Chief Residents' Message

Photo Caption: Drs. Kevin Delaney, Chris Fuke, Julie Broussard and Bill Whitehead- Anesthesiology Chief Residents 2006-2007

Hello! As you are aware, your choice of a residency will not only affect the next 4 years, but will have a lasting impact on your practice of this wonderful and rewarding specialty. We would like to highlight a few things that our residents felt were important when they chose UTMB for Anesthesiology.

When choosing a residency, one of the most important things to notice is resident satisfaction and morale. Our residents are genuinely satisfied with our program as a whole, but especially with the amount and quality of faculty teaching. Our faculty-both junior and senior- really enjoy teaching and it shows!

At UTMB you’ll also get a wide range of case variety. We serve patients from all over the state of Texas: consequently we have lots of pathology that you may not often see in other places. One example is our rotation through the Shriner’s Pediatric Burn Hospital. Here we become proficient in the management of the very difficult airways that some of these patients have. We have faculty specially trained in regional anesthesia. In fact, we organize a cadaveric regional workshop once a year here in Galveston. By the time we graduate, most of us feel very comfortable doing regional blocks as well as managing any situation we might encounter in practice.

If you are interested in research, our program offers a research track. You can take 6 months out of the last year of residency to perform research in an area of your choice. Your mentor could be one of our outstanding UTMB research faculty which includes our chair, Dr. Don Prough. (Dr. Prough, incidentally has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Critical Care Medicine). Over the years, many of our residents have won awards for their research at regional and national meetings.

The work atmosphere here is very congenial: we are a fun group and look out for each other. We enjoy hanging out in the residents’ lounge at lunch, and between cases. When someone has an emergency or if something comes up, it’s easy to find a volunteer to help out. There is also genuine respect and camaraderie between faculty members and residents. It’s easier to come to work if you like the people you work with!

In some places, residents are perceived as “cheap laborers”, “bag-squeezers” and feel that they come to work mostly to “fill rooms”. Not so here. At UTMB, residents are relieved at 4.30 by other residents who choose to moon-light. This allows plenty of free time for studying, family, and having some fun outside the hospital

We mentioned “moon-lighting” or our “late rooms”…You can pick up extra cash - $50 an hour, for doing cases, procedures: all the while learning Anesthesiology! This option starts during your PGY-1 year after you have completed six months of training.

The area around UTMB is one of the most affordable in the country. You can live in Galveston and enjoy the proximity to the beach, year-round outdoor sports... or drive up to Houston for big-city benefits….Because the weather is so nice, many residents even ride their bike to work year-round. It’s great because you don’t have to face daily big-city traffic problems, but still get all of the conveniences like shopping, restaurants, games and concerts that Houston provides.

Back to education….as further proof of our program’s commitment, we get a very generous book allowance: $3000 over the course of the residency. We can also use this money to attend anesthesia conferences and review courses or even buy a PDA…Our residents have the written board and USMLE Step 3 exams paid for by the department. We also get a new laptop computer for home use when we start. Some other nice little perks are a $100 per year to buy new OR shoes, free earpieces and safety goggles. Even though the House Officer’s Association gives us a meal allowance, our faculty buy carry-out dinner (and dessert every night). This gives us something to look forward to even during the busiest call!

All residents at UTMB have health benefits paid for by the hospital. These free benefits cover both the resident and his/her dependents. This is great because otherwise, paying for health insurance could really cut a big chunk out of your salary.

As you can see, there are many big (and small) aspects of our program that make it unique and great! Many of our 4th year medical students like our program so much that they decide to stay here for residency… We are very proud of our training program and highly recommend it, but don’t just take my word for it…come by and check us out for yourself.

Do a visiting rotation, drop in, or contact us with any questions you might have.

We’d love to hear from you. Good-luck!