Regional Clinical Experience

General Participation Requirements

The regional anesthesia fellowship will begin on July 1st of each year and end on June 30th of the following year.  During this 12-month period, the regional anesthesia fellow will be assigned to the regional anesthesia service every other week and will be a Clinical Instructor in Anesthesiology during the other week. Compensation will reflect the fact that 50% of the fellow's time will be spent performing faculty duties. Some non-clinical time will be provided for the fellow to prepare talks and/or pursue research projects. The typical workday will be eight to ten hours long. Weekend clinical duties will occur at 50% the frequency of a full faculty member. Two weeks of vacation and one week of meeting time will be provided.

1.  Regional Anesthesia Experience
Along with the resident assigned to the regional anesthesia service, the regional fellow evaluates potential regional anesthesia candidates, performs regional procedures, and follows up on postoperative patients. Each case is discussed with a member of the regional anesthesia faculty. An anesthetic plan is formulated, as are plans for postoperative analgesia and care. Anesthetic care is always provided under the direct supervision of a member of the regional anesthesia faculty. As the fellow gains experience, he/she will be given the opportunity to assist the faculty in teaching clinical skills to residents, medical students, and
CRNAs.

2.  Acute Pain Service
The regional fellow will spend time on the Acute Pain Service. This service is responsible for placement of continous epidurals for pain management, treatment of spinal headaches by epidural blood patch, and daily rounds for the management of epidurals and peripheral nerve block catheters.

3.  Research Elective (optional)
The fellow is strongly encouraged to participate in ongoing and/or original research projects. Depending on the demands of the project, work in this area can be incorporated into non-clinical time provided during regular operating room rotations or may be provided as a block of time, up to 2 months. Support for research projects is available through the department's research division. Laboratory space is available, along with technical support for animal studies. The department has ample computer and technical support for database entry, management, and statistical analysis. Two research nurses are on staff to assist with research protocol development, subject recruitment, and data collection for clinical studies. A modest departmental research fund is available to support projects deemed to be of sufficient merit.