The department of anesthesiology offers a complete range of training opportunities including 18 first-year post-doctoral positions (anesthesia internship positions) and an additional 13 advanced residency positions (PGY-2).

Base Year
This constitutes the first year of training in a four-year continuum of education. The American Board of Anesthesiology suggests that the first 12 months be devoted to clinical experience and training in a program other than clinical anesthesia.

Acceptable training in this clinical base year includes internal medicine, general surgery or any of the surgical specialties, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, neurology, family practice or an approved combination of these specialties.

The department’s anesthesia internship includes rotations on medical and surgical wards and ICUs, as well as relevant medical subspecialty rotations in pulmonology and cardiology. Transitioning to the operating rooms is facilitated by an intense anesthesia elective during the last month of internship.

Residency
The next three years of the clinical anesthesia curriculum (CA1 -3) consist of experience in basic anesthesia training, subspecialty anesthesia training and advanced anesthesia training.

The curriculum is one of increasing complexity and difficulty with the CA1 year devoted largely to the basic and fundamental aspects of anesthesia. Subspecialty anesthesia training provides experience in various sub disciplines of anesthesiology including obstetric anesthesia, pediatric anesthesia, cardiothoracic anesthesia, neuro-anesthesia, ambulatory anesthesia, post-anesthesia care, regional anesthesia, chronic and acute pain management and critical care.

In the third year, intensification of exposure to the subspecialty areas and the management of other complex and difficult cases occur. Residents may opt to pursue further training in a subspecialty track, the clinical scientist tract or various combinations of both. Further, a six month elective in research is available.

One-year fellowships in pain management, critical care, cardiac, pediatric, obstetric, regional, and solid-organ transplant anesthesia and patient safety are available.

Each resident administers approximately 500 anesthetics per year under the direct supervision of a full-time academic staff. Resident experience includes the anesthetic management of thoracic surgical (including cardiopulmonary by-pass), neurologic, pediatric, genitourinary, orthopedic, ENT, gynecologic, ontological, organ transplantation and general surgery patients. In addition to Jackson Memorial hospital, residents rotate for varying periods of time to the Veterans Administration Hospital, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Jackson South Hospital, Miami Children's Hospital, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Sylvester Cancer Center and University of Miami Hospital.

In addition, residents rotate through the Ryder Trauma Center. The Ryder Trauma Center is the only adult and pediatric level I trauma center in South Florida. Residents gain outstanding experience in the management of traumatically injured patients and difficult airway management.


The department directs the UM/JMH Center for Patient Safety, a state-of-the-art research facility that houses high-fidelity patient simulators. Patient simulation has been fully integrated into the standing resident curriculum, and residents visit the Center for Patient Safety at regularly intervals.

Daily conferences are held throughout the department, as well as weekly Grand Rounds and monthly journal clubs. The department enjoys a very active Visiting Professor Lecture Program, with many prominent speakers featured throughout the year.

Residents are also an integral part of providing education. This is accomplished in teaching medical students and interns who rotate through the department.