Education

In the 1980's, Shock Trauma began the first Fellowship in Trauma Anesthesia in the U.S. Our fellows are U.S. civilian and U.K. military clinicians, and the Division also trains 25 to 30 anesthesia residents each year, rotating in one-month blocks from the University of Maryland, the armed services, and visiting residents from across the country. Forty eight residents in emergency medicine and fellows in pulmonary/critical care and trauma surgery/critical care also gain their airway training through us. In addition, we are responsible for the annual training of 50 Maryland State Police flight paramedics and for 50 student nurse anesthetists. Finally, representatives of the Division also train and supervise the nurses of the Acute Pain Management Service, providing advanced pain management modalities for more than 1500 patients each year.

Anesthesiologists from the Division teach University of Maryland medical students in a “hands-on” airway management course in the third year, and again as they rotate through the STC during their anesthesia training. The exposure that paramedics, nurses, medical students, residents, fellows and the military gain at Shock Trauma to severely traumatized airways and to emergency management of the airway ensures that each patient these providers treat in the future will undergo the best possible care.

The USAF and the University of Maryland have a long standing partnership to integrate active duty anesthesiologists and CRNAs into the Division of Trauma Anesthesiology. While stationed at the USAF's Center for the Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (C-STARS), Baltimore, the active duty anesthesiologists and CRNAs are embedded with the civilian faculty. Working side-by-side with the expert civilian Anesthesia staff, the military personnel gain the critical clinical experience and academic support while learning from the world's leaders in anesthesia and resuscitation. This partnership allows the USAF to train over 300 medical personnel from bases around the world, translating into vital airway, anesthesia and resuscitation management for our injured and ill wounded warriors.