Medical Student Rotation

The Department of Anesthesiology promotes a strong educational mission, encouraging all faculty and residents to play an active role in medical student education.

The medical student rotation is a four-week elective experience offered to third- and fourth-year medical students. During this rotation, medical students will be paired one-on-one with a faculty member or anesthesia resident in operating rooms and procedural suites throughout the hospital, providing general anesthesia and monitored anesthesia care to a diverse range of patients. Medical students are encouraged to be active participants in patients’ anesthesia care from start to finish, including conducting the preoperative evaluation, performing procedures during and after induction, and assisting in assessment of the patients’ PACU course.

Students will have the opportunity to practice important life-saving skills, including mask ventilation, oral and nasal airway placement, intravenous catheter placement, laryngeal mask airway placement, and endotracheal intubation. Students will also have the opportunity to assist in an arterial line, central line, and epidural catheter placement.

During this rotation, lectures will cover the basics of anesthetic practice. Lectures are designed to provide students with a solid foundation in understanding the fundamental principles and techniques of anesthesia.

Clinical Duty Hours

The expected hours spent on patient care and required educational activities within the clinical setting are Monday to Friday. There will be no call responsibilities while on this rotation.

Teaching Activities

• There will be lectures covering the basics of anesthetic practice.
• Each student will present a brief talk on anesthesia-related topics.
• Review web-based teaching resources.

Evaluation

There will be a meeting with students at the beginning of each rotation to discuss rotation-specific goals and objectives, as well as to communicate expectations.

Students will receive daily feedback from faculty or residents via Google Forms. Upon completion of the rotation, the supervising attending will complete a departmental student evaluation form using this feedback. The attending also will inform the students of any problems identified, and concerns will be discussed immediately after they occur.

The students will complete a departmental rotation evaluation form which will give us the opportunity to improve the rotation for future medical students. These evaluations and feedback are used to improve teaching techniques and rotation-specific objectives.