Anesthesia Elective Program

Department of Anesthesia

The Department of Anesthesia offers a unique opportunity for the student at any level to experience the specialty of Anesthesia. The student will be exposed to a wide range of anesthesia for surgical procedures. You may also experience the application of anesthesia to labour and delivery, pain management and intensive care.

Teaching within the department is done one to one and each student will be assigned, for several consecutive days, to a senior anesthesia resident or staff.

Goals and Objectives
On completion of the rotation, the student should be able to:

  1. Understand basic physiology and pharmacology and the application to patients undergoing anethesia. Cardiovascular and respiratory systems will be emphasized.
  2. Appreciate those medical conditions that will affect the conduct and course of an anesthetic. Patients presenting for surgery and anesthesia often have major system failure. Safe anesthesia in such a patient is a considerable challenge.
  3. Appreciate basic principles of airway management and ventilation in an unconscious patient. Proper techniques of mask ventillation, intubation and assessment of adequate ventilation will be demonstrated. The student will also learn techniques of IV access and fluid management.

Content: Two elective rotations are offered in the department.

Clerkship Elective:

  1. Available any time during the Clerkship period.
  2. Variable length of time from a minimum of three weeks to a maximum of four weeks.
  3. Elective content consists of two weeks adult anesthesia at HSC or St. Boniface and then student selected rotations chosen from neuroanesthesia, cardiac anesthesia, labor and delivery, acute and chronic pain service, pediatrics anesthesia and community hospital anesthesia.

Call Responsibility: Call is NOT required but the student is encouraged to experience one evening of call per week of elective. Call is quite variable in intensity and may be arranged on short notice.

Availability: All year. 

To arrange this elective, please contact: Electives_Administrator@umanitoba.ca