WELCOME TO

CA-1 BOOT CAMP!!

CA-1 Year is all about creating a solid foundation for your anesthesia career before getting into the subspecialty rotations. This section is designed to provide you many of the basic topics that I have found useful for this early part of training. As you move along through these first few months of anesthesia residency, try to learn something new each day, give yourself grace to make mistakes, and don’t forget to eat, sleep, and exercise!

  • There are 2 Basic Standards put out by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) that guide monitoring during any procedure or surgery require anesthesia. The first standard is “a qualified anesthesia personnel shall be present in the room throughout the conduct of all general anesthetics, regional anesthetics, and monitored anesthesia care”. [Read More]

  • The primary sites of action for inhaled anesthetics is the brain and the spinal cord (CNS). The end result is immobility (in response to a surgical stimulus), hypnosis, and amnesia. [Read More]

  • The goal of induction agents is to have a patient fall asleep (hypnosis) quickly with as few side effects as possible. The primary site of action is in the central nervous system (CNS), but commonly there are cardiac, respiratory, and other side effects associated with induction drugs. [Read More]

  • The definition of MAC is the alveolar concentration of an inhalation anesthetic agent at 1 atmosphere (atm) and at stead-state concentration that is necessary to suppress a gross purposeful movement in 50% of patients in response to a surgical skin incision. [Read More]

  • Opioids create an effect by acting on opioid receptors found all over the body. One way to classify opioids is based on their interaction with their receptors: agonists, partial agonists-antagonists, and antagonists. [Read More]

  • The defined “Stages of Anesthesia” is an old concept created by Dr. Arthur Guedel in 1937 that described the physiological changes patients would experience while being anesthetized with ether. [Read More]

  • Hemodynamics is going to cover the circulation aspect for the patient. Majority of surgical cases with require some sort of hemodynamic treatment. [Read More]

  • Local anesthetics (LA) are used widely throughout medicine. Their purpose is to blunt the pain typically associated with some type of procedure. [Read More]

  • With the introduction of neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs) the overall goals of a general anesthetic expanded to include amnesia, analgesia, and muscle relaxation. [Read More]

  • Hypoxemia and hypoxia are commonly used interchangeably as a way to describe a state of low oxygen levels. However, hypoxemia literally means low oxygen levels in a patient’s arterial blood (PaO2) and hypoxia refers to low oxygen levels in tissue. [Read More]

  • One of our most vital jobs as Anesthesiologists is managing the airway. We are considered “airway experts” in the medical field. [Read More]