The Didactic Program

The Department of Anesthesia offers a comprehensive didactic program to enhance the education of our trainees.  Combined with daily intra-operative instruction, residents are also expected to read on a regular basis.  Each conference has a different emphasis towards resident learning.  We are proud to have a wide variety of conference formats and themes to help meet our goal of producing expert consultants in anesthesiology.  Conferences begin prior to the day’s clinical activity, eliminating interruptions and ensuring attendance for all.  For those residents rotating at the Washington Hospital Center, a live video teleconferencing system is available so that no lectures are missed.  Didactics take place from 6:30-7:00 AM every day, with the exception of Thursday conferences (6:30-7:30 AM).  This month’s conference schedule is available for viewing.

Intra-operative Didactics

Board Preparation

Keywords Review
To help prepare for the written board examination, residents are assigned three “keywords” topics to present each week.  Keywords are selected from a group of topics which the majority of residents answered incorrectly on that year’s In-Training Exam.  This year’s keywords assignments are available for viewing.

Mock Oral Boards
All residents will sit in the “hot seat” several times throughout their training.  Practice oral examinations are conducted each month by two members of the faculty.

Refresher Course Lectures
Members of the faculty present weekly formal lectures covering a variety of subspecialties, such as cardiac, pediatric, and obstetric anesthesia.  These conferences are based upon the Refresher Course Lectures – i.e. the “hot” topics – given at the Annual American Society of Anesthesiologists meeting.

Barash Review
This conference is a long-standing tradition at Georgetown, and is conducted by the Program Director.   Residents are expected to read one chapter per week from Barash’s comprehensive textbook Clinical Anesthesia.  Salient points, particularly as they relate to exam questions, are reviewed.

Resident Jeopardy
Who says that you can’t have fun while studying?  We are now conducting quarterly quiz shows using a Jeopardy computer system.  Prizes are awarded!

General Interest

Morbidity and Mortality Conference
Major complications, critical incidents, and interesting cases are selected for monthly discussion.  Presented by both residents and attendings, this conference seeks to identify optimal methods of case management, explore clinical decision-making, and highlight quality improvement.

Chairman’s Conference / Journal Club
The Chairman of the Department, Young Kim, MD, meets with the residents each month to discuss the latest advances and research from the anesthesiology literature.  Dinner is provided.

Grand Rounds
A variety of topics related to anesthesiology, surgery, and medicine are presented.  Speakers include departmental faculty, renowned anesthesiologists from other medical centers, colleagues from departments within Georgetown University Hospital, and our senior residents.

ACGME Competencies

Ethics
Daniel Davis, Ph.D., a faculty member in Georgetown’s Center for Clinical Bioethics and Executive Director of the President’s Council on Bioethics, meets with the residents monthly to discuss interesting ethical cases related to perioperative medicine.

Systems-Based Practice
Conducted by one of our faculty members with degrees in law and business, this monthly conference covers topics such as insurance, litigation, billing, and employment contracts.

Core Competencies
Issues such as professionalism, interpersonal skills, and communication skills as they pertain to daily anesthetic practice are discussed.