Anesthesiology Residency Program - Curriculum + Structure

The clinical base year is intentionally multidisciplinary, with a focus on building foundational skills in patient evaluation, clinical reasoning and management. This year provides a solid platform for residents as they transition into their clinical anesthesiology training.

PGY-1 rotations span multiple departments and specialties. Interns gain a deep understanding of how patients move through the hospital system and insight into the priorities and pressures facing every member of the healthcare team. One of the most valuable aspects of this year is the opportunity to build relationships with clinicians throughout the hospital and community—people who will become trusted colleagues during the rest of residency.

During the Clinical Base Year, interns rotate through:

• Surgery
• Internal medicine
• Otolaryngology
• Emergency medicine
• Labor and delivery
• Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU)
• Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU)
• Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU)

Interns also complete focused rotations in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, including:

• Preoperative assessment: Work alongside a CA-3 resident to refine skills in preoperative history-taking and focused physical exams.
• Pain management: Gain exposure to the outpatient pain clinic, Acute Pain Service and Addiction Psychiatry Service.
• Research: Complete required research training and explore areas of scholarly interest.
• Community immersion: Participate in a longitudinal volunteer program that deepens engagement with the surrounding community.

CA-1 residents begin with Foundations in Anesthesiology, an intensive orientation covering the essential principles of the field. This includes administrative and workflow training, hands-on equipment orientation, and simulation using task trainers and high-fidelity scenarios. Operating Room (OR) assignments begin once this foundational training is complete.

Key elements of the Foundations phase include:

• Didactic curriculum: Daily, faculty-led sessions for the first five weeks that cover core anesthesiology principles.
• One-on-one OR assignments: Residents work closely with faculty and senior residents in a 6–8 week period of individualized clinical teaching, tailored to each resident’s progress.
• Shadow calls: Residents shadow junior on-call residents to build familiarity with overnight responsibilities before starting their own call shifts in September.

Starting in October, residents gain early exposure to key anesthesiology subspecialties, including:

• Anesthesia for ambulatory surgery
• Neuroanesthesia
• Pediatric anesthesia
• Obstetric anesthesia
• Critical care medicine
• Cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia

Throughout the CA-1 year, residents build core competencies in airway management, physiologic monitoring, life support and the basic science foundations of anesthesiology. With close faculty supervision, they progressively take on greater responsibility for the anesthetic management of patients in the OR, procedural areas and labor and delivery.

During the CA-2 year, residents take on more complex cases and develop a deeper understanding of the anesthesiologist’s expanding role beyond the operating room. They manage advanced procedures, including kidney, liver and heart transplants, and gain greater autonomy in caring for high-acuity patients.

Residents perform cases in the 15-room inpatient operating suite and the 8-room ambulatory surgery center. They also deliver anesthesia in a variety of off-site and non-traditional settings, including interventional radiology, MRI, the electrophysiology lab, gamma knife, gastroenterology and intensive care units, where they perform bedside procedures and emergency intubations.

CA-2 residents complete:

• One month of obstetric anesthesia at Tufts Medical Center
• One month of obstetric anesthesia at Brigham and Women’s Hospital
• A required two-month pediatric anesthesia rotation at Boston Children’s Hospital

In-house subspecialty rotations continue in:

• Neuroanesthesia
• Cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia
• Obstetric anesthesia
• Pediatric anesthesia
• Regional anesthesia
• Ambulatory anesthesia

Additionally, each resident spends one month in our outpatient pain management center, gaining experience in chronic pain evaluation and procedures.

During the CA-3 year, residents have approximately four months of elective time to customize their training based on individual career goals. The rest of the year is spent managing complex cases across advanced subspecialty rotations. Senior residents also take on leadership roles, supervising junior residents and refining their OR management skills while serving as the Junior Anesthesia Board Runner (ACIC).

Current elective options include:

• On-campus electives
• Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care Unit
• Cardiac Care Unit
• Advanced airway management
• Perioperative echocardiography
• Research
• Additional time in the following subspecialties:
  • Acute pain
  • Cardiac anesthesia
  • Chronic pain
  • Neuroanesthesia
  • Thoracic anesthesia

Off-campus electives

• Chronic pain at Brigham and Women’s Hospital
• Chronic pain at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
• Pediatric anesthesia at Boston Children’s Hospital
• Pediatric cardiac anesthesia at Boston Children’s Hospital
• Pediatric pain at Boston Children’s Hospital
• Advanced anesthesia for ENT surgery at Mass Eye and Ear
• International anesthesia electives