below with the minimum ACGME requirement in brackets. On average our residents take care of at least 1200 cases per year of training.
| Cardiac bypass | Intracranial procedures | Cesarian section | Vaginal delivery | Epidurals | Spinals | Nerve blocks |
| 27 (20) | 65 (20) | 48 (20) | 62 (40) | 124 (50) | 75 (50) | 70 (40) |
| Major vascular | Major trauma | Pediatric cases < 1yr | Pediatric cases 1-12 yrs | Acute and chronic pain patients | Patients > 65 yrs | Ambulatory surgery cases |
| 33 (20) | 99 (10) | 50 (15) | 182 (100) | 100 (25) | 430 | 460 |
Faculty Supervision and Teaching
The faculty at UW comprises many local, national and internationally known anesthesiologists. Faculty work closely with residents at all times providing supervision and clinical teaching in the operating rooms. In many cases residents are supervised 1:1 by faculty particularly in areas such as cardiac, obstetric and pediatric anesthesia. 1:1 supervision is also provided in the first 4 -6 weeks of a resident’s training. At other times the minimum supervision residents can expect is their faculty member supervising one other operating room with a CRNA or another resident.
Dr Janet Pavlin MD demonstrates ultrasound-guided popliteal nerve blockade to Dr Jasper Chen. |
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Dr Alex Vitin assists DrDiane Goebel placing a swan ganz catheter in a patient for liver transplantation. With upwards of 120 OLT cases per year our residents all get ample experience of these most challenging cases. If you can handle a liver transplant you can handle just about anything! |
Didactic Curriculum
The didactic curriculum has been developed over several years to provide graded education that runs in tandem with residents’ clinical experience in the operating rooms. Three hours of protected time are set aside for resident lectures every Wednesday morning. In the first 2 months of the academic year the CA1 residents undergo an intensive course of lectures covering basic physiology, pharmacology, equipment and the practice of general anesthesia. For the remained of the year the lectures follow a three weekly cycle for the CA1, CA2 and CA3 residents. The CA1 residents continue with fundamental knowledge, for the CA2 residents, lectures focus on the subspecialty areas such as cardiothoracic, neuro and regional anesthesia to reflect the subspecialty rotations. In the CA3 year the didactic curriculum offers a number of interactive seminars with an in depth discussion of pertinent topics. Residents also receive didactic lectures during their subspecialty rotations in obstetric anesthesia, pediatric anesthesia, intensive care and pain medicine.
In addition there are weekly resident conferences at each hospital, departmental grand rounds, morbidity and mortality conferences, journal clubs, oral boards review and special evening seminars. Resident attendance is expected at all educational events and CRNAs and faculty provide coverage in the ORs to facilitate resident attendance at educational events.
- All full list of weekly conferences is provided.
Dr Sanjay Bhananker demonstrates the anatomy of the femoral nerve during a ‘resident special” workshop on regional anesthesia. We hold a variety “resident special” workshops with faculty and CRNAs providing cover in the ORs to allow all residents to attend.. |
Simulation Training in Anesthesiology
We have a fully operational anesthesia simulator and a well defined program of simulation sessions for residents covering areas such as critical incident management and crew resource training. Click here to go to the UW's Institute for Surgical and Interventional Simulation (ISIS).
Research Opportunities
There are many opportunities for residents to become involved in research projects. We have many, well funded faculty actively engaged in all manner of research including laboratory based work, clinical research, and analysis of closed claims data from the Closed Claims Data base. Many of our residents present abstracts and posters at local and national meetings such at the Western Anesthesia Resident Conference (WARC), ASA, SNAAC, PGA. Each resident is provided with an academic fund of $1000 per year to facilitate scholarly activities and there is additional departmental funding for residents who are selected to present work at national meetings. In the CA3 year all residents have an elective month which allows an opportunity to undertake more detailed research projects. In the CA3 year residents with a definite academic interest may participate in the 6 month resident research track (RRT). This track is an alternative to clinical anesthesia devoted to developing the skills necessary for a career in academic anesthesia and research. With appropriate approval and mentoring residents work on clinical or laboratory based research projects.
For more details about the RRT see the RRT goals and objectives.
Duty Hours
At UW we pay strict attention to the ACGME defined work hours and closely monitor our resident duty hours. The average hours worked by residents per week for 2006 - 07 academic years were: CA1s 55.11: CA2s 57.58: CA3s 51.58.
Residency Program Director and Staff
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Residency Program Director |
Residency Program Coordinator Assistant Program Coordinators |
Questions?
Please call, email or write if you need additional information or assistance. Contact Louena Goodwin (206-543-2773; fax 206-543-2958; anesuwa@u.washington.edu).
Our program is indexed on the AMA's Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database (FREIDA). Click here to go to FREIDA and search for our program using our 10-digit identifier: 0405421161
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