The Didactic Program

The didactic program follows a three-year curriculum designed to coincide with the usual period of training in anesthesia.  Core topics are covered in afternoon conferences four hours per week.  Residents are relieved of their O.R. duties to attend these conferences. They are required to give occasional lectures with a faculty person as mentor and moderator, and also present articles at Journal Club sessions.

Grand Rounds are conducted on Wednesday mornings.  They generally consist of alternating guest lectures and Quality Improvement case conferences.  Most of the guest speakers are from outside of the UMass community.

As the department strives to maximize the trainee's performance on the ABA's certification examinations, residents participate in weekly board review sessions conducted by Dr. Dershwitz (author of McGraw-Hill Specialty Board Review:  Anesthesiology) and are required to sit for the ASA/ABA In-Training Examination (practice board exam) every year.  This is also used as a gauge of progress in learning for each resident at each level of training.

Mock oral board exams are administered twice yearly by department members to help residents prepare for their oral board exams.  Our pass rate for the board exams has consistently exceeded the national average for anesthesia residency programs.

Please click here to view our current didactic schedule.