Suggested Activities for Anesthesia Interest Groups

Journal Club

Host a Journal Club to introduce students interested in anesthesiology to the most read/cited and historical papers of the field. Listen as Dr Adam Milam discusses how journal clubs function. We encourage you to utilize your subscription to Anesthesiology to discuss the published papers in each edition. It is a great way to familiarize yourself with research in the specialty as well as great preparation for rotations or residency.

Time Commitment: Low. 1 hour for reading the article and 1 hour for meeting.

Contacts Needed: none.

Structure: Have each student read a predetermined article prior to the AIG meeting. Send out the article schedule a week in advance to give busy medical students the chance to read and absorb the article fully.

Questions to be discussed in the meeting can include:

• What were your initial thoughts after reading this article?
• Was there any new information you learned that surprised you? 
• What were the strengths and weaknesses of this particular study?
• Do you think the conclusions drawn by the authors are appropriate? 
• Did you notice any flaws in the methodology? If so, were these addressed by the researchers?
• Is there a need for further research in this area? If so, what question do you have that could be turned into a research project?

Podcast Club

Description: Utilize the free podcasts that our ASA MSC has developed.

Time Commitment: Low. 1 hour for listening to podcast and 1 hour for meeting.

Contacts Needed: none.

Structure: Send out the podcast schedule a week in advance to give busy medical students the chance to listen to the podcast fully. Have each student listen to the podcast prior to the AIG meeting.

Questions to be discussed in the meeting can include:

• What were your initial thoughts after listening to this podcast?
• Was there any new information you learned that surprised you?
• How will the information that you learned change your plans for residency and/or fellowship training?
• Are there any other specialties or fellowships you are now considering after listening to this information? If so, why?
• Do you have any unanswered questions regarding this specialty or fellowship?

Faculty and Student Mixer

Time to get to know your faculty! Invite anesthesia faculty from your school (AIG mentors, PDs, assistant PDs, etc) to attend a casual mixer with the students. This can take place in a restaurant, coffee shop, or even potluck at park or house. This casual event is a great way to foster networking between the students and faculty in a relaxed setting, leading to mentorship that can continue for years to come.

Time Commitment: Moderate. This will require some time ahead to reach out to various physicians in the community to schedule a time they are able to meet and to make the reservation at a restaurant. Plan to start working on this event 2-3 months in advance.

Contacts Needed: Reach out to enough physicians to ensure that there is a 3 student:1 physician ratio. We would encourage limiting this event to 20 people maximum to ensure proper networking and casual encounters can still be achieved.

Structure: n/a

Questions: This is a casual event so enjoy the time spent with faculty and ask questions as they come up in conversation.

What Would the Anesthesiologist Do?

Description: This session can be a fun and educational way to learn about issues an anesthesiologist can experience in the OR. These cases can be presented as sample patients by the physician and then the physician can walk the students through the case step by step and identify what they would do next. This encourages critical thinking.

Time Commitment: Moderate. Can host 1 hour meeting at school or virtually.

Contacts Needed:  1-2 anesthesiologists who can moderate the session.

Structure: It is suggested that each situation be presented as a patient.

For example: Malignant Hyperthermia. A 45-year-old patient with prior medical diagnoses of hypertension well controlled with HCTZ presents to the OR for an appendectomy. The patient has never had surgery before. After a smooth intubation and initiation of anesthesia using sevoflurane, you notice the patient’s EtCO2 increase rapidly. What is on your differential?” Besides an increase in EtCO2, what other initial warning signs would you expect to see in this patient? What actions would you do next? What other sequelae would you be concerned about? (Hyperkalemia, arrythmia, AKI etc)

Questions: see above. The anesthesiologist can run the session how they choose with any questions from medical students being asked towards the end of the case.

Case Study Presentation

Talk with any attending associated with your anesthesiology program or involved with your AIG. Determine if they have recently had an interesting and notable case, and have a desire to write it up as a case report. Either in small groups or individually, have the students in your AIG write a draft of the case report as if they were submitting it for publication. Hold a meeting where you read the different iterations of the case report with the anesthesiologist, identifying strengths and weaknesses of each. The best case report can be chosen by the physician to continue being written up for publication. This will allow many students the chance to practice writing a case report, read on the current literature surrounding the topic, and if chosen, the chance for publication. This benefits both the student (experience writing case reports) and the anesthesiologist (who may be too busy to write one otherwise).

Time Commitment: High. This will take some time to find an anesthesiologist who can describe the notable case. 3-4 weeks should be given to students to write the report. A 1 hour meeting can be scheduled after for presentation of the reports. Overall, shoot for a timeline of 4-6 months from initial contact of the anesthesiologists to final student presentations of the case reports.

Contacts Needed:  1-2 anesthesiologists and their notable cases

Trivia Night

Description: Ready to have some fun? Schedule an AIG Trivia Night where students will learn more about anesthesiology in a fun, game like manner.

Time Commitment: Low. 1 hour to finalize the questions and 1 hour for a fun, interactive game with your AIG.

Structure: Divide your students into 2 groups and have them compete. Whoever win can get bragging rights, dinner, or maybe even some cash! Have fun.

Questions: Adjust it to your expected knowledge basis of anesthesiology for your target audience (for example M1s vs M4s)

Anesthesiologist Reacts!

A fun activity to get everyone discussing some of the more popular medical TV shows and their depiction of anesthesiology! Identify interesting clips and find an anesthesiologist to watch these clips with you. After each clip, monitor the reaction from the anesthesiologist and discuss how they would have handled the situation differently. Or if they would have attempted these anesthetic plans at all!

Time Commitment: Low.

Contacts Needed: You will need to reach out to 1 anesthesiologist or anesthesia resident to have them give their reaction and discuss different anesthetic plans they would have used in these cases.

Structure: Play the videos one at a time, monitor the reaction from the anesthesiologist, and discuss.

Questions to be discussed in the meeting:

• What would you have done differently if you were the anesthesiologist in this case?
• What have been some of the most TV worthy anesthesia cases you have experienced in your career thus far? Things that have stood out to you in terms of complexity or sheer interest?
• What do you think about the portrayal of anesthesiologists in media?  

Boot Camp

Aimed at preparing M2s or M3s for their anesthesiology rotation, this can be led by M4 students applying to anesthesiology. Ideally, this would be hosted once every few months to help students brush up on their skills or to allow students to practice right before they start their rotation.

Time Commitment: Moderate. 1 hour meeting every few months. Have the M4 students prep on designated topics ahead of time.

Contacts Needed: NONE! Use the M4s applying for anesthesiology at your school. If there are none, try to contact residents in your area to help.

Structure: Have M4 students develop a brief how-to guide for ways to succeed on an anesthesiology rotation. While not an all-inclusive list, this can include things like:

• Describe MS MAIDS (setting up an operating room before the resident). If possible, have the materials laid out for students to practice with so they become familiar.
• Describe how to do an anesthesia preoperative assessment on a patient.
• Practice dropping off patients in the PACU and presenting their case to the PACU nurse.
• Practice coming up with an anesthetic plan for simple patients to present to resident/attending the night prior.
• Discuss ASA status and how to assign to sample patients
• Practice describing intubations step by step and in detail so the attending is aware of what is going on when you attempt to intubate

Questions: Naturally have M4s answer questions as M2/3s have them. Try to be as comprehensive and helpful as possible!

Simulation Labs/Hands On Experiences

This session is designed to provide a hands-on application of anesthesia to medical students who may be interested in the field or in any other procedural specialty. Here, we recommend different sessions teaching techniques such as IV placement, intubation, A line placement, and ultrasound clinic (to identify nerve structures for regional blocks). These skills will be helpful to have prior to starting an anesthesiology rotation. For an increase in resources/manpower, it may be helpful to partner with your school’s Emergency Medicine interest group and/or Surgery Interest Group.

Time: High. This event will take a good amount of planning to obtain all resources needed to staff the sessions, equipment available and rooms rented in either your school’s simulation lab or at a nearby hospital. Try to use 3-4 months to plan the meeting location and staff before sending out promotional materials ~4 weeks prior to the event.

Contacts Needed: simulation center booking and equipment gathering, anesthesiologists/surgeons/emergency medicine physicians and/or residents in those fields to staff the rooms and supervise medical students.

Structure: Divide students up into small groups that can rotate through each of the simulation stations. This session can be run in 2 different ways (or combined to have a blend of each)

• Hands on practice: Students try their hand at procedural skills including intubation, IV placement, A-line placement, foley placement, or ultrasound to identify important nerve bundles with simulated nerve blocks.
• Case Simulations: Have a resident or attending supervising each case to help guide the students in concepts that may still be a little foreign given average education level and prior exposure to anesthesia.
• Topics include MI management, malignant hyperthermia, bronchospasm, difficult airway algorithm, hypotension, delayed emergency, anaphylaxis, etc.
• There are significantly more examples found in the Stanford Emergency Manual.