Mission

The NMCSD Anesthesiology Residency mission is to provide education, training, and experience in a positive, respectful environment with sufficient academic and clinical experience to develop residents into military anesthesiologists who can independently execute acquired knowledge, skills, and abilities across a range of clinical settings.

Aims

Our aim is to provide excellent education, training, and experience in a positive, respectful environment with sufficient academic and clinical experience to prepare residents to independently execute acquired knowledge and skills. The program will prepare military anesthesia consultants through robust clinical experience with a focus on perioperative management and consultation; general, obstetric, and pediatric anesthesiology; acute and chronic pain management; and crisis management with progressive autonomy. Emphasis will be placed on OR management and resource triage, interdisciplinary team leadership, management of complications, and scholarly activity to include quality improvement. Graduates of the program will be prepared to provide independent consultative services throughout the spectrum of perioperative care and adaptable to well-resourced and austere clinical environments. Graduates will be competitive for board certification, fellowship positions, and roles in military, private, or academic practice.

• Weekly conferences on textbook chapter(s)
• Monthly Oral Boards for nine months
• Monthly Journal Clubs with resident lead presentations
• Monthly Resident Education Day with simulations
• Grand Rounds presentations

Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) Sponsored Elective Rotations:

• Advanced Clinical Anesthesia
• Obstetrics
• Pediatric Anesthesia
• Regional Anesthesia Service
• Research

Rady Children's Hospital Sponsored Elective Rotations:

• Pediatric Anesthesia

University of California San Diego (UCSD) Sponsored Elective Rotations:

• Advanced Clinical Anesthesia
• Hyperbaric Medicine
• Intensive Care Unit
• Neuro-Critical Care (NCC)
• Transesophageal Echocardiography (TEE)

Our residents average 4-5 24-hour in-house call per month throughout their training. Overnight call is your opportunity to manage the entire anesthesia service and provide and coordinate perioperative care to our patients on an urgent/emergent basis. Most calls are taken at NMCSD except during periods of out-of-area rotations, such as Los Angeles County General Hospital and Stanford University Medical Center.

We train our residents to provide care in austere environments with limited supplies through real world scenarios and simulation based training. Additionally, opportunities for training are available with the USNS Mercy, Pacific Partnership, and civilian humanitarian missions, as well as through research partnership with the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

All Anesthesia Residents are required to maintain certification in Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) or Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) throughout residency.  

Simulation plays a vital role in the education of complex and critical situation in anesthesiology. All residents participate in our monthly simulation curriculum.

Residents are encouraged to take on leadership opportunities within our department and command. All residents will have the opportunity of leading a multidisciplinary operating room team in real time and in leading educational days for their peers. Select residents will also have the opportunity to serve as Chief Residents in the PGY-4 year.

Research opportunities are available through the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (Antarctica and Channel Island) in addition to research opportunities provided at NMCSD.

All residents are required to take part in a quality improvement project and in patient safety engagements during their residency.

All residents are required to attend at least one national society conference and present their scholarly work. Residents will also have the opportunity to serve as a house staff delegate in the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

• Kaiser Foundation Hospital
• Los Angeles County General Hospital
• Rady Children's Hospital 
• Stanford Heatlh Care
• University of California San Diego (UCSD)

Interested applicants are encouraged to rotate through one of our many services. We provide rotations in the general operating room, regional anesthesia, and interventional pain management clinic. 

Please visit our Medical Student Rotation informational page to see a listing of available medical student rotations offered at NMCSD.

We expect all interested applicants to interview with our program. This is your opportunity to shine and tell us all the great things you have done leading up to your application. In accordance with the Joint Graduate Medical Education Selection Board instruction, interviews will be done July through October of the selection year. Interviews can be done in person, virtually, or over phone (if deployed).  To request an interview, please email the Anesthesia Program Leadership at: dha.san-diego.San-Diego-NMC.list.nmcsd-anes@health.mil

Program graduates take the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) board exam. The exam is offered annually. To become fully board certified, applicants are eligible to register to take the two-part exam upon passing the Applied Exam. The board certification (Applied) exam includes oral and practical portions and may be taken nine months after graduation. To be eligible for the specialty board exam, graduates must complete all pre-requisites required by the specialty the ABA by September. Board eligibility prerequisite requirements and exam descriptions may be found on the ABA website: Get Certified - The American Board of Anesthesiology (theaba.org)

We expect all of our residents to be learner and educators. During your residency you will lead a team of peers, interns, and medical students in providing perioperative medicine. Our residents will also lead education days for the residency and present at Grand Rounds to the department.

All residents in their last year of training are eligible to participate in the USU Faculty Development Program.

• Cardiothoracic anesthesiology
• Critical Care Medicine
• Interventional and Restorative Pain Medicine
• Neuroanesthesiology
• Obstetrical anesthesiology
• Pediatric anesthesiology
• Regional anesthesiology

All residents are encouraged to seek their own personal mentor during their training. Additionally, every class is assigned two faculty mentors.

• All residents are afforded at least one non-clinical day per month.
• Monthly journal clubs (at the house of one of our faculty).
• Annual command sponsored “Wellness Day”.