Anesthesia Residency Application Information 

We look for applicants with sincere interest in the specialty of anesthesiology, with solid academic credentials, who have a thirst for knowledge and are looking to be leaders in their field. We do not have specific number cut-offs for standardized exams. All of the applications are reviewed personally by the Program Director and the Associate Program Directors.

The anesthesia department employs approximately 1-2 faculty for every anesthesia resident. To cover our many locations as well as encourage an appropriate balance of resident autonomy and close supervision and education, our operating room ratios are typically 1 faculty member supervising 2 residents, reserving a true single-coverage 1:1 ratio for more complex cases (cardiac, complex vascular, thoracic, and transplant).

For most of the year, residents take overnight call in OB and on the West Campus (OR call) both on weekdays and weekends. In addition, residents take late call on either East or West Campus on weekdays. On average, overnight call frequency decreases with advancement in residency, so CA-1s will take about 4 to 6 calls per month, CA-2s take 3 to 4 calls, and CA-3s take 2 to 3 calls per month. The number of late calls also decreases with advancement in training. Overnight calls are always 24-hour call for CA-1s and on the weekends for CA-2s and CA-3s. Senior residents, CA-2s and CA-3s do not come in for overnight call until noon for West call, and 2:00 p.m. for OB call on weekdays but can get paid precall money to come in at a normal time. Residents go home on the post call day around 7:00 am.

LATE CALL: For late call, residents stay to finish cases in late-running rooms on the East or West Campus. In general, East Campus has more day surgeries and CA1s will cover this call. In general, West Campus has more inpatient and complex surgeries and CA2s and CA3s will take this call. The call usually includes two residents: Late 1 (first to leave), Late 2 (second to leave).

WEST CALL: On West campus call, there is one CA-1 and one senior resident (CA-2 or CA-3) on call with one attending. OR cases are done until all the cases are finished. The call team also covers patients in the PACU and airway emergencies in the hospital which require intubation. Typical cases on west call include trauma (e.g. orthopedic injuries), general surgery cases (appendectomy, exploratory laparotomy, cholecystectomy), vascular surgeries, and any other cases that are considered urgent (e.g. D&C for bleeding patient, spine surgery for patient with cord compression).

OB CALL: OB call consists of 2 residents (1 senior and 1 junior) and one attending. Residents cover placement of epidurals or combined spinal-epidurals for patients in labor and anesthesia for C-sections. While on OB call residents will also cover the anesthesia pager responding to all calls for intubation on the East Campus.

Transplant and Cardiac Call: Both the transplant liver and cardiac anesthesiology calls are an increasingly intricate and exciting opportunity afforded to all CA-3 senior residents, fueled by the remarkable growth of our both services.

Residents typically handle 1-2 calls per month, which are home calls. For liver transplant cases, residents receive an alert approximately 6 hours in advance, allowing for meticulous preparation; cardiac call, however, requires residents to be ready in the OR within 30-minutes due to the potentially urgent nature of these cases. Both of these clinical calls offer a unique blend of hands-on experience, multidisciplinary collaboration, 1:1 intraoperative management with an attending and the opportunity to be at the forefront of liver and cardiac care, making it an enriching and highly valuable aspect of resident training.

Other Calls: Residents on their ICU and Pain rotations are not in the general call schedule and take call specific to the rotation. Specifically, residents on regional and chronic pain will take acute pain service (APS) overnight call responding to pages about uncontrolled pain, inpatient epidurals, and nerve catheters. Children's Hospital also has a separate call schedule that is coordinated through the rotation.

Residents can make extra money one of 3 ways:

1. All residents are eligible for late pay ($150/hour) after 5 PM on OR and non-late days.
2. CA-2s and CA-3s are eligible for weekday Pre-Call (described above) for a flat rate of $600.
3. CA-2s and CA-3s are eligible for weekend/holiday moonlighting for $150 for holding the pager and $150/hour if you are called in. Preference given to CA-3s to moonlight.

Boston is a wonderful, safe, fun, and clean city. BIDMC is located in the Longwood area surrounded by a variety of housing options. Most residents will walk, bike, or scooter to work. Public transportation options include various buses/shuttles and the MBTA or “T” train. Monthly MBTA passes for unlimited travel within the Boston area can be purchased through the hospital at a discounted rate. Some residents drive to work with parking available at a nearby garage for a fee. Most residents live in Fenway, Brookline, or Jamaica Plain all within walking distance of the hospital. The average rent varies for a 1-bedroom apartment but range from $1200 to $3500/month. The closer downtown (aka Fenway) you get the more expensive is housing. Other popular neighborhoods include the Northeastern University/Symphony Area, Back Bay, Cambridge, and Roxbury. Some residents live in surrounding suburbs such as Allston, Newton, Winthrop, and Arlington where you get more affordable housing and excellent schools.

Outside of ICU, acute and chronic pain, and OB rotations residents will be assigned to an OR the day before. The night before, residents will discuss with their attending the anesthetic plan for the next day's cases. The goal is to set up for the first case, see the patient in the holding area (to perform preoperative evaluation and obtain informed consent), and start the IV in order to be ready to go to the OR by 7:30 am. Depending on the complexity of the first case, residents arrive at the hospital between 6:00 and 6:45 am. Many of the outpatients will be seen prior to the day of surgery at the Preoperative Testing clinic. During the day residents are given the standard morning break (15 minutes), lunch break (30 minutes), and afternoon break (15 minutes). Most residents will be relieved before 5:00 PM if they are not on call. If there is not enough staff for relief residents will be compensated $150/hour for every hour they stay late.

Residents have access to our education lab which contains mannequins and equipment to practice ultrasound guided lines (PIV, A line, central lines), TTE/echo, fiberoptic intubation, and epidurals. This is a great place to practice your skills both during didactics or after hours. On the same campus residents will have access to our state of the art simulation center. In addition, there is a separate room dedicated to practicing both TEE and TTE.

There are many other online resources that are extremely useful. We primarily use the Moodle website which has links to our various lectures over the years. On this website is also helpful guides for each subspeciality rotation.

As an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, BIDMC residents are also given a Harvard ID badge. This badge gives access to all the Harvard libraries. Other perks of the ID includes discounts at local attractions like museums. Specific to BIDMC, residents get $5.00 Fenway tickets at every home game. And finally, while there is a generous education allowance, the department also gives each resident a mini-iPad, a clinical textbook, and access to TrueLearn question bank.

We prefer H1B visas for qualified applicants.

Our department has a strong history in supporting a diverse and inclusive anesthesia community. We seek to expand our efforts in promoting healthcare equity by adding healthcare disparities education to our curriculum, expanding the implicit bias training that is offered to our application review committee to our staff at large, and increasing our community outreach. We have access to the considerable resources of the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Dr. Nancy Oriol, HMS associate professor and an obstetric anesthesiologist in our department, runs the HMS MedScience program, which provides experience in healthcare careers to high school students at local Boston high schools, and Dr. Josephine Hernandez, our Vice Chair of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI), leads our JEDI curriculum and runs workshops which bring URM high school students into our department and introduces them to careers in healthcare. We also offer a summer internship for minority high school students underrepresented in medicine. Our residents are also active in seeking out opportunities to increase our visibility in support of Black lives and members of the LGBTQ community, holding leadership roles in our inter-institutional Pride Alliance, and our GME Housestaff Diversity Council.