Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Fellowship

• Fellows will have protected didactic time on Wednesday mornings and Thursday afternoons to attend the cardiothoracic anesthesia lecture series, Department of Anesthesia Grand Rounds, and echocardiography rounds with the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine.

• The lecture series includes speakers from cardiothoracic surgery, cardiology, critical care, and pediatric anesthesiology.

• Fellows will be asked to present several times throughout the year to the cardiothoracic anesthesia group on a current topic or journal article.

• The Department of Anesthesia abides by the duty hour policy set forth by the IU School of Medicine Office of GME, which is compliant with ACGME requirements.

• Cardiac operating rooms start at 6:45 a.m. In general, fellows will be expected to be present until the cases in their room finish with exceptions made for other academic pursuits or education.

• Fellows will take home call, and if utilized over night, will be post-call the following day.

• Fellows will be free of clinical duties on any weekend they are not on home call.

• Moonlighting opportunities will include staffing IU Health Methodist Hospital “overflow” rooms on weekend days. Fellows will be asked supervise one to two general operating rooms with residents or anesthesiologist assistants when working this shift.

• Moonlighting shifts cannot be taken when on cardiothoracic call or when doing the shift would result in a duty hour violation.

• Fellows will be required to submit an abstract or project for presentation at the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA) Annual Meeting. Fellows will be given a CME stipend (see benefits information below) and time off from clinical responsibilities to attend the meeting.

• Fellows will also spearhead a quality improvement project with the help of a faculty mentor.

• Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in research by starting or joining an ongoing project during the year. Up to two months of elective time may be utilized to work on a project.

Understanding the perspective of the heart failure cardiologist can be critical to the cardiothoracic anesthesiologist when their patients arrive in the operating room. The goal of this two-week elective rotation is to give fellows a glimpse into the management of patients in the cardiac medical critical care unit at Methodist Hospital, where they will round on heart failure patients with the cardiology team, assist with procedures, and get increased exposure to temporary assist devices such as intra-aortic balloon pumps.

This one-month rotation will take place in the cardiovascular critical care unit at Methodist Hospital with the goal of providing fellows an important perspective on the ways cardiac surgery impacts patients post-operatively. Fellows will become active participants in the care of post-operative cardiothoracic surgery patients and patients with mechanical circulatory support, including temporary ventricular assist devices and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Fellows will develop an appreciation of the multi-disciplinary decision-making that goes into the care of these patients.

This two-week elective rotation serves to help the fellow gain a better understanding of the role of the perfusionist and the important details of the cardiopulmonary bypass machine. Fellows will be paired each day with a perfusionist and assist in setting up the pump and conducting the cardiopulmonary bypass run.

Fellows will spend one month at IU Health University Hospital (approximately 10 minutes away from Methodist Hospital) for the thoracic anesthesia rotation. Fellows will be exposed to the management of patients undergoing open and thoracoscopic surgery, including lung resection and esophagectomy. Fellows will also practice regional and neuraxial pain management techniques appropriate for these cases.

This two-week elective will give fellows the opportunity to both perform and interpret transthoracic echo under the supervision and guidance of professional sonographers and the adult echocardiography cardiologists. The goal of the rotation will be to improve fellows’ ability to obtain high quality transthoracic images for diagnosis of cardiac pathology.