During your residency you will be responsible for attending our departmental morning lectures and conferences, held daily at 7:00 to 7:40 a.m.  Below is an outline of these lectures.

A. Introductory Lecture Series: The Introductory Lectures are designed specifically for the new residents to provide basic information pertaining to anesthesia. The Introductory Lectures are held Monday through Thursday during July, August, and September and will be in room R5-265 of the Academic Research Building. The Introductory Lecture Series is repeated each summer for all residents and faculty, but focuses on the needs of new residents.  New information may be presented at these lectures as the specialty evolves.

B. Anesthesiology Lecture Schedule: The Anesthesiology Lecture Schedules are made up of "lecture blocks" addressing subspecialties of anesthesia such as: Cardiovascular, Ambulatory, Neuroanesthesia, OB, Pain, Pediatrics, Intensive Care, Pharmacology, etc. All of these subspecialty lecture blocks are incorporated into the lecture schedules over a three-year course, and repeats itself every three years. This normal lecture schedule will resume in October beginning with the Pain lecture block. Generally, five conferences are held each week from 7:00-7:40 a.m.  The lecture schedule for the current and coming months are available on the web. 

C. Problem Based Learning Sessions (PBLs): PBLs are scheduled small group learning sessions occurring occasionally throughout the year. There are six small groups consisting of approximately 10-15 residents. Various faculty members will be assigned as moderators during the course of the year, but resident groups and seminar room numbers will remain the same throughout the year (see PBL Permanent Group listing for your particular group). PBL exercises are designed to help you learn to use literature and computer resources for active learning about a particular topic. Each member of the group will have an assigned area to teach to the remainder of the group. Assignments will be made for the first PBL meeting for each particular problem. You will receive a handout a few days before PBL exercises and are responsible for reading material and using references provided in order to prepare. Reference packets will be available for preview in the Residents' Library (you may make your own copies if you wish). The reference packets must remain in the library since there are limited copies. Please arrive on time for your group because each group depends on all its members.

D. Residents' Breakfast: On the first and second Thursday of each month, breakfasts are held to discuss new business and problems, and to answer any questions. Both breakfasts begin at 7:00 a.m. in Room R5-265. The breakfast held on the first Thursday, listed as "Chairman's Conference," is conducted by the Chairman, Dr. Nik Gravenstein, and the Associate Chairman for Education, Dr. Mike Mahla. The breakfast held on the second Thursday, listed as "Residents' Conference," is conducted by our chief residents. If there is a particular subject you wish to discuss at this breakfast or at the Chairman's Breakfast, please contact one of our three Chief Residents, Mary Herman, M.D., Danny Muehlschlegel, M.D., and David Stettler, D.O. who are responsible for coordinating these breakfasts.

E. Anesthesiology Case Conference: Case Discussion Conferences are held every Friday in Room 6120 at 7:00 a.m.   Anesthesiology Case Conference is a conference of the faculty, residents and other clinical employees of the department to evaluate the clinical services rendered to determine if those services were professionally indicated or were performed in compliance with the applicable standards of care with the goal of improving the quality of health care.  It is also a forum of ideas and cases of significant clinical teaching value. These are not lectures; questions and discussions are encouraged and necessary in order for these conferences to be effective. Case Discussions will be moderated by various faculty members, and residents will frequently be asked to participate either by presenting cases or presenting a brief review of literature relevant to the presented case.

F. Quality Assurance/Improvement Conference (QA/I): On one designated Friday every other month, case discussion will be directed toward quality assurance issues. This conference will be moderated by Jerry A. Cohen, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology. Quality and resource management issues summarizing our quality assessment activities, opportunities and strategies for improving care, risk management activities, and the impact of economic constraints on the quality of care, are discussed at this conference.

G. Academic Requirement:   There are several options for satisfying your residency training academic requirement.   You must complete at least ONE of the activities below to meet the Departmental Academic Requirement

• As one option, during your CA2 or CA3 year, you could present a formal lecture on a topic of your choice. You will be given the option to select topics from the various upcoming lecture blocks. Once you have found a topic you are interested in and have approval from the faculty member responsible for the lecture(s), you will give a presentation which may include slides, transparencies, and/or handouts.
• Alternatively, you may prepare for publication one of the cases you present on a Friday morning. These articles become part of a column in the Journal of Clinical Anesthesia called "Case Discussion at the University of Florida." The faculty members presenting the case with you will help you prepare the article. 
• As a third option, you may prepare a paper suitable for publication - which may be a case presentation, review article, or results of basic research in which you participated.
• As a fourth option, you may volunteer as an editor for the annual Departmental Keywords Book. 
• Finally, preparation and presentation of your research, a case discussion, or topic review of the literature at the Gulf Atlantic Residents' Conference will satisfy the academic requirement. 

COMPLETION OF ONE OF THESE ACTIVITIES IS REQUIRED FOR GRADUATION!!

I. Attendance policies : Accurate attendance records for all conferences are maintained. Conferences begin at 7:00 a.m.; please show courtesy by being prompt to morning lecture. It is the responsibility of each resident to scan your ID badge on the attendance computer on a daily basis, or, if you are viewing the lecture remotely, you should sign in using the viewing software on the computer.  The time you 'badge-in" will be logged, and credit for conference attendance will not be given if you fail to 'badge-in" or login remotely .

We consider the morning lecture series to be an integral part of your education, and therefore, attendance at morning conference is mandatory.  A satisfactory attendance rate will be required to receive a completely satisfactory clinical competence report to the American Board of Anesthesiology.  You must attend at least 60% of all conferences during each six month period.  The 60% level is chosen to allow for vacations, sick time, and any rotations where conference attendance would be difficult or impossible (ICU, outside rotations, etc).  CA-3 residents with multiple outside rotations will only be tracked for the time they are in Gainesville.  Please note, conference may now be viewed from FSC, the VA, the Pain Clinic, and Shands at AGH.  Each site has a computer where you can view the live conference.  There is also a microphone with which you may ask questions and interact with speakers.  Your attendance must be logged in the program that allows you to view the lectures. 

Residents who fail to meet the 60% conference requirement in a given six month period will be reported as unsatisfactory in the core competency, Practice-Based Learning and Improvement.  This unsatisfactory report will also result in loss of credit for the six month training block and may require you to extend your residency training.  Residents who fail to meet the 60% attendance requirement AND who score less than the 30th percentile level on the annual ASA/ABA In-training Examination in addition risk academic probation.  A resident who scores less than the 30th percentile on the In-training examination who attends conference regularly will likely not be placed on probation for this problem alone.

Residents are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of your conference attendance records. 

Attendance records are necessary for accreditation and for frequent reports that must be submitted to the ABA and various national and state agencies.

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Revised 6/2007