Following is a list of clinical cases and techniques and the minimum number that must be performed to meet ACGME requirements. Each resident must meet these requirements for completion of the training program.
- 40 patients undergoing vaginal delivery. There must be evidence of direct resident involvement in cases involving high-risk obstetrics; 20 patients undergoing cesarean sections.
- 100 patients less than 12 years of age undergoing surgery or other procedures requiring anesthetics. Within this patient group, 20 children must be less than three years of age, including five less than three months of age.
- 20 patients undergoing cardiac surgery. The majority of these cardiac procedures must involve the use of cardiopulmonary bypass.
- 20 patients undergoing open or endovascular procedures on major vessels, including carotid surgery, intrathoracic vascular surgery, intra-abdominal vascular surgery, or peripheral vascular surgery. Excluded from this category is surgery for vascular access or repair of vascular access.
- 20 patients undergoing non-cardiac intrathoracic surgery, including pulmonary surgery and surgery of the great vessels, esophagus, and the mediastinum and its structures.
- 20 patients undergoing intracerebral procedures. These patients include those undergoing intracerebral endovascular procedures. The majority of these 20 procedures must involve an open cranium.
- 40 patients undergoing surgical procedures, including cesarean sections, where epidural anesthetics are used as part of the anesthetic technique or epidural catheters are placed for perioperative analgesia. Use of a combined spinal/epidural technique may be counted as both a spinal and an epidural procedure.
- 20 patients undergoing procedures for complex, life-threatening injuries. Examples are trauma associated with car crashes, falls from high places, penetrating wounds, industrial and farm accidents, assaults, and burns covering more than 20% of body surface area.
- 40 patients undergoing surgical procedures, including cesarean sections, with spinal anesthetics. Use of a combined spinal/epidural technique may be counted as both a spinal and an epidural procedure.
- 40 patients undergoing surgical procedures in whom peripheral nerve blocks are used as part of the anesthetic technique or perioperative analgesic management.
- 20 new patients who are evaluated for management of acute, chronic, or cancer-related pain disorders. Residents should be familiar with the breadth of pain management, including clinical experience with interventional pain procedures.
- Patients with acute postoperative pain. There must be documented involvement in the management of acute postoperative pain, including patient-controlled intravenous techniques, neuraxial blocks, and other pain-control modalities.
- Patients scheduled for evaluation prior to elective surgical procedures. There must be documented involvement for at least four weeks in preoperative medicine.
- Patients who require specialized techniques for their perioperative care. There must be significant experience with a broad spectrum of airway management techniques (e.g., performance of fiberoptic intubation and lung isolation techniques such as double lumen endotracheal tube placement and endobronchial blockers). The resident also should have significant experience with central vein and pulmonary artery catheter placement and the use of transesophageal echocardiography and evoked potentials. The resident must either personally participate in cases in which EEG or processed EEG monitoring is actively used as part of the procedure or have adequate didactic instruction to ensure familiarity with EEG use and interpretation. Bispectral index use and other similar interpolated modalities are not sufficient to satisfy this requirement.
- Care for patients immediately after anesthesia. There must be a postanesthesia care experience of 0.5 month involving direct care of patients in the postanesthesia care unit and responsibilities for management of pain, hemodynamic changes, and emergencies related to the postanesthesia care unit.
- Care for critically ill patients. Anesthesia residents must actively participate in all patient care activities and as a fully integrated member of the critical care team. During at least two of the required four months of critical care medicine, faculty anesthesiologists experienced in the practice and teaching of critical care must be actively involved in the care of critically ill patients and the educational activities of the residents.
- Anesthesia residents must maintain a comprehensive anesthesia record for each patient as an ongoing reflection of the drugs administered, the monitoring employed, the techniques used, the physiologic variations observed, the therapy provided as required, and the fluids administered. The patient’s medical record should contain evidence of preoperative and postoperative anesthesia assessment.