Design and Implementation of a Comprehensive Four-Week RAAPM Curriculum for Medical Students in a Subspecialty Orthopedic Hospital

Introduction

-The practice of anesthesiology continues to grow and become more subspecialized at a rapid pace, especially in the academic setting.

-Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) offers highly specialized orthopedic anesthesia for patients undergoing spine, trauma, joint, and sport surgical procedures.

-There has been a recent push for enhancing the experience for rotating medical students; an experience that can be standardized and uniform, and with purposeful measurable objectivity. Historically at the national level, active and effective teaching or training approaches have been used less frequently during

anesthesia rotations leaving students dissatisfied with their competencies at the end of their rotations.1

-Many curricula covering the regional anesthesiology and acute pain medicine (RAAPM) subspecialty exist; institutions often create experiences geared to their practice, but these curricula often only cover the subspecialty contents.

-Here we have designed and are currently implementing a robust and rigorous 4-week medical student curriculum that not only challenges students in the practice of regional anesthesia and acute pain medicine, but that encompasses broad foundational concepts in general anesthesiology needed to provide the highest standard of care in a fast-paced environment.