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Anesthesiology Curriculum & Clinical Rotations
Our residents receive a comprehensive educational experience that is made to ensure acquisition of the skills, knowledge, and judgment necessary to be exemplary leaders in anesthesiology.
Our residency is a four-year categorical program inclusive of the Clinical Base Year (CBY). Training is divided into 13 four-week blocks in the CBY through CA-3 with a balance between clinical hands-on training and didactic instruction.
Residents are introduced to vital subspecialty rotations during CA-1 year. Exposure to subspecialties early in training:
- Aids resident security and comfort in their clinical practice
- Progresses the program toward competency-based rotations, an active goal within anesthesiology training at-large
- Provides an opportunity to customize training and electives to better suit individual resident needs as they progress toward fellowships or other post-residency career goals
For More Information
Curriculum
Clinical Base Year (CBY – Intern Year)
Our intern year consists of a comprehensive, robust curriculum focusing on critical care medicine, surgical and medical specialties, emergency medicine, pain medicine, research, and the transition to clinical anesthesiology training.
Intern orientation begins on June 21.
CA-1 through CA-3 Years
The CA1-CA3 years include didactic instruction utilizing full-day Education Days that encompass a mix of lectures, PBLD, procedural training, POCUS and simulation experiences. Additionally, clinical sites host morning conference didactics that focus on case-based discussion, ABA keywords, journal clubs and workshops.
Each resident is assigned a faculty mentor based on their career interests and a program advisor who tracks their individual progress through the program.
Residents take the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) In-Training Exam annually beginning in the intern year to track growth of medical knowledge across training in preparation for the ABA BASIC and ADVANCED Exams. The program also administers mock oral exams and OSCEs in preparation for the ABA APPLIED Exam.
Each resident receives a unique training program schedule that includes all specialty rotations for that clinical year. Anesthesiology is a case log specialty with case-specific experiences required by the ACGME and ABA. Residents track their experiences by entering cases into the ACGME Case Log System. Our program’s comprehensive curriculum and individual resident schedules are designed to exceed all ACGME and ABA requirements for subspecialty rotation time-based training and index procedure case minimums.
Clinical Care Settings and Rotations
Residents spend most of their time at the main University of Michigan medical campus, consisting of the University Hospital, Frankel Cardiovascular Center, Kahn Health Care Pavilion, Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital. Additionally, residents rotate through our ambulatory surgery centers in Ann Arbor and Brighton. Pain clinic rotations occur at outpatient clinics across the Michigan Medicine campus. Rotations at sites outside the University of Michigan system currently include the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center and our affiliated community partnership with Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital.
CA-1 residents are assigned to the adult hospital (University Hospital) for six to seven months, where they are learning anesthetic management for general surgery and its subspecialties, orthopedics, and urology.
Beyond the University Hospital ORs, CA-1s complete rotations in head and neck, cardiac, pediatric, obstetric, and ambulatory anesthesia, ICU, preoperative clinic, PACU, VA hospital, and regional anesthesia to maximize subspecialty and various practice setting exposure.
A typical week for CA-1s at UH may include full OR days during the week, with pre-call relief at 3 p.m. prior to 24-hr call on Saturday.
A regular day in the operating rooms at University Hospital involves:
Reviewing the cases the night before with your attending
By 6 a.m.: Arrive and set up your operating room
6:30-7 a.m.: Morning teaching conference
7 a.m.: Meet your patient and complete your history and physical
7:30 a.m.: First case start
5-5:30 p.m.: End of day relief if OR case still ongoing
UH Preop Holding: CA-1s are also assigned two or three holding room (preoperative area) days a month during UH-based rotations, where they perform preoperative IVs, arterial lines, and prepare for awake fiberoptic intubations to be performed in the OR. They may also accompany the CA-3 to floor airways.
Call: CA-1s generally take one or two 24-hour calls per month on Saturday or Sunday during adult anesthesia rotations. CA-1s are assigned 1-2 weeks of night float for University Hospital and 2 weeks of OB night float, which runs from Monday to Friday.
Any subspecialty rotations assigned at the end of CA-1 year would follow the typical call schedule for those Advanced Training rotations.
CA-2 residents primarily rotate in anesthesia subspecialties for 4-week blocks to complete their first round of Advanced Training (AT1) rotations. This includes pediatric, obstetric, neuro, cardiac, thoracic, vascular and regional anesthesia, as well as acute pain management and outpatient chronic pain clinic. Additional rotations include non-operating room anesthesia (NORA) experience, cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVC-ICU), OR administration, TEE, and elective time. Liver transplants are prioritized to CA-2s during case allocation.
Cardiac anesthesia, obstetric anesthesia and the ICU have independent rotating call schedules. Other rotations, such as vascular and thoracic anesthesia, share a call schedule with the University Hospital with protected OR days to ensure exposure to these subspecialties.
The call schedule for CA-2s at University Hospital is called CA-2 back-up; residents arrive at 3 p.m. during the week to help end the workday until relieved for home call through 7 a.m. the next morning. CA-2 back-up is 24-hour home call on weekends/holidays.
CA-3 residents rotate in anesthesia subspecialties for 4-week blocks to finalize their second round of Advanced Training (AT2) rotations for ACGME time-based subspecialty requirements. During AT2 blocks, residents take on a greater team leadership role, receive more autonomy, and assume a sub-staffing role to support transition to independent practice on rotations where applicable. Additional CA-3 rotations include regional experience in both academic and private practice settings, NORA, CVC-ICU and elective time.
CA-3s step into a more supervisory role as they transition to fellows and early career attendings. When on weekday call at University Hospital, CA-3s arrive at 3 p.m. CA-3 call is a multifaceted role including operational management to facilitate workflow of the ORs, as well as securing airways during codes and other non-OR emergencies, supervising CA-1s in the ORs and overseeing PACU. Weekend CA-3 call is 24 hours. After the call day, CA-3s have a post-call day to recover followed by a day in the holding room helping with preoperative procedures and performing urgent and emergent airway management outside of the operating room throughout the hospital.
CA-3s also have a back-up role with 3 p.m. arrival on weekdays that transitions to home call when no longer needed in-house and home-call on weekends/holidays.
Additional Training
We endorse the following sponsored programs available for application by our residents:
International health:
We also support and sponsor anesthesiology residents selected for admission to the following certificate programs offered at Michigan Medicine or within our department:
- NEW: Certificate in Global Health for Residents and Fellows
- Medical education: Community of Medical Educators in Training (COMET)
- Hospital Administration: Healthcare Administration Scholars Program (HASP)
- Health Equity: Healthcare Equity and Quality Scholars Program (HEQSP)
- Research: Clinician-Scientist Translational Anesthesiology Research (C-STAR)
See where training takes place
Discover the spaces where you'll train, learn and practice at the University of Michigan Medical School Department of Anesthesiology. As one of the largest training programs in the country, we provide unparalleled opportunities for our learners.
