Time Spent Teaching Pays Off

James C. Opton, M.D.

e are going through a time when the specialty of anesthesiology attracts a great deal of interest on the part of medical students. This is a great opportunity for us residents to showcase our field for people who do not know much about what we do on a day-to-day basis.

One excellent way to achieve this goal is to pay attention to teaching. Teaching shows medical students that we like the subject itself (anesthesiology) and that we get excited about the way we deliver care. It also demonstrates how physiology, pharmacology and the other basic science fundamentals of our discipline can be applied to specific patients, playing out in real time in the operating room (O.R.).

I personally get motivated to teach not only because I enjoy the process but because I want to do what I can to promote the specialty as well as our residency program. Students notice when the residents of the department take an interest in them; and getting to know the students helps to keep track of the best candidates — then we can work on getting those people to stay at our medical center for their residency.

It helps that the anesthesia rotation at our institution has developed a good reputation — one that springs from a dedication to medical student education on the part of the department as a whole. Preceptors from our department are involved with medical students from the time they begin medical school, as early as the first week of the first year.

In general, when I have a medical student in the O.R. with me, I try to stick to the basics. Why did I choose this specific anesthetic for this specific patient? What characteristics about the patient and the nature of the surgery are important in influencing that decision? When they have a lecture that day, I try to find out the topic and talk about it with them before they go to the lecture.

Other good topics I frequently find myself discussing include basic airway management, blood gas analysis, intravenous and inhalational anesthetics, muscle relaxants, and so on.

It helps to remember what it was like when we first entered the O.R. Medical students are pretty nervous in general — a lot of them have never been in the O.R. before. This is a setting where one wrong step to the right or left can contaminate the sterile field. In addition, when they first set foot in the O.R., everyone is watching them, particularly the nurses. The nurses seem to be as nervous about the medical students as the medical students are about being in the O.R. To have an anesthesiology resident available to help anchor them throughout their day is helpful.

Ultimately anesthesiology in general almost speaks for itself as it becomes more popular, and people have realized how fascinating it can really be — but we can help the process along. We had a student last year who rotated with us and said she was going into surgery. She came through again this year and said, “I changed my mind and am now going into anesthesiology.” I like to think we influenced that a little bit.

ASA Resident Component: Call for Candidates
Congratulations to all of the residents who have gotten involved in ASA on the national and state level this past year! I hope that this is only the beginning of your involvement in ASA.

Our Annual Meeting is just around the corner, October 14-18, in Chicago. There are many events just for residents; but specifically, I want to personally invite each of you to the Resident Component House of Delegates on Saturday, October 14.

Our House of Delegates is the business meeting of the Resident Component. We will discuss issues and resolutions important to residents. In addition we will hold our elections for the ASA Resident Component Governing Council: president-elect, alternate delegate to the American Medical Association, secretary and co-editor of the ASA NEWSLETTER “Residents’ Review” column. Any ASA resident member with 18 months left in training (including fellowship) is invited to run for office.

To learn more about the responsibilities of each position, please visit the ASA Resident Component Web site at <www.ASAhq.org/asarc/index.html> or e-mail any of the current governing council members.

If you are interested in running for office, please mail your candidate statement and curriculum vitae to Denise M. Jones, ASA Assistant Executive Director. If you are interested in the “Residents’ Review” editor position, please submit a 500- to 700-word writing sample on a topic of your choice.
In addition, if you would like to submit a resolution to the Resident Component House of Delegates, please send those to Ms. Jones as well. Her mailing address is ASA, 520 N. Northwest Highway, Park Ridge, IL 60068-2573.

Resolutions and candidate statements are due by September 1, 2006.

Be active, and stay involved. Your future depends on it! See you in Chicago!