Intern Year: Foundations of Clinical Medicine
- Focus on medical management: fluids, sepsis, pressors, EKGs
- Skill work: ultrasound IV, line placement
- Resources: UWorld Step 3, Pocket Medicine, UpToDate
- Build habits: effective sign-outs, daily learning goals, EMR efficiency
- Pro tip: Keep a shared intern survival guide with your class (tips, order sets, call hacks)
- Recommended text reference: "Stoelting's Anesthesia and Co-existing Disease" look up comorbidities you're treating, casually read the anesthetic implications
CA-1: Starting Clinical Anesthesia
- Master the basics: ASA monitors, machine check, induction & emergence workflows
- Resources: Stanford CA-1 PDF, Stanford Emergency Manual
- Pro tip: Be kind to everyone (yourself included)
- Pick a text that works for you: Morgan & Mikhail, Baby Miller --(check with your peers/program!)
- After your first ITE, use Faust or OpenAnesthesia to target keywords
- Surgery ref: Jaffe
- Practice case presentations, review and predict potential intra-op crises
- On your first month:
- Consider tackling 1-2 chapters / day of the Stanford Anesthesia Guide
- Too exhausted to read a textbook? Tackle 5 questions/day on Morgan & Mikhail chapters
CA-2: Intermediate Training & Subspecialties
- Build confidence: CV, neuro, peds, OB, regional
- Resources: Hall Q&A, M&M chapters on subspecialty topics, OpenAnesthesia summaries
- Focus: invasive lines, complex airways, TEE basics, anesthetic planning
- Pro tip: Keep a running list of "what worked well" vs. "what I'd do differently" after cases
- Supplement with: review articles, ASA standards, society guidelines
CA-3: Senior Autonomy & Boards Prep
- Hone leadership in the OR and prepare for independent practice
- Resources: Board review books (Hall, Faust), oral board stem practice
- Focus: teaching juniors, periop management (outside OR), hone clinical judgement
- Pro tip (late CA-3): Start a shared doc with oral board stems and review weekly with peers
- Mock oral resources: Anesthesia Oral Board Review found here!
Fellowship / Transition to Practice
- Negotiate your first job: understand contracts, billing, and practice models
- Resources: ASA early-career resources, finance podcasts (White Coat Investor), transition guides
- Focus: subspecialty mastery, longitudinal cases, billing documentation
- Pro tip: Build a library of consent templates, Epic SmartPhrases, and patient teaching materials