The following are monthly updates from the UAB Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine Education Division.
Global Anesthesia Experiences
Two physician groups visited Zambia in August to participate in two-week elective rotations. The first group included resident physicians Drs. Joel Conway and Blake Wiggins, led by faculty members Drs. Adam McKinney and Chris Racine. The second group (pictured here) included resident physicians Drs. Allison Johnson and Charlotte Anne Snook, led by faculty members Drs. Tekuila Carter and Emily Wasson. Residents learned about alternative health care delivery models in underserved populations and participated in joint anesthesia didactic lectures, journal clubs, and other learning opportunities.
New Leadership Team Members
Congratulations to the newest members of our education leadership team, Drs. Andre Gosling and Emily Wasson, who have recently been appointed as assistant program directors (APDs).
Dr. Gosling completed medical school at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil, an anesthesiology residency at Tufts Medical Center, a Critical Care Medicine Fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship at Duke University Medical Center. Since joining UAB in 2021, he has mentored medical students and residents, assumed the role of the associate director of resident education in Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, participated in multiple scholarly endeavors (including earning significant funding from our department’s REINVENT program), and earned the Robert Goodloe McGahey Award for Excellence in Medical Student Teaching for the last two years. In his new role as APD, he will have oversight of all medical students interested in anesthesia.
Dr. Wasson completed a Master of Public Health, medical school, and an anesthesiology residency at UT Health San Antonio before coming to UAB for fellowships in both Critical Care Medicine and Neurocritical Care. Since joining UAB in 2021, she has been involved in medical education. During her fellowships, she was on the House Staff Council and a House Staff mentor to a cohort of medical students through the Learning Community Mentors program. As a faculty member, she has been on the resident recruitment committee and helped lead faculty/resident mentor relationships. In her new role as APD, she will continue improving the faculty/resident mentorship program, overseeing and guiding residents through their scholarly projects, and helping to improve resident rotational education materials.
Resident and Faculty Wellness
To better monitor resident and faculty wellness, identify trends in wellness, and improve overall physician wellness in a healthier work environment, the first iterations of resident and faculty wellness dashboards were developed by Associate Program Director Dr. Matt Broyles and his team. The primary goal of these dashboards is to consolidate data from various surveys in an easy-to-interpret format, monitor overall functioning of the residency learning environment, identify wellness trends, and inform policy changes aiming to improve resident and faculty wellness. The initial dashboard iterations use existing surveys, and there are plans to develop supplemental surveys to address wellness areas not covered by the existing surveys.
Resident Recruitment
The 2024-2025 interview season is about to start! Twenty virtual interview dates have been planned October-December. We will interview 8 candidates each day to total 160 candidates. Residents will provide a pre-interview group welcome the evening prior to each interview date. Pre-season Open House events in August and September include five session topics: General Open House, Women in Anesthesia, Wellness and Opportunity, Resident Research, and Leadership.
Drs. Brittany Hatter and Robert Hammond participated in a residency fair at Meharry Medical College in Nashville on September 7. Dr. Jacelyn Lever will participate in a Latino Medical Student Association residency fair in Los Angeles later this month.
Publications
Thoracolumbar spinal cord stimulation: technique and overview was published in Techniques in Vascular and Interventional Radiology by Drs. Christopher Paul, Rene Powell, and Prentiss Lawson.
Last But Not Least
Congratulations to the residency and fellowship faculty and staff. All have completed their annual program evaluation and performance improvement plans. This is a huge accomplishment that is time consuming yet critical to the overall success of our education mission.
Our Pain Medicine Fellowship recently hosted a second look visit for four applicants, and we are anticipating match results on September 25.